𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 | rodrick

ch. 1

the dinner

the boxes piled into the house, cynthias red sunglasses down slightly to see where she was going. the rooms were claimed and she chose the biggest one, leaving everyone else to find their own. her brothers continued complaining of the boxes being heavy as the hardings yelled back.

"dad, why do i have to carry all of these?" alex, the 12 year old brother asked.

"because its your things too." mr harding responded.

cynthia dropped her last box upstaired and groaned, falling back onto her bed. a new voice came from downstairs and she stood up, running down immediately to see who it was. it was a woman with brown hair holding a 3 year old and a boy probably alexs age standing next to her.

"would you like to come for dinner tonight? we're your neighbors on the left!" the woman smiled and pointed to the house right beside them.

mrs harding smiled and accepted the offer generously, waving goodbye to the lady and leaving.

"cynthia! come on down." she called, cynthia rushing down to see what she wanted.

"yes?" she pushed her light blonde hair behind her shoulder and smiled.

she turned to face her daughter, smiling at the sight of her.

"our neighbors invited us for dinner, please get ready now."

"right now? its only 5!" cynthia protested, her closet had just been put together.

"yes cynthia, we're leaving at 6. now go." her mother shood her off to her room and she sighed.

she ran up the stairs and closed the curtains of her window, looking through her closet for w good thing to wear. she came across a tight white dress and nodded, throwing it back onto the bed. she pulled out a necklace with a ruby at the end of it to match with her other jewelry and looked at the outfit.

"i cant tell if i love or hate it." she asked herself, looking at everything.

she shut the door to her room and slipped it on, fixing her hair and looking in the mirror. the dress hugged each curve on her body, big or small. she smiled and looked at the clock, seeing that 50 minutes had somehow passed. she had needed to fix her hair and makeup so that took time so it made sense.

"come on everyone! we have to go now!" her father called from downstairs, cynthia grabbing her matching heels and rushing down.

her mother and father admired her for a quick moment before opening the door.

"you look lovely." her mother told her.

"is it too much?"

"its perfect." her brother shoved her through the door and down the porch.

they walked to their house which was extremely close to theirs, making it very short. they rang the doorbell and waited quietly before the woman from earlier opened it.

"ah, hello! come on in." she moved aside and let the family enter.

they slipped off their shoes and listened to what she had to say.

"i have 3 children. all boys." she sounded disappointed about the last part but shook it off.

"we have rodrick who is 16 and greg who is 12! we also have little manny here who is 3." she told them about the family, introducing herself as well.

they all went to the dinner table and mr heffley shouted for the children who were still upstairs. a boy who must be greg walked down the stairs and took a seat beside manny. shortly following was another who mustve been rodrick, immediately locking eyes with cynthia.