Karma: Chapter Six

And so here we were, all eleven of us, as we sat there eying our new soon-to-be stepfather. He was sitting across from us with Mom. She had the widest smile on her face. If I didn’t know she was in a good mood, I would’ve said it was fake.

“So guys, what do you think?”

“I think he looks like a monkey,” Christian, my four year old brother, said, pointing to Paul with his little pudgy finger. Christian was seriously the cutest little boy I’ve ever seen. He was blonde, had little sparkling blue eyes, and said the funniest things.

“Christian!” Lisa scolded. “Don’t say things like that!”

“But it’s true!” piped Mia, the seven year old brunette.

“Doesn’t mean you have to say it,” Sam coughed. Sam was the brother that my mom told me to give advice to. He has a girlfriend now thanks to me!

“But she did tell us to give our opinion,” Audrey said matter of factly.

“She wanted us to lie.”

“Shut up, Leo. No one asked for your opinion,” Audrey snapped.

“Mom did,” he retorted.

“What do you think Penny?” Mom asked.

Penny was the shyest of us all, and also Christian’s twin. I could tell she was going to be a people pleaser when she grew up. “Um…I think Chrissy’s right. He looks like a monkey.”

“Told you!” Christian bragged.

“I think he looks like an idiot,” Will, twenty whispered to me.

“What do you expect? He’s in politics.”

He laughed and told our sixteen year old sister, Lucy. She chortled and sent me a thumbs up. I grinned and turned back to a stiff looking Paul.

“Loosen up, Paul,” I said. “You’re going to end up like a board and my mom doesn’t like doing it with a board.”

The ones who got it laughed and Mom sent me a glare. “Audrey!”

“Yes?”

“Not in front of the little ones. Or your senator, especially if he’s going to be your stepfather.”

I turned to my younger siblings and apologized, promising them candy. They all cheered and started shouting out requests.

“Sorry Paul,” Mom apologized. “My kids are so rowdy.”

“It’s quite alright, Lisa. Kids will be kids.”

Mom smiled gratefully and the rest of us rolled our eyes. It was quite obvious that he didn’t like kids. When Penny went to hug him, because Mom told her that he was going to be her other daddy, he just patted her back like he was consoling a random stranger. No affection whatsoever. Maybe he would be more, for lack of a better word, loving if it was his own kid. I know I would.

Mom clapped her hands. “So how about lunch?”

We all murmured in agreement, some more excited than others. Leo…

“I’m in the mood for hamburgers. No wait, soup. Or pizza. Well spaghetti sounds good too…you know what? Let’s just go to a buffet.”

“But I cooked,” Mom stammered.

“Then let’s definitely go to a buffet,” Lucy piqued.

Mom frowned and Paul set his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “It’s okay. I’m sure your cooking is great.”

“It’s not,” Mia disagreed.

“They’re right, Paul. I can’t cook to save my life. Let’s go to a buffet.”

So we all went into Paul’s sleek limo. None of us have ever been in a limo, except for Mom, so once we were in, we looked around in awe. Lucy started snapping pictures of herself, telling us it was her name profile picture on Facebook. Ah, the days when I used to do that. The seats were really comfy and Paul even brought out beverages. Mom decided to be an actual mom for once and told him it would ruin our appetite. Killjoy. That was a bit odd though. She was being more motherly to us when she was around Paul. Was she trying to show him what a good mom she was?

We ended up at Ponderosa, passersbys gaping at us, or rather the limo and Paul. I shared a table with Will, Lucy, Sam, and Leo while the others shared one with Mom and Paul. Audrey was not a happy camper when she was confined to the “little kids table”, as she put it.

I helped Christian with his plate before putting stuff onto mine. The boy went wild for chicken nuggets, so that’s what was on most of his plate. I tricked him into getting corn too, said it was what superheroes ate to make them strong. He was in his superhero phase and it worked. I added a couple of French fries, set him up with a cup of chocolate mousse and walked him back to his booth. When Mom saw his plate, she immediately scolded me. “Audrey, don’t give your brother dessert before he’s had his dinner.”

I rolled my eyes and walked off to fill up my plate. Will, Lucy, Sam, and Leo were already situated when I got back. “How long do you think it’s going to last?” Sam questioned, his mouth full of mash potatoes.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Sammy!” I chastised.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Sammy,” he mocked, making a weird face.

“Shut up.”

“But seriously, how long?”

“I’d give it a month, maybe two,” Will guessed.

“A year,” Leo said.

“Luce?”

“Seven years, maybe longer,” she hypothesized thoughtfully.

We all scoffed. “Yeah right,” I muttered. “She can’t even keep a relationship for more than a year.”

“I think it’s going to last half a year. What about you Audrey?”

I shoveled a forkful of spaghetti into my mouth before answering. “I’m with Leo on this one.”

“Losers have to take winner out for dinner,” Will proposed. “Just to make it interesting.”

“And if I win?” Lucy asked.

“Okay. If after eight years they’re still together, Luce wins.”

“And dessert if Audrey and I win.”

We all agreed. I felt kind of guilty making bets on my mom’s marriage, which hasn’t even happened yet. I eyed Lucy’s plate and saw that there was no meat on it, which was strange because Lucy was the most carnivorous person I met. “Um…Lucy? Are you going vegetarian or something?”

“Yeah, it’s a new diet thing.”

“You don’t need to diet Lucy. You’re perfectly skinny.”

“Not according to Cody.”

