#Miss_Stood

Chapter 7

Previously...

   Tia Dehlila sure does clock the drool and the borderline feral look that is all over Erynes face with chuckles."  Get as much as you want!   We made plenty and were just about to go in for our second round ourselves." Oh, it's about to go down.   Eryne looked over to her mom who already knew that her daughter was about to get busy eating on this food."  Thank you so much Dehlila this looks and smells amazing!"  Eryne nods violently "Yes thank you!   I already know this is going to be a blessing for my taste buds."  Already having a plate in her hand because Angel also clocked the drool face and handed her and her mom one.  

Continuing... 

      This may be a bit too soon to tell but Eryne was pretty sure that she hasn't felt this comfortable since... Okay so she didn't even know when she was able to let her guard down to such a low level.  She piled her plate with all of the yummy goodness.  A spread of green chili chicken enchiladas, red rice with garbanzo beans, home cooked charro beans, zucchini squash and cheese bake, and a tall pot that can only mean one thing, caldo.   Tis the season for caldo but what kind of soup would it be?   The steam that was coming from under the thin metal lid was whispering in the air and Eryne was sure that it could either be menudo or posole, either way she would be getting at least two bowls and melting away all of her stress.  There was nothing like a big bowl of caldo to make a girl sweat all of the toxicity out of her system.  It's like a sauna for the mouth, but minus the naked people because ew no thank you.   Hard pass.

      Shaking her head from the unwanted imagery before she loses her appetite, Eryne moves to place her plate on the table.  This entire time she was oblivious to the fact that everyone had been talking it up and chatting about all of the changes that everyone has been going through since last seeing each other.  She sincerely hopes that they skip right past her with the questions about her recent events because she's not even ready to face them herself.  It might be helpful if she were to at least pay attention to what everyone is saying.   She probably would have already been listening had the nummies not have distracted her.  If something catches her attention it's pretty much all that will keep her attention until it doesn't.  She has always had issues with tunnel vision or in this case, tunnel stomach.   

      " So Geni and Eryne will be going to the same campus this year!  This is going to be so good it will be just like we always talked about!"  Dehlila gushed to Novella."  Geni would you help Eryne find her way until she learns the ropes at school?  She doesn't know anyone else but you so it may be pretty stressful her first week."  The way that she spoke the question didn't really sound like a question, it was more like a lightly put demand.  Eryne immediately starts to feel herself clam up with anxiety when she decides to glance and Geni.  She is pretty and has strong features.  Eryne does have some memories about her but not all of them are good.  She knows that this can be an occasion that causes tension that she didn't want with the only person she would know at school.  Geni finishes the bite she was working on before nodding her head, " Of course!  Wouldn't have it any other way, after all I wouldn't want her to have any unwanted run ins with people that don't like her cousin, am I right?"  She finishes with a smirk.

      Uh oh What does she mean by that?  Which cousin do kids at my new school know?  I know my fam has a bad reputation at the schools in Havoc but there's no reason it would spread would it?

       Genies statement was met with a smack on the shoulder by Angel who seemed to sense Erynes anxiety."  Geni is a bit of a hot head at school so not everyone likes her.  It's good that she'll be looking out for you when people find out you're related to her.  Trust us, news travels fast when it comes to the popular ones."  Eryne tries her best to put a convincing front on and nods excitingly. "  Oh trust me I know the feels, thanks for having my back cuz!"  This wasn't going to be easy but she knew that she needed to at least try to put a little trust in these people because they were all she had here.  Everyone continued their conversations about how Angel's quinceañera went and how Geni's would be coming up soon.  Geni and Eryne were born on the same year, in the same month.  From what Novella told her, the two were raised together since they were in diapers.  They were always doing something together.  Eryne remembers how Geni used to look like Dora the explorer with her little Matilda bangs.

      She was brought back from the filing cabinet in her head when Geni started talking about how her quince plans were going. "  We already have all of the colors picked out and all of the court has been doing practices for all of the secret dances."  Dances?  As in multiple?  Don't girls just have that one that isn't really a secret but they call it a secret anyways when everyone knows that, that is usually how they make their entrance into their party?  "When it starts to get a little warmer I will start taking my pictures but who knows until my dress gets finished being altered."  She went on to say that she chose to have a lime green ball gown dress while the ladies of the court were set to be wearing a turquoise color.  All power to her for the boldness because Lord knows that if Eryne had the guts to have a quince in a place where she just moved it would be all black and neutral.  It is totally not going to happen because she's not willing to throw herself out there like that after everything that's happen these past few months.  Geni continued with her quince news,  "I wished I would have known that you guys were moving back I would have asked for your measurements so that you could be in my court too."  She mentioned sadly.  Or at least Eryne thought it might have been genuine sadness.

      What the actual hell Eryne why is everything suddenly so pessimistic?  If she's bummed why is it even questionable? 

      Eryne tries to conceal the frown she felt happening on her face from the scolding she had to do to herself.  She knows that she can't keep letting herself slip into the darkness that she once was in.  It was hard enough to pull herself back from that as it was.  These vibes don't need to continue here where she has been given a fresh start.  This is a chance for her to truly be herself and not be so afraid of being the bad guy.  That was after all what really bothered her about the rumors.  She didn't care about people saying that she slept around with a ton of guys because she obviously knew that, that didn't happen.  No... what really triggered her was to hear the responses of everyone that believed them.  They would say that she was such a home wrecker and how horrible she is of a person to make other girls so unhappy; even worse, her friends.

      STOP!

      Thinking about what already happened at a time when shes supposed to be happy is not going to help anything.  They might get the wrong idea and think that Eryne wasn't enjoying their welcome party.  It's time to snap out of it.  There is always time to have a meltdown about her personal problems when she's alone and can think without worrying about people looking at her.  This entire time everyone, including Eryne is eating and having a nice conversation.  Mostly it was the girls parents reminiscing about all the crazy stuff they used to get into.  Everyone finished eating and decided to move the gathering to the backyard since it wasn't all that cold and drink some cinnamon hot coco with huge marshmallows.  Eryne is finally feeling a bit less stressed when they hear some voices calling out at the wooden fence door.  Apparently Geni knows who these voices belong to, because she bounces up and heads for the door to let in these girls that looked around the same age as Eryne and Geni.  They were all smiles but Eryne immediately senses their energy and it doesn't feel good.  This is another one of Erynes "gifts" she gets these feelings about people and usually they're right.  Some say it's common sense or intuition but Eryne wasn't so sure.  The girls make their way to where the rest are sitting and Eryne can practically taste the foulness of their personalities.  Feeling a bit disoriented from the way they were acting and how their energy felt it was hard to not have questions.  One thing is for sure though and that was that these girls caused pain.  She doesn't know what kind of pain but it's a lot.  She realizes that this was a similar feeling that she got when Geni first spoke at the table.  It wasn't as strong then, maybe because she was alone but now that these girls were all together it was unmistakable.  As bad as she wants to, Eryne knows that she cannot let her guard down with Geni or her friends.