Real Friends

Shannon has her 11th birthday party. Most members of The Group, including Adrienne, do not come, but Shannon is relieved; she has enough other friends now to have a good party. Zara gives Shannon some tapes, and all the girls have fun dancing to the music. Wendy watches from the stairs, looking upset, but she says nothing. 

A while later, Wendy plans her own party. She sets up food and makes sure that her younger siblings will not interrupt, but when the day comes, no one shows up to the party. Shannon’s mom is worried about Wendy. She had hoped Wendy would have a better time at her new school, but this seems not to be the case. She explains to Shannon that Wendy has always had a hard time socially and that in elementary school, other girls were cruel to her and did not want to be her friend. In junior high, girls played a trick on Wendy by faking an invite for a sleepover at another girl’s house. When Wendy got dropped off for the sleepover, the girl was reluctant to have an uninvited guest stay for a sleepover, but both girls’ mothers insisted, hoping to smooth over the awkward situation.