She's A Hurricane

Chapter Eight

A steaming bowl of hot spaghetti was gently placed in front of me by Charlotte. I kind of wondered whether she had been speaking to my Mum because how else would she know that spaghetti was my favourite.

"Thanks" I muttered politely. I had been forced to take part in this happy-sappy family meal, even though I wasn't so happy. Everyone was sat around the kitchen table together each with the same exact meal, who even does that anymore? Most people usually just sit with their dinners on their laps in front of the TV. That's what me and Mum always did anyway.

Sat in opposite me was Jamie and it didn't help that he kept playfully smirking at me every time I glanced  up. It was very off putting and frankly quite embarrassing. I hated eating in front of people at the best of times. I wanted to ask him what the hell he was staring at for me, but I thought I better not.

Greg was sat at the head of the table, gently tickling Alice as she tried to wriggle out of her chair. It was adorable to watch, even I had to admit that. They had such a sweet relationship. In a way, I kind of envied Alice because she had a decent dad who cared and adored her, unlike mine. Mine was terrible, practically non-existent actually.

Once Charlotte had placed a bowl in front of each of us, she lowered herself down on the seat next to me and smiled,

"Right, let's tuck in then."

Lucas was the first to grab his fork and begin ramming huge forkfuls of stringy spaghetti into his mouth. He was making disgusting slurping noises as well and I turned my nose up. Evidently everyone else seemed to notice this as well.

"Lucas, eat properly please" Charlotte warned, giving him a knowing look. He rolled his eyes before he caught contact with me. He winked cheekily and I kept the look of disgust etched across my face. It was uncomfortable for a twelve year old to act this way towards me. Deep down, I know he was only messing around but it still irked me.

I slowly twirled the spaghetti around my own fork after cutting it up and popped some into my mouth. The seasoned strings tingled my mouth as I chewed. It was incredible, but I would never admit this out loud. I had to remain impassive and remember my goal was to get them to hate me; so far I hadn't done anything remotely outrageous.

Suddenly I felt something furry touch my leg and I made a small squealing noise. Everyone looked at me in shock and I gulped, before quickly glancing under the table. It was their dog, Barney I think was his name. He was a scruffy-looking sandy coloured Jack Russell. At least he wasn't the sloppery type, just yappy and annoying.

"Barney, get out from under there!" Greg chuckled, coaxing the dog from under our legs. I brushed off the fact that I had squealed like a scared little girl and went back to my food, hoping my cheeks weren't turning red.

"So Kat, have you ever been to the Isle of Wight before?" Charlotte questioned before having a mouthful of spaghetti.

"Um... no" I said simply, not really knowing what else I could say.

I shoved another mouthful in, hoping that she wouldn't continue to talk to me. But she did.

"Oh well... we'll have to show you around then... we could go to the beach or the zoo" She rambled, unaware that I was completely disinterested, "Oh! and there's Black Gang Chine too, we have to go there!"

I had heard of this. It was an extremely old theme park for children with creepy old characters from nursery rhymes. I didn't particularly want to go there.

"Sounds alright..." I replied causally, taking a small sip of water. For a second, I glanced up and noticed that Jamie was still staring at me. However this time, he quickly looked away and I wondered why. He must realise that I could see him staring at me, there was no point in trying to hide it anymore.