The Monday before Thanksgiving was bright and sunny. Marcia woke and thought, "Tonight is the night of the sleepover." A small feeling of dread settled in her head, when she thought about the pranks tonight. How should she act about them? Should she retaliate for them? It was a hard choice to make. She felt good that she knew about the pranks, but wondered why Sarah was so vindictive. It was good of Naomi to come forward and tell us about the plot. She was a good friend now and wanted to leave Sarah and her clique.

Marcia left her room, walked into the kitchen, hugged her mom who was making breakfast and sat at the table. "Can I talk to you mom?" Marcia asked.

"Sure, darling. What's on your mind?" Mom replied.

Marcia sat there, thought for a few minutes and spoke softly, "What should I do about the pranks tonight? I have too many choices and do not know what to do."

"Well, sweetheart, it is hard for me to tell you what to do. It is a decision you have to make. I can give you choices, but you have to decide what is right for you." Her mom replied.

Marcia sat quietly at the table thinking about everything. She wanted her mom to tell her what to do, but instead, mom gave her the choice. She was so confused and conflicted now. She thought, maybe if I talked to the other girls it would be easier.

"Mom, can I have the girls gather here before we go to the sleepover tonight?" Marcia asked.

"Sure, have them come over and spend the afternoon with you. It will be easier for all the parents." Her mom told her.

Marcia finished her breakfast, jumped up on the counter below the phone and called Sabrina, Monica and Naomi. They would spend the afternoon at Marcia's preparing for the sleepover at Sarah's house. Just after lunch, the three girls arrived carrying their overnight stuff. The stuff sat beside the front door for easy lugging to the car later. The girls gathered in Marcia's room on her bed, giggling and bouncing with joy. No one seemed to care, why they were really there early in the afternoon. They chatted about what they would do that night.

Marcia raised her hands to get the girls' attention and said, "I have a problem or we have a problem. What do we do about the pranks tonight? There are too many choices for me to pick one and use it. Should we ignore them? Should we retaliate? Should we let them happen and not care? What do you think?"

Sabrina replied, "I think we should ignore them and go on as if nothing happened."

Naomi thought and replied, "We know about the pranks and expect them tonight. Maybe we should just confront them before they start and tell them we know what is going on. Then we win but they do not lose. They just get shut down."

Monica thought the longest before answering, "My thought is depending on the prank, we should retaliate. We can't let Sarah and her bully friends push us around. We need to pick our battles and fight them."

Marcia told them, "My first thought was to retaliate but that would just cause more trouble if not tonight then in the future."

As they thought more about it, the girls decided that Naomi's ideas seemed to be the best choice for the night. They would confront Sarah and her friends and tell them to back off from any pranks. That might work, but it puts Sarah on notice that they knew what was coming. If they did not back down, then they declared war on each other.

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly as the girls talked about their plans for the rest of the week. The girls told of how they would spend Thursday with their families. They thought about getting together on Friday to just hang out and get ready to return to school. They definitely had to gather after tonight, to go over what happened at the sleep over and anything they needed to do about it. There was still the element of doubt in everyone's mind. As they talked about it, there was a knock on the door. It was Marcia's mom telling them that dinner was ready and would they come and eat. The girls went to sit at the kitchen table and eat a light dinner that Marcia's mom prepared. When they finished, it was close to time to leave for the party.

The girls gathered their stuff and filed out the door to the waiting car. The chatter level rose as the car drove down the street toward Sarah's summerhouse. Marcia turned in the front seat to join the chatter and babbled with the other girls. In the fifteen minutes, it took to go the short distance the excitement level grew and proceeded through the roof. It was as if the pranks and other tricks that they knew about did not matter anymore. It was a night for fun not confrontation.

When the car drove up the sloped driveway, Sarah and her friends came down the walk to greet the four new arrivals. The girls got out of the car all saying goodbye to Marcia's mom. She backed out of the driveway and drove off happy that the noise was gone. The girls trudged up the walk lugging their overnight stuff into the house. Sarah pointed where they could drop their things and invited the girls to join them in the den where the TV played a video movie. The girls followed her and flopped on the floor joining the rest of the girls. There were ten girls spread around the floor in front of the TV, fascinated by the movie playing. Sarah had one of the first rear-projection large screen TVs. She seemed to have all the latest gadgets and things.

As the movie played, the girls chattered and made a lot of noise drowning out the TV and movie. The girls sat in small circles playing and chatting. Sara pulled out the latest electronic toy she had, an Atari 5200 with Space Invaders and Pac Man. The girls huddled around the game and played it. Each pair of girls waited for their turn to try out this new toy. Everyone thought this was the neatest thing shooting at aliens invading the earth. They liked Pac Man more than the other game. The game was a big hit at the party. The best players were Marcia and Sarah and at the end of everyone else's turns, they squared off in a test of champions. All the girls huddled around them and cheered on their favorite. Fifteen minutes passed and each girl ate the Pac-dots and avoided the enemies (Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde). Suddenly one of the girls distracted Sarah and she went down when the gobblers got her, Marcia won. This upset Sarah so much. No one beat her playing Pac Man.

