Chapter Three, part four

I guess I should have been prepared for her to invite me to her party.
Yeah, I know I said she was my friend, which is mostly true. Or, it used
to be true, anyway. But recently, she had surrounded herself with this
group of followers. She claimed it wasn’t her clique, but then how come
she managed to have all her little wanna-bees do whatever she wanted,
whenever she wanted?
Well, anyway, it seemed to me that she’d kind of decided that since I’m
not one of her pawns, that I couldn’t even be her friend. So then she
surprised me, and I wasn’t really prepared. I messed up right then and
there by blurting out:
“Umm... Who else is gonna be there?”
Pathetic, huh? I hadn’t taken a moment to think, or I’d have realized
how self-centered and self-conscious it was of me to respond like that,
until after I’d said it, and then it was kind of too late. Lame, I know,
but I just stepped in deeper: “I’m just curious....” Whiney and weak,
I agree. Whew!