Sleepovers were a staple of the friend group at Harmony Hills. Josie remembered being told almost every weekend “leave your sister and her friends alone.” She felt sad and rejected every time, but was eventually invited to join the group. And then one of them got adopted, another died, and then Josie moved away.
“But my birthday is in the spring,” Andromeda said. The two sat alone at the end of school on a cold October Thursday.
“You don’t need a reason to have a sleepover,” Josie said. “We used to have them all the time back home.” For Josie, home still meant Harmony Hills.
“Why do you want to have one so bad, anyway?” Andromed asked. “Someone might see your you-know-whats.”
“So?” Josie asked. After only a month at school she had already revealed the existence of her Pull-Ups to Maddie and Neville. She didn’t care who else saw them. “Sevent to ten percent of-”
“I know, I know,” Andromeda rolled her eyes. “But if Katherine or Cassandra-”
“Katie or Kassie,” Josie corrected.
“Fine.” Andromed huffed. “If Katie or Kassie find out, the whole school will know and they won’t care what statistics are on the back of the package.”
Josie thought that one over. “A fair point. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take, alright? I’ll wear that one nighty, the one that hides them really well. Okay?”
Andromeda considered that and said, “Alright, fine. But no weird stuff. By the end of the night I want the number of people who have seen you in Pull-Ups to be the same, got it?”
“Scout’s honor,” Josie said.
“Pfft,” Andromeda smiled. “You’re not a scout.”
Josie stuck her tongue out at her friend.
“So who should I invite?” Andromeda asked.
“Isn’t that obvious?” Josie responed. “The whole class.”
“I can’t invite the whole class!” Andromeda nearly shouted.
“Just the girls, obviously.” Josie corrected.
“Noooo,” Andromeda said, “If we invite Katie then we have to invite her sister which means we can’t invite Kassie or Phoebe because Kassie hates Katie and we can’t invite Violet if we invite Katie because Violet wet Katie’s sister’s bed.”
“Well what about Maddie?” Josie asked.
“Maddie is neutral,” Andromeda said, “But she comes with Zoey, who is also neutral.”
“So the choice is between the twins or Kassie and Phoebe,” Josie thought it over. “And the twins don’t mesh well with Vi. So, to maximize the number of guests, I say we go with Kassie and Phoebe.”
“But I don’t really know Kassie and Phoebe,” Andromeda said. “Besides, the twins are on cheerleading with me.”
“God I hate these cliques.” Josie said. And then a light seemed to go off in her head. “Andromeda, I have an idea.”
***
“Hi, Mrs. Lloyd. Can I speak to either Katherine or Theresa? Thanks… Hi, Katherine. I was wondering if you’d like to come over my house to a sleepover. Yes, I know my birthday isn’t until spring. It’s just for fun. No, Kassie and Feebs aren’t invited. Yes, Josie is coming. No, Violet isn’t coming either. Yup, just us. Oh, and Maddie and Zoey are invited too. Okay? Alright, see you then.”
Andromeda hung up. Across from her, Josie sat on Andromeda’s bed with the school director in hand. “Okay, the next number is...”
“Hi, Mrs. Mart. Can I speak to Cassandra? Thanks… Hi, Kassie. What? Andromeda. From school... I was wondering if you’d like to come over my house to a sleepover. No, the twins aren’t invited. And you can invite Feebs. Yes, Josie is coming. I was going to invite Violet too.... Yup, just us. Oh, and Maddie and Zoey are invited too. Okay? Alright, see you then.”
Andromeda hung up again.
“So both parties have agreed,” Josie said, going over her master plan in her head.
“We’re having two parties?” Andromeda asked.
“No,” Josie explained, “A party is like a… group of people… Like how you can only have three monsters on your team at once and the rest stay in town.”
“What?” Andromeda was becoming more and more confused.
“Don’t worry about it,” Josie said. “You just call the others and keep cool. I’ll go make sure we have everything we need.”
Josie went downstairs. Andromeda thought her friend might have felt a bit too comfortable in her house. As she sat on the phone, about to call Maddie and Zoey, Andromeda noticed something poking out of Josie’s bag. Inside was an almost full package of Pull-Ups. Josie usually only went through a few whenever she came over. There were over a dozen in the package. Why would Josie bring so many for just the weekend?
It happened in a flash, Andromeda didn’t know what she was thinking. She reached into the package and took a couple of Pull-Ups out and hid them in her underwear drawer, closing it just as Josie returned.