Sarah's mom interrupted the group just as Sarah turned to glare at Marcia. A long table held the snacks and everyone moved to the small patio on the screened in area behind the house. The girls sat in back all over the ground enjoying the setting sun and talked about the Pac Man game. Sarah fumed in an area by herself and allowed no one to join her. Naomi walked over to Sarah and looked down at her.

Sarah looked up and churlishly said, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to sit with you and chat about the game and how it is played. It looked like fun, but you were so serious playing it, as if you wanted to destroy Marcia. Why?" Naomi commented.

"It's not that I don't like Marcia, it's that she is too nice to everyone. I treated her so badly yet she still wants to be my friend and I just don't get it." Sarah poured out to her.

Naomi thought for a few minutes silently and said, "Why don't you take her aside and just talk to her. She is a nice girl and can be a friend you can rely on in any situation."

"Maybe I will," Sarah sullenly replied.

Naomi stood, smiled down at Sarah, took her empty plate and walked to the table for more snacks. While she took more food, Marcia approached and helped herself to more snacks too.

"Is Sarah alright?" Marcia asked.

"She was upset that you beat her. No one ever beat her at that game not even her older brothers. She was upset, but she seems calm now." Naomi told her.

"Maybe I should go talk to her," Marcia injected.

Marcia walked over to Sarah, who looked up at her and in a churlish voice said, "Did you come to rub it in my face that you beat me at the stupid Pac Man game?"

"Uh, umm no, I just wanted to thank you for the sleepover and sit here with you for a while. Will that be alright?' Marcia sheepishly answered.

"Why don't you go join your friends and leave me alone, get away from me!" Sarah yelled.

Marcia looked at her horrified, turned and ran into the house dropping her full plate as she ran. Sarah sat on the ground with a devilish smile of victory on her face. It had started now. The night of terror began in earnest. Marcia was in tears and it would only get worse from here. Sabrina jumped up, dumped her plate in the trash and followed Marcia into the house. She saw her go into the bathroom slamming the door and locking it. As Sabrina approached the room, sobs poured through the locked door from Marcia.

Sabrina knocked on the door and Marcia yelled, "Go away, leave me alone!"

"Come on, Marcia, let me in please," Sabrina pleaded.

Reluctantly, Marcia unlocked the door and Sabrina entered. She went to Marcia and hugged her tightly, patting her back, trying to stop the sobs. A few moments later, another knock came on the door and Naomi entered the room. She hugged Sabrina and Marcia and tried to get them to come back to the backyard. She wanted everyone to see that things were all right for now. She was not happy with Sarah and wanted Sarah to apologize for being so mean. It might not happen but she had to try at least. The three girls exited the bathroom and walked back to the back of the house.

When they got to the backyard, Sarah had the rest of the guests enraptured with a story she told about her trip to New Hampshire skiing in the White Mountains the past spring. She told of the women skiing in bikinis at Tuckerman's Ravine. She tried it in her bathing suit, but froze when she fell in the deep soft snow. Everyone laughed and she was happy to be the center of attention. As the three girls entered, Sarah stopped and glared at them. The rest of the party curiously looked at them. Sarah continued talking and drew the attention back to her. Monica waved and bid them join her in the rear of the group. They sat together listening as Sarah continued telling her story.

As the sun settled, the cold settled over the backyard and forced everyone to move inside the summerhouse. Sarah's mom moved the table of food inside the kitchen, so the girls could keep themselves from getting hungry. They went back to where the TV was and started watching another movie. Two of Sarah's friends passed out bowls of popcorn to each small group of four. Marcia, Monica, Naomi and Sabrina got a special bowl. Sarah and her friends watched as the others ate the 'special' popcorn. Soon, Marcia and Naomi ran to the kitchen searching for something cold and wet to drink. Sabrina and Monica followed quickly behind them gasping to quench the heat from white pepper in their throats. White pepper laced the 'special' bowl of popcorn and Sarah and her friends laughed at the four girls, drinking water down quickly.

Sabrina and Monica wanted revenge right there, but Naomi calmed them down and made them act as if nothing happened. There was plenty of time to retaliate if needed. This was a harmless prank and easily overlooked. Marcia glared at Sarah, when they returned to the video, which they paused, so no one missed anything. Marcia sat with her friends for a while, but got up to use the bathroom. While she was there, she thought of a way to get back at Sarah that would not appear as overt retaliation. She rummaged through the bathroom searching for something to use. The medicine cabinet yielded a treasure trove of things to use. There were three types of laxative there, but that takes a long time to act. In addition, how do you get someone to take it willingly? That was out of the picture. There was rubbing alcohol and Epsom salts. Those wouldn't work. Finally, she saw the solution. She knew this would get her back at Sarah easily and evoke some sympathy for her as well.

