Eliza then pulled out her cell phone and soon was talking to someone on the other end. “Coast is clear,” she said. “All systems go.” Then she hung up.
“Who were you talking to?” asked DJ.
“Oh, you'll find out.”
Now DJ was suspicious. “No, seriously,” she said, “What's up?”
“Just a fun little surprise. That's all.”
“What kind of surprise?” asked Rhiannon.
“Wait and see!” Then Eliza ran on up the stairs, giggling as she went.
It didn't take long to see what she was up to. Or to realize that Taylor and Casey were equally involved. First Garrison and Seth arrived with food. Lots of food. And Taylor and Casey began setting it out on the dining room table. Then, shortly after that, Harry arrived with a large box of bottles and began to set them up on top of the general's bar, which was securely locked.
“What are you doing?” demanded DJ when she realized what was going on.
“Getting ready for a nice little party.”
“A nice little party?” She frowned at the bottles of hard liquor that he was lining up. “I don't think so.”
“Now, don't worry,” he assured her. “Eliza and I plan to do this with class. Not like the other night when my place got trashed.”
“Class?” DJ stared at him. “How is that even possible?” He chuckled. “You'll see.”
“This is totally unacceptable!” she said loudly.
But that just made him laugh louder.
DJ was furious now. She glanced around, looking for Rhiannon for backup, but she wasn't around. DJ ran up the stairs.
“Rhiannon!” DJ yelled, going into the bedroom and startling poor Kriti who seemed to be taking refuge in their room.
“What's wrong?” asked Kriti in a quiet voice.
“Pizza here?” Rhiannon stuck her head out of the bathroom.
“No, the pizza is NOT here. And what's wrong is that Eliza and Harry are throwing a party.”
Rhiannon frowned. “A party?”
“Right now, Harry is down there setting up a bar.”
“Oh ⦔ Kriti looked concerned.
“I told him it was unacceptable, but he just laughed.”
“What do we do?”
“I don't know.” DJ slumped down onto a chair.
“Should we call your grandmother at the restaurant?”
DJ considered this. “I don't know ⦔
“Maybe it won't be so bad,” said Kriti.
“I can't believe you're supporting it,” said DJ. “You were so wasted that you were throwing upâ“
“As my father says, we learn by our mistakes,” said Kriti. “If we are to grow, we must learn.”
“But this isâ”
“Lighten up, DJ.” Taylor was now in the room. “Harry said you were flipping out down there. Can't you see that it's no big deal? Just a little get-together with our friends before we all go back to civilization tomorrow. Can't you just chill for once?”
“Chill?” DJ glared at Taylor. “This is not our house. The general has trusted us. My grandmother has trusted us. Eliza obviously set this up to get them out of the house so thatâ”
“But they're only going for dinner,” said Taylor coolly. “They should be back, what? Around nine orâ”
“Ten!”
“Okay, ten. But, seriously, what can happen between now and ten?”
DJ considered this. “I don't know.”
“Well, I do know,” said Taylor. “Just a few laughs, some food, and a few drinks. No one is going to get crazy tonight. Understand?”
DJ sighed. “No.”
Rhiannon put a hand on her shoulder. “Taylor's probably right.”
“There's not much you can do anyway,” said Kriti. “Except govern yourself.”
“Govern myself?” DJ frowned at Kriti.
“It's all anyone can do,” Kriti continued as if she were an expert in this. “We only control our own actions.”
“So are you drinking tonight?” DJ asked her.
Kriti solemnly shook her head. “No. Not even a sip.”
Well, that was somewhat reassuring. Still, DJ did not like this. Not one little bit!
“WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?”
asked Conner when he came in the back door bearing pizza.
“You guys having a party?” asked Bradford.
DJ ushered them to the kitchen where Rhiannon was already waiting, and together the two girls explained.
“We didn't know what to do,” said DJ. “I mean, I told both Harry and Eliza that this was totally unacceptable, but they just laughed.”
“Big surprise there,” said Bradford.
“We considered calling Mrs. Carter,” said Rhiannon.
“But we felt bad about spoiling their evening.” DJ shook her head. “They were such fun this afternoon. And, really, they've been good sports. They probably deserve a night out.”