***
Maddie and Zoey arrived first, and all seemed to be going swingingly. Then the twins arrive, and Andromeda watched as Josie and Katie pretended to be perfect to try and out-perfect each other. It was safe to say, Andromeda was not having fun at her own sleepover.
There was a knock on the door.
“Who is that?” Katherine asked. “I thought everyone was here.”
“I’ll get it,” Andromeda said. Her heart was pounding as she went and opened the door, letting Violet in. “It’s Violet!” The frail little girl gave a light wave, everyone’s eyes fixed on her. Katie’s eyes were particularly flaming.
Andromeda ran over to Josie and asked, “What exactly is the plan now?”
“Hm?” Josie asked, her mouth fixed on a plastic cup full of soda.
“We basically tricked everyone into coming here,” Andromeda said, “Everyone is going to be very upset when they realize their… enemies are her.”
“This isn’t a movie,” Josie said. “People don’t have enemies. Sure, the Katie don’t like Kassie or Violet. But what are they going to do about it? As horrifying as it might be to share the same air with them, it’ll be worse to call their parents to come pick them up. These girls don’t hate drama, they feed on it. The one thing Katie wants most is more reasons to talk about people behind their backs.”
“Why couldn’t we have done this at your house?” Andromeda asked.
“Because,” Josie took another sip of her soda, “My dad’s ears are sensitive.”
Josie went to refill her cup. Andromeda said, “Should you be drinking so much of that?”
“Don’t worry about me,” Josi said. “I got that taken care of.”
Mhmm, Andromeda thought.
***
Andromeda sat with the twins, listening to Katie complain about something, and kept her eye on Josie all night. She knew she was up to something. Why else would she try to bring all these people together? And why pack so many diapers.
Around bed time, or rather long after sundown when Andromeda’s mom said, “It’s bed time.” all of the girls went their separate ways to get changed into their pajamas.
Josie was indeed wearing the night gown that Andromeda recognized as being long and thick and dark. Not only was it perfect for hiding the Pull-Up (even when Josie did a cartwheel you couldn’t tell she was wearing one [they checked.]) if it did leak the material was black and fuzzy, so there were never any wet marks.
Katie and her sister were both wearing matching nightgowns that looked more like fashion pieces than pajamas. Tess didn’t seem to comfortable in hers.
Violet had dawned a long t-shirt, probably her dad’s, and a pair of pajama pants that didn’t go with the shirt at all.
Zoey was wearing a matching set of striped green pajamas. Maddie had the same outfit, but with blue stripes.
Andromeda wore a matching two-piece as well, one with stars and planets all over it. Not that anyone was counting, but Andromeda had the coolest jammies that night.
“Everyone can just take a spot,” Andromeda explained. “There’s room on the couches and...yeah.”
Katie made an effort to ensure that Violet was nowhere near her or her sister. But everyone else just kinda fell down wherever. All Andromeda wanted to do was get through the night. And so she put on a long movie and hoped that would conk everyone out. Halfway through the second movie, there was the first incident of the night.
“Ack!” Maddie screamed.
“What’s wrong?” Zoey jumped up. “Are you hurt?”
“Sorry!” Josie screamed.
Andromeda got the lights. There was a huge stain on Maddie’s pajamas. “What the?”
“I just spilled,” Josie said, holding up her empty cup. “Come on, Maddie. Andromeda, she can borrow something to wear, right?”
Andromeda nodded and the two went upstairs.
“What. A. Spazz.” Katie said.
“I’ll be right back.”
Upstairs, Andromeda slowly crept towards her door and peeked through the crack. She saw Josie sitting on the bed as Maddie pulled one of Andromeda’s big night gowns on. For a brief second, Andromeda could swear that Maddie was wearing a Pull-Up.
“Looks like your plan worked,” Maddie said.
At that moment, Andromeda ran back down stairs.
***
Some time later, Josie and Maddie returned to the movie and one by one every went to sleep. Andromeda couldn’t get comfortable, so she quietly crept back up to her room. She tried to thing, try to figure it all out. If Josie just wanted to share diapers with Maddie, why not just invite Maddie over to her place. Why invite all these other people? And why do it at Andromeda’s house?
Andromeda kicked off her bottoms and removed her underwear. She grabbed one of the Pull-Ups she had hidden in her underwear draw and put it on. For a second, she felt nothing. And then… nothing.
