The Brightest Star

Chapter 2

Two*

Three tickets to The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, a bag of popcorn, a large Dr. Pepper soda, and a bag of Sour Patch Kids, and the Samuels were happy.
Waiting in line, Mirabelle often played a game with herself. She would take a look at all the people standing in front of her and on the sides of her or basically anywhere there were people and make assumptions she called deductions. For example, the girl ordering her food in line liked the employee attending to her. The way she talked to him, with a higher pitched register than she had been using while talking to her friends, created the impression of affection and infatuation.
The theater was large and had little people occupying the seats. The row with the supporting bar was taken up so Mirabelle and her parents moved to the third row up and sat somewhat towards the middle.
Before shows had always interested Belle, feeding her with fascinating information and behind the scenes of movies. During a trivia session, a young boy, about her age, with bright green eyes and silky, dark, black hair that fell across his forehead rather flatteringly, came into their aisle, followed by two adults that were obviously his parents. Mirabelle pulled in her legs to let them through.
In a silvery voice, the boy broke her out of her reverie. "Is anyone sitting here?" He asked, pointing to the seat beside her. She shook her head and as he took his seat, she glanced up at his parents who were making stealthy eye contact with her own parents. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her father cast a nervous glimpse at her. She narrowed her eyes but decided to wait until later to interrogate him.

Throughout the movie, she decided to ignore the boy sitting beside her. Though she would have loved to hold up a conversation, she determined that it would be better for the both of them if she had stayed quiet. The movie let out with a brilliant end to a brilliant movie. Mirabelle half expected it to be dark outside when she walked out accompanied by her mother and father, but alas it was noon. The sun was directly in the center of the dome shaped earth she'd learnt so much about.
The drive home was full of tense silence. Belle made sure she would wait until she got home to discuss the matter with her parents. Her father, who sat in the drivers seat, had a rapid pulse in his neck she could see through the hole of the headrest. She sighed inwardly with relief once the car jerked to a stop on the driveway.

With eyebrows lifted expectantly, Mirabelle sat at the dinner table, staring down her parents who were seated as well.
"Who were they?" Mirabelle demanded in a stern tone, making sure she didn't seem too angry.
"The Spencers. Sometimes, when your father and I need to get out of the house, we tell you we are going to the store. We are actually hanging out over there."
Mirabelle nodded at her mother's words, acknowledging the fact that her parents "Need to get out of the house" without her. She moved onto the next question.
"Who is the boy?"
Jeanie and Josh exchanged a nervous glance. Her father hesitated a moment before replying, "His name is William," Mentally, Mirabelle repeated the name, experimenting how it might sound. "and he is like you."
Belle narrowed her eyes again and retorted sourly, "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Her mother sighed and replied, "It's just that he is different. He is unsociable and his parents believe that he is somewhat of a psychopath. There is a reason the two of you have been kept away from each other. You know how you act around other children, Mirabelle."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm a psychotic child with issues that no therapist can define. I don't care. I would like to meet them. For real."
Another exchange of nervous looks. The silence was broken by her father's abrupt voice.
"Okay. Fine. You can meet them." He relented. Mirabelle saw her mother's glare and heard the low whisper escaping her lips, her face contorted to exasperation.
"Joshua-"
"It's fine. We knew this day would come. I'm honestly surprised that it didn't come sooner."
Her mother nodded grimly and sighed. "Alright. Fine." With that, the family meeting was concluded and Mirabelle walked up to her bedroom to enjoy her regular life. Isolated and consisting of only online friends.

~•~★~•~

A flick of the lightswitch and the corneas of Mirabelle's eyes were blinded. Tonight was dinner at the Spencer's house and Mirabelle had no idea how to act. She wanted to get to know the people who her parents had been hanging out with behind her back. She prefered to make a good impression but she wasn't exactly sure what they expected of her. Could her parents have possibly told them that she was psychotic and ill behaved? If so, that was all the more reason to prove them wrong. She sat at her vanity, with her phone browser opened on a google search of "How to make a good impression on parents."
She decided that she didn't exactly want to follow all of the advice that the website had. She quickly dressed in a casual mentalist t shirt with black leggings and an azure cardigan. It wasn't that big of a deal for her anyways. She could remember quite vividly the events of the last dinner she had gone to.