“Besides, as Taylor pointed out, the party has to end before ten since our chaperones will be getting home by then.”
“That's true,” said Conner. “I can't imagine Eliza wanting to risk getting caught.”
“Exactly,” said Rhiannon. “So, we're holing up in here.”
“Running down the clock,” added DJ as she peeked into the pizza box. “Looks good.”
The four of them sat at the kitchen table eating pizza and trying to pretend there wasn't a party going on out there.
“Hey, what is this?” asked Seth as he came into the kitchen with an empty ice bucket. “Private party?”
“Yeah,” said DJ grumpily, “and we'd like to keep it that way.” “Don't mind me,” he said as he helped himself to the ice bin in the freezer.
“Two more hours,” said DJ sadly.
“Maybe we should go out there and mix,” suggested Conner. “Just to make sure nothing gets out of hand.”
“Or broken,” added Rhiannon with a concerned frown.
So the four of them crashed the party that they wished wasn't happening. To DJ's surprise, it wasn't just the guys from Harry's cabin. No, that would've been “too boring,” according to Garrison, who explained, “We needed more chicks ⦠so these dudes would lay off our women.” He had an arm draped around Casey's shoulder as if to show ownership.
DJ stared at Casey with narrowed eyes. Casey had a glass of something amber in her hand, but she avoided DJ's gaze. Well, why shouldn't she feel guilty? They should all feel guilty.
“This party ends at nine thirty,” DJ said loudly.
But Garrison just laughed.
DJ went over to Rhiannon. “Man, would I love to knock some heads together.”
“Love your neighbor ⦔ Rhiannon smiled. “But I do understand.”
“This started out to be such a cool day,” said DJ sadly.
“I know ⦔
“I was thinking about what Kriti said. I mean, she's sort of right. We can't control these idiots, but does that mean we just stand by and watch?”
“I don't know ⦔ Rhiannon shook her head.
“It's so frustrating.”
“It's hard to know what's best. I guess we should just be glad that this can only go on for anotherâ” She glanced at the clock. “Just over an hour.”
“An hour of torture.”
Just then they heard a crash in the dining room. “Oh no,” said Rhiannon with wide eyes.
“I hope it wasn't anything expensive,” said DJ as they hurried to see.
“Or irreplaceable.”
Fortunately, it was only a glass pitcher, and Eliza seemed unconcerned.
“It's a crystal glass pitcher,” Rhiannon pointed out.
“Put it on my bill,” said Eliza. Then she nodded to Kriti and to the broken glass. “Can you get that, sweetie?”
DJ gave Kriti a look as if to say, “See what this gets you?” But Kriti seemed oblivious as she began to pick up the largest broken fragments and set them on a paper napkin.
“I need to get out of here,” DJ told Conner. “If I stick around I might hurt someone.”
“I'm with you,” said Bradford. He'd just joined them.
“Let's go to the main lodge and see if we can get some cocoa or something,” said Conner.
The music seemed to be louder now, and the house was crowded with people that DJ had never seen. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure they should just leave.
“It kills me to see this artwork at such risk,” said Rhiannon.
“Should we take it down or anything?” asked DJ.
“Maybe the breakables,” said Conner.
So the four of them gathered the items that seemed most at risk and carried them back to the laundry room, which seemed a fairly safe spot.
“Now let's take a break,” said Conner.
Other than the bar, the lodge was pretty much closed. They all got cocoa out of a machine, sitting at one of the tables outside the cafeteria, waiting.
“This totally sucks.” DJ set her cocoa down so hard that it splashed.
“I hear ya,” agreed Conner.
“Well, it's almost nine thirty,” said Bradford.
“Maybe it's time we go and remind them that the party's over,” said Rhiannon.
They were all relieved to go back. DJ was hoping that by the time they got there, the cars would be heading out and Eliza and the others would be putting the general's lodge back together.
“I think there are even more cars,” said DJ as they hurried to the back door.
“The music's even louder than before,” said Rhiannon loudly as they went in the back way.
Even the kitchen had partiers in it now.
“Get out of here,” demanded DJ. “The party's over!”
A guy who looked a lot older than high school peered curiously at her. “Is this your house?”
