Chapter Four: Just a Dinner
Her room still didn't feel like home yet, but it was nice to at least be sleeping in her own bed. Amanda put the Perdits' furniture into her room as well as one of Angie's side tables since there was no room for it in her own bedroom. Angie was still getting used to this new environment. It still felt very temporary. But going back to Port Angeles for the rest of the week of classes didn't feel like home either. Leaving Doug's house on the weekend felt very finite. Being back in this school just felt strange, like she didn't belong – not in the same way as when she first transferred, but Angie felt like she was overstaying her welcome. Nothing could be done about it now. She still had to do the hour commute until all of her exams were done. Worse still was waiting around until Amanda finished work, two to three extra hours of waiting around in another ex-hometown. At least that meant study time. Usually she'd think of going to the library or her mom's shop, but for some reason all that Angie could think of was going down to the pier; that's where the Dairy Queen was. She got herself a table and made it a study station with a large cup of ice cream ready at hand. Even though she realized that this study plan was probably not the healthiest of choices, at this point it was the only comfortable place to be.
The electrician had come and gone. There was nothing exciting about that except that the hall light could now be turned on without the added buzzing of an old refrigerator. It was sort of disappointing that Mr Perdit couldn't have done it himself; now Angie had nothing to look forward to this weekend. No TV, no internet, just a long weekend of studying and solitaire. Not that she needed any more study time after the past week and a half worth of waiting around. She needed a backup plan before she went crazy.
"Hey, Mom," she said one day on the long drive into Forks, "how far is La Push?"
"La Push? I don't know. Maybe a half hour drive from Forks."
"Oh."
"Why 'Oh'?"
"Probably too far to bike to."
"You'd have a sore butt, that's for sure. What's in La Push?" Amanda was definitely hinting at something but she wouldn't flat out say it. She'd wait for her daughter to do that on her own.
"I just heard that it's nice out there. It's right up by the water."
"Miss the waterfront already, do you?" Amanda laughed.
"I don't know. I know I'm not a fan of being stuck out in the woods."
"Here we go again," Amanda sighed. "It's only for a while. It was cheap and available on short notice."
"I know."
"And it can't be all bad. What about that Nick guy? He seems nice."
"Nick?"
"Yeah. Or is that not why you've found interest in La Push?"
"Nick? You mean Nelson? Um, no, ew."
"What? You don't think he's cute?"
"For you maybe. I'm not that into older married guys."
"What? No, not the dad. What's the kid's name?"
"Eli."
"Okay, so I was off."
"Way off."
"Anyway, the point is, I thought that you two were getting along. Did you make any plans to get together?"
"No."
"So you were just going to bike into La Push for no reason?"
"Not for no reason. To see the beach. See what's around."
"You've hardly been around Forks."
"I did a lap; I think I got the gist of it."
"Did you see the school?"
Angie stayed silent.
"So you didn't see everything. That's what we should do this weekend, just hang around town, meet some people, maybe you'd meet some kids your age, then you'd know someone in your classes next year."
And there was Amanda's unfailing optimism kicking in. It was annoying. Not only did Angie's life have to suck but she had to be happy about it too.
Amanda had decided on the Friday drive home that Saturday would be the perfect day to beat around town. It was a close call; Amanda had found a quaint old greasy spoon restaurant and had just uttered the words, "We could try this for dinner," when her cell phone rang. It wasn't a number either of them knew. Amanda answered anyway.
"Hello? Is this Amanda Pochoda?"
Uh, oh, now what?Angie could barely make out what was being said on the other side of the phone, but her mother's expressions made her more eager to listen in.
"My name is Maggie. My husband did some repairs on your home."
His wife? Uh oh.
"I wanted to welcome you to Forks myself."
Well, at least she's friendly.
"I was wondering if you and your daughter had any plans for the evening?"
Angie had a feeling that this might be her saving grace. She interrupted by yelling over her mother, "No. No we don't!" at the phone.
The girl's eagerness made Mrs Perdit giggle a little. "In that case, my family would like to invite you over for dinner. Northing formal, just a welcome-to-the-neighbourhood simple dinner."
"We'd love to!" Angie yelled at the phone, giving Amanda no choice but to agree.
Mrs Perdit offered to send someone to pick them up, but Amanda was content to get directions and drive out there herself – she wanted an escape route after all.
This wasn't exactly what Angie would most want to do on a weekend, she didn't really want to dive headfirst into the Perdit house, but she was certain that it would be less awkward than her mom being forcibly sociable out in public – it was a small town after all. At least the Perdits were only one family and being embarrassed in from of one family in La Push was much safer than multiple families in Forks. Nelson and Eli would even have time to warn their family members about the awkward Pochodas. Having her mother forget everyone's name was the least of Angie's worries.
While Angie was fussing about her mother, Eli was fussing about everyone and everything in his home. Since his mother told him about the Pochodas' answer, Eli spent his time cleaning himself up and milled around the house trying to clean and organize things. His parents just laughed as he got all bent out of shape about the positioning of the sofa cushions.
Jokingly, Nelson said to his son, "No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to make it as spotless as theirs; we actually live here."
Eli brushed it off. The only thing that Eli was worried could possibly go wrong was Matthew, his twelve year old brother, and rightfully so. The moment Angie and her mother arrived, Matthew made the first impression: "Oh, so you're the girl. Eli's been pushy all day because of you. He even spent three hours in the bathroom just gelling his hair."
