3: An awkward dinner.

       a few weeks later...

Sarah.

It's been around three weeks since we closed school... Or was it Four? I'm not really sure anymore.

All I know is that unfortunately, school resumes in two days. Which is a bummer cause I'm still wearing a cast from what casey and his jerky friends did to me. Those idiots broke my arm.

When they realized my arm was injured, they took advantage of the situation and directed all blows to my already injured arm. So here I am, badly hurt, nursing my aching arm, all because of them... And they don't give a damn!

Though I guess I'm kinda happy that I have this injury, because thanks to my cast, I don't wash dishes at the restaurant I work at. I'm simply given the 'not-so-complicated' tasks... Serving tables. As long as the trays aren't heavy, I can manage it. The doctor said they're going to take the cast off at the end of the week... At least that's a bit of good news in my life.

Speaking of news, Connie is coming back home from cheer camp today... My mother wouldn't stop talking about it.

I bet they've won first place again, they always do. Their school hasn't lost a single cheer competition for the last two decades. Our school and other schools simply compete for second place. Nobody seems to be able to compete with Crown Academy.

And Connie being the cheer captain and all, usually throws a celebration gathering for the entire squad after their victory. It's not a party, no! They just meet out at her house, chat, laugh, go shopping, chat even more, laugh even harder, watch a movie while eating loads of ice cream... Something you'd never find the cheerleaders at Berry High doing.

They say that ice cream makes you 'disgustingly fat and slow and as a pig'... Those are the exact words Kenzie used. And any cheerleader caught eating ice cream, or any fatty foods, will be immediately kicked off the squad.

And now, come to think of it, I think that's the reason Crown Academy will always beat us at cheer leading. They have peace, unity, togetherness... They have fun together... Enjoy each others company... They're more of a family than a squad. They put the 'cheer' in 'cheerleading'.

My mother and Connie's mom insisted that I go to the celebration. I'm not even surprised though cause they invite me every year. And I have to always find an excuse to not go.

The last thing I need is to cross paths with Casey there. I can't avoid him at school, but I can at home... And I wouldn't intentionally put my neck on the line.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, snapping me out of my thoughts. It was Connie. Speak of the devil huh!

I took a quick scan of the restaurant, making sure that my manager wasn't around. He can be a real pain in the ass. Confirming there wasn't, I discreetly sneaked out the back to take the call. And I had already formulated an excuse before picking up the phone... Cause I had a hunch as to why she was calling.

“Sarah, hey!” her usual cheerful voice rang through the phone, “How have you been? It's been forever since we sat down and talked,”

“Yeah, I've been busy,” I was hoping that didn't sound rude. Cause now that it's out, it's actually painting a bad picture.

“Well then, I'm guessing you wouldn't mind taking a day off from work later,” here goes!

“I'm actually working___”

“Sarah please. You're always coming up with excuses to not come. This might as well be the last gathering I'm throwing. Please don't miss it. It's only dinner,”

“Connie___”

“I'll even drive you home afterwards. You can't see me right now, but I'm making a really adorable puppy dog face ,”

I bet she was. And Connie is actually great at convincing people. I think she'd make a great sales agent... That is of course if she ever decided to take up her father's business.

“I'll even pick you up from work. What time do you get off,”

“There's no need for that, I'll try to make it,” I said it without even thinking.

“I'll see you later then,” and she hang up even before I could get a word in... So I'm guessing I am going to that dinner. God help me. I hope Casey won't be there.

Casey

Summer holidays, why do they have to be so boring? Correction, allow me to rephrase that.

Summer holidays, why does Connie always have to go to that dumb cheer camp every single year. I seriously don't get the concept of it. The competition is always so predictable.

Plus all they do is have those stupid 'girl talks', paint their nails, braid their hair , giggle and chuckle about things that don't even make sense, and cheer cheer and cheer even more.

The cheering part isn't actually that bad. Their routine is actually pretty entertaining.... If you're looking at the right place... If you know what I mean.

I'm just glad it's finally over and my cousin is finally coming back. It can get pretty boring without her. It's a bummer though that I won't be there to talk to her, or her hot friends. We both seem to have completely different plans.

She wants to stay at home and celebrate with her friends, I want to go out and party with mine.

I'd invite her, but I know she wouldn't come. I've tried it before and she literally sent me an essay of All the reasons she can't... Or she won't. The girl simply hates parties... That was the first reason. And she would never attend one, unless she was the one throwing it, or if it was a school function or something.

Now I know this may be a really inappropriate thing to say considering that Connie is my cousin, but Connie is super hot! And really sexy! If she wasn't my cousin, I wouldn't think twice about digging her, if you know what I mean.

But then again, if we weren't cousins, we wouldn't even be talking, at least that's what Connie told me. Apparently, I have a 'perverty_ arrogant_ jerky_ attitude', one she wouldn't stand if we weren't related.

What I can't seem to understand, is why a hot, smart and funny person like Connie would choose to stay cooped up in the house instead of going out and partying like every other normal girl her age... Let loose, have fun... Maybe even flirt a bit (okay, maybe not the flirting part. I'd kill those guys)  but she'd definitely pull it off. She'd actually kill it.

