By Maanvi Singh (age 10)
“Oh my god!” Delilah announces, “Now that Lettie is finally engaged, we’re all engaged!
At the same time!”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Lettie says, standing up from the table.
“Triple wedding!” Lila, Lettie and Kyra exclaim.
“This is gonna be the best,” Lila sighs, “A wedding in a beautiful cathedral.”
“On the beach, with an open bar,” Lettie says, also sighing.
“At a trampoline park,” Kyra says, looking up and closing her eyes, while her friends both look at her with disgust on their faces.
“A trampoline par–You better straighten up, lady, because we are not gonna have our weddings at a trampoline park.” Lila says.
“What, I have mine all planned out.” Kyra says as if it were obvious.
“Here we go,” Lettie mutters, rolling her eyes.
“No, no, look, there will be water balloons in barrels at the entrance, dogs and cats on each corner, and we will wear these.” She pulls out some multicolored dresses, with polka dots and stripes all over.
“Oh no. Please don’t tell me you already bought those,” Lettie says with a worried look on her face.
“Oh no, don’t worry,” Kyra reassures her, “They’re borrowed from my brother, Jimmy’s, collection. I had to make sure they would fit. I got the fat one for Lettie, and the short one for Lila!”
Lila puts her hand on her chest. “Oh! I’m not short.” Kyra gives her a look.
“She’s short,” Lettie says, “But I’m not fat, and I’m not wearing that for my wedding. And my fiance has a dress collection? Yeesh.”
“Well, what do you guys want?” Kyra says looking around the living room.
“As I was saying,” Lila says, “I want the traditional one that our family has done for generations.”
“Not my family,” Kyra says.
“You guys!” Lettie shouts, “No fighting. The perfect wedding is on the beach with an open bar, everyone’s bare feet in the sand–”
“Oh ho ho! Scarlett, no feet will be bare at my wedding!” Lila says.
“What do you mean, how will I dance on the dance floor? With shoes?” Kyra asks. They all start fighting with their voices overlapping, hands flying up in the air, Lettie standing on the coffee table.
“What are these chaotic noises?” Lettie’s fiance, Jimmy comes down the stairs skipping a step, with their baby in his hands, “I go upstairs to watch Inception with the baby, next thing I know there’s a war going on downstairs!”
“Look, Jim, your beloved sister wants our wedding at a stupid trampoline park, and wear these stupid dresses, no offense, and have some stupid water balloons.” Lettie complains. Her red hair swishes from side to side.
“Look, first of all, that is a GREAT ide–” Jimmy starts.
“Oh my god, you Becketts. You’re killing me,” Lila interrupts.
“You didn’t let me finish.” Jimmy gives her a look. “That is a great idea, BUT, it doesn’t fit into anyone else’s perspectives. What do the others want?”
“Woah.” Kyra says, her wide eyes looking at Lettie and Lila , “Was that my brother?”
“I dunno,” Jimmy says, “Imma go make a sandwich with no bread!”
“And it’s back to Jimmy again.” Lettie smiles, as Jimmy walks away.
“Well,” Lila says, “I guess he’s right….” They hear a little “Hah!” from Jimmy in the kitchen.
“I mean, yeah,” Kyra says looking at the door to the kitchen, “I guess we won’t have all the things I want, but we can have some. Like the dance floor! Maybe we should just sit down and discuss things together and make a plan.”
“That seems like a great idea, Kyra, we’ll do it first thing in the morning!” Lila says excitedly as Lettie takes her baby and heads out the door with Lila.
Later that night, Lila pulls Lettie over when they’re cleaning up after dinner.
“Umm…can I talk to you for a sec?” She gives Lettie a small tug on her arm, “I’m sort of scared that Kyra will, you know, take over and start giving us all her crazy thoughts and it will take up all our planning time tomorrow. And I do not want my special day to go all wrong because of her. Not in a rude way. But still.” She had a mix of sorry and worry on her face, and was leaning to the right with her hands on her hips.
“Oh don’t worry,” Lettie says, “This wedding is hers too, so she is allowed to have stuff she wants. And she’ll remember what Jimmy says, and won’t do a thing! But you also have to remember, this is everyone’s wedding! And remember, when life gives you lemons… find someone whose life gave them tequila, and have a party.” They smile.
