The Adventure

Mom calls everyone to dinner. Jaime is at work so she won't be home until late. I was somewhat grateful, somewhat nervous about this. Keith sits at the head of the table, naturally, while Mrs. Darsbrook sits directly across from him at the other end of the table. Kevin comes crawling through the doorway, meowing with his cat-like ways which are sure to embarrass the whole family. He was sure to switch into dog-mode at any second. He takes in between Mom and Keith, almost on the corner of the table, out of the way of company. Mrs. Darsbrook sits next to her husband, leaving Ian and I sitting next to each other, Ian next to his father, me next to Keith. I am both in love and terrified by the idea of Ian being in such close proximity of me.

Ian and I are the last ones to take our seats, setting our Green Teas on the table as we sit. I manage to sneak a peak at him as we scoot out seats in, tugging against the carpet. He catches my eye and smiles at me. I feel myself blush and sit up in my chair. At this time, I notice that I've been biting my lips the entire they have been here. Once I start, I can't stop. I pull at the skin and feel the imperfections of it as I tear it away. It sounds gross when I explain it, but we all do it. If you just leave it be, you have unbitten skin left to stick out, and it's even more embarrassing than just the act of biting your lips.

"Kevin, eat like a big boy" my mother says to my brother. He barks in agreement. Or disagreement, I can't tell. He needs to be socialized better. He spends too much time home with the pets. Conversations go back and forth but I continue to stay silent, unsure of what to say. I get caught off guard when I hear a voice talking to me.

"So, how is school going for you, Elizabeth?" the voice asks. I look up from my half-eaten, half-picked at chicken. It's Mrs. Darsbrook.

"Oh, it's um, OK. Just trying to keep up." I reply, not really sure of how to really answer.

"Tell them about all the stuff you do at school, Biz." My mom encourages. Please don't embarrass me mom, I'm pretty sure they don't want to know. I give her a look, one that says something like 'you've ruined my plan of keeping quite' and 'I hate talking about myself to strangers.' Well, almost strangers.

"Well," I start out. Where do I start out? When I think about it, my school activities don't seem like much, but to other people, they do. Whenever I'm forced into talking about my extra-curricular, I try to give it to whomever in easy doses. "I have a band concert coming up in a little less than a month, so I'm trying to prepare for that."

"What other instrument do you play besides piano?" Ian's mom asks. Ugh, I started on the wrong subject. Either that, or she needed to ask the question differently.

I prepared myself for her next questions. I expected the expression on her after I answered the current one. It always catches people off guard. "Well, in concert band, i play the viola." I held my breath. These conversations are always hard for me.

Her expression was exactly how I pictured it would be. Even Mr. Darsbrook finally spoke to me after hearing this. "Oh, the viola. Isn't that like the violin?" He asks. I didn't expect him to bring himself into the conversation.

"Yeah, it's a little bigger than the violin and it doesn't go as high. But not a lot of people play it, so my dad figured it would give me a better chance to get into a good college." Shit. I need to stop talking. Not only did I not avoid ending the conversation, but I also brought up two more subjects. College, and my dad.

"Oh, that's nice of you Keith." Mrs. Darsbrook says. I told you I needed to stop talking.

"Actually..." I pause, trying to not make her feel stupid. "Keith is my step dad."

"...Oh..." And there's a bit of a silence in the room for a very short moment. I mean, it's not rocket science. I look nothing like Keith. Or my mom for that matter. I got my dad's pale British skin and dirty blond hair. My mom got the Hungarian tan skin, as did Keith, being Hungarian and Italian. Mom and Keith also have dark brown hair. This should have been obvious that Keith is not my father.

"So... college," Mrs. Darsbrook awkwardly redirects the conversation. "What do you want to do?" And yet, it continues.

"Actually, I'm not exactly sure. I'm still trying to make up my mind." Once again, I open my mouth and get myself deeper into the conversation. It's normally embarrassing for me to talk about it, bu with Ian there, it's worse. Much, much worse. "I mean, there's a lot I want to do and a lot of different stuff I'm interested in."

And this goes on for a while, yet I can't keep myself from shutting up. Every question they ask leads to two more. I tel them about all the stuff I like to do and what activities I'm in. Band, Marching Band, Drama, Film Club, Tri-M. All the instruments I play, piano, viola, guitar, trombone (when I was actually in Jazz Band, but I quit), flute, and guitar. I told them about Art Class and that I love to take pictures. I told them a lot. Way more than what I wanted to tell them.

"That's quite a lot to chose from for college. But I'm absolutely positive you'll make the right decision." Mr. Darsbrook encourages me.

"Oh, you'll have no problem getting into college, Hun." Mom reassures me. "After all, you are in NHS." Ugh, she had to bring that up too.

"NHS... Isn't that..." Mrs. Darsbrook starts.

"National Honors Society." Ian finishes for her. In a weird sense, I had almost forgotten he was here. He hadn't said a single word all through dinner. Yet, I was perfectly aware he was there the entire time. He probably thought it was all stupid, anyway, with everything I do. By now, he's probably redefined my standards as a band geek and now a nerd. Why couldn't I know when to shut up?

He didn't say a lot after that, and neither did I. I tried to reword every answer for every question they had for me after that, trying to make my replies as short as possible. But nevertheless, they still seemed amazed that I had so much time to do everything that I did.

Dinner finally ended, but the Darsbrooks stayed for a little longer, chatting everyone up. I decided to sit in the TV room and sit on the couch. Kevin had already beat me to the remote. Ian stayed by his parents after that. He probably thought thatI wasn't worth his time because I was too much of a loser with school. I don't blame him, I mean, after all, he is a jock...

I wish he was different than the rest of them.