The others left in the morning. One by one until only Josie was left. The two hung out in Andromeda’s room in silence for a moment.
“How do you think that went?” Josie asked.
“You tell me,” Andromeda said.
“Well,” Josie said, “The twins didn’t come around to Kassie but I did see Zoey and Feebs talking, so that was an improvement.”
“Mhmm,” Andromeda said.
“Something wrong?” Josie asked.
“Josie,” Andromeda looked up at her best friend, “Can I try on a diaper?”
“Come on,” Josie rolled her eyes. “You know the answer. Diapers will ruin your life. You don’t want them.”
“Is that what you told Maddie?” Andromeda asked.
No one said a word for a second.
“So you saw?” Josie asked.
“I’ve been your best friend for like two years,” Andromeda started to tear up. “And you always said I shouldn’t bother with diapers, even though you were always happy wearing them and miserable when you didn’t have any. You’ve know this girl for a month and you let her wear one? What was so special about Madeline.”
“It’s Maddie,” Josie corrected.
“And that!” Andromeda spat, now completely crying. “You gave all the girls in class a nickname. Except me.”
“Andromeda!” Josie reached out and brought her friend in for a hug. “That’s your name. The name of a galaxy. And it’s frickin cool. Katherine and Madeline aren’t cool names. I have them nicknames because I can't bare to say those lame Bible names. But Andromeda is a cool name already. Because you’re a cool person. And as for the diapers, you never seemed like you really needed them. Not like you had a medical reason. But I got to know Maddie and I saw in her eyes a little girl who needed my help. You never needed my help. You never needed diapers. But if it means that much to you, you can try one on now.”
Andromeda wiped her eyes and said, “I tried one on last night. Sorry. But I didn’t like it.”
“See?” Josie said. “I know you.”
They hugged again, and Josie got picked up soon after. Andromeda relaxed on her bed for a moment, until she got a text that read: “Hey, thanks for invited that freak to the party and not telling us. Be lucky she didn’t piss all over your floor. Still a fun time though. XOXO” It was from Katie.
Andromeda decided not to answer. She closed the door, took off her bottoms, and put on another Pull-Up. For a second, she felt nothing. And then… nothing. And then: she felt a little glimmer of something she had never felt before. Harmony.
“But my birthday is in the spring,” Andromeda said. The two sat alone at the end of school on a cold October Thursday.
“You don’t need a reason to have a sleepover,” Josie said. “We used to have them all the time back home.” For Josie, home still meant Harmony Hills.
“Why do you want to have one so bad, anyway?” Andromed asked. “Someone might see your you-know-whats.”
“So?” Josie asked. After only a month at school she had already revealed the existence of her Pull-Ups to Maddie and Neville. She didn’t care who else saw them. “Sevent to ten percent of-”
“I know, I know,” Andromeda rolled her eyes. “But if Katherine or Cassandra-”
“Katie or Kassie,” Josie corrected.
“Fine.” Andromed huffed. “If Katie or Kassie find out, the whole school will know and they won’t care what statistics are on the back of the package.”
Josie thought that one over. “A fair point. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take, alright? I’ll wear that one nighty, the one that hides them really well. Okay?”
Andromeda considered that and said, “Alright, fine. But no weird stuff. By the end of the night I want the number of people who have seen you in Pull-Ups to be the same, got it?”
“Scout’s honor,” Josie said.
“Pfft,” Andromeda smiled. “You’re not a scout.”
Josie stuck her tongue out at her friend.
“So who should I invite?” Andromeda asked.
“Isn’t that obvious?” Josie responed. “The whole class.”
“I can’t invite the whole class!” Andromeda nearly shouted.
“Just the girls, obviously.” Josie corrected.
“Noooo,” Andromeda said, “If we invite Katie then we have to invite her sister which means we can’t invite Kassie or Phoebe because Kassie hates Katie and we can’t invite Violet if we invite Katie because Violet wet Katie’s sister’s bed.”
“Well what about Maddie?” Josie asked.
“Maddie is neutral,” Andromeda said, “But she comes with Zoey, who is also neutral.”
“So the choice is between the twins or Kassie and Phoebe,” Josie thought it over. “And the twins don’t mesh well with Vi. So, to maximize the number of guests, I say we go with Kassie and Phoebe.”