“That only applies to you, Lettie,” Lila beams. For a split-second they look into each other’s light blue eyes, and see their own beautiful reflection. Both the sisters were very gorgeous, and so was Kyra. Lila and Lettie look almost exactly like each other, except for their hair. Lettie has ginger hair, always in a messy ponytail. And Lila, on the other hand, naturally has light brown hair, but she dyed blond highlights, too. Her hair is normally out. They have blue eyes, with long pretty eyelashes that always have mascara. Kyra is also very pretty, she is a brunette, with beautiful light brown eyes, and her nose pierced on the left side. Her hair is almost always in a tight ponytail, ready to go on any adventure she desires.
“Oh!” Lettie says, breaking the quiet, “Speaking of tequila parties, I have one to attend!” They chuckle as Lettie walks out the door.
When Lettie gets in the car, she gets a call from Kyra, and mutters to herself, “Oh jeez, I sure hope she’s not asking me to help get ready for one of her stupid bacon parties again. Hello?” She adds louder as she picks up the phone.
“Hey Lettie?” Kyra says nervously through the phone.
“Yeah? What’s wrong, Kyra?” Lettie asks.
“I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m scared about Lila!” Kyra says.
“Umm…what about Lila?” Lettie asks.
“Well, you know how she’s always bossy, right, I mean, you’re her sister, but it’s the first time I’m scared of all her bossy-ness,” Kyra says.
“Look, it’s all gonna be fine! All you need to do is don’t throw out as many of your weird ideas and you’ll be fine,” Lettie says calmly.
“Weird ideas?” What weird ideas?” Kyra says, confused.
“Oh, you know what I’m talking about! Bacon parties, acting in your daughter’s play, and your, you know, egg salad sandwich hat.” Lettie says.
“Those aren’t weird, they build character!” Kyra laughs. They laugh together.
~~~
The next day they get together to plan what to do at Lila and Lettie’s house (they live together).
“Okay!” Lila says excitedly, rubbing her hands together. “What do we want to do?”
“Y’all know what I want,” Lettie says.
Lila scoffs, “I already told you, I am not having bare feet at my wedding, and no Kyra, people on the dance floor will have shoes, and no both of you,” she takes a breath, “we are not fighting.”
“Okay with me,” Kyra says.
“What?!” Lila says in surprise, “Kyra’s okay with it? Yay!”
“Just asking, why can’t we have bare feet?” Lettie asks.
“Ugh!” Lila moans, “Because my fiance’s a podiatrist, and he’ll be looking at a bunch of messed up feet,—”
“Messed up feet?” Kyra interrupts, “No one at our wedding will have messed up feet.
“You got a 6th toe implanted just to be weird, and every time he looks at it, he winces,” Lila says, “Anyway, that’s like you having a bunch of —I dunno— broken party planning stuff and me having a bunch of messed up dogs at my wedding, and—”
“Wait, there won’t be dogs?” Kyra interrupts again, making a face.
“Yes, Kyra,” Lettie says, “we’ve been over this.” Lettie gave Kyra a look reminding her about the night before.
They continued to plan for a few more hours, with a few breaks for friend time. After all, they are the world’s greatest friend group! They even have a poster. You know Kyra made it, because her face is the biggest. They had an amazing plan that incorporated everyone’s best ideas.
“Okay!” Lila says, “Eee! I’m so excited.”
“I know, right?” Lettie squeals. “This is going to be the best wedding in the history of weddings! The best part is that it’s in our house, so no one can crash it like I do!” Kyra and Lila exchanged a look. But then they got excited again. Their wedding had all their favorite foods, Lila’s idea of the traditional wedding set-up and dresses, Lettie’s idea of the alcohol, and Kyra’s idea of the dance floor, but Lila said continuously “WE NEED SHOES!”, so they chuckled and decided to keep the shoes on. They don’t know how they’re going to fit everything, but they’ll make it work.
“Okay, Lila, you have to tell the boys what we’re doing,” Lettie says, shooing Lila away.
“Why do I have to?” Lila asked her.
