2 Dinner

While I'm busy overthinking, the silent prayer is almost done and everyone opens their eyes slowly. Wow! Intense.

"Today is a special dinner for us", a bold voice brings everyone to attention. Uncle James is standing with a glass raised in his hand as toast. I don't know what he is toasting about, but I too raise my glass as a show of support.

"For today, a new member has joined our family. Eva...!!", he gestures in my direction and there's gasps and cheers among other family members.

"Oh!", I exclaim and get up immediately. I could feel the warm blood rushing into my cheeks, and I know that my face will turn up into a tomato within few seconds. Although this is a lot embarrassing for an introvert like me, my mother has taught me enough manners to survive.

"She is a very talented girl and she's here to spend her school days with us. She has gotten admitted into St. Peter's for studying literature. I hope we all can make her feel welcome and promise today to be her family forever", he grins widely, tapping mildly on the glass he holds.

That's definitely not how a toast is made, but I refrain myself from saying anything. This is my first day and I really don't want to screw it up.

"Here's to Eva!", he says and everyone chants "To Eva" in return.

My face is red like a plum right now. I've never been the center of attraction in my entire life and I always try to avoid whenever that was about to happen. But today I must go through with it, there's no other go. My heart races crazily even though I'm not the one who gave all that speech.

'Calm down and take a deep breath, Eva! everything will be fine', I can almost hear my mom telling me.

"Thanks", I say hoarsely and clear my throat.

I sit after my uncle takes his seat and everyone quickly start filling their plates with all the delicacies.

It's a feast is what it is! In my home, we used to just sit together on the couch and watch something fun while eating. We were a bunch of casual folks who liked to be lazy together and be ourselves. But here everything is stark opposite. Everything seems methodical and sophisticated.

I really need to stop comparing everything to my past. I came here for a change of atmosphere, so this is my home from now on.

I try to clear my head when I accidentally lock eyes with the girl who scowled at me during prayer. She suddenly throws a big smile at me and goes back to telling something funny to the boy Marcus I met before. That's definitely weird, because I did see her scowl just a moment ago. But right now, even I'm not sure if she was actually angry or I hallucinated stuffs.

Unconsciously I observe her. She's wearing two ponytails which is cute but a bit silly because she seems almost my age and my friends would've definitely made crazy fun of her right now.

"Only a town girl dresses up like that", they would've said.

Oh! but this is a town, I realize. I need to stop being inside my head and start eating.

The food on the table looks so delicious. There's a chicken, fish, grilled meat, green salad, Lasagna and some other dishes which I don't even know the name of. I decide to take one in each and try everything today. I really like to try new things. Even though I'm clumsy and shy, my mom always said that we have only one life and we should make sure to live it to the fullest.

As I'm serving myself, I hear Aunt Edith say my name which brings me to the present.

"Please feel free to have anything you want, Eva. Don't feel shy. Consider this your house", she says with a warm smile which melts my heart a little.

Aunt Edith is a short middle-aged woman who looks like Mrs. Weasley from Harry Potter. She gives off a motherly vibe to anyone. She seems really sweet to me from the moment we met, which is strange, but what is even stranger is that I constantly feel comfortable around her. She's the reason I decided to come out of my shell and live in this town. Although I've never met her before, she feels weirdly familiar to me. She is my mom's cousin sister, maybe that's why I'm getting these feelings.

I politely nod at her and continue eating my food in silence.

"Have this! It's mom's signature dish", a girl sitting next to me whispers and offers a piece of pie.

"Oh. Thanks", I mumble with a mouthful of food.

She is chubby and have kind blue eyes. Whenever she smiles, dimples are forming in her cheeks which makes her look very innocent.

She chuckles at my clumsiness.

"Sorry", I say quickly and wipe off the crumbs on my lips with a tissue.

"That's fine! I'm Margaret. That's my brother Marcus. I guess you already met him?", she asks.

"Yeah.", "Nice to meet you", I smile.

I can see that she wants to tell me something but is hesitating for a moment.

So, I ask her, "What is it?"

"Umm.. Actually, we'll be sharing a room together. I wanted to tell you that. Honestly, I'm very excited to finally have a cool roommate but didn't know of how you were gonna react", she says nervously.

I don't know how to react to that. Because since childhood I've been an only child and alone. I've never shared a room with anyone, and I have no idea of how it'll be either.

"it's cool. I mean, I'm cool. We'll have fun!", I blabber constantly with fake excitement.

"Really?", "Wow! That's so great, then", "Oh my god! You have no idea how much worried I was. Anyways, I am a good roommate", she chuckles again.

I nod at her in agreement and look up. Almost everyone are done with their food and waiting for me to finish up. This always happens to me since I'm a slow eater. I try to gobble up everything which brings out another chuckle from Margret. I guess we'll get along well together.

"Come on! Our room is in the first floor. I'll take you", she says cheerfully like a little girl. I nod and follow her instantly.