Strong with a K

Dinner with the Rejects

"So how was school today?" My head snapped up to look at my door where my mother stood and she was talking...to me. I stared at for some time making sure she wasn't going to turn around to Mina or Ella. No, she was actually speaking to me, Kamina.

I was shocked.

My mother and I's relationship was a complicated one. It wasn't that I didn't like her and I was almost positive she loved me, in theory, but she just seemed to relate to her other daughters more, besides the fact that she hated my father with a passion and I didn't share the same view.

We'd never talked; it was just a known rule of our family for going on 16 years now. But it seemed I wasn't the only one turning over a new leaf with this new move; I was speaking to people, and my mother was speaking to me.

I cleared my throat to hide my surprise and muttered out, "Fine." I ducked my head back down to my homework.

If x-4=2, then what is 6 less than 5 times x?

"Did you make any friends yet?" She continued and I closed my book because it was obvious she wanted my full attention. She took another step in the room and everything.

"Um...yeah." I thought of Paige and Derek. Two at least. There were others but I wouldn't call them friends.

"Is one of them a...boy?"

There was a pause as I eyed her suspiciously. What did she want? "Maybe..."

"There's a boy and you like him." She declared; her eyes were sparkling.

I crossed my arms leaning back into my pillows. "And how would you know that?"

"You're my daughter Kamina. I know you."

Her and I both knew it was a lie.

"You mean you were eavesdropping."

She had the decency to blush in embarrassment. "Maybe...just a little."

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, bored of the conversation at this point. Really? She had resorted to listening in our talk times to learn more about me. "That's unethical, you know, and rude."

She ignored my comment as if I hadn't even spoken. "You talk about him like you talked about Matt."

I stilled snapping my eyes back to her as anger flared up inside of me. "We don't talk about him."

She sighed. "I know. I know but--"

"We don't talk. About him." I grit out.

She nodded looking down to the floor. I felt guilty for only second but she knew better than to bring that up with me. Not a good thing to mention when talking to me. Not ever. I looked back to my homework and she said just one more thing before leaving. "You don't trust anyone Kamina, not even me and I'm your mother." We both let out a laugh at that though it wasn't funny. "This move could be a new start for all of us. I want to get to know my daughter and you should learn how to start trusting people. Derek seems like a good place to start, so invite him over."

*****

Mustering up enough courage to invite Derek had been hard enough---he'd teased me endlessly about it---but what I was really afraid of was what would happen once he got there.

My family wasn't a family and after spending so many nights with the Hales I was embarrassed to showcase to him where I'd come from. We were mean and impersonal. There were cliques inside this institution that was supposed to be based on love and acceptance and equality.

I didn't want him to see my lack of communication with my mother. I didn't want him to see me trying to scarf down my food so I could cut "family time" as short as possible. No matter how much I loved them, I also couldn't stand being apart of my family and it showed but I didn't want it to especially not in front of Derek.

Nevertheless he was coming to dinner.

"Shakaminella please pass the peas."

"Don't speak that name in this house."

"Well it's your name honey."

"The hell it is."

"It's unique..."

"It's ugly."

"And original."

"You mean horrible."

"Sha--"

"I said don't." Ella growled

Derek and I giggled in our seats at the two's conversation. The dinner had been going well. My mom asked all the right questions. My big sister embarrassed me just enough. And my Minnie Mouse, as always, was overly cute. It was the best dinner we'd had in a long time but when my mother began again, her tone was a much more serious one and somehow I knew the dinner was about to become a short one.

"I told your father not to name you that." She said stabbing at the meat on her plate. "Did he listen? No he did not. Because he's an egotistical, selfish, pathetic excuse of a man and I can't believe I ever married him..."

Ella jumped on then and it became the 'I HATE HENRY PARTY'. One I did not want to be apart of. I twiddled my fork in my hand listening to their conversation and hating it. Hating that they couldn't go one night without bringing him up and dragging his name as low as they could take it. Hating that they put both me and Derek in this awkward situation. Hating that I couldn't be like Mina, oblivious to it all.

I stood up from the table plate in hand and went to the kitchen. Silence had taken over the dining room as I breathed in and out trying to control my anger and hurt. There were embarrassed tears in my eyes that I refused to let fall and I hung my head low bracing my hands on either side of the counter to steady myself.

"You okay?" It was Derek that had come to check on me. Not my mom. Not Ella. Not even 5 year old Mina who loved cheering people up. It was my best friend who had sat just as uncomfortable as me listening to my family and waiting for it to be over.

I wondered briefly if I should feel angry that none of my family had moved to comfort me, but brushed the question off when I wrapped myself in his arms because it was the only place I really wanted to be. It always felt so good there.

"I told you," I mumbled into his shirt. "We're not a family."

"This is a family. Just a broken one." He said and I clutched onto him even harder. "But that doesn't mean you're broken. And it doesn't mean it can't be repaired."