Sweet Seventeen (Chapter 3)

Several days later, the party occurred over the weekend at night. It was more than an average birthday party; it was the expensive extravaganza that Madeline had always dreamed of. It took place in her backyard which had to be a thousand acres. Pastel colored decorations with glitter and gleam were placed on the walls and fences. Pink and silver confetti was scrambled on the floor and floating in the clean, big pool. The blue tinted water of it reflected the white lights coming from the ornaments hung on the fences. On top of the patio door was a 20 by 40 foot poster of Madeline in four pictures with different poses: one red, one yellow, the other blue and the last one purple. Far across from it was the food table which consisted of foods of a pink color, mostly desserts. In the center was a tall, tiered cake with pink frosting, big enough to feed a dinosaur. The big, black speakers played nothing but Madeline's favorite songs by artists such as Christina Aguilera, Hilary Duff and Justin Timberlake. The guests wore formal clothing that were still fun and expressive. Madeline's best friends sure followed the dress code properly as they arrived to the back fence in outfits of their own individual style. A couple of the girls held boxes covered in colorful wrapping paper. They approached a tall, buff man, seeming to play the part of a security guard.
"Names," he inquired when they stopped.
The girls confessed their names as the man looked at his clipboard.
"Skye."
"Debra."
"Andrea."
"Lizzie. But my real name's Elizabeth. It might say that on there. But if it doesn't, then that's not my name."
The guard looked through all of the pages on the clipboard. "Invitations?"
At the same time, the girls held up their sparkly invitations.
"Alright." The guard opened the door. "You can go in. Also, you're all in the VIP section so enjoy that."
"Thank you," said Lizzie.
The girls entered the backyard through the door.
"I wonder if there's money," said Andrea.
The party was not that crowded even though there were a lot of people. Otherwise, the girls had free space to walk.
"How many people does she know?" asked Skye.
"Too many," Andrea responded.
"I'm going to sit Maddie's gift down somewhere," said Debra.
"Me, too," Lizzie agreed.
The two split from Andrea and Skye to search for the area for gifts. Meanwhile, Skye was ambushed by her friend,  Jeffrey.
She turned around and smiled at him. "Oh, hey!"
"Hi, Skye," he greeted back.
"You got here before I did."
"I had nothing to do today so I got here as early as I could."
"You look good."
"Thanks." Jeffrey played with his tie. "I used duct tape."
"Fashionable."
"I'd ask you to dance but I don't know this song."
Skye chuckled. "Then we could try."
They stopped talking when the lights grew dim. The darkness silenced the rest of the guests. The music also silenced. The patio door opened, exposing a bright light, and discharged loads of smoke, catching everybody's attention. Out the door strutted six muscular men with black dress pants and no shirts, wearing red ties around their necks. Three of them stood on the right side of the platform and the other three stood on the left. The ornaments nearest to the patio only lit up, showing the handsome men. Soon, hip hop music started to play on the speakers. Once that happened, the men started dancing; acts of gyrating and wiggling was part of that choreography.
"Where am I?" asked Skye. "Magic Mike?"
After a good minute of sensual choreography, the men faced each other and stuck out their hands. Through more smoke, Madeline ran out of the house with a microphone. All of the guests applauded her when they stood and posed like a supermodel.
"What's up, everybody?" she screamed into the microphone that amplified her voice. "Welcome to my seventeenth birthday bash!"
Everybody cheered.
"You guys will have so much fun. There's music, cake and me. So everybody do me a favor and have the 'bestest' time that you can, alright?"
The guests hollered like merry animals.
"Also, no grinding."
"Aw," uttered one guest.
Madeline handed the microphone to her father and hugged him. After that, she walked pass everybody, most of them dancing to the new music, to find her far friends. It did not take her long to find them all standing together with Jeffrey.
"Hello, my sisters," she greeted.
"Hi, Madeline," Debra greeted back.
"O.M.G., Maddie, that was amazing," Lizzie commented.
"Yeah, I love how you turned your party into a strip club," said Skye. "That was a real cherry on top."
"They're not strippers," defended Madeline. "They are professional dancers."
"That's secret code for strippers."
Jeffrey chuckled. Madeline pursed her lips and cocked her head. Before she could say anything else, she stopped herself when she felt arms wrap around her waist from behind.
"Hey, babe," Chad greeted.
Madeline smiled. "Hey, you." She turned around and held his hands. "You look yummy today."
"You're the one looking yummy, reminding me of cherry--"
"Stop!" Her eyes became dead serious.
"Sorry."
Her eyes went back to being flirtatious. "So when a slow song comes on, can I count on you to dance with me?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Anything for the birthday girl. Uh, do you mind if I go back to my friends?"
"Not at all. I want you to have the best time as you can."
"Wow, you're so great."
"I know. See you later." Madeline softly pushed him away on his solid chest.
"See you," Chad winked.
When he walked away, Madeline turned around to face her friends.
"Can you say 'love'?" sighed Debra, putting her hands on her chest.
"Can you say 'barf'?" Skye taunted.
"Where's the VIP section?" asked Andrea.
Madeline pointed to her right side. "Oh, it's right there."
Andrea looked at the red couch being protected by red rope.
"Just a chair?" she questioned.
"Not just any chair," said Madeline. "It's a red chair."
"For a rich girl, you sure are cheap."