Chapter Text
Cath arrived promptly at 10 am to help set up for Marry Ann’s little sisters birthday. She had spent her whole Friday afternoon baking a triple layer red velvet cake for the party. She decorated it with edible pearls and wrote Happy 10th Birthday Anne Marie in the best cursive writing she could manage. It took her one hour trying to get the writing perfect but she would not admit that to a soul.
It was now 11:30 and the back patio of Mary Anne’s house was ready for the party.
She looked at Mary Anne and smiled proudly “I think we did an excellent job.” Mary Anne looked at Cath and smiled back “I agree, we deserve a rest before the guests get here.”
Mary Anne then wandered over inside the house to get two glasses of lemonade, she came back out and gestured to the glass patio table with two chairs pulled out for them to relax in.
Cath took a sip from her lemonade and let out a refreshed sigh. She was about to take another sip when the doorbell rang. She looked at Mary Ann with a puzzled expression on her face, the party wasn’t supposed to start for another 30 minutes and surely Anne Marie and her mother wouldn’t have come back so soon. This was a surprise party after all.
“I’ll get it.” Cath said as she got up from her chair and walked towards the house, when she made it to the front door she opened it slowly and she was definitely not expecting what she saw.
There was a boy who looked around her age wearing a black suit and a jester hat with black eyeshadow all around his eyelids. He had a warm smile on his face which made him seem a bit more human but not by much. He had a big black bag in one hand and he was waving politely at Cath with the other.
“Hello, nice to meet you! I’m Jest, the jester for this party. You are having a party right? I’m sure this was the correct house, unless of course it’s not and I got the wrong address.” He was rambling a bit but Cath couldn’t help but find it endearing. “You’ve got the right house, no worries.” Cath smiled and waved him inside, he followed her as she began walking back out into the patio.
When Mary Ann saw him she got up from her seat “Oh you must be the jester I hired. I’m Mary Ann and you can leave your bag on this table.” She gestures towards the glass table with our drinks.
Jest places his bag on the table and he starts rummaging through it. “Do you need help setting anything up?” Catherine asks “No no, thank you for asking but I just need a few things. Do you think the children could sit on the grass while I perform?”
“Sure they can, I’ll go inside and get a blanket for the ground.” Cath walks inside and finds the closet where all of the blankets are kept. She knows Mary Anne’s house better than her own, she usually spends most nights here when her parents upset her which is quite often. She chooses a blanket with a checkerboard pattern and begins to walk towards the patio again.
As she walks past the bathroom she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Cath smiles at her reflection, she did a good job choosing her outfit today. A white sundress with a red cardigan paired with her red Mary Janes. She brings a hand to her hair and curls a strand around her finger, her hair is flowing in waves along her shoulders and she adores the red headband that ties it all together.
Cath looks back outside and makes eye contact with Jest. He smiles softly at her and Cath can’t help but blush. Was he staring at her that whole time? Surely not, it must have been a coincidence that they made eye contact at the same moment.
15 minutes pass and some of Anne Marie’s friends begin to arrive, Jest keeps them entertained until Anne Marie shows up at 12:10. Her mother leads her out into the patio with her hands covering her daughters eyes and then she removes them and quickly and everybody at the party yells “Surprise!”.