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"No, you’re not," Amanda said as her hand claly firmly for someone as small as she was "This is my friend Blythe She is also Trisha’s friend, and she’s here for the birthday party because ant her here Now, if you’ll excuse us" She turned and headed for the house, pulling ht grip even if I tried "Don’t look back Just come on," she whispered

What? I needed to leave She did not understand "Really, Ao He doesn’t want me here, and this is his fa now If she didn’t let

"Krit is an ass He has always been an ass And Brittany has a thing for singers She’s been after Krit for years Why she is with him, I have no idea, other than to tell you he is an ass"

This rong Krit was not an ass I had blindsided hi up here He reacted the way anyone would "He’s not an ass I am I should have asked him if this was okay I don’t think sometimes"

Amanda opened the front door and pulled me inside Then she turned to look at me She stared at me for a minute, then a sad smile touched her lips "You are so not an ass And I love Trisha, but you’re too good for Krit," she said, then nodded toward the sound of people "Come on in This is o see the birthday girl and give her this sparkly present she’s gonna love," she said, handing the gift back to et you--and me--a drink I need one after that"

We rounded a corner and ca out of a azine Balloons were everywhere, as was the color pink A tall three-tiered cake sat on the bar with pink and white stripes on one layer, and pink and white polka dots on another layer Then the top layer hite and had the number nine and the name Daisy in pink A pink sparkly crown sat on the top It was the birthday cake of little girls’ dreams

"That is one fabulous cake," Amanda said as we entered the roohtened when she saw us

"Isn’t it? Can you believe Rock ordered this? He went to the bakery and everything teeks ago I told hiet her a princess cake He sure is an overachiever," she said with a laugh "I’lad Aoing to call Krit and see if you could just ride with hi to say when Krit would be coood you didn’t He came with someone I’m pretty sure Blythe wouldn’t have wanted to ride with theo unnoticed by Trisha She stopped and looked at Aoing to ask the there

"If I had known she needed a ride, I would have driven myself," Krit said as he entered the roolare at Amanda

I couldn’t look at hi but Trisha or Krit I didn’t belong there I didn’t belong anywhere I knew that I had always known that Being there rong

"Didn’t know you were bring a guest," Trisha said in a tight voice Just what I needed For her to get upset with hi wrong It wasn’t fair I ruined everything Mrs Williams had toldto ht

"Didn’t know you had invited Blythe," he repeated in a clipped tone

I winced He was angry about that Why hadn’t I asked him about it first?

Trisha took a step toward him, her eyes slanted, and she looked ready to slap hi an uninvited guest One I should have been told about" Trisha had raised her voice This wasn’t good They were about to fight I could see the look on Krit’s face, and he wasn’t going to back down froine he would be okay with Krit raising his voice to Trisha