“Because you’re scary and bossy,” Lettie says, “They have no choice but to listen to you. Go, go!” A few minutes later, they heard Kyra’s fiance, Mateo, saying yes in terror from behind the door. They nodded to each other as if they knew it would work. Lettie and Kyra walk in.
“You didn’t tell them everything,” Lettie complained, “You boys will just stand there at the altar, doing nothing, then, Jaxon and Max will be the ring bearers and walk down, then Raquel will be the flower girl and walk down.” She breaths. “And then Kyra will walk down with Joey, because her dad doesn’t really like Mateo.” Her voice trails off at the end. “Then, Lila and I will walk on either side of Dad, then Lila and Simon are the oldest, so they’ll give their vows first, then Kyra and Mateo, then, Jimmy and I!”
Everyone was so excited, and without even thinking the days go by and, “Twas the night before the wedding!” as Kyra says on the video call that night.
“Oh my god!” Lila squeals excitedly, “We’re going to be married tomorrow!”
They go to sleep and before they know it, it is the morning of the wedding! Kyra goes to the Johnson’s to get ready. She knocks on the door, with three cups of Starbucks, her wedding dress, hair styling supplies (Get this! She’s a hair stylist too! I sure wouldn’t trust her with my hair), her heels, and she and her fiance wearing blindfolds.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!” Kyra shrieks, almost breaking the lightbulbs.
“Kyra!” Lila says storming into the room, “Why are you yelling?”
Kyra rolls her eyes under her blindfold, “Because you obviously don’t care because it’s our wedding!!!!!!” She sings.
“You’re right! I don’t!” she smiles, clapping her hands, “But, may I ask, why are you and Mateo wearing blindfolds?”
“Because,” Kyra says, rolling her eyes, “If you look at your fiance on the wedding day, before the wedding, it’s bad luck!”
“Oh?” Lila says questioningly.
“Mmm-hmm!” Kyra nodded her head.
“Simon and Jimmy are already there,” Lila says, steering him toward them. While Mateo goes to the grooms’ ‘get ready room’, Kyra takes off her blindfold, and follows Lila downstairs to the brides’ ‘get ready room’. It was Lettie’s bedroom in the basement, decorated with boy band posters and a giant wine cooler that had more than just wine! But now there are three garment bags that hold three white dresses, and three white rose bouquets. Kyra put her hair styling kit down on the bed behind where Lettie and Lila are sitting, then my plops down next to them.
“So hopefully we’re all showered—” Lila starts.
“Oh! I didn’t!” Kyra interrupts.
“Wha—why?” Lettie rolls eyes.
“I like the smell of your body soap!” Kyra exclaims.
“Oh-ho-ho!” Lila says, her eyes wide, “You are not showering here. You leave little hairs near the drain, it’s disgusting.”
“Please?” She shakes her clasped hands, and makes puppy eyes.
“Fine, but only take 5 minutes and don’t wet your hair and leave the bathtub clean,” Lila says, pointing her finger at her.
“Yes!” Kyra says and skipped off to the bathroom with her hot pink bathrobe.
When she came back, Lila got up and checked the bathtub. Surprisingly, it was clean!
“Okay!” Lettie rubs her hands together, “Let’s get started!”
“A-bup-bup!” Lila stops her and grabs a chunky binder, “We need to follow the schedule on this! Don’t worry! I already gave the boys their pages out of this, too.”
“That whole binder is for us getting ready?”Kyra looks from the binder to Lila, and back to the binder.
“No!” Lila swats a hand at her, “This is for the entire wedding planning! You guys just didn’t notice!
“Okay, so first, we need to wear our dresses,” Lila says pointing to a page on her binder.
“Okay, that’s exactly what I was going to say,” Lettie says. Lila rolls her eyes as Kyra chuckles and gets up to get her dress. They take turns going to the bathroom in Lettie’s bedroom to change into their dresses. They looked beautiful. They all had the same pattern on their dress but their style was different. Lila had an off-the-shoulder dress with lace that drapes beautifully on her shoulders. Kyra had a neckline that dips in the center creating a heart shape and had no sleeves. And Lettie had a sleeveless dress that stuck to her body, unlike Lila and Kyra’s which slightly went out at the waist.
Then Kyra does their hair.
