(picture above is violet's outfit for this chapter)

Ramona's thirteenth birthday party was tonight and Violet was looking forward to it. Why was she excited for it? Well, besides the fact her friend was turning thirteen, her crush was also invited to the party. Ramona honestly only invited Ryker Burkhard for Violet. Violet appreciated Ramona for doing that, but she was honestly freaking out on the inside. What was she even going to talk to Ryker about? How was she going to approach him? Woudk he even like her?

Once Violet was ready for the night, she heads over next door. She was currently in Jackson's room, sitting on Jackson's bed as she watched him spray cologne on. He didn't look like himself at all, but he claimed he dressed like this so he could impress Lola. Violet didn't think he needed to do that, he just needed to be himself.

"Jax, that stuff is ridiculous." Violet commented, her face scrunching up n disgust.

"Ridiculously amazing." Jackson grinned, laughing lightly when he caught the pillow Violet threw at him. He threw the pillow back at her and Violet threw it back at him, wincing when it hit Stephanie instead since Jackson had stepped out of the way. Stephanie had been walking into the room just before Violet threw the pillow. She winced a bit when she got hit with the pillow.

"Sorry, Steph." Violet cringes. "That was meant for Jackson."

"It's okay." Stephanie reassured her.

"Wow!" Jackson glances at the two cans of body spray he held. "They're not kidding when they say this stuff attracts women!"

Stephanie scoffs. "I could smell you from the kitchen."

"It's my own unique body spray combo of Dark Temptation and Excite." Jackson explained.

"Is this new smell cloud and look Lola-related?" Stephanie raised her eyebrows, gesturing to Jackson's outfit.

"Yeah," Jackson replies, setting the cans on his desk. "She's coming to Ramona's party." He smirks. "Figured I'd make my move."

"Do you mind if I make a couple tweaks?" Stephanie asked him.

"Sure." Jackson shrugged.

"Okay." Stephanie smiles. "Uh...Well, let's lose the glasses 'cause its night." She took the black sunglasses off Jackson had on.

Jackson nods. "Makes sense."

"And, uh, you know, maybe the hat 'cause you've got a great head of hair." Stephanie comments, taking off the hat.

Jackson smiles. "It is one of my top three features."

"Mm-hmm." Stephanie hums in agreement. She sets the hat next to the sunglasses on the chest in front of Jackson's bed. "And it's too warm for a jacket, so that needs to come off." She then takes his black leather jacket off. "Alright. And I'm not gonna sugar-coat this." She looks at the gold chain necklace he wore with disgust. "I've seen nicer chains on snow tires." She takes the gold chain necklace off and set it on the chest with the other stuff. She smiles, gesturing to himself. "Perfect!"

Jackson frowns. "But now I'm just me."

"Exactly!" Stephanie nods. "And that's what Lola's gonna like. And if she doesn't like 'just you', tons of other girls out there will." She side glances at Violet, who catches her gaze and glances at her with confusion, wondering what the blonde was trying to insinuate. "Have some faith in your swagger." Stephanie told Jackson and smiled at him.

"Oh! Jackson grins, picking up another can of body spray. "Got a can of Swagger right here!"

Violet panics and she quickly gets off the bed, rushing over to stop Jackson from spraying the can along with Stephanie. "No, no, no, no!"

****

"I present to you the fabulous Ramona." Fernando announces. "Hair by Fernando." He stood by the bottom of the stairs, gesturing to his daughter, who started walking down the stairs. Ramona wore a pink dress with the new heels her parents got her. Everyone clapped for Ramona as Ramona hugged her mom.

"Yeah, yeah! You look awesome!" Jackson smiles. He glances at Max and then at Violet beside him. "Doesn't she look awesome?" His smile fell and he shows his boredom as he looks at his mom. "Hey, mom, can I go now?" Violet laughed, looking at him wtih amusement.

"Yes. Thank you for pretending to care." DJ nodded. Jackson nodded and smiled in response before he left the room as Max walked over to Ramona.

"You really do look beautiful." Max complimented.

Ramona looks surprised, but she still smiles at him. "Thank you."

Max grimaces. "The hair's a little much."