Marcia took a big gulp of the vile smelling and tasting liquid, put it back in the cabinet and returned to the party. She sat with her three friends and they chatted while the movie continued. Sabrina still felt the effects of the white pepper in her throat and kept drinking punch to soothe it. Monica and Naomi watched the movie and laughed with the girls. Sabrina continued to drink the punch and eventually went to the bathroom. She felt better when she returned and sat close to Marcia for support. The movie went for another thirty minutes and the girls decided to play Twister for a while. Marcia sat out of the game feigning a stomachache. Naomi sat with her and watched Monica, Sabrina, Phoebe and Sarah play. Sarah pushed Sabrina down forcing her out of the game and Monica made Phoebe fall over too.

Sarah and Monica played on and kept going for several turns before Sarah started to fall over and used Monica for support.

"Foul, you used Monica for support," yelled Sabrina.

"So, I can do that. It is allowed in the game," retorted Sarah.

"Let it go, Sabrina," pleaded Naomi. "It's just a game."

Sara finally fell over on her own making Monica the winner. This irritated Sarah and she stormed out of the room. She returned fifteen minutes later with a new video to watch. The girls gathered around the TV, Sarah put the video in the VCR and it started playing. It was the Karate Kid, the girls loved the young boy star and sat enraptured watching the movie. Everyone sat with their eyes glued to the screen. As it played, Marcia watched Sarah as she moved around the room playing the good hostess. She took orders for ice cream from each of the girls. She took Marcia's order last and left the room. In about ten minutes, she and her mom returned carrying dishes of ice cream with the toppings of their choice. The girls quickly forgot the movie, sat eating the ice cream and giggling at the antics of the group. Some ice cream ended up on other girl's faces with it removed by others licking it off. After fifteen minutes, everyone was done and they all felt a little tired.

The girls split up into pairs to change into their bedclothes and set up their sleeping bags on the floor. Marcia and Naomi set up their bags next to each other, while Sabrina and Monica moved nearby. Marcia and Naomi went to change followed by Monica and Sabrina. Monica and Sabrina waited in the hall while Marcia and Naomi changed. When they all changed, they returned to the room, sat on their sleeping bags and watched the end of the movie. Sarah had one more movie to play before they all turned in for the night. The last movie to watch was The Goonies. The girls sat up, watched the movie and slowly quieted down.

Several girls crawled into their sleeping bags and rested on their pillows. Soon, the room filled with the sounds of several girls sleeping. Sarah sat on her sleeping bag still waiting for the movie to end. She had to turn everything off and make sure the video rewound. Marcia waited to crawl into the sleeping bag until everyone else was in theirs. She watched Sarah slip into hers and slowly opened up hers and crawled in. As she crawled down inside, she felt scratchy things against her legs. She looked over at Sarah who rose up on her elbows as she watched her. Now, Marcia knew there was another prank in play. She bent down, flipped open her sleeping bag and saw potato chips spread out under her legs. They crunched, as she stood up and she glared at Sarah while Sarah smiled at Marcia.

Marcia yelled, "Why did you do that?" Her stomach growled and she felt a little queasy. A small sly smile crossed her face replaced by a bigger scowl as she walked over to Sarah.

Everyone woke up and sat up watching the pending confrontation. Marcia stood above Sarah who stayed in her sleeping bag, thinking she had protection. Marcia looked down and started to raise her foot as if to kick Sarah. Before she could lift her foot off the floor, the ipecac did its job. Marcia launched some projectile vomit down all over Sarah's face and sleeping bag. She continued to vomit until her stomach was empty and Sarah covered in everything Marcia ate that night. Marcia felt weak and collapsed backward onto the floor feeling very sick and in pain. Everyone got out of their sleeping bags and ran to the girl's aid.

"What is wrong Marcia? Why are you sick like that?" Sarah asked.

Marcia lay on the floor moaning in pain, as Sarah's mom came into the room. Naomi went to Marcia and comforted her while she glared at Sarah. Sarah looked back pleadingly.

"I had nothing to do with that. Look at me. She puked all over me. Won't anyone believe me?" Sarah pleaded. "Will someone help me to the bathroom so I can take a shower and get cleaned up?"

Naomi looked at her and got two of her friends to help her out of the room. She turned to Sarah's mom and asked her to call Marcia's mom. She left to make the call. Naomi looked at Monica and Sabrina and had them roll up their sleep stuff and get ready to leave. The girls took their things, Marcia and Naomi's things and picked them up.

Within fifteen minutes, the party ended for Marcia, Monica, Naomi and Sabrina. Sarah played her pranks, but ended up on the losing end topped by Marcia yet again.

Once again, one of Sarah's parties would become the major topic of discussion when school resumed after the break. It depended on how Sarah really felt about Marcia getting sick and puking on her. Everyone waited until school opened next week.