Chapter 3: Family dinner.

“Clark, get your brother! We're going to have dinner together as a family tonight!” Arnold yelled, calling down his two sons from the dining room, excitement evident in his voice. 

Kimberly, who was already seated at the dining-table, scoffed inwardly. “Since when,” she thought to herself. She knew it was her father's idea, still trying to make up for the times he spent away from his family. 

Soon, Clark arrived with Aaron whom he had trouble convincing to join the family dinner. Aaron found it ridiculous. 

As soon as they were all seated, Arnold smiled at the wholesome sight before him, then said, “Let us say grace.” Holding each other's hands, they prayed, then bowed their heads and began feasting on their meal.

Kimberly, who was ridiculing the whole thing, rolled her eyes. Family dinner was barely a Silversmith's family tradition. But she couldn't blame her father, his family was drifting apart. 

Aaron barely spent time at home. Not that he wasn't old enough to move out, he was just always sleeping out and she never knows of his whereabouts. Clark didn't either, but even his attempts to stay home sometimes were sporadic. Arnold, her father, was the usual absentee. Then her mom, a workaholic. Her job? She doesn't know. 

The whole dinner felt like a group of housemates coming together to dine. Each with their own secrets and separate lives. Kimberly wondered why they even bothered pretending to be a family.

Few moments later, Arnold decided to break the awkward silence in the room, raising his head to face his family.

“I must commend my wife for this delightful meal,” Arnold began, “ Still the best cook the town of Lunadelephia will ever have” he teased, chuckling. He was greeted back with awkward smiles from Clark and Kimberly. His wife, Rebecca, and Aaron remained unfazed. 

The whole family knew Rebecca hardly cooked, and the spaghetti bolognese they were having was bought from a restaurant. But they dared not disrupt the charade.

“So Kim, how was school today?” Arnold jerked his head towards Kimberly, still trying to clear the tense air in the room.

“Fine,”Kim replied reluctantly, not wanting to have the ‘fake-daddy-daughter-bonding-conversation’. Kimberly's parents were too busy to be interested in her personal life, except if it had to do with the whole family. 

Arnold dropped his fork and spoon, his voice rising in irritation, “Is that it? Just fine?” He raised his brows in question. The room fell silent. Kimberly knew how incredibly quick to anger her father was and the reason behind his sudden irritation. So she knew not to render his efforts in trying to make a ‘simple’ family dinner conversation futile.

She gulped down the food she had stuffed in her mouth before saying, “I made a friend” A ‘friend’, she liked how it rolled out from her tongue. She hadn't had a friend since her childhood bestfriend died from leukemia when they were 11. She smiled inwardly in delight.

Arnold's face lit up, “Oohh that's new! What's her name?” he asked, a smile appearing on his lips, he picked up his cutleries and began eating again. 

“Sheila,” Kimberly replied meekly, without lifting her head.

“Well, I'm happy for you Kim, good to know you've finally begun to socialize. Maybe you would even have a date by prom,” Arnold teased and snickered.

Kimberly raised her head to meet the supportive smiles that beamed from all of their faces. She smiled back, then grinned at the thought of having a prom date. She went ahead to finish her meal. The rest of the dinner continued relatively peacefully with occasional attempts at small conversations.

                * * * * * * *

Unlike other days, Kimberly enthusiastically raced downstairs like a giddy school girl — literally, alerting her father that she was done and he happily drove her to school. 

As Kimberly climbed the sleek stone stairs of the school entrance, she heard a cheerful voice call her from behind. It was Sheila.

“Hey Kim!” Sheila hollered, beaming with her infectious, gorgeous warm smile as she quickened her pace to catch up. “Did you hear? There's a pre-prom-bonfire party at the Lightwood’s beach tonight, you're coming right!?” She asked, barely containing her excitement.

Kimberly chuckled, slightly taken aback by Sheila’s energy. “Uhh, no, I don't do parties Sheila..my parents would kill me, plus I have this thing…” her brows furrowed as she tried to explain but Sheila cut her off.

