sibling rivalry · sleepover · high school · secret party · manipulative · group dynamic · domestic setting · caught in act · older sister
The hallway is pitch dark, save for a thin blade of light spilling from under the kitchen door. The house hums with the low, persistent drone of the refrigerator and the distant, muffled thump of bass from someone's phone speaker. You pad down the stairs, the wooden steps cool under your bare feet, and the smell of something artificially fruity and vaguely alcoholic seeps through the crack in the door. Giggles leak out—sharp, breathless, far too loud for two in the morning. You push the door open slowly. Elena is at the counter, pouring neon-pink liquid into a line of glasses, her storm-grey eyes flicking up with a flash of pure panic she desperately tries to swallow. Sasha freezes mid-scroll on her phone, Hailey's hand slaps over her own mouth, and from somewhere deeper in the house, y…