The Exchange Student, the Pop Prince and the Raffle Tickets

Chapter Nine: Uncomfortable and underdressed

Enjoy! 

Lauren =D 

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"Raine, lovely to see you again." 

My heart started to race. She was coming to this dinner? No. That was bound to happen, she was Eli's fake girlfriend. I was just the girl that he was shagging... 

I waved at Raine, who then got seated next to me. I smiled at the face Eli would make when he saw the both of us sitting together. I saw Bindi hurry down the stairs looking smart in a black ruffled dress, tights and pumps. 

"Where you going Bin?" I asked shifting in my seat all of a sudden uncomfortable. 

"Dinner." I looked around the table, the places were set, were we going out to dinner? 

"We're going out?"  

Bindi giggled looking at me confused. "No silly... we're staying here." 

Okay, now I felt uncomfortable and underdressed.  

I made a move to rush upstairs and change before Joseph in a white shirt and jeans walked into the room with the meat. He got out a very large cutting knife from his back pocket and started to cut the meat.  

No one told me we were meant to be looking smart! I looked at Raine's outfit; she was in a pretty ivory lace dress and studded high heels. But Raine always looked dressed up, how was I meant to know? 

What was Sarah going to say when she sees me in my bright red tracksuit bottoms, black low cut top and a thick grey hoody? I threw the hoody under my seat, took out my hair tousling it quickly. Grabbing the Vaseline out of my pocket I smeared some on my lips then onto my eyelashes (I learnt it from a magazine, putting it on your eyelashes makes it look like you had on mascara. 'Look' being the key word.) 

I heard a giggle and saw Bindi opposite me smiling goofily. I stuck my tongue out at her. Eli burst into the room in a navy shirt and jeans.  

I was right. The face he made was priceless. Somewhere between sitting on the toilet and a zombie; I coughed back a laugh. Eli shot me a dirty look before giving Raine a kiss.  

Like that would make me jealous. Like I even cared, I shrugged my shoulders hoping he would notice. 

"Here we are!" Sarah walked in with steaming vegetables and mash potatoes. I loved mash! Proper English food. Suddenly, I really wanted sausages... "Eden, you look nice." 

I smirked kicking Bindi in the leg under the table. She made a squeaky noise, her mum tutted at her.

Everything was going fine. Only Raine and Bindi had seen my bottoms and I wanted to keep it that way, for now. The family was bantering about school, Eli's football and Raine's school report. Apparently she wasn't very bright - figures. 

"So what about you Eden? Does your family have family dinners?" Sarah randomly asked. I pushed mash into my mouth so I couldn't answer. Everyone waited patiently. 

Crap, crap, crap. I tried to think of an answer but the truth was going to come out sooner or later. 

"No." Sarah asked why not. "Because we're not really a tight knit family." 

No one understood. "Dad works all day, out all night. Mum goes overseas a bit so I'm home alone a lot." 

"What does she do? Are you going to follow in her footsteps?" Joseph asked looking interested. 

I nearly laughed as I shook my head. "Fuck no." I realized I had sworn. "Sorry... it's just not a work thing, more of a fun thing with all her new boyfriends." 

I saw Eli look at me cautiously about to speak. Please don't, I begged in my head. "You don't talk about your family. All you do is call your friend..." 

"Yeah, we don't talk often." 

Raine piped in this time. "Why not? Family is so important." She gave a smile to Joseph and Sarah. 

I was feeling awkward. "Like I said, Dad's busy, Mum's away." 

"I love the way you say Mum. Not Mom." Bindi laughed, I could she was trying to change the conversation. I laughed ducking my head, now feeling both awkward and embarrassed. 

I shuffled in my seat, seeing the Raine's heels on the floor I didn't want to see where her feet were. I smiled cruelly. "Raine, I love your shoes. Studs are in this season." 

Eli shot me another dirty look, Raine shuffled in her seat too obviously trying to cram her feet back into them. 

"So do your parents even know where you are, Eden?" Eli spat. 

Raine looked at me a wicked glint in her eye. "You know, Eden is a funny, original name..." 

"So is mine." Bindi replied. 

"Yes, Bindi is a weird name but it was the little birth mark she has on her forehead that gave her that name. Shame it's gone now." Sarah cooed at Bindi. Joseph was eyeing Raine suspiciously. 

Joseph raised his fork at Raine, trying to get attention. "You know everyone's name here is quite original, except for Sarah and I's." 

According to Joseph, Eli was a name from the Bible that had caught his eye when he was looking through his dead Grandmother's possessions. I giggled when Sarah told the table the real reason for the name Eli. 

"It was Joseph's grandmother's name, Elise, everyone called her Eli and she passed the day after Eli was born." 

Eli's face grew bright pink in anger. Even Raine started to giggle with me. The Jock had a girly name. 

"And Grey Leonne!" Raine muttered but her face had practically shined when she had said his name. There were definitely stars in her eyes. Eli and Bindi's faces grew very angry in a flash. I stared at how similar they both looked when they were angry. Their lips stiffened, eyes knotted together and I swear I could see a vein starting to pop out of their temples just like cartoons. 

Joseph changed the conversation quickly. 

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