I know the update took a while but I warned you. So as for the next one, I also can't say it's going to be quick. If you're a high school student you probably understand me. Exams have started and I had two this week and I have two next week. After that I'm scouting for a job so don't expect an update anytime soon. I wasn't originally going to put this up today but since it's going to be a while before I can get to this story again I figured I wouldn't make you guys wait really really long. So maybe 3-4 weeks for the next chapter to come up, which means I'm gonna make you guys wait again. Sorry about that!
7-Invitation
"Okay, and we need to invite him for sure," Elyon said. It was after school Wednesday, and she sat on her bed with Alchemy next to her. She picked up the stencil and began to fill in the lines to spell out the name on the envelope. "Cornelia, are you done with the list I gave you?" She looked towards Cornelia, who was sitting on the rotating chair at her computer desk. When Cornelia didn't respond, she called the girls name again. And then a third time, much louder.
"What?" Cornelia looked as if she had just been snapped back into reality.
"The list?" Elyon repeated herself with an air of bitchiness in her tone. She was the one person who could get away with that when it came to speaking with Cornelia.
"Oh, yeah." Cornelia blinked a few times, an attempt to erase whatever it was she was just thinking about. As she handed the list back to Elyon, she decided it wouldn't hurt to ask a little question. "Hey, do you think I could invite a few more people to the party?" Normally Cornelia would have just invited other people anyways, but it was Elyon's party this time and she had to respect that it was up to her who came.
Elyon raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes, "Like who?"
Cornelia shrugged her shoulders, "Like…Hay Lin…and Caleb…and a couple others."
Elyon's eyebrow dropped and her lips formed a pout. "Why would you want to invite them?" She came off a bit snobbish, but Cornelia ignored it.
"Yeah, Cornelia." Alchemy nodded her head. "They aren't exactly…well…" She trailed off, then started with a new excuse, "They don't look like they'd have fun at a party anyways."
Cornelia let her lips fall into a pout. It was her look, she had taught it to both Elyon and Alchemy, so really, she was the only one who should be wearing it. "But…come on, Elyon! You guys would love them if you gave them a chance."
Elyon gave no response.
"Please?"
Silence.
Cornelia pulled herself off the chair and hopped onto the bed. She turned Elyon to face her and gave her the Cornelia stare. The stare that meant 'you have to do this little favor for me because I always sacrifice for you.' Elyon would have said yes anyways. There was one thing you weren't allowed to do to Cornelia Hale and that was say no.
"Alright."
"Yay!" Cornelia hopped back off the bed and over to the desk. She picked up the stack of invitations, a stencil and pen, and sat back on the rotating chair. "Thanks Elyon, I'll make their invites."
... ...
Thursday lunch, the crew was back to their usual seating arrangements. Cornelia sat with them yesterday as well, but she made it clear she was sitting back with Elyon today. Caleb breathed a sigh of relief when she had announced this. Yes, he wanted her to sit with him, but he was sick of Irma actually doing her homework.
Cornelia's announcement to be back at her usual table was what caused everyone to be surprised when she appeared at their lunch table that day.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to eat again. I just wanted to drop something off," she said immediately, as if reading their minds.
Caleb watched as she dug through her bag, and when her hand emerged, he noticed a stack of red envelops with gold print on them. On the envelope stacked on top, he noticed that Hay Lin's name was written in gold font that looked almost like it had come off of the computer. The fact that it was done in pen was given away when he also noticed gold pen marks on Cornelia's hands.
"So there's a party this weekend," Cornelia started, "It's Elyon's back to school thing. Anyways…"
Caleb caught some of the expressions around the table. Taranee's, Will's, and Matt's were shocked. Hay Lin looked oblivious to what was happening, and Irma just looked bored.
"Hay Lin," Cornelia held out the red envelope with Hay Lin's name printed on it, "you get an invite."
Hay Lin's eyes brightened as she took the envelope from Cornelia hands.