It was an exaggeration of course, but if there was an occasion to embarrass his brother, Matthew wasn't going to waste it. Angie stood their speechless. For once she was the one trying not to laugh while Eli didn't look humoured at all. Although she didn't know a word of Quillayute, judging by Eli's bitter-sweet tone, Angie was pretty sure that he told his brother to shut-up or threatened to kill him, perhaps even both at the same time. Matthew ran out of arms' reach, just in case Eli would grab him even in the presence of company. Eli did his best to ignore his brother from that point forward and just forced a smile like nothing at happened.
Eli had hoped that the evening would be a little more intimate than it was. Maggie Perdit and Amanda chatted the whole time, while the youngest Perdit, Gabby, was excited to have another girl in the house and hogged Angie all to herself. The eight year old needed to show Angie her bedroom, her posters, her stuffed animals, and so forth. Angie had to laugh; the littlest Perdit was such a girly-girl. As Gabby was insisting that she should show Angie how well she can braid hair, Eli was trying to ease his sister off by trying to sell her on the idea of soccer. Gabby didn't seem too interested; in fact, she promptly declared the sport to be a boy's game. Angie could have disagreed but she didn't think starting an argument with an eight year old would be a mature thing to do. If anyone was going to be interested in the topic of soccer, it was Matthew, who, like his sister, was doubtful about girls playing sports. Angie didn't want to brag, but she assured him that she was pretty good. Eli tried to back her up by saying that she had medals and everything. Matthew couldn't be convinced without a demonstration so by the end of evening a playoff was declared, though chances were that it was never going to actually happen.
Nelson mostly kept quiet and hidden until dinner was served. He only really spoke when Amanda asked him a question directly; other than that, he would whisper some direction to his children, either in hushed English or Quillayute, and sometimes a mixture of both.
The dinner consisted of roast beef, potatoes, vegetables and fresh bread, much like anyone would expect at a special dinner. Angie hadn't come in with much expectation, but her mother was surprised by how familiar everything was. She was waiting for bannock and fish, or perhaps rabbit or deer meat. Despite the fact that the Perdit home did not have the rundown appearance of reserve houses she had seen in her childhood, Amanda was continuously anticipating any sign of difference between herself and people on the reservation. There was plenty to be had; in fact, more than everyone could eat. It seemed that Maggie Perdit had anticipated everyone to eat with the same stomachs as the boys of her house, Nelson having had two and half platefuls himself. Food was well appreciated in the Perdit home.
After dinner, Eli left the adults to talk and excused himself and Angie. It didn't don on him how awkward she might feel being led to his bedroom. It was like the Dairy Queen run all over again. Angie tried to remember it, how worried she was and how innocent it had all been. If she hesitated, she knew exactly what he would say. "Don't trust me?" She didn't fully, but she was willing to try.
Eli didn't check for her reaction, he just went straight to his desk which faced the far wall. He was on a mission. Knowing that Angie was now a full two episodes behind, he had managed to find and download them onto his computer. It was crucial that she be up to speed before the season finale.
Upon entering the room, Angie immediately noticed that the room was really only half a bedroom. It was as if a line had been drawn down the centre: on the far right was Eli's bed, at the foot was the dresser, and across from the bed on the other wall was the desk. The other half only had a desk, the desk chair belonging to it had been moved to Eli's half.
"Yeah," Eli said to her, not taking his eyes off of the computer screen, "sometimes I think that my room reflects the spirit of Two-Face, minus the whole civic chaos and mass mayhem stuff."
"You shared a room with your brother?" she asked.
"Yup. First time that I've had a room to myself since I was born. I'm thinking I should start filling up the other side before someone else moves in."
"So your brother moved out for good?"
Eli went unusually quiet. He thought about pretending that he didn't hear her; he fiddled around with miscellaneous windows, but he wasn't the lying kind. "Yeah, looks that way."
"Did he go off to college or something?"
Eli brought up the movie player and started the first episode. "Ready when you are," he said.
It was obvious that he was avoiding the subject. Angie didn't mind. It was nice to know that he was human too.
They didn't really speak during the show, they only laughed. Occasionally Eli would give commentary like: "wait for it" or "listen to this" in anticipation of some great scenes. Their only interruption was twenty minutes in when little Gabby popped her head into the door way. Then she called out down the hall, "The door's open!" Eli went completely red in the face. His parents had sent her to spy on his conduct. He wheeled his chair over to his bed where he picked up a pillow and threw it at his sister. It only hit the door frame, and only after Gabby ran away giggling down the hallway.
Angie was only able to stay for the one episode – Amanda not feeling nearly as at home her daughter was. Fearing that she'd never get to see the end of the season, Eli offered to pick Angie up after school on Thursday. Although he would gladly drive the three hours to Port Angeles and back, they would probably miss the show. Instead, Eli got hold of a shuttle schedule to the resort that his dad worked at. All Angie had to do was bus to the airport and grab a free shuttle from there. Driving would be a little faster, but it was cheaper than a taxi cab and less painful than biking. Eli promised that if she still couldn't watch the show at her place next season, he'd pick her up from the Forks high school – it was a little closer at least. Angie figured that reason alone would be worth the transfer. Maybe this Forks thing wouldn't be so bad.