She considered this. “No, but it's my friend's house andâ”
“Your friend is my friend.” He held up his beer like he was toasting.
“Eliza!” yelled DJ as she stormed out of the kitchen, pushing her way past strangers. “Party's over!” she yelled again and again.
“What are you doing?” demanded Taylor. She and Eliza were standing in front of DJ now, looking at her as if she was the one with bad judgment.
“It's a quarter to ten,” DJ said loudly. “The party's over!”
“That's right,” said Rhiannon from behind her.
“Yeah,” said Conner. “You guys don't have much time to clear this place out, Eliza.”
“And to clean it up,” added Bradford.
Taylor looked at Eliza, and they both started to laugh.
“You guys are losing it,” said DJ as she grabbed Taylor by the arm. “The general and my grandmother will be back soon.”
“I don't think so ⦔ Eliza winked at Taylor. “Do you want to tell them, or should I?”
DJ got the worst feeling then. Seriously, she would put absolutely nothing past these two now. “What have you done to the general and my grandmother?”
“We've done nothing but given them a nice quiet evening away from the kiddies,” said Eliza.
“They'll be perfectly comfortable in their little home on wheels,” said Taylor.
“What are you saying?” demanded Rhiannon.
“Don't worry,” said Eliza. “I just spoke to the general.”
“What's going on?” asked DJ.
“They had a perfectly lovely dinner,” said Taylor.
“And when they started to go home, they realized they had a little mechanical problem.” Eliza gave DJ a sly grin.
“With no mechanics around on a Sunday night and holiday weekend.” Taylor held up her hands in a helpless gesture.
“What?” DJ was suspicious now. “They
just happened
to break down?”
“Well ⦠that's one way to look at it,” said Eliza.
“Did you guys send someone up there to sabotage them?” DJ glared at Taylor.
“What on earth would make you jump to that conclusion?” Taylor put on her most innocent face.
“Anyway,” continued Eliza lightly, “when the general called here to check on us, I told him not to worry, that we were just fine and would probably just call it an early evening.”
“They'll camp out in the general's motor home,” said Taylor.
“Naturally, the general offered your grandmother the bedroom, and he'll use the pull-out bed in the couch.”
“End of story,” said Taylor.
DJ honestly felt lightheaded now, like she was about to faint.
“Come on,” said Rhiannon to DJ. “Let's go upstairs and regroup.”
With Conner and Rhiannon guiding her, they went upstairs, but when they opened the door to the room the four girls were sharing, they saw that it had been invaded.
“Get out of here!” screamed DJ. Then she actually picked up a chair and acted like she was about to throw it at the surprised couple.
“Easy does it,” said Conner as he gently removed the chair from her hands.
“But she's right,” yelled Bradford, “Get out of here!”
The couple grabbed up a couple of items of clothing and ran for the door. DJ collapsed into a chair and held her head in her hands. “What a mess.”
“Maybe Conner and I should head up there and help the general with his mechanical problem,” suggested Bradford.
“For all we know they might be enjoying themselves,” said DJ.
“It's a very nice motor home,” said Rhiannon, “With all the comforts of home. They should be perfectly comfortable.”
“Still ⦔ DJ stood now. “Maybe I should just call the police.”
They all paused to consider this.
“I'd just tell them the truth,” she said eagerly. “That someone had thrown a party here, without permission, and that there was underage drinking.”
“Of course, that would mean that the general and your grandmother would hear about it.”
“I know.” DJ nodded. “Right now I don't even care.”
“And Eliza, Taylor, and Casey will be in serious hot water,” added Rhiannon. “Not that I particularly care.”
“And the guys too,” pointed out Conner.
“I don't know.” Bradford frowned. “It seems wrong to rat on your friends.”
“How about if we warn them first?” suggested DJ.
“Yeah,” said Rhiannon.
So it was decided they would warn the party hosts. “But we'll stick to our guns, right?” said DJ as they trooped back down the stairs.
“Absolutely,” said Conner.
“We'll tell them they have twenty minutes,” said DJ.
“To get everyone out of here,” added Rhiannon.
“And all the alcohol too.”
At the foot of the stairs, they gathered to put the finishing touches on their end-the-party plan. And then, sharing high fives all the way around, the Fearsome Foursome went to work.