"Let's see if I can do this," Caleb heard Cornelia mumble. He had no idea what she was talking about until he noticed her narrowed eyes examining Matt. He also realized that the next few envelopes had no names on them. Great, Caleb thought. She had forgotten all of his friends names.
"…It's Matt, right?" Cornelia asked, and Caleb let a breath of air out. For some reason he really wanted her to remember all of his friends names.
"Yep," Matt nodded his head, his look of shock still pasted on his face.
"Here, Matt." Cornelia reached across the table to hand Matt his red envelope. Her gaze then focused on Will, "I remember you're Will." She smiled and once again leaned over the table to give Will the invitation. Next, her gaze rested on Taranee. She bit her bottom lip and Caleb could tell that she was struggling to remember Taranee's name. "Ta…ra…nee?" Cornelia said it very slowly. She was careful not to say it wrong. Caleb almost laughed. This was like a game to Cornelia. Remember the name and you can invite them to the party sort of thing.
Taranee nodded her head. Cornelia didn't have to reach across the table this time since Taranee was right next to Caleb.
"Caleb." Cornelia pulled the next envelope out, this time the gold letters were back and his name was printed on it. "I'm only inviting you because I don't want you to feel left out." She handed him the invitation and giggled at what she said.
Caleb shot her a glare, which he followed by a grin. He liked it when she teased him.
Just at that moment, Caleb thought Cornelia was going to walk away. It looked like it too. She turned forty five degrees from the angle she was standing at to talk to them before turning back. He watched from the corner of his eye as she pulled out one last envelope. This one had the gold printing as well, but he was trying so hard to make it seem like he wasn't paying attention that he couldn't make out the name. Cornelia clarified who it was for him.
"Irma…" she started. She held out her hand with the invitation in next to Irma. "You should come too," a small smile appeared on her face. Her expression almost looked…hopeful.
Caleb noticed Irma's eyes hover towards the invitation, and slowly, her hand raised and took it from Cornelia. Caleb thought he saw the smallest of grins fighting itself onto Irma's face, but it didn't win. At last, all Irma said was, "Thanks."
Cornelia stood for another short second before pursing her lips together, and turned on her heel heading back to her table. She suddenly stopped and spun back around, "And it's a pool party…so bring a something you can get wet," she showed off a smile one last time before actually making it back to her table. Caleb was completely unaware that he was watching her until Matt's voice snapped his attention back to the table.
"We going?"
"I think we should," Will said softly. This came as a shock to Caleb. Will didn't often like going to parties; but then again, they didn't get invited to many.
"Me too," Hay Lin agreed, nodding her head a little too much.
Next to Caleb, Taranee shrugged her shoulders. Her reluctance was apparent. "I don't know…I've got a lot to study-"
"Don't even start talking about studying. We're only two weeks into school," Will said.
It was completely done in unison when everyone's eyes darted towards Irma, who had her sandwich stuffed in her mouth. She looked back at each of them individually, then rolled her eyes. She chewed and swallowed. "Maybe…it wouldn't be-"
"We should go," Matt concluded. Then Caleb felt everyone's eyes rest on him. "Thanks man," Matt said.
"For what?"
"C'mon. We know if it wasn't for you we wouldn't even be invited."
Caleb wanted to argue, but it was sort of true. Hay Lin had been friends with Cornelia for nearly three years and she had never once been invited. It only started when he started spending time with Cornelia. Caleb wasn't sure what to do other than shrug, "Sure."
"So we're going?" Hay Lin asked.
"I guess I could put off studying for a night…" Taranee shrugged.
"I guess that's a yes," Will said. "But umm…"
"What?" Irma looked up from her food. Caleb took in that Will looked like she was unsure of something.
"I…never mind. You'll think I'm stupid."
"Just spit it out," Matt said, and Caleb could have sworn he noticed Matt's arm shift a little; like he had just poked Will in the side.
"I-I don't really know what to where to these kinds of things."
... ...
"Here, try on this," Irma said, shoving a pair of white shorts into Will's arms. Immediately after Will's comment at lunch, it was decided the four girls would head straight to the mall and find something to wear. Irma, being the one who used to attend party's with Cornelia a few years back, knew what they would need.