Cody and Lucy have been dating for a year. Like most young girls, Lucy was self conscious and depended on what others thought of her. She was wildly popular and insanely hot. She had shiny, straight dark hair that reached to her waist. Her eyes were a dark midnight blue and her skin was flawless. Her features were symmetrical and her figure was to die for; curves in all the right places.

“Then you can dump Cody,” Will retorted. “If he’s feeding you a bunch of lies, you don’t need him.”

Lucy sighed and stuffed her mouth will lettuce. She didn’t even like lettuce. I felt sorry for her and stole it all from her plate and replaced it with my chicken nuggets. Hey, what can I say, Christian rubbed off on me. She sent me a quizzical look. “I was in the mood for salad,” I explained, hoping that she would buy my explanation.

Either I was a great liar or she was too desperate for meat to even bother. I’m going to go with the latter. I swallowed the lettuce, getting it done and over with. I wasn’t a fan of it, but I wasn’t going to let Lucy suffer. I wasn’t a heartless sister.

“So how’s life as a taken man, Sam? Cassie treating you well?” Will asked.

“She’s wonderful,” he replied dreamily.

“Whipped,” I coughed.

He shot me a glare, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t elaborate on anything about their relationship, wanting to be secretive. I didn’t press. Who wants to know the love life of a fourteen year old guy? Not me.

“Still haven’t found a lady yet, Will?” I teased. “Even Sam’s doing better with the ladies than you are.”

“Not my fault that they’re intimidated by my good looks and charm.”

I scoffed. “Yeah right, more like they’re disgusted my lack of.”

“You’re just jealous.”

“Of you?”

“That you’re not single and can mingle.”

I guess I still haven’t broken the news to them yet and they didn’t see it on Facebook. “Actually, I can. Cameron and I broke up a month ago.”

Lucy shot me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, Audrey. I know how much you loved him.”

I shrugged, as if saying, ‘What can you do’.

“Well don’t I feel like a jerk,” William announced.

“Don’t. I’m the one who broke it off.”

“You did? Why?” Lucy asked, interested.

“I was angry…” They understood that I got frustrated easily. “So you guys are coming to my graduating, right?”

They nodded. I was going to have a pretty loud fan base when I received my diploma.

“Hey Luce? Do you want to come dress shopping with Anna and I for graduation?”

“Sure, what about prom?”

Prom. How could I forget about prom? There were posters up all over the school, constantly reminding me to buy tickets. “Uh…that too.”

“You forgot, didn’t you?”

“Yes…”

“I never knew a girl could forget about prom!” Will exclaimed.

“My mind wasn’t exactly focused on that. So we’ll go tomorrow, okay? I’ll pick you up.”

“Sounds good to me!”

“What? I don’t get invited?” Will asked, feigning hurt.

“If you really want to…but we’ll be trying on dresses…and shoes.”

“Shoes? No thanks, I’ll pass.”

Figures.

“You still haven’t gone dress shopping?”

“No, Anna. You’re supposed to tell me these things!”

“I didn’t know that you wouldn’t remember!”

“Just help me pick one out.”

Lucy and Anna really hit it off and became fast friends. I’m glad that my sister and my best friend got along. If they didn’t, it would be extremely hard to survive the afternoon. Lucy kept holding up a bunch of dresses that were either too racy or just weren’t my taste.

After hour and hours of changing, we finally found a graduation and a prom dress. Anna only had to change three times, much to her displeasure, because she found the perfect one on the third try. My graduation dress was with a jeweled type belt separating the soft, ruffly bottom and a silky strapless top. I bought a pair of sparkly silver heels to wear with both of them. Probably not the smartest idea, but who said I was smart?

My prom dress was really simple to. It was kind of ruched and light green andthe v-neck neckline hinted at my cleavage underneath; enough to showcase, but not to look like a Julie. It was really flowy and comfortable, which I liked.

Shopping works up an appetite, so we went to Panda Express for lunch. And you’ll never guess who we saw…okay you probably could, but anyways…

“Isn’t that your ex-boyfriend?” Lucy asked, pointing to an approaching Cameron. “I recognize him from your Facebook pictures.”

Julia was with him, clinging to his arm like her life depended on it. Pathetic.

“The one and only,” I sighed, shoving a piece of sweet and sour chicken in my mouth.

“I’m doing to talk to him,” Lucy announced, getting up from her seat.

“What? No!” I exclaimed, attempting to pull her back into her seat.

I missed her arm and she went bounding toward Cameron and Julie. Should I go after her? That’ll make me look kind of desperate…but if I just stay over here and stare, I’ll look even more desperate. I got up anyway. I wanted to know what they were talking about.

“I’m Lucy, Audrey’s sister. You’re Carpenter, right? Her ex?”

“Cameron,” he corrected. “This is Julie, my girlfriend.”

Julie stuck out her hand. “I would say nice to meet you, but then I would be lying.”

“Well aren’t you a ball of sunshine,” Lucy snickered sarcastically.

“You little–”

“Don’t you say anything rude to my little sister,” I snapped.

“Or else what?”

“Or else I’ll—”

“C’mon Jules, we don’t need to stoop to their level.”

“Jules?” I repeated.

“Yeah,” Julie said. “Because I’m his jewel!”

“Or it could be an abbreviation for juvenile,” Lucy suggested, raining on her parade.

“Or it could be short for Julie,” Cameron piped.

“Let’s go, Lucy. Your food’s getting cold, that is, if Anna hasn’t eaten it all.”

I dragged her away from the two people on my Most Hated List. Cameron was on my Most Hated and Most Loved list. Was it possible to hate and love him at the same time?