Joshua's gm meeting party at Dan Townsend's house had been beautifully set up. Welcome signs were dedicated to his accomplishment of successfully managing the restaurant Maggiano's. The Samuels had prepared diligently for this particular meeting, hoping for the best reaction from the fellow work members.
It was late October in 2003. Mirabelle had been only six years old at the time, dressed in an elegant lilac dress adorning her small body. Her light blonde hair put up in two pigtails on each side of her head had matching bows holding them in. The dress brought out the grey in her eyes, and the brilliance of her smile. Her mother had always been complimented in public about how adorable and beautiful her daughter was.
That night, Jeanie had worn an emerald, mermaid style gown, trailing down to the floor with sparkles glistening on each thread. Her dark brown hair had been curled, flatteringly pulled over to the left side of her head. She looked beautiful, the green bringing out her lovely eyes. Josh on the other hand had wore a stunning tuxedo he'd bought years before for an entirely different meeting. He had worn a violet tie because Mirabelle had insisted they match.
They pulled up to the driveway, already filled with multiple expensive-looking cars, and rang the doorbell on the manor. Dan himself had answered the door, allowing the family to enter, and generously taking their coats to the other room. The adults hung out in the kitchen, holding wine glasses and sharing laughs.
Meanwhile, Mirabelle was in the playroom with five other children, all dressed up in fancy little kid clothes. She and another girl named Lily. Mirabelle remembered how happy she was to recognize her name because her parents had started reading Harry Potter to her that year.
About an hour had passed and the kids were called up to dinner. The meal had been spaghetti and meatballs with marinara sauce, one of Belle's favorites.
"Hey Belle," one of the boys had started, "It looks dumb when you put your hair in pigtails." He had reached over and yanked on her hair until one of the tails came out. Mirabelle held in a sob as the boy beside her, Marcus, had done the same to the other side. Insults were being passed around the table, all aimed toward Mirabelle, causing her to crack. She'd picked up her untouched pasta and threw it at the boy sitting across from her. It landed in his hair and down his iron pressed shirt and up his nose. When the parents were alerted by Jackson's sobs, they had rushed over to the table, demanding an explanation.
"It was Belle! Jackson was just sitting there doing nothing and then she threw the food!" Nods of agreement came from each and every child, all except for Mirabelle. She sat in her chair, head down and hair all a mess in her face, hiding the tears streaming down her face.
"Mirabelle!" Her mother had demanded. "What on earth were you thinking?"

"Mirabelle!"
The call of her own name knocked her out of her inattention, bringing her back to the present. She walked toward the sound of her mother's voice had come from and found her downstairs in the kitchen. She was dressed casually with a long sleeved shirt and brown slacks. She jangled the keys in her hand and beckoned Mirabelle to follow her. She entered the backseat of her mother's platinum Ford escape, moving a clutter of papers as she did. She took an audible inhalation of the sweet lemon smelling air, calming herself as she buckled her seatbelt. Her father entered the car, his blond hair plastered to his forehead.
Mirabelle was surprised at how close the Spencers lived to her. Three blocks away from 2264 Lannister way held the family her parents saw often. She glanced out the dirt-splotched window to see a warm, beige, two story house. The lights were on in the front room and a sign beside the door proclaimed that the house belonged to the Spencers. Her mother parked on the curb beside the house, in case someone might need to leave from the garage.
The whole demeanor of the house was inviting. The patio light was on, blazing the area with welcoming yellow light. The door, a dark forest green had a brass knocker like one would find in old-times. Even the welcome mat had a sense of antique style to it. Josh lifted the knocker, and mimicking a pendulum, it circled back to the door and then back up again, knocking the door twice.
Only moments later, Mirabelle could hear footsteps on the other side of the door, signalling that they were going to be let in. Mirabelle mentally counted the seconds going by before someone opened the door. She only got to three