Destiny

Dinner Disaster with my Friend's Parents

CHAPTER THREE

The rest of the school day passed way too quickly for my liking. It was like, one moment I was walking into class, and the next I was eating lunch. And then it was the end of school, and I was on my way to Laura's house!

Despite the fact that Laura knew her parents hated me, she was still as adamant as ever that I'd go home with her.

"You have to at least stay for dinner." she told me stubbornly as we boarded the bus she caught home. I noticed a few glances our way from Laura's more popular friends on the bus. They had never understood why she would hang out with someone like me.

I leaned my head against the window as the bus rolled along the street, not wanting to accept my fate. Because I knew that if they didn't kill Laura for bringing her deadbeat friend home, they'd kill me instead. Okay so maybe that's an over exaggeration but still. Something I'd always tried to avoid was seeing Laura's parents, and now I was going straight into the lion's den. Bloody fantastic. Laura didn't seem too fazed, but she didn't care about taking the blame for me, she didn't mind being punished by her parents for being my friend. I scowled at my reflection in the window. Life really was cruel.

It seemed the bus ride had only just begun when it stopped, and I found myself standing in front of Laura's house with her by my side. As she grabbed my hand and led me into the house I tried to steel myself for what would follow.

I could hear Laura's mum bustling about in the kitchen when we walked through the door. Entering Laura's lounge room I looked around at the posh furniture, the delicate ornaments and the not-so-modest awards and certificates plastered all over the walls. Like I said, her parents care a bunch about reputation.

"Laura, is that you honey?" the dreaded voice of her mother called out from the kitchen ahead.

"Yes mum. I brought a friend home too." Laura called back.

"Oh really, who is it?" her mum's voice took on a different tone and she poked her head through the doorway.

The fake, welcoming smile on her pompous face disappeared as she saw who her guest was. "Oh." she said, her mouth twisting into a half smile, half scowl, as if she was trying to hide her dislike of me. "Destiny, what are you doing here?"

"I invited her over, mum." Laura replied warningly.

Laura's mum glared at her, and then Laura pulled me along to her room. Because Laura's dad was a wealthy businessman, and her mum a successful food critic, Laura had an enormous home and her room, despite being the smallest bedroom, was almost half the size of my entire house. I mean.... the size it used to be.... when I had a house.... and parents.

The thought brought tears to my eyes and I turned away so that Laura wouldn't see me cry. I placed my bag down next to her bedroom door and sat next to her on her ginormous bed. I stared around her room, bewildered at the fact that her room was so neat and tidy. Seriously, how does a person with a big room and heaps of stuff not be messy? Even my own belongings, which consisted of a backpack full of stuff and the clothes I was wearing, were messier than her entire room. Now I looked stupid, pouting at Laura's room. I glanced sideways to see Laura looking at me like I was insane. Maybe I was.

"So....." I began, trying to break the ice. "What are we going to do?"

"Um... what did you want to do?" Laura asked me.

I stared at the well painted ceiling above us. "I don't know." It used to be so easy. Whenever Laura and I had hung out previously, we'd done stuff like writing and playing sport and chatting, just normal teenage stuff. But now, in light of everything that had happened to me, none of those things seemed appealing any more.