“But I don’t really know Kassie and Phoebe,” Andromeda said. “Besides, the twins are on cheerleading with me.”
“God I hate these cliques.” Josie said. And then a light seemed to go off in her head. “Andromeda, I have an idea.”
***
“Hi, Mrs. Lloyd. Can I speak to either Katherine or Theresa? Thanks… Hi, Katherine. I was wondering if you’d like to come over my house to a sleepover. Yes, I know my birthday isn’t until spring. It’s just for fun. No, Kassie and Feebs aren’t invited. Yes, Josie is coming. No, Violet isn’t coming either. Yup, just us. Oh, and Maddie and Zoey are invited too. Okay? Alright, see you then.”
Andromeda hung up. Across from her, Josie sat on Andromeda’s bed with the school director in hand. “Okay, the next number is...”
“Hi, Mrs. Mart. Can I speak to Cassandra? Thanks… Hi, Kassie. What? Andromeda. From school... I was wondering if you’d like to come over my house to a sleepover. No, the twins aren’t invited. And you can invite Feebs. Yes, Josie is coming. I was going to invite Violet too.... Yup, just us. Oh, and Maddie and Zoey are invited too. Okay? Alright, see you then.”
Andromeda hung up again.
“So both parties have agreed,” Josie said, going over her master plan in her head.
“We’re having two parties?” Andromeda asked.
“No,” Josie explained, “A party is like a… group of people… Like how you can only have three monsters on your team at once and the rest stay in town.”
“What?” Andromeda was becoming more and more confused.
“Don’t worry about it,” Josie said. “You just call the others and keep cool. I’ll go make sure we have everything we need.”
Josie went downstairs. Andromeda thought her friend might have felt a bit too comfortable in her house. As she sat on the phone, about to call Maddie and Zoey, Andromeda noticed something poking out of Josie’s bag. Inside was an almost full package of Pull-Ups. Josie usually only went through a few whenever she came over. There were over a dozen in the package. Why would Josie bring so many for just the weekend?
It happened in a flash, Andromeda didn’t know what she was thinking. She reached into the package and took a couple of Pull-Ups out and hid them in her underwear drawer, closing it just as Josie returned.
***
Maddie and Zoey arrived first, and all seemed to be going swingingly. Then the twins arrive, and Andromeda watched as Josie and Katie pretended to be perfect to try and out-perfect each other. It was safe to say, Andromeda was not having fun at her own sleepover.
There was a knock on the door.
“Who is that?” Katherine asked. “I thought everyone was here.”
“I’ll get it,” Andromeda said. Her heart was pounding as she went and opened the door, letting Violet in. “It’s Violet!” The frail little girl gave a light wave, everyone’s eyes fixed on her. Katie’s eyes were particularly flaming.
Andromeda ran over to Josie and asked, “What exactly is the plan now?”
“Hm?” Josie asked, her mouth fixed on a plastic cup full of soda.
“We basically tricked everyone into coming here,” Andromeda said, “Everyone is going to be very upset when they realize their… enemies are her.”
“This isn’t a movie,” Josie said. “People don’t have enemies. Sure, the Katie don’t like Kassie or Violet. But what are they going to do about it? As horrifying as it might be to share the same air with them, it’ll be worse to call their parents to come pick them up. These girls don’t hate drama, they feed on it. The one thing Katie wants most is more reasons to talk about people behind their backs.”
“Why couldn’t we have done this at your house?” Andromeda asked.
“Because,” Josie took another sip of her soda, “My dad’s ears are sensitive.”
Josie went to refill her cup. Andromeda said, “Should you be drinking so much of that?”
“Don’t worry about me,” Josi said. “I got that taken care of.”
Mhmm, Andromeda thought.
***
Andromeda sat with the twins, listening to Katie complain about something, and kept her eye on Josie all night. She knew she was up to something. Why else would she try to bring all these people together? And why pack so many diapers.
Around bed time, or rather long after sundown when Andromeda’s mom said, “It’s bed time.” all of the girls went their separate ways to get changed into their pajamas.
Josie was indeed wearing the night gown that Andromeda recognized as being long and thick and dark. Not only was it perfect for hiding the Pull-Up (even when Josie did a cartwheel you couldn’t tell she was wearing one [they checked.]) if it did leak the material was black and fuzzy, so there were never any wet marks.
Katie and her sister were both wearing matching nightgowns that looked more like fashion pieces than pajamas. Tess didn’t seem to comfortable in hers.
