Free Games of Fire by Airicka Phoenix

said hurriedly.
    Sophie threw open her door. “Don’t worry about it,” she grumbled, throwing herself out of the car. “I’ll think of something.”
    With a wave, she slammed the car door and jogged up to the house. Her mom had left the porch lights on even though the sky still held a soft blue hue fading into darkness. Sophie pushed open the door and stepped inside. She shut it behind her and turned.
    “Mom! I’m …” Her words dissolved into nothing as she stared at the two sitting in her living room watching her with a look of polite interest and mild surprise, like she’d startled them by entering her own home. For a second, she wondered if she’d walked into the wrong house and had to glance around. Everything looked familiar and in the right place, except her mother wasn’t there and these two were. “Uh, hi!” she said uncertainly.
    Jackie ’s unpainted lips bowed around the teacup she held to them. “Hello, Sophia!” She set the cup down on its saucer with a delicate clink . “Your mom said you’d gone shopping. Did you have fun?” She eyed the bags in Sophie’s hand.
    Sophie glanced down at them as well, having forgotten them for a moment. “Yeah, I bought a … a … dress?” The oddity of it had her nose wrinkling and her response coming out as a question.
    Jackie laughed. “You’re not sure?”
    On the sofa beside Jackie, Spencer said nothing nor did he seem interested in doing so. He was intent on polishing off the platter of chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies.
    “My friends kind of made me,” Sophie said. “I don’t like dresses.”
    “You bought a dress?” Her mom entered the room, hair bouncing on her slim shoulders with every excited step. Her face was a mask of elation, doubt and mild surprise. It was a wonder how anyone could pull of so many expressions all at once.
    Sophie held up the bags as confirmation of her mild loss of insanity. “Lauren kind of twisted my arm about it.”
    Her mother clapped her hands like a little girl told she was about to get a present. “Let’s see!”
    Sophie snapped the bag to her chest, gripping it tight. “I, uh, kind of would rather not!”
    Her mother’s smile slipped into a pout. “Why not?”
    “Because you’re just going to get all excited and weird.”
    “ Well of course I’m going to get excited!” Her mother turned to Jackie. “Sophie absolutely refuses to let me take her shopping and Lauren has impeccable taste when it comes to clothes!”
    Jackie’s eyes brightened. “Oh then I must see!”
    Sophie tightened her hold on the bag, all the while edging toward the stairway, not trusting the two watching her like she had the last pair of shoes at a mass shoe sale. “It’s not a big deal. It’s only a dress.”
    “Well, what is it for if you won’t at least show us?” her mother pressed.
    Sophie stiffened. “What?”
    “What is it for? You never buy a dress so it must be for something.”
    It was impossible not to hesitate, not to shift and avoid her mother’s eyes. It reminded her of the time she’d been invited to Jason Ward’s birthday party in sixth grade. Her mother had spent three hours on the phone with his mother, making sure the children would not be left unsupervised, especially since boys and girls were invited. To ask permission to attend a house party with no parental supervision, alcohol and boys would insure an immediate phone call to Roy’s parents and bars on Sophie’s windows. 
    “Well,” Sophie began, talking to the patch of carpet at her feet. “There’s this thing happening tomorrow night and I was hoping to go.” Way not to sound cryptic or guilty!
    “What kind of thing?” There was an edge to her mother’s voice now.
    Sophie fought not to fidget. “A date?” It wasn’t really a lie. She really did have a sort of date with Brian, but now she had everyone in the room’s attention, including Spencer, although he was still nibbling on a cookie, his gray eyes were fixed on her,