Terranovus

Chapter XVI - The Dinner Party

I had never seen my parents so happy yet disappointed at the same time. My mum reprimanded me for hitting Ava whilst Dad praised my architectural skills and claimed his engineering background must have rubbed off on me. They considered grounding me but remembered the Mayor's dinner (which they were invited to as well) and decided to sternly tell me not to assault a fellow student again instead.

The dinner party was Saturday, which was fortunately only two days away. The next day at school was awkward, to say the least. Ava had resumed her hatred for me and all her friends feared me, whilst the rest of the school declared me as their hero.

On Saturday, I browsed through the dresses in my closet. There were many of them, as if the Army had known such an occasion would occur. I pulled out a gorgeous navy blue cocktail dress and a deep purple knee-length dress and held them against my body. The choice was too difficult to make.

"You look exquisite in the navy dress Tabitha," spoke Iris from behind me. I jumped in fright and glared at her.

"Do you always watch whatever I do?" I demanded.

"I am an artificial intelligence designed by the Commander himself. I do not watch, I observe, and my duty is to help your transition to life here in Terranovus be as smooth as possible," responded Iris. I rolled my eyes and made a mental note to ask Dad to check if the garage had a ladder so I could rip Iris's pod out of the ceiling tomorrow.

As much as I despised Iris, I went with her advice and wore the navy dress. Though there was a grand selection of shoes to choose from, I once again went for my trustworthy worn out leather sandals.

"Did you really have to wear those shoes, Tabitha?" my mum moaned as we stepped out of an automatic vehicle a few hours later in front of the Mayor's home.

"It was either these or heels Mum, come on, you know me, do you want your daughter to have a sprained ankle by the end of tonight?" I teased back.

"No, I suppose not," she admitted and turned round to look for Dad. He was still in the vehicle checking something on his Ingo. "Paul, hurry up, we're going to be late," snapped Mum.

That was another thing, since that phone call I overheard a few weeks ago, Dad was growing more and more reserved and quiet every day. Despite being a Saturday, he left the house at the crack of dawn this morning to go to work and mumbled something about a tight deadline.

"Coming," he said and climbed out of the vehicle. Together we walked up the pathway to the Mayor's home and admired his mansion. Ivy vines climbed up and wrapped around marble columns that supported the second-floor balcony. Neat and pruned rose bushes surrounded the home and as I breathed in the scent, I wondered how large the Mayor's pay packet must be.

"Ready?" asked Mum.

"What's the Mayor's name again?" I asked.

"Rodrick Volkov," said Dad. "In the districts, he was a Sergeant Major, but they made him Mayor here."

"Oh, and I believe his son will be attending tonight's dinner too," added Mum, "he's a few years older than you and just started working for the Army. A lady in college last week told me he and Volkov used to fight terrifically when the son was younger but apparently he's matured quite a bit recently. She also told me the Mayor's wife died when the boy was quite young no asking where Mrs Volkov is, okay?" said mum with a sad smile and she pressed the doorbell.

The door opened and a man who stood tall with short cropped hair in a Major uniform greeted us.

"Ah, the McKinley family! Paul, nice to meet you again, I heard they made you senior engineer here, is that correct?"