new kid / h.s

20

K A T

That day when I was at home, I grabbed my cell and dialed Harry's number. I was about to call the restaurant that my mom had made a reservation for and cancel it, and I was sure that Harry needed to be made aware of the situation this put us in.

"Hey." he said, his voice stagnant and predictable when he picked up the phone. "What's up?"

I stuck a lollipop in my mouth and used my laptop to search up the number for the restaurant. An excellent multitasker, I was. "I'm about to cancel this reservation?"

I could hear something clang and bang in the background of the call, but Harry seemed unaffected. "Reservation?" he asked. It was obvious he was juggling more things than one, too. "What are you talking about, Kat?"

I sighed when the results came up, but the restaurant wasn't included. "My mom made this reservation for a restaurant for us two to go to tonight. And now that you have that thing with Liam, it'll be too booked of a night. I'm canceling it."

"No." he said quickly, making my fingers on the keyboard halt completely. I stared ahead, trying to process what he had just said. "Don't cancel it. Let's go."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why do you want to so badly?"

"My parents are fighting again." he sighed, and I could tell he was in distress. "And I met Liam earlier. We can talk about that soon, okay? Just text me the restaurant and wear something nice. I'll pick you up at 7."

My cheeks were starting to burn again, and I was glad that Harry couldn't see how sweaty my palms were getting from the thought of this. Was this a... date?

"Okay, Harry." I said into the phone. "Bye. I have to clean." I lied.

There was a brief silence from his end of the line but it quickly diminished. "See you later, Kit Kat!"

The line went dead.

Just in that moment, as if it were perfect timing, mom came strolling down the stairs. It was obvious that she had been listening and she had just won over me for the first time in a while.

"You were going to cancel the reservation, huh?" she asked, clearly amused. I just poured and closed my laptop. She walked over and said, "Good thing your friend Harry has a nice taste in food!"

I whined, "Mom. Stop teasing me."

She just laughed and shook her head, starting to walk away. "And honey?"

"Yes." I grumbled, spinning in my chair to look at her with a look of dread in my eye. Every time my mom had one over me, she had to rub it in my face. Our family was competitive like that.

"Get the shrimp, it's really good." she cackled, and disappeared out of sight.

I couldn't stand my mom but at the same time, I couldn't help but love her. She was my mom.

With that, I grabbed my laptop and phone and started up the stairs to go to my room.

*

I changed into a nice black top that showed my shoulders (thank goodness we weren't at school) with a pair of leggings and my favorite black pumps. Harry had said to dress nice, so I hoped this was his idea of it.

I wondered what he was wearing.

I had my phone, so I was set to go. Now all that I was waiting for was Harry to knock on the door and escort me like those cheesy couples do on prom night, on a family sitcom or television show.

But one things for sure-- my life was definitely not worthy of a movie, book, or television series, for that matter. Even as drama-packed as it was.

When I got downstairs I was surprised to see a girl sitting on my couch, a girl that I had never even seen before. She had wispy dark blonde hair, and she sat neatly, like she was waiting for an interview.

"Excuse me?" I asked, as calmly as I humanly could. "Who are you?"

She turned around and she must've been as surprised as I was to see a girl who was dressed up for the red carpet. She just offered a friendly smile.

"I'm Kimberly." she grinned. "Your dad asked me to come here to help him with his work."

That was... odd. She seemed no older than me, if she was even my age. And I was 16. "What kind of work?" I asked, still standing at an angle from the side of the couch.

"He does office work, right?" she looked as confused as I did. "That's what he told me. I thought you'd know... you being his daughter and all."

I didn't know what exactly to say to her. "Yeah, I do know that." I stated. "But who knows, maybe he could have another job I don't know about..."

Kimberly shrugged. "Sorry that I surprised you like this. Why are you so dressed up, anyway? Going out for a night on the town?"

I grinned. "No, actually I'm going on a date."

She seemed really interested with me now. "With who? Sounds enchanting. And by the way, I love your outfit. It's so chic! What's your name?"

She sure did talk a lot. "Katrina." I answered. "But you can call me Kat if we ever meet again."

"Pretty name."she beamed. "So tell me more about this mystery guy. What's his name? Is he cute? Does he like you back?"

My head was spinning in circles from all of her questions and I didn't even hear the doorbell ring.

"Harry Styles." I said quickly. "Yes. And I don't know if I even like him like that myself, so no."

Before she could even open her mouth to speak, I got up and answered the door. There stood Harry, in a nice tux and holding a red rose in his hand. From behind me, Kimberly sat-- smiling from ear to ear.

"Are you ready to go to dinner at the most expensive place in town?" Harry asked in a low voice. He looked like a complete dork, and it was absolutely cute.

Kimberly stood up from behind me. "Told you it was enchanting!" she giggled. "He must be rich!"

Harry seemed as confused as I first did. "Who's the girl?" he asked, and it sort of came off as a relief to me that he didn't stare at her for too long, nor did he seem that interested.

"Kimberly." I told before she could. "She's doing some work for my dad."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Nice. What kind of work?"

Kimberly just stood there, her arms handling by her sides. This time she didn't explain that she was doing office work. She fell silent.

"You two have a nice date then!" she said cheerfully, and that was the last thing we heard from her before she sat down and kept her blue eyes trained on us as we walked out the door.