Will's nose wrinkled at the shorts she was holding in her arms, "They're…a little short."
"Just try them on," Irma said, and by her tone it was obvious they wouldn't be leaving the store until Will was in those shorts. She practically shoved Will into Old Navy's change room.
Will, being a fast changer, came out within thirty seconds. Her whole body from the waist down was stiff, showing off her uncomfortable feeling in the clothes.
"They look nice," Hay Lin smiled.
"Here, Taranee," Irma had suddenly appeared again with something else. A bright yellow camisole and dark blue jean shorts, "You should try on these." She held out her other arm and held out a similar outfit to Hay Lin, "And you wear this, Hay."
After a large amount of reluctance, the girls finally gave in to the outfits Irma had picked out for them. They did agree that the outfits were nice, and that they flaunted their bodies in all the right ways, but Will, Hay Lin, and Taranee were used to jeans and oversized T-shits.
"Thanks for the help, Irma." Will said on behalf of everyone.
"No problem. I've always been good at picking out nice clothes." Irma didn't try to hide her humbleness.
"Hey guys!" They all heard the voice coming from the side of them, and their heads all turned in unison. Coming in from one of the mall's many entrances was Cornelia, with Elyon shortly behind her.
"Hey, Cornelia!" Hay Lin said before the others could.
"What are you here for?"
"Oh, just…shopping…around." Will said slowly.
"Picking up something for the party?"
"Uhh…" Taranee started, unsure what the right answer was. They were all unsure. Was it okay to have to shop for new clothes just for a party or should they already have something nice?
"Well, that's what me and Elyon are here for," Cornelia grinned, gesturing to Elyon.
The girls couldn't help but notice the icy look Elyon was looking them over with. She took extra time to glare at Irma. It was the look that Cornelia would have smacked her across the head for if she had seen it, but since Elyon was slightly behind her, she didn't.
"So what's in the bags?" Cornelia asked, glancing towards the Old Navy bags in their hands.
"Oh…" Will said, moving the bag behind her legs. They probably looked like losers shopping at Old Navy. Cornelia and Elyon probably got all of their clothes from H&M and places like that.
"Just some shorts and stuff," Irma said with absolutely no tone in her voice at all.
"Oh," Cornelia sighed. "Well, we should get going. We need new bikinis for the party." She shrugged with an innocent smile, "Old Navy's got the best ones. You guys should check them out there." And then she disappeared with Elyon into the crowd at Old Navy.
... ...
Friday's practice was held in the small gym because of basketball practice happening in the large one. Cornelia argued that the courts weren't that big and that the cheerleaders needed the space to practice tumbling, but the coach wouldn't give in. She took a deep breath before entering the small gym in an attempt to mask her anger from the other cheer members.
"Okay guys, I wanna try that scale again," Cornelia said.
"Are you sure?" Kyle asked, "You hit the ground pretty hard last time."
"I'm fine," Cornelia nodded. She took her place in the center of the mats and set her foot in Kyle's hands. "Call it Elyon."
"Ready, one two!" Elyon's voice said, and Cornelia was pushed into the air.
This time the scale worked. She pulled up her leg and held a high V with her other arm.
"Cradle ready, one two!" Elyon's voice again.
Cornelia was shot in the air and landed perfectly in Kyle's arm.
"Okay," Cornelia didn't acknowledge the good job she knew she had done. "I wanna try doing that scale and on the next count, instead of cradling, I want to go straight into an arabesque, and then a cradle."
"Cornelia, you sure you can pull that off?" One of the new freshman's (whose name was somewhere lost in Cornelia's head) asked. Her voice held a bit of worry.
"Yeah, I've got it."
"She did a way more difficult stunt last year, this should be easy." Elyon commented.
Once again Cornelia was back in the air, holding her scale. Right at the start of the next count of eight she let her leg go and bent forward with her arms spread to balance her, holding the perfect arabesque.
"Cradle!" Elyon said once again.
