The New Girl

Dinner with a Snake

Clara~

"Sweetie, we will be having guests tonight at dinner. I would recommend putting on proper pants and brushing your hair. " My mom said as I pulled the milk carton out of the fridge.

"Okay mom. " I said and poured myself a glass of milk before wobbling back up my stairs carefully. My ankle still hurt but I was getting more used to the way it felt. Hopefully it will be better in a few days once the swelling and slight bruising is gone. 

My favorite part about my new room is that I have a little balcony that I can sit on to draw. I opened my sketchbook and began drawing a face, I wasn't sure who I was drawing. I usually don't know, I just draw whatever or whoever is in my mind at the moment. This time my hands decided to draw a woman with a strong nose and thin lips. She looked like a stern but warm woman, almost motherly in a way. 

"Clara, be down for dinner in five minutes!" Oh great. I still don't have pants on and my hair is an absolute rats nest. After how today went at school I really just want to lounge around and maybe nap right now. Having guests sounds unpleasant and stressful. Throughout my life I have always struggled with social interactions, even with friends and family at times. I have to think about how I should respond to people and what seems like an acceptable thing to say to someone. I wonder if it is normal to feel that way? Does everyone feel like they don't know what to say or how to speak to people at times? 

I got up from my spot on my balcony and sat my sketch book on my bed. Time to put pants on. I doubted that our guests would want to see me in my granny panties. Normally I don't wear granny panties, but sometimes I just want to feel super comfortable. 

I pulled on a pair of light wash skinny jeans and ran my fingers through my hair before going into my bathroom to look at myself. I looked presentable, and that was as good as it was going to get. After how today went I wouldn't be surprised if I found mashed potatoes caked on myself somewhere. Honestly, I probably smell like school lunch still. My body spray would have to do to help cover that up.  

Walking down the stairs seemed like such a task with my ankle, but I knew I was being a baby. It really wasn't that bad. As I walked down I heard multiple voices, two of them that were familiar. One of the voices was the sweet voice of my mother, and the other belonged to a serpent. 

Victoria.

She stood in the doorway, a smirk on her face. She did not look as surprised as I was. I'm sure my expression was  telling of how I felt at that moment. I can imagine that I had turned roughly the color of one of my sketchbook pages. 

We stared at each other, trying to keep from breaking eye contact. It felt like a power struggle, and I wasn't ready to let her win. River had tried to boost my confidence but it was still quite low. No matter how self conscious and nervous I was, though, I wasn't about to back down.

"Oh there you are dear, come on. We are ready to start dinner. Angela even made brownies. Wasn't that nice of her? " My mom continued to babble,  and I just nodded as I made my way to the table. Victoria and I had both looked away from each other and found our spots at the table. 

"Have you girls met? " Angela asked us.

"Yes, we go to school together." Victoria answered quickly before smiling at me. 
Not that smile again.

I smiled at her with an equal amount of venom. Although, I quickly forgot about the situation at hand, merely because my mother's lasagna was the best. I didn't feel like worrying about her much when I could just keep eating the cheesy goodness. 

"So,  how was your first day of school Clara?" Victoria asked me, our mothers probably thought she was being nice. I knew better. She wanted to see me crack. 

"It was great. I made some very nice friends. Are you friends with River? " I asked, knowing I had hit a sensitive spot by the way she flinched at the mention of his name. Was it mean of me? Hell yeah it was. She deserved it. 

"Oh,  Clara, Victoria dated River for over a year." Angela said sadly. She looked like she felt sad for her daughter and like she was afraid that what I had said would hurt her. 

"Oh I'm sorry to reopen old wounds." I said,  feeling strangely guilty. I looked at my food, suddenly losing my appetite entirely.

"So,  are you married Angela? " My mother asked. I looked up at Angela expectantly.

She smiled and looked at my mom kindly.  "Yes,  my husband is a firefighter though. His shift is tonight, so he couldn't come tonight. Are you married? " she asked politely.

"No, I was recently divorced. That's actually why Clara and I moved here. I have custody, so I decided we could move here to have a fresh start." She was clearly uncomfortable talking about it, but she wasn't about to shut down any questions. 

The rest of dinner was mostly uneventful, our mothers talked a lot.  Victoria and I avoided conversation the best we could. Occasionally we would look up and make eye contact, but she normally rolled her eyes and looked away. She seemed different now, maybe like she was trying to hide her true feelings. 

"Thank you so much for coming over, we'll have to do this again soon. I'll be seeing you around?" I heard my mom ask, but zoned out when Angela responded.

"See you at school." Victoria said in a hushed voice as she passed me.  Unfortunately that was inevitable. I would be seeing a lot of Victoria.