“So,” I had even forgotten that Brian was here, “about that party later... Why don't you invite Connie?”

"Cause she's busy?”

“You haven't even asked her,”

“I think I know my cousin better than anyone,” Brian knows Connie is busy... Or she's pretending to be busy, whatever. And I have to admit, his will and perseverance to annoy me is... ANNOYING!

“Nobody can ever convince her to do something she doesn't want to do, and attending parties is included there too,”

“Well that's because I've never really tried to convince her,”

“Okay then, well since you're so determined to make a fool of yourself, here,” and I gave him my phone just to get him off my back.

But by that stupid smirk he was wearing, I had a feeling I had made a terrible mistake. I was about to grab my phone back but he had already dialed Connie's number, and the thing about Connie is, she almost always immediately answers my calls. And Brian put the call on loudspeaker.

“Cee!” she chuckled through the phone, “What's up? I'm kinda in the middle of something so___”

“Connie! Hey!”

“Brian?” she sounded surprised, “Why'd you call? What can I help you with?”

“The question at hand should be what I can help you with,”

I heard Connie sigh from the other end of the line.

“What do you want?” she now sounded bored. But who wouldn't be? Brian can be really annoying.

“Oh nothing much. Just that you come with Casey and I to this party later,” Brian looked at me and smirked. I bet he thinks that he's convincing her... Just wait and see how fast he'll be snapped back to reality.

“A party huh? Well that sounds great... What time is it?”

      Just wait for it...

“It starts at seven,”

“That's great, I'll definitely make it... ” and Brian had a stupid victory smile on his face.

     Wait for it...

“... After about ten years!” she said and it took me all my self control to not burst into laughter.

“Come on, seriously Bee?” Brian called her by the nickname I gave her.

“First of all, only casey is allowed to call me that. Second, I have no idea what you were expecting to get from this conversation. You know pretty well how I feel about parties,”

“Dont you want to have fun?”

“Well clearly the both of us have different definitions of 'fun', ”

“Connie___”

“Look, can we continue this conversation in ten years? We're baking a cake, and well... You're really distracting me,”

“But____” before Brian could get another word in, the line was cut of... Connie had already hang up. I really couldn't help but laugh. I did tell him that convincing Connie to attend a party is like talking to a wall and telling it to perform a magic trick.

Well he just had to learn it the hard way. Once Connie has made up her mind about something, there's no talking  her out of it.

“Well that went well?” he returned the phone to me.

“Hate to say I told you so,”

“Oh well,it was worth a shot,”

“Was it though? You made a complete fool of yourself, acting like a girl who got a call from her crush,”

“I did,”

“What?”

“Nothing nothing! We should probably get going. Mike must be waiting for us to help him set things up,” he brushed off the topic as he stood up.

For his own good though, he had better not have said what I thought I heard him say.

Connie.

“This is the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted my whole life!” my dad exclaimed for the third time, eating another piece of the cake we baked earlier.

“Yes honey, we heard you the first two times,” my mom couldn't help but roll her eyes.

“Well it wouldn't hurt to repeat it. It's great cake!”

“You'd say that even if I simply put poop on a plate and added whipped cream on top,”

“I'd eat anything prepared by you princess... Even poop!”

“Eeew dad! That's disgusting!” we all laughed. Well, except Sarah, she just gave everyone a small smile, poking her food with a fork.

“For the first time though, I'm going to have to agree with your father,” my mother chimed in, “Your cake is delicious,”

“Thanks. Though I didn't really do much. I just supervised,”

“Then great supervision!” dad stuffed more cake in his mouth.

“Oh dad, can you be any less of a dad?”

“I could try, but I don't think I'd be comfortable,”

“Of course you wouldn't,” I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

“How about you Sarah? How's school?” Sarah briefly looked up at my mum before returning her gaze to her plate, “I hope Casey isn't being too hard on you,”

She was sitting right next to me, and I could easily see her tense up at my mom's question.

“Ummm... Everything... Everything's fine! Stuff are okay, school is okay... Casey is okay!” Sarah quickly replied, keeping her eyes glued to her plate. The very same plate she hasn't even touched.

Something about the was she replied insinuated otherwise. I had a feeling things were definitely not okay. Sarah seems to have a lot to hide. She's a total mystery.

“Casey? Okay? Those two words don't belong in the same sentence,” my mom smiled. I know she said it as a joke, but Sarah tensed up even more, the grip around her fork tightened. My parents obviously didn't notice cause they were too bust laughing at their 'adult jokes'.

But Sarah's behavior got me thinking... Could it be that after all this years, Sarah is still afraid of Casey?

Okay, I guess she has a good reason to be... But we were five when it happened. Shouldn't both of them have gotten over it by now and mend their friendship?

They sometimes put me in very awkward situations. Sarah avoids Casey... Casey hates Sarah... Natalya's hatred varies with her mood, and I'm the one left playing peace maker and holding all four of us together.

But I guess if I were Sarah, I'd probably still be a bit scared of Casey. After what he did that day, I knew that he had a crazy, wild, impulsive, violent side that would be best kept in the dark. And it would probably hurt a lot of people of it ever resurfaced