The moment Cornelia was at the highest point in the air she would have been for the cradle, she spotted someone standing at the door. It didn't take her a second to recognize just who it was. It seemed that was the same situation for Elyon.
"Hey, this is a closed practice."
"Sorry," Caleb held up his hands, "Just taking a look." He stepped back and was just about to leave when Cornelia stopped him.
"No, it's alright," she blurted, "You should watch and let me know what you think." Caleb stepped back to where he was and leaned on the door, giving Cornelia a small grin and a nod.
For the rest of the practice Cornelia found herself trying harder than she usually did, and putting in a greater effort to hit the stunts on the mark. She ended practice five minutes earlier than she usually would have, and as soon as she left the locker room she basically ran to the front doors to see if Caleb was still around - she found him at the front doors.
"Hey," Cornelia said.
"Hey," he said.
"Why did you show up at practice?"
Caleb shrugged, "I wanted to see if you were interested in running lines with me after you were done."
Cornelia wished she could have said yes, "Sorry. The party's tomorrow so I have to get some things together so I can meet Elyon at the beach house in the morning to set up."
"Ah…well how about you let me give you a ride home?"
Cornelia didn't have to think twice, "Yeah, sure." She said, and pushed her way through the front doors. From behind her she heard Caleb making a smart remark.
"So are you always gonna leave your car at home so you can hitch a ride with me?"
"Are you always going to offer me a ride home?" She was quick to retort.
"Ha-ha," Caleb said, with noted sarcasm.
It didn't seem like she was in his car just a few days ago. In fact, it didn't seem completely normal that she was even in his car at all today. Just last week she hated him for knocking her over and walking by like she was no one. But now she wanted any excuse to spend her time with him.
"So what did you think of the team?" Cornelia asked after Caleb stuck his key into the car and put it into drive.
"If I'm honest you might be offended."
"That bad?" Cornelia was suddenly concerned that her team was horrible and not even worth going to competition with.
Caleb looked at her with a serious face, then broke into a grin, "I'm kidding. They were good."
"I made that whole routine."
"That's something to be proud of?"
"Shut up!" Cornelia said it mixed with a giggle. She hit him softly with the back of her hand, "I'm very proud of that routine."
"You should be," Caleb said, "It's good."
"Thank you." Cornelia said. She found herself then looking down at her shirt, remember the last time she had gotten out of this car. Her white shirt was soaked to a point where you could see right through it. This time she was in black and there was no rain anyways, so she didn't have to bother worrying about what he might see. "Can I tell you a secret?"
"Yeah." Caleb answered, "I can't promise I won't tell though.
"Well, I think that when you were watching us practice, I was trying hard to do better."
"Like you were trying to impress me?"
Cornelia couldn't help but smirk. For some reason, she found this easy to admit, "Maybe."
It seemed that every time something - something big - was about to happen, Caleb pulled into her driveway and she had to get out.
"Walk me to my door?" She tried to make it sound like a question and not a demand, although it came out a bit of both.
She noticed that Caleb didn't hesitate to open up his door and walk out after her. They didn't say a word up the rest of the massive driveway until they reached her front door. The nervousness Cornelia had been lacking up till this point was all kicking in now. They were in the perfect setting for a Hollywood styled front porch kiss.
"So…" Caleb started slowly. He had his hands shoved in his pockets until just a few seconds ago, "You aren't going to invite me in."
"I would," Cornelia said quickly, "but it's late, and I haven't eaten or done any homework yet."
Caleb nodded, "I guess I should be getting home and doing that too."
Then he did the most shocking thing. Cornelia was shocked. Instead of pulling her close to him and kissing her like she wished, he pulled her close and into a tight hug. Cornelia wasn't sure what to do other than hug him back. This was the first time anyone had been such a…well, gentleman to her.
There was a sudden creak and the light flooding from inside her house shone out the door. Cornelia pulled herself back and saw her mother standing in the doorway.
"Mom…I thought you weren't back until tomorrow morning."
"I caught an early flight," her mother replied, then turned to Caleb with an unreadable look on her face, "Who's your friend."