“They don't even have to know! Girl!! You have to loosen up a little, it's a party, come have fun!” Sheila coaxed, “besides, Jordan is gonna be there” she added, grinning.

Kimberly raised a brow in both surprise and wonder, “Jordan? Jordan Hawkins? The baseball captain? Why would I care if Jordan will be there?”

“Oh my god, Kimberly! Are your glasses making you even more shortsighted?” Sheila teased chuckling, “Because Jordan has a huge crush on you dummy!” She said, laughing hysterically. 

Kimberly's cheeks flushed,“I don't believe you,” she replied, shrugging her off.

“Kim! It's obvious! The way he looks at you in the hallway, during classes, each time your dad drops you off in the morning… I'm telling you, he's into you!” Sheila said, sounding so certain. “If he doesn't talk to you today, then you can choose to never believe a word I say,” she added, smiling at Kimberly who was starstruck with skepticism.

Just then, the school bell rang and Sheila ran off saying, “oops, we gotta get to class.”

“But the class is that... way,” before she could complete her sentence, Sheila was nowhere in sight. She dropped her shoulders and quickly climbed up the stairs, dashing to her class.

During lectures, Kimberly could barely focus as her thoughts were consumed by Sheila's words about Jordan's alleged crush — her. She couldn't help sneaking glances at him sitting two desks behind her, until unluckily, he caught her looking. She gasped, “Oh shit! He saw me,” she thought to herself, her cheeks flushing hard with red. 

Jordan, the school’s finest suave, who used to be her crush since grade 8 but since she realized she could never be his type, she gave up. Plus, he's with Madison. “Wait, Madison!” She thought to herself as her eyes widened at the realization that Jordan and Madison had been together since last semester. “Urgh! How could I forget?” she muttered inwardly. But how could Jordan possibly crush on her when he has Madison? And Madison has everything! It wasn't making sense, not yet.

She imagined how furious she would be if she finds out that Sheila was just pulling her legs. But what if she wasn't? Kimberly tapped her foot restlessly, she couldn't wait for classes to be over.

Finally, the school bell rang, and Kimberly swiftly packed her backpack to go home, her disappointment evident as Jordan exited the class without talking to her. “Sheila was totally lying” she huffed, her pessimism taking hold as she marched towards the school exit.

After a 45-minute wait at the almost deserted school parking lot, Kimberly pulled out her phone to dial Clark's number for the umpteenth time. And just like her father’s, who was late to pick her up from school, it went straight to voicemail. 

She huffed in annoyance watching the school empty gradually. Due to her reflex epilepsy and her brothers’ overprotectiveness, she was driven everywhere. Their vigilance now seemed pointless to her as she waited for nearly an hour, feeling frustrated and forgotten.

Soon, the sky turned into a deep foreboding gray. The air became heavy and humid, and a sudden gust of wind whipped her bronze-colored hair into a frenzy. “Not the rain, Please!” Kimberly groaned, her frustration intensifying. Just then, it began to drizzle.

She rubbed her chilled tender hands together as shivers coursed through her body. Clutching her jacket tighter, she hastened pace towards a shelter. “Could it get any worse?” she lamented, heaving sighs of exasperation. 

Just when she thought she'd lost hope, and was already half drenched in the cold, a car pulled up beside her.

“Hey! Kimberly! Get in!” she heard a familiar voice yell from the jeep.

Her eyes widened in surprise at the last person she expected to see, “Jordan? What’re you doing here?” she asked, her voice quivering with disbelief.

“I saw you standing there all alone, I thought I'd give you a ride,” Jordan replied, his baby blue eyes sparkling with a hint of mischief. "Plus, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Kimberly hesitated, her mind racing with questions. 

“Well, are you getting in or not?”Jordan asked, his eyebrow raised in amusement.

She took a deep breath and made a split-second decision. “Okay, fine,” she said, opening the door and slipping into the passenger seat.

As the jeep pulled away from the curb, Kimberly felt a thrill of excitement mixed with anxiousness, as her mind replayed Sheila’s words.