The minute I got home from school one day, my dad had announced that the woman across the street from us invited us over to have dinner at her house. I immediately objected to the idea, and had enough socializing for the day.
"Daddy, come on, tonight?" I whined, setting my books on the kitchen counter.
"Yes, come on, it won't be bad." he said, and gathered his briefcase up and walked to his bedroom.
"But, daddy, I don't want to. I...I-I have a lot of homework!" I lied, trying to get out of the diversion.
"Oh honey, you can do that before we go over to her house, and there will be plenty of time for you to finish it if you still haven't when we get back home." he solutionized for me.
"NO PAPA!" I yelled, flinging my arms straight on my sides like a soldier, calling him "Papa" when I was mad.
"Noelle, quit arguing. You're coming, there's no stopping that. Besides, Diana is really nice, I told her a lot about you and she's anxious to meet with you. She also has a son your age." he informed.
"Ooh, Daddy, you already got her name?" I asked sarcastically, knowing my dad ususally never caught a womans name so fast.
"Yes, honey, she works with me. I'm going to take a quick nap and then I'm going to get ready. We're leaving at five o'clock." he said, and closed the door to his bedroom.
Standing on the front porch waiting for someone to answer it, I scuffed the toe of my right shoe into the mat at the foot of the door.
The house was a light blue one story, with a stone path leading to the front door. Lights lined up the path, and grass was seperated by it, creating a healthy, green yard. Purple flowered plants lay under the window in the front of the house, on both sides. The garage was on the far right side, the driveway seperating the land from the next neighbor.
My Dad clasped his hands together behind his back and rocked back and forth on the heels and balls of his feet, a sign of his large impatience. I kept my head down and silently pouted the whole time, wondering why I had to dragged along for this occasion. I believed my Dad that this woman he fancied was very nice, sure, but...I guess I had no real reason to complain about tonight.
I was getting lost in my throughts when the door opened, and a beautiful woman with the longest blonde hair, pretty blue eyes, and the friendliest smile greeted us. She was short, maybe a little bit stout, but very motherly. She wore black leggings, white socks, and an oversized sweater with blocks of pink, blue, green and yellow squares on it.
"Hi, Miguel!" she said, opening the door wider for our entrance.
"Hey Diana, this is my daughter, Noelle." he greeted and gestured his hand to me, introducing me.
"Hi, Noelle, nice to meet you." she said, taking my hand and shaking it.
"Nice to meet you, too, Diana." I said, half way forcing a smile.
Diana led us inside the house and towards the kitchen. I had begun to follow them, and then I slowed my pace down, stopping to look around in the living room, picking out pieces of sentimental things and storing them in my memory. There were lots of pictures of a woman and a little boy, assuming that it was Diana and her son. I picked a particular picture and studied it.
This boy looks familiar to me, I thought, taking a good look at the picture, squinting my eyes to see if I could recognize the boy. Surely, I hadn't been around any little kids since I moved her, nor had I baby-sat any yet. Why did this one look so much like I had seen him before?
"Noelle, my son is upstairs in his room, if you would like to go and see him; I think he might be expecting you." she said, peeking her head out from the kitchen doorway, interrupting my thoughts.
"Um, sure, okay." I said, putting the picture down back in its place, and turned around and walked towards the staircase.
When I got to the top, I stopped at a door that was playing loud music. I recognized the song immediately; it was "Precious Declaration" by Collective Soul. I assumed it was "the boy's" room. "I hope this guy is a cutie, maybe we'll hook up." I quietly said aloud, thinking positively.
I knocked on the door, and the music was turned off immediately. "Come in." said an all too familiar voice. Wait... I started think, and turned the handle on the door slowly.
Cautiously, I walked in and found a blonde-haired guy's back facing towards me.
"Oh, no, not you." I scolded, and frowned. He turned and faced me. It was Taylor. Of all guys...Taylor.
"Nice to see you, too." he sneerily greeted back in the same tone.
Ever since the first day of school, Taylor and I weren't exactly the "best of friends," nor did it look like anything might turn out to happen like that. I didn't mean to call him an asshole that first day, really, I just didn't want to be late for class on the first day of school. First priorities for me are getting on the teacher's good side. Then I could still get a good grade when they're having a bad day. The tardy that I received really got me going, and of course, my attitude towards him didn't exactly progress, and it stationed itself at a point of anger and annoyance whenever I was around him.
On the other hand, I guessed Taylor got the wrong impression. He gave me a second chance, but I disregarded it. One more chance, and he still gave it to me. Again, my selfishness and conceits got in the way of a possible friendship, ending it before it started. Basically, we treated each other like crap.
"Why are you here?" he asked, getting up and turning his CD player off.
"Hey I didn't want to come here in the first place, and I didn't even know you lived here! And maybe it was because you're mother invited me and my father over for dinner, so to be polite, I came." I explained, crossing my arms.
"Polite? Polite my foot!" he hissed.
"What do you mean?" I yelled.
"You wouldn't understand, you're so damn clueless." he said.
"Oh, a Beverly Hills, nine-oh-two-one-oh asshole, aren't you?" I remarked.
"You're such a bitch." he said.
"Take's one to know one." I reciprocated.
Immature, yes. By that time, Diana called to us from downstairs, saying that dinner was ready. Gladly, I left his room. He wasn't too far behind me, keeping our distance.
Trying to avoid each other as much as possible, Taylor and I sat across from each other at dinner. I kept shooting mean looks at him, without my dad and Diana seeing us.
"...It was so funny, I almost spit out my fruit salad. He then comes up to me and says..." Diana said, telling a story to my dad about her day at work.
I stirred my soup around with my spoon, glaring at Taylor. He was stabbing his salad with his fork, glaring right back at me.
"Bitch." he mouthed silently to me.
"Fuck off." I silently mouthed back to him, tipping my head up to call it to him. We mouthed off back and forth, silently cussing each other out.
"You're such a-" I started to mouth, then stopped when my dad turned his head towards me.
"What are you doing, Noelle?" he asked, interrupting my insult.
"Oh, dad," I started to say, exasperated. "I was, uh, silently conversing with Taylor. You see, I was eavesdropping on you conversation with Diana, if you don't mind, and you two seemed like you were really into it, so, being the polite person I am, I decided I should be cooperate and not distract you into my conversation with Taylor, if that's okay with you." I said, sweetly smiling.
"Oh, what a great daughter you've got there, Miguel." Diana commented, taking a bite of her salad with a cherry tomato.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Taylor shaking his head slightly at me, and I started to feel nauseated, for the sight of him was almost unbearable.
"You're such a suck-up." he mouthed to me.
"Shut up." I mouthed, turning my eyes away from his sight.