The Class Reject: A Damsel in Disguise (Featured Story)

Chapter 9

The three ladies of the house were quick with their dinner efforts, with Miren restoring the kitchen space to its former spotless glory, Dr. Tachibana inspecting the pots on the cook top for more ingredients, and Chara setting out silverware.

A knock on the door interrupted them. Miren stopped cleaning the table, moist towel in hand. "Were you two expecting company?" she asked, a bit of worry on her voice. More so than being pitied, Miren also hated being a burden. She was used to being her own problem for so long.

"Don't worry about it!" Chara called out from the dining room, not answering her friend's modest question. 

Miren sighed. She didn't like surprises; this day was already a bad one. With a sigh, she resumed cleaning the table. Scratch that. Today was more like a hard slap to the face. But she was recovering - she had a plan. She just didn't know who would step in her way to thwart it.

Because someone always did.

**

Chara opened the door to find her favorite young man in the world, Wallace. He pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, Chara.  How goes it?" he asked, stepping through the door. He breathed in the scent of the home. "Dinner smells nice. Thanks for having us."

Chara's smile intensified. It was so bright that it could of burst the sun. "Thanks, sweetie," she said, placing a kiss on his lips. But as her brain slowly processed what he said over her love-struck heartbeat, her eyebrow rose. "Us?"

"Hiya, Chara," Parker interjected, emerging from the darkness of outside. "Forgot these in the car," he said, firming his grip on a bouquet of flowers. "They're for you and your mom. Thanks for inviting us over for dinner."

"Yes...uh, thank-you," Chara said in a slightly panicked fluster. She breathed in. Out. She refused to let anxiety glaze over her brown eyes. "You can...ah...put those in the dinning room. Yeah. Um, please wait there. Dinner'll be up soon."

Parker nodded, walking toward the adjacent room. Her eyes watched his form until he was out of the foyer. She turned to her boyfriend. The look of love and affection she had toward him earlier had dissolved into hot furry.

"You brought Parker?" she practically yelled. "Aren't you supposed to be the certified genius?"

"Only by Mensa's standards," Wallace merely replied, his dark brown eyes calm and steady. "And besides, I'm fifteen. How was I supposed to get here without him?"

Chara rolled her eyes, however, most of her annoyance redirected towards herself. "Right. Sorry about that," she said, her