Valentine's Day

Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE:

  "Juliet!" I heard mom call me from downstairs.

  She sounded really excited, you know, the kind that you just can't keep still and you just have to do something.

  "Coming!" I shouted back.

  I pulled off the coverlet and pushed my homework back onto the table. It was already ten plus and I haven't even gotten halfway through the humongous pile of essays the teachers have assigned.

  When i reached the living room, I saw mom sitting on our beige couch, smiling as she scrolled through the messages in her phone.

  "Er...mom?" I wasn't sure if she was in the right state of mind. She looked as if she has drunk too much sugar syrup in one gulp.

  "Oh, Juliet! You'll never guess what! "I have finally found my high school friends after so many years! We're having a gathering tomorrow, here!" She clapped her hands delightedly. "Isn't it great?" 

  I raised an eyebrow.

  "Erm. So, basically, I'll be seeing more Aunt Judies?" I asked.

  Mom shook her head.

  "No. Oh, but you'll love all of them! They're bringing their kids too! You can socialise with them!"

  I had the weirdest vision of me with their four year old toddlers, playing princess.

  "How old are their kids?" I asked my over-excited mom cautiously.

  I wasn't a good socialite. I was more deign to be a wall flower and watch people, rather than be the person being watched.

  "Oh a few toddlers, and one high school boy too. My classmate is moving to the neighbourhood a mile from here so he'll be joining your school." She added brightly. 

  Brilliant. So i'll have to talk to him, and that would be positively terrible because I failed at socializing and he'll remember me when he goes to my high school and he'll never talk to me again. Then, my life will be miserable because if he joins the popular gang, my life in high school will be ruined.

  "Oh you don't have to over worry and dramatize the encounter," Mom waved her hand dismissively. "It'll be fine. Wes will be here. Just be yourself." She smiled.

  Somehow, that seemed like the wackiest mix of news told on a late night. Maybe you didn't know, but socializing is up there sharing with the throne of falling in love. I hated socializing, because I never know what to say and what to do! You get a mental blank, and the other person thinks that you're weird, and then you lose all chance of ever becoming that person's friend. The hardest thing to do in life, is to be the first one to actually say "Hi.". With that happy thought in mind, I went back  upstairs and prepared myself to socialize.

  "Just the perfect way to spend my Saturday mornings," I grumbled, skewering the tomatoes and grapes as quickly as i could. "Where i can be out breathing in fresh air and-"

  "Finding the perfect boy to go out with on Valentine's Day." Wes finished for me.

  He bent over his toasted sandwiches nonchalantly, happily ignoring my glare.

  "I seriously don't see the fuss in all the love stuff. Its plain retarded." I declared, jabbing at the poor grape viciously.

  I couldn't believe my friends would bet that I would fall in love in two weeks. Its either they have nothing better to do, or they have something up their sleeve. I think the latter is the more likely. They don't seem to have much time for planning and plotting; they have their own love lives to handle as well.