Middle Aged Slumber Party #2
Christopher Pike's Slumber Party: Chapter One, Part Two
Hello, friends.
Welcome to the second installment of my deep dive into Christopher Pike’s Slumber Party, a book with chapters so long that I had to break them into pieces to write this.
Want to start from the beginning? Here’s the link to the first post.
Subscribe to follow along, re-read the book if you’re feeling it, and for SURE, please tell me all about your memories of reading this way back when.
Since then Celeste had revealed few personal facts. Her parents were dead. She lived alone with her aunt. She had a bad back from a car accident. She liked books.
—Slumber Party, Chapter One
Scene Four: Arrival at the party house
Lara, Dana, and Celeste arrive at the house, which sounds pretty fancy:
The trilevel frame house was set in the side of a natural granite wall, spacious windows opening on a breathtaking view of the valley. A thin trail of smoke drifted from a towering brick chimney. Home sweet home.
Meanwhile, Dana’s gonna Dana:
“Can you imagine the bucks Nell’s parents must have to buy a place like that?” Dana asked with a mix of disdain and envy.
“Money isn’t everything,” Celeste said.
Dana stared at her. “Were you just hatched from an egg?”
Note to self: Steal that insult.
Anyway, somehow, Lara and Dana didn’t give Celeste any details about their hostess until NOW? Like, this seems like information they’ve have given her during the drive, if not before???
“She was one of the gang when we were all small. She moved away when we were in fourth grade. Her family’s in oil. They live in Sacramento now. Over the years, she’s kept in contact. She’s a good friend.”
IS SHE, THOUGH??? Because then Dana says something about Nell not having an easy time of it—but she does that Quiet But Still Audible thing, so you know it is Dramatic and Possibly Portentous—and Celeste asks for details and Dana and Lara get all Dramatic and Squirrelly and Lara and Dana Exchange A Look:
Fourth grade—long enough for everyone’s memory to fade, except for Nell’s. The facial scars she saw in every mirror made that impossible. She hadn’t moved away. She had been driven away.
Except for the addition of Celeste, and the absence of Nell’s younger sister, Nicole, this weekend’s cast would be the same as that slumber party.
“When we were nine years old,” Lara began, “Nell had an accident.”
“It was nobody’s fault,” Dana interjected.
FEELING GUILTY, DANA???
And then Lara just infobarfs all over the place (again, this ALL seems like information to have passed along before they were on the literal doorstep of the house):
“She got burned,” Lara continued. “Her face and hands. She had to have extensive plastic surgery, which was very painful. She looks okay now, but it’s always there between us. You see, the accident that burned her—each of us contributed to it.” Lara tried to smile to relieve her tension. “I guess you would call it our deep, dark secret.”
“Was anyone else hurt?” Celeste asked, stooping down to make a snowball. Obviously she did not notice how badly the topic disturbed them..
“No,” Dana said quickly, before Lara could speak. “No one else was hurt.”
SMOOTH, DANA. You are a TERRIBLE liar.
DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNN:
“No one else,” Lara echoes weakly; not exactly a lie. Nicole hadn’t really been hurt. Nicole had died.
Mindy Casey, tripping over her scarf and enthusiasm, floundered toward them. In appearance she was a pale shadow of her idol—Rachael. Her character took after her bubble-gum chewing obsession: initially sweet, often swelled with hot air, periodically exploding. Lara couldn’t imagine life without her.
—Slumber Party, Chapter One
Thankfully for our pals Lara and Dana, the awkwardness is dispelled by Mindy’s—she of the amazing bubble-gum and hot air description above—arrival, which turns into an impromptu snowball fight. (Celeste, ever the drip, abstains.)
Lara asks if they had to do much to get the place ready, and apparently Nell instructed them to clean the basement?? Which seems like a weird thing to do to prep for a slumber party?? But Mindy and Rachael were not so into that, so they made a New Wave snowman instead.
Enter Rachael:
Rachael Grayson appeared on the porch.
“Hi, girls,” she said in her slightly cynical tone that made the uninitiated feel that they weren’t quite as important as they thought they were. Seeing Rachael, poster perfect in her skin-tight, blue ski outfit and dazzling shower of blond hair, Lara thought again how ludicrous it was that they were in competition.
“Look at you,” Dana said in disgust. “No way I’m going to go hustle guys with you.”
Rachael smiled faintly, acknowledging her physical superiority.
I’ve gotta hand it to Christopher Pike: Everything about that last sentence RULES.
She and Lara snipe at each other a bit about homecoming, but then Rachael comes down and everyone hugs each other and for a brief moment, it seems like they are all normal human beings, rather than Classic Teen Horror Character Archetypes.
Lara and Rachael even have a quiet conversation—where they seem to view one another as equals (if not quite allies), even, instead of borderline enemies??—about Nell and her health. (According to Rachael, she’s running a slight fever.)
But then Dana brings up Rachael’s weird obsession about the date of the slumber party, and it all gets weird again:
A cold light hardened Rachael’s eyes. Since childhood Lara had sensed, but never witnessed, a part of Rachael capable of genuine violence. “It was important that we come this weekend,” Rachael said flatly.
I just… YIKES?? They were literally just hugging like 30 seconds ago!!! Hanging out with these people would be wayyyyyyyyyyy too stressful for me.
Enter Nell:
“Hello,” Nell Kutroff said, causing everyone to jump slightly. She was standing in the doorway, bracing herself against the railing. Wrinkles of fatigue pinched her eyes. The scars about her nose and mouth were more noticeable than usual. This was the first time since the accident that Lara had seen Nell without heavy makeup.
Lara hugs her, Nell hesitates, but then reciprocates, Lara gets all emotional and, at first, doesn’t know if it’s RELIEF or GUILT. It doesn’t take her long to figure it out:
“You look good,” Lara said finally, lying. It was guilt.
Celeste was hiding behind Rachael and Mindy. Lara beckoned for her. “This is the wonderful new friend that I told you all about on the phone. Nell, meet Celeste.”
—Slumber Party, Chapter One
I still think it’s such a weird move to have a big weekend reunion of a bunch of old friends who haven’t seen one another since A Tragic Incident, and then they ALSO invite a rando?? I know Celeste campaigned to go on the trip, but the whole situation is just asking for Massive Awkwardness.
Anyway, Nell and Celeste meet, and Celeste continues to be more of a blank slate than Bella Swan:
“That’s a beautiful name, Celeste,” she said, with a trace of nervousness. “What does it mean?”
“Nothing,” Celeste said.
“Heavenly,” Lara corrected. Surely Celeste must have known that!
They get a tour of the house, and it’s very fancy and has three giant fireplaces that apparently are big enough to roast “a prize steer.” I have no idea if that’s hyperbole or not.
While they don’t visit the basement, they are told all about the new—and presumably gigantic—propane tank, because that’s what eighteen year olds talk about.
Before the crew—minus Nell, who’s not feeling great, and Celeste, who can’t ski because of her bad back—heads off to go skiing, they go to see Rachael and Mindy’s snowman… BUT IT HAS DISAPPEARED!!!
His scarf, sunglasses, and cowboy hat are just sadly lying there on the ground.
Things escalate and the girls start accusing one another of murdering the snowman, but everyone denies it:
“Is this some kind of adolescent prank?” Dana accused Mindy.
“No! I swear. Somebody else must have knocked it down.”
“A psychotic snowman murderer with an ax, right,” Rachael said.
Lara, being—I assume—our Final Girl, keeps her cool and INVESTIGATES, finding that the snowman wasn’t knocked over, it MELTED, creating “a concave circle of ice about six feet in diameter.”
Rachael is positive that there must be a hot pipe underground, or a vent or something; Nell says that’s absolutely not the case, and Dana is as helpful—and heteronormative—as ever:
“Probably saw a nude female snowman and got too hot,” Dana suggested.
They began back toward the house. Except for Lara. She remained studying the impression of ice. It was as though the snowman had suddenly caught fire.
THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUSLY MELTING SNOWMAN!!
I HAVE CHILLS!!
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT, WILL A POND FREEZE???
Next up: THEY MEET SOME BOYS AT THE SKI LODGE.
And that’s it for this round! More next Thursday.
In the meantime, subscribe so that you don’t miss installments, let me know about your memories of reading (and watching!) horror as a tween and teen. I’m also always here if you’ve got recommendations.
Talk soon,
Leila
Loving this book, though I still cannot figure out the PURPOSE of Celeste. I mean, I'm trying, but what??
Though, I think I need Rachel to meet that one dude whose eyes flashed from "twilight to cold, steel gray" in the Ashley Weaver safecracker books... they could clearly have dramatic eye babies together.