“Umm…you’re not using those scissors, are you?”Lettie eyes the scissors scarily.
“Oh no, no!” Kyra says, removing her gaze from the styling kit and putting it on Lettie, “I’m not crazy!”
“Well,” Lettie mutters looking at Lila and tilting her head.
“Just trust me in this,” she closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, then opens them again. Lettie and Lila close their eyes and brace themselves for the next two hours, but are surprised by the outcome.
“It’s…” Lettie starts, surprised.
“Beautiful!” Lila finishes, even more surprised. Even though they were friends, Lila has always disliked Kyra a little bit, after what happened when they were 16(no one speaks of it!). But now, I think Kyra has regained her trust from Lila.
Raquel, Lila’s daughter, comes downstairs to do the brides’ makeup.
“Hey, guys!” Raquel pants as she lugs her enormous drawer of makeup down the stairs, “This is my desk drawer!”
“Raquel, you’re not going to put that much makeup on us, right?” Lila says, looking at her with a ‘mom stare’.
“No!” she said high-pitched. She becomes serious, “Look, I will put most of this makeup on you, but you shouldn’t worry, I did my makeup and most of my friends’ makeup for junior prom, and we looked amazing!“First, we need a base, to hide your —ummm—you know,—wrinkles? We’re going to put primer, then foundation, then concealer for those who need it, and setting powder.”
“Wow, Raquel,” Lila said with raised eyebrows as Raquel started on Lettie, “I didn’t know you knew so much about makeup!” Raquel grins.
Once she finishes all the girls’ bases, she says, “Now, for the bronzer!” As she applies, she says, “We will put it on the cheekbones…the jawline…and the forehead…!” Then, she blends it with a brush. She does the same with blush and highlighter. “Now for the eyes!” Raquel claps her hands, “My favorite part! You guys have beautiful eyes.” Kyra smiles and flutters her eyes. Her “niece” chuckles at her and rolls her eyes.
“Could we see how we look?” Kyra says as she gets up from the bed.
“No!” Raquel quickly puts a hand on her shoulder and stops her, “You will see it at the end!” She grabs a bunch of products and sets them down next to her. Raquel put on some lip gloss on them and it seemed all done. But then, Raquel puts a setting spray that makes their eyes sting!
“That’s why you’re supposed to close your eyes!” Raquel said in a condescending way as she tried to make their eyes stop watering. But despite the pain, Raquel makes them look beautiful. They look amazing for their big day, and they thank Raquel and Kyra millions of times for doing that(yes, Kyra thanked herself, too).
~~~
“Dun, dun, dun-dun,” the wedding music plays as the brides walk down, Kyra, then Lila and Lettie. All the brides and grooms said their vows, put on their rings, and kissed as Theodore, Lila’s neighbor said, “Bleh!” And finally, the best part, partying, drinking, and eating the wedding food! Kraft mac & cheese by Kyra, beer and root beer by Lettie, and the rest of the sophisticated buffet by Lila! Lila put out some appetizers, like bruschetta, salads, and charcuterie boards. Then she had a serve-yourself buffet, which held different types of pasta, grilled meats and fishes, and obviously some vegetarian options. Everyone danced so much that by the end, all their legs were sore! No shoes were taken off because they would have to deal with the dreadful Lila stare.
~~~
“Hey, did you guys ever talk about how you complained about each other!” Lettie laughed as she remembered being stuck in the middle of the two.
“Wait, you complained about me?” Lila and Kyra said at the exact same time looking at each other, offended.
“Woah. How did you guys do that, can I try?” Lettie said, but no one could hear her over the other two saying, “How dare you?” and “Oh, the nerve!”
“Hello?” Lettie said, waving her hands in the air, “Oh, guys quit it! There is no reason to fight now, because now, we’re married, and look how amazing our wedding turned out, right?” Lettie nodded as the girls said sorry and from the corner of her mouth, she whispered, “Come on, we gotta finish packing for our honeymoon!”
“Wait, wait, wait! I have a binder!” Lila says, as she grabs a binder.
“Oh come on,” Lettie and Kyra moaned at the exact same time. “Now, I’m not even excited that I did that thing with Kyra!” Lettie added.
~~~The End!~~~