After about an hour, there’s a knock at the door and Liz peeks in. “Hello, Alexandra,” she say regally.
“Elizabeth,” I reply. She walks over and lies down next to me on my bed. We lay there in silence for a couple minutes, then she turns her head to look at me. “Alexandra?”
“Elizabeth?”
“Are you okay?” she asks. I pause, trying to formulate my response. Then I decide that I don’t care about choosing my words carefully. “I cannot believe that I have to live in this house with them for the rest of my life. I’m going to have to share a room with one of them. I’m going to have to marry one of them.”
It’s obvious that Liz isn’t sure what to say to that. We both know I’m not wrong. Everyone in a Circle must choose a partner to start a family with. We have a year to choose. By the next Circle ceremony, if we haven’t chosen, the choice will be made for us. I can’t bear to think of it. “Yeah, I know,” she says with a sigh. “Maybe it’ll get better though. It’s only been a couple days.”
I sigh and look up at her. “What if it doesn’t?” I ask rhetorically, knowing that the answer is that I’m just going to have to suck it up and be unhappy. She just shrugs. “So what did I miss?” I ask after waiting a beat.
“Not much. We went back outside after lunch and did that thing where someone falls backwards and everyone has to catch them.”
“Oh,” I say, laughing. “Sounds fun.”
“Yeah, I especially liked when Max grabbed my butt when he caught me.”
I burst out laughing. “Oh, my God. That’s horrible!”
“He’s just a boy. I can deal with it,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, do you want to help me make dinner?”
“I suppose,” I say. We go downstairs and decide to make spaghetti. I start boiling water on the stove.
“So,” Liz starts. “You missed the big announcement. Tomorrow we’re all going to go grocery shopping together.”
“Um, why?” I ask.
“We have to get supplies for the big teamwork dinner we’re all going to make from scratch!” she says with the fakest of fake enthusiasm. I roll my eyes. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. All the Circles are doing it this week. She said we probably won’t be the only Circle at the store.”
“Oh,” I say. We don’t talk much while we finish cooking, and when we’re done everyone is already at the table. I want to make sure I actually get to eat this time, so I spoon some spaghetti onto my plate and start to do the same for everybody else.
“Thanks mom, but I think I can handle serving myself,” Bella says with a smirk, yanking the bowl and spoon from me while everyone else laughs. Everyone, that is, except Liz. She just glares at Bella in a way that tells her she should stop or there would be consequences. Unfortunately, she was having none of it. She stands up. “Anything you’d like to say to me, Lizzy?”
Now Liz is the one to stand up. She puts her hands on the table and leans in to get in Bella’s face. “You need to stop. Now. All of you. Alex has done nothing to you people! Leave. Her. Alone.”
Jess raises her eyebrows at Liz. “What, you think just because you’re hot you can order us around?” Bella chuckles. “Let’s see how good you look covered in spaghetti sauce,” she says, as April dumps a bowl of the tomato sauce over her head from behind her.
Liz licks some sauce from her lips and smiles in a way that I see as too evil to end well. She hops up on the table and punches Bella square in the nose, at which point Bella grabs Liz by the collar of her shirt and pulls her over the table and onto the floor. Everyone gets up and gathers around their spot on the floor as they go at it, kicking and scratching. At one point Bella rips Liz’s shirt, resulting in whoops and cheers from Mike and Max. Liz was so un-phased by it that I wonder if she even noticed. She grabs a chunk of Bella’s hair and stands, dragging Bella to her feet. She knees her in the stomach and lets her fall to the ground. Jess and April go to her side as Liz walks confidently up the stairs to our room, with me following close behind.
Once we’re in our room with the door locked, Liz goes into the walk in closet to get a new shirt. I sit on my bed cross-legged waiting for her. “What was that?” I say loud enough for her to hear me while she changes in the closet.
“What do you mean what was that? That was me sticking up for you,” she says as she walks out and sits on her bed facing me.
“Are you okay? I mean, you seemed to do the majority of the damage, but still,” I say.
“Oh, I’m totally fine. It was fun, actually.”
I laugh. “Really? Getting your shirt ripped open in front of a bunch of guys is fun?” I tease.
“Hey, if you got it, flaunt it,” she says laughing. I laugh too. “Okay,” she says. “I’m going to go take a shower. Wash the tomatoes out of my hair.
“Alright, I’m going to get some sleep,” I reply.
“Okay,” she says. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” I say. “And thanks.”
She smiles. “Anytime."