Violet had dawned a long t-shirt, probably her dad’s, and a pair of pajama pants that didn’t go with the shirt at all.
Zoey was wearing a matching set of striped green pajamas. Maddie had the same outfit, but with blue stripes.
Andromeda wore a matching two-piece as well, one with stars and planets all over it. Not that anyone was counting, but Andromeda had the coolest jammies that night.
“Everyone can just take a spot,” Andromeda explained. “There’s room on the couches and...yeah.”
Katie made an effort to ensure that Violet was nowhere near her or her sister. But everyone else just kinda fell down wherever. All Andromeda wanted to do was get through the night. And so she put on a long movie and hoped that would conk everyone out. Halfway through the second movie, there was the first incident of the night.
“Ack!” Maddie screamed.
“What’s wrong?” Zoey jumped up. “Are you hurt?”
“Sorry!” Josie screamed.
Andromeda got the lights. There was a huge stain on Maddie’s pajamas. “What the?”
“I just spilled,” Josie said, holding up her empty cup. “Come on, Maddie. Andromeda, she can borrow something to wear, right?”
Andromeda nodded and the two went upstairs.
“What. A. Spazz.” Katie said.
“I’ll be right back.”
Upstairs, Andromeda slowly crept towards her door and peeked through the crack. She saw Josie sitting on the bed as Maddie pulled one of Andromeda’s big night gowns on. For a brief second, Andromeda could swear that Maddie was wearing a Pull-Up.
“Looks like your plan worked,” Maddie said.
At that moment, Andromeda ran back down stairs.
***
Some time later, Josie and Maddie returned to the movie and one by one every went to sleep. Andromeda couldn’t get comfortable, so she quietly crept back up to her room. She tried to thing, try to figure it all out. If Josie just wanted to share diapers with Maddie, why not just invite Maddie over to her place. Why invite all these other people? And why do it at Andromeda’s house?
Andromeda kicked off her bottoms and removed her underwear. She grabbed one of the Pull-Ups she had hidden in her underwear draw and put it on. For a second, she felt nothing. And then… nothing.
The others left in the morning. One by one until only Josie was left. The two hung out in Andromeda’s room in silence for a moment.
“How do you think that went?” Josie asked.
“You tell me,” Andromeda said.
“Well,” Josie said, “The twins didn’t come around to Kassie but I did see Zoey and Feebs talking, so that was an improvement.”
“Mhmm,” Andromeda said.
“Something wrong?” Josie asked.
“Josie,” Andromeda looked up at her best friend, “Can I try on a diaper?”
“Come on,” Josie rolled her eyes. “You know the answer. Diapers will ruin your life. You don’t want them.”
“Is that what you told Maddie?” Andromeda asked.
No one said a word for a second.
“So you saw?” Josie asked.
“I’ve been your best friend for like two years,” Andromeda started to tear up. “And you always said I shouldn’t bother with diapers, even though you were always happy wearing them and miserable when you didn’t have any. You’ve know this girl for a month and you let her wear one? What was so special about Madeline.”
“It’s Maddie,” Josie corrected.
“And that!” Andromeda spat, now completely crying. “You gave all the girls in class a nickname. Except me.”
“Andromeda!” Josie reached out and brought her friend in for a hug. “That’s your name. The name of a galaxy. And it’s frickin cool. Katherine and Madeline aren’t cool names. I have them nicknames because I can't bare to say those lame Bible names. But Andromeda is a cool name already. Because you’re a cool person. And as for the diapers, you never seemed like you really needed them. Not like you had a medical reason. But I got to know Maddie and I saw in her eyes a little girl who needed my help. You never needed my help. You never needed diapers. But if it means that much to you, you can try one on now.”
Andromeda wiped her eyes and said, “I tried one on last night. Sorry. But I didn’t like it.”
“See?” Josie said. “I know you.”
They hugged again, and Josie got picked up soon after. Andromeda relaxed on her bed for a moment, until she got a text that read: “Hey, thanks for invited that freak to the party and not telling us. Be lucky she didn’t piss all over your floor. Still a fun time though. XOXO” It was from Katie.
Andromeda decided not to answer. She closed the door, took off her bottoms, and put on another Pull-Up. For a second, she felt nothing. And then… nothing. And then: she felt a little glimmer of something she had never felt before. Harmony.