"Mom, this is Caleb," Cornelia took a step closer to her mother, "And Caleb, this is my mom, Elizabeth."
"Nice to meet you ma'am," Caleb said, and held out his hand.
Elizabeth glanced down at Caleb's hand, holding hers close to her body, she replied, "Pleasure," in a cool voice.
Caleb seemed to realize that Elizabeth wasn't going to shake his hand, so he let it drop to his side.
"It's late, Cornelia, you should come inside." Her mother said, then she turned her gaze onto Caleb, "Goodnight, Caleb." And she shut the door with a little more force than necessary.
"What are you doing, Cornelia?" Cornelia had escaped into the living room when her mom's voice ordered her to a stop.
"What…do you mean?" Cornelia said quietly, turning towards her mom.
"You know what I mean. Did I open the door at an unwelcoming time?"
"Well, hello to you too." Cornelia said bitterly.
"I've warned you not to get involved with people like that."
"People like what?" Cornelia blurted before she could stop herself, "I don't see a problem with Caleb."
Elizabeth shook her head, glaring daggers at her daughter, "Did you not see how he was dressed? His hair? Everything about him shouts lower class."
Cornelia folded her arms over her chest and pursed hr lips, "I like how he dresses." she raised an eyebrow, "And you consider everyone but us lower class, mother."
Elizabeth folded her arms across her chest in the same way Cornelia had, "How many times do I have to tell you? You can't get involved with those kind of people!"
"And why not!" Cornelia shouted.
"He's trash, Cornelia!" Elizabeth shouted back. Cornelia had expected harsh words to come out of her mother's mouth, but the word trash stunned Cornelia into silence. Elizabeth took the moment to her advantage and began again, "Now tell me you and this boy are just friends. Because that's what I would like to hear."
Cornelia bit her tongue in her mouth. There was no way she could say that. No, there was no way she would say that. But when she took two seconds to think about it, they really weren't any more than friends. Not yet, anyways.
"Say it." Her mother demanded.
Cornelia didn't want to say anything, but slowly, she gave into her mothers demands as she always did. "We're just friends."
"Good." Her mother said slowly, as is unsure she actually believed it.
Cornelia turned on her heel and took a few steps towards their kitchen.
"Where do you think you're going?" Elizabeth's voice called Cornelia to a halt again.
"To get some food." Cornelia replied without facing her mother.
"No you're not," Elizabeth said. "You've gained weight since I last saw you. We don't need that progressing." Her words stung Cornelia, but she didn't say anything in return. "Get upstairs and into bed."
Cornelia wanted to spin around and smack her mother across her face. But it was too late to do that as she heard her mother's footsteps grow quieter and quieter, then finally, her office door slam. Cornelia didn't know how long she stood in her place for. Just standing, soaking in the hurtful words her mother had just said. A car door slamming brought her back into reality. She instinctively turned to the large window looking out onto her driveway, and saw Caleb was just pulling out. It was his car door that had slammed. Which meant he had just gotten into his car. Which meant that up until that point, he had been standing outside. Which meant that he had just heard Cornelia's entire conversation with her mom.
Yes, I know! Cornelia's mom is a horrible person, but hey, it makes a story right?
Since the update is gonna take a while longer I think I'll give you guys a longer peek at the next chapter:
... ...
He noticed Will take in a deep with accompanied with a small glare in his direction. The look quickly vanished from Will's face when Caleb noticed that she wasn't glaring at him. She was glaring behind him. He looked back over his shoulder and saw Matt standing in the hall, in clear view, with two tall and skinny girls laughing next to him. Caleb pressed his lips together and slowly turned back to Will.
"I would have asked you to leave the moment we got here." Will started, "I mean, look at these people! We don't belong here!"
"So why didn't you?" Caleb asked, already knowing the answer. He was ninety nine percent positive that Will already knew that he had figured it out as well.
"How am I supposed to get his attention?"
"Sitting here isn't helping, you know."
... ...
Reviews reviews!