Ramona glances at her dad with an amused smile when she saw the offended look on his face. Fernando glares at Max. "You may leave too!" Max smiled and walked away.

"Don't listen to Max," Violet chuckles, walking over to her friend and pulls her in for a side hug. She smiles at her. "You look fantastic."

"Thanks, Vivi." Ramona returns the smile. "And so do you."

Violet pulls away from the hug, going back to her place beside DJ and Stephanie while Ramona pulls her parents into a side hug. "This day has been so great already. Feels like we're a real family again."

"Especially when we got the family meal deal at Pizza Hut." Kimmy smiled.

"Nothing says 'family' like pizza with wieners hiding in the crust." Fernando commented and Kimmy and Ramona nodded in response.

"Ooh, let's get some pictures." Ramona suggested.

"Oh, yes!" Kimmy agreed and each of them got their phone out, handing their phones to Stephanie. "Here, Stephanie."

"Oh." Stephanie said with surprise. "I'm the official Gibbler family photographer. Okay. Well, uh, everybody smile." The family of three got into a pose and smiles at the phone Stephanie was using to take a picture. "Alright, give me some pouty lips." The girls does as Stephanie says, but so does Fernando. "Not you, Fernando!"

When the doorbell rang, DJ went to answer the door. "Hey, Matt." DJ greeted.

"Hi, DJ." Matt responded.

Violet's eyes widen with surprise when she recognized his voice. She glances over at the door and smiles widely. "Matt?"

Matt looks over in the direction he heard name again, smiling when he saw Violet. "Violet! Hey, kiddo, how are you?"

"I'm doing good." Violet replies. "What about you? I didn't know you were in town."

"I'm doing good too. Yeah, I'm filling in for my dad at the vet clinic while he's away." Matt explained and Violet nodded in realization.

DJ glances between the two with confusion. "How do you two know each other?"

"Oh, uh, I was friends with her parents before I realized they were jerks." Matt responds. He sends Violet an apologetic look. "No offense."

"None taken 'cause they are jerks." Violet shrugged.

Matt walks further into the house and DJ closes the door. He looks back at DJ with a smile. "Anyway, I didn't know what to bring so I brought some Hawaiian Punch for the little kids and some tequila for the big kids."

DJ chuckles and smiles at him. "I'm so glad you came by." She points at Kimmy. "That's my friend Kimmy Gibbler."

"Oh," Violet's eyes widen in realization and she chuckles. "Are you trying to set him up with Kimmy?"

"Yep." DJ nodded.

Matt turns around, furrowing his eyebrows. "The one taking the picture?"

"No," DJ shakes her head. "The one getting her picture taken."

Violet grimaces as she noticed the pose Kimmy and Fernando were in. Fernando was hugging her from behind and kissing her cheek. Now probably wasn't the best time for Matt to arrive if DJ wanted to set him up with Kimmy. "She certainly looks taken." Matt noticed.

"She's unattached." DJ reassured her.

"She certainly looks attached." Matt pointed out.

"That's her soon to be ex husband." DJ tells him. "He's out of the picture."

"He certainly looks in the picture." Matt comments. He smiles at DJ wtih amusement. "I could do this all day."

"Please don't." Violet pleads and she rubs her forehead out of annoyance. "It's getting annoying."

****

It was now time for Ramona's birthday party. The backyard was decorated with all kinds of party decorations and there was even a dance floor along with a DJ station. Violet and Jackson were currently standing by the DJ station where Stephanie was at. "There's Lola." Jackson points out, smiling dreamingly at the girl who walks by. He panics. "Oh, what should I say to her?"

"Girls love compliments." Stephanie smiles. "Tell her you love her hair and she has beautiful eyes."

"Ah. I'm all over that." Jackson nodded and walked over to Lola.

Violet giggles a bit, leaning her elbow on the DJ station. "Watch this go wrong in three, two, one..." She counted off and pointed at Jackson just as he spoke to Lola.

"Hey." Jackson greeted.

"Hey." Lola smiled.

"You have beautiful hairy eyes." Jackson commented.

Stephanie glances at Violet with surprise, not expecting her to know this would go wrong. Violet shrugs and smirks at Stephanie. "Called it."

Lola looks at Jackson with confusion and walks away. Jackson grins and fist bumps the air. "Nailed it!"

"Oh, look," Stephanie gently nudges Violet and points across the backyard. "There's Ryker." Violet stands up straighter, taking her elbow off the DJ station and glances over at Ryker, seeing that he was talking with his friends that were at the party. She couldn't help the dreamy smile that made its way to her lips. "Go talk to him."

"And say what?" Violet nervously asks. She shakes her head, crossing her arms. "I don't wanna make a fool of myself like Jackson did."

"But he doesn't even know he made a fool of himself so maybe that'll be the same for you." Stephanie encourages her, grimacing when Violet still looked nervous. "Sorry, that sounded better in my head."

"Okay," Violet takes a deep breath, uncrossing her arms and glances over at Ryker. "I'm just gonna go talk to him. He's only here 'cause Ramona invited him for me so I have to talk to him at one point tonight. Might as well get it over with, right? I-I mean, what could go wrong? Well, a lot of things could go wrong, like-"

"Vivi," Stephanie interrupts her rambling and the brunette looks at her. "Stop your rambling and just go say hi." She smiles encouragingly at her. "You got this."

"You're right." Violet smiles a bit and nods. "Okay." She looks back at Ryker with a nervous smile. "I'm going."

Stephanie furrows her eyebrows when Violet doesn't move. "But you're not."

"'Cause I'm still nervous." Violet mumbles. "Give me a push." Stephanie chuckled lightly and smiled a bit, gently pushing her in the direction Ryker stood.

"Um, hi, Ryker." Violet shyly greeted, smiling a bit at the brunette-haired boy standing in front of her.

After excusing himself from his friends, Ryker turns to face her with that charming smile of his that made her knees go weak. "Violet, hi." He puts his hands in the pockets of his denim jacket, looking at her in awe. "Wow, you look incredible."

"O-Oh," Violet's eyes widen and she blushes, not expecting that compliment. "Um, thank you, Ryker. So do you."

Ryker smiles brightly at her. "Thank you."

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," The two teens turn their attention to Stephanie when she spoke into the microphone. "Welcome to Ramona's epic 13th birthday party!" Ramona stood in front of the DJ station, smiling at everyone as everyone cheered and clapped for her.

"We've paid off the cops. We've warned the neighbors." Stephanie continues as everyone moves towards the dance floor. "The only thing left is to ask you guys the most important question of the night: y'all ready for this?" Everyone cheers loudly in response and Stephanie starts the music. Just as everyone started dancing, the music and the lights suddenly turns off, causing everyone to stop dancing and groan in sadness. "Uh..." Stephanie chuckles nervously, taking off her headphones and setting them down. "Well, it looks like our electrical panel wasn't ready for this."

"Uh, little glitch, party people. I-It's fine." Stephanie said nervously. She walks around the DJ station and gets her phone, walking onto the dance floor. "In the meantime, let's keep this party going! Here we go!" She plays the music on her phone. "We've got music! Alright!" She dances. "Oh, yeah!" Kimmy joined her with dancing, but everyone else leaves the dance floor.

"I know we don't know each other that well," Ryker speaks up as he and Violet stood off to the side. "But I would like to get to know you better. So..." He drags out the word and smiles nervously at her. "Twenty questions?"

Violet chuckles and smiles a bit at him, ignoring her fast beating heart and the way she could feel her face heating up because of the fact he wanted to get to know her. "I'd love that."

****

Everyone now either sat on the ground or on one of the chairs or couches in the backyard. Some kids had flashlights while others used the lights on their phones. Everyone had spent the last few minutes talking or scrolling on their phones. Violet was honestly enjoying talking with Ryker. He was really kind, funny, smart, caring, the list could go on and on. They both found out a lot about each other during that short time.

"We're gonna have the power back on as soon as possible, everyone." Stephanie reassures the group. "Oh! In the meantime, how about we have a piece of birthday ice cream cake?" She walks over to the table the birthday cake was on and opens the lid, grimacing when she saw the cake had completely melted. "Um...Well, make that birthday ice cream soup."

"Here." Stephanie picks up a cup and scoops up some of the melted ice cream cake. "Alright, who's thirsty for a cup of birthday cake? Yeah, that's delicious." She glances at the two teens by her and offers the cup. "Here, it looks great, right? Right? Delicious, no?" She set the cup on the table as the two teens walked away.

Ramona walks over to Stephanie wtih a frown. "Stephanie, help! I just got two texts about how lame my party is from people who aren't even here."

Stephanie looks nervous for a few seconds, but then she smiles. "I know what to do." She stands on the dance floor, glancing at everyone with a smile. "Hey, you guys, come on. You don't need electricity to have fun! When I was your age, we would've loved for the power to go out. Okay, everybody, pair up and make out!"

Violet's eyes widen with surprise, not expecting Stephanie to suggest that at Ramona's birthday party. DJ, who had overheard what Stephanie said, quickly walks outside with panic on her face. "Nobody pair up! Nobody make out!" She looked at everyone with a stern expression and walked back inside.

"This is not as epic as I hoped." Ramona sadly said.

"I know!" Stephanie picks up a flashlight off the DJ station and turns it on, facing it upwards so the light partly shows on her face like how people used flashlights when telling ghost stories. "Who wants to hear a ghost story? Yeah? Okay. It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was whistling through the bare tree branches." She then makes the noise of wind whistling. "And suddenly, there was a clap of thunder." She then mimicked the sound of thunder.

"Then what happened?" Ramona questioned.

"That's-That's all I got. " Stephanie admits. "I really was hoping the power would be on by now."

****

Ramona had ran back inside a couple minutes ago and Violet felt so bad for her. Violet excused herself from Ryker and walks over to Stephanie wtih a worried look. "Steph, can't we do something for Ramona?"

"Got any ideas?" Stephanie frowns. "'Cause I'm out of all the ideas I had."

Violet is quiet for a few moments and she glances over at the food table, her gaze setting on the cupcakes. She then smiles. "Yeah, I have an idea."

****

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you." Everyone sang happy birthday as they walk into Ramona's room. Violet, DJ, Stephanie, Jackson, and Lola held a plate of two cupcakes that had lit candles on them. The five of them led the group of teens into the room, all of them smiling at Ramona. From her place standing by her parents, Ramona looked at them with surprise and smiled at them.

"Happy birthday, dear Ramona. Happy birthday to you." Everyone then cheered and clapped for Ramona.

"You guys!" Ramona smiles widely. "Thanks for not bailing."

"Ramona, we don't care about the party. We care about you." Violet reassured her.

"Yeah," Lola agrees with a smile. Then she grimaces. "But you might want to stay off Instagram for a day or two." She suggested and Ramona frowned a bit.

"Make a wish. Blow out the candles." Stephanie encouraged.

Ramona blows out all the candles and everyone cheers. Then suddenly the lights came on, causing everyone to look around with a smile. "Did you wish for the power to come back on?" DJ inquired.

"No. I wished for something else." Ramona looked back at her parents with a smile. Her parents looked surprised and looked at each other with a smile.

"Alright. Let's get this party restarted!" Stephanie exclaimed and everyone cheered.

****

Now that the lights were back on everyone was back on the dance floor. "Alright, take two. Y'all ready for this?" Stephanie questioned, smiling as everyone cheered in response. Everyone started dancing as Stephanie played some music. When confetti was shot out of confetti cannons, everyone cheered again.

"Hey, uh..Do you wanna dance?" Jackson nervously asked Lola.

Lola smiles. "I'm already dancing."

"Uh, okay." Jackson looks at her with a hopeful expression. "Can I dance next to you?"

"I guess." Lola giggled.

Jackson grins, tapping his best friend on the shoulder, who smiles at him with amusement. "That's how you do it."

"Good job, Jax." Violet laughed a bit. Jackson went back to dancing by Lola as Violet turned to face Ryker with a smile.

"You're a pretty good dancer." Ryker complimented.

"Thanks," Violet squeals with surprise when he suddenly grabbed onto her hand and twirled her out and then back. She blushes and smiles dreamingly at him. "So are you." She wasn't for sure if she was seeing things but it looked like there was a light shade of blush on his face.

Ryker grins at her. "Thanks."

A/N i thought it was so sweet how hard stephanie was trying to keep the party going for ramona ! & ooh new character unlocked! everybody meet ryker :)