Megan was sound asleep at two a.m. when a sudden sound outside her window shocked her awake. She bolted straight up out of bed and fell onto the floor. Slowly she grabbed her phone and a baseball bat as she made her way to the window. Pulling the curtain back, she pressed her left eye to the window and looked out into the dark.
“Ah!” Megan shrieked before slapping a hand over her own mouth.
She inched the window open, trying not to make any more noise. Her friend Shaina crawled through and crashed onto Megan’s bed in the center of the room. The girls giggled at the incident.
“What are you doing here?” Megan whispered.
“It’s the last day of summer vacation,” Shaina reminded her. “I thought we could have a little party.”
“At two in the morning?” Megan asked.
“Why not?” Shaina reasoned. “We have to get an early start to this to make use of the whole day.”
The girls heard footsteps in the hall. Megan shove Shaina back toward the window. Shaina dives headfirst through the window as Megan’s bedroom door opened. Megan quickly picked up her phone and held it to her ear.
“Megan?” her mother asked as she stuck her head through the door. “We thought we heard talking in here.”
“Sorry, Mom,” Megan apologized as she held her hand over the bottom of the phone. I was just talking to Shaina on the phone. She was inviting me to a party she’s having later.”
“Oh, okay,” Megan’s mom said as she retreated to the hallway.
Megan waited until she no longer heard her mother in the hallway, then she pulled Shaina back through the window. Three more heads popped up from the bushes. Shaina and Megan helped them climb through the window, too.
“Why did you have to bring your party here?” Megan asked.
“You have the biggest room, and your room is farthest away from your parents,” Shaina reminded her.
“Fine, but we have to have a quiet party. My parents have been really paranoid lately.” Megan helped more people through the window. “I thought they didn’t have anything to worry about until you showed up with half the junior class hidden in the bushes under the window.”
Once all twenty people were inside, they turned Megan’s radio on at the lowest audible volume. The party continued until the sun rose outside, with people sneaking out to the kitchen at random intervals for snacks. At six-thirty in the morning, Megan heard her parents’ alarm going off down the hall.
“Everybody out!” she called quietly.
People lined up at the window, jumping out one-by-one. Others rushed around the room hiding the leftover food. As the handle on Megan’s bedroom door began to jiggle, she shoved the last remaining chips into the closet with the last two guests. She helped shoved the final escapee out the window and slammed it shut before jumping into bed.
“You are up early,” Megan’s dad observed.
“It’s the last day of summer vacation. I wanted to get a jumpstart to make sure I used every available hour,” Megan lied horribly.
“Really?” her mom asked. “Because I could swear I heard music and laughter from this room, like a party.”
“You know, I think I heard the same thing,” her dad added.
“You guys must have been dreaming the same dream,” Megan offered. “I was sleeping until just a few minutes ago.”
“Okay, if you say there was no party, I guess there wasn’t a party.”
Megan’s parents turned and walked out the door. As it was almost shut behind them, the closet door burst open and the two people who had been hid inside made a break for the window. They were almost out when Megan’s mom poked her head back in the door.
“By the way,” she said, “you are grounded for the next three weeks for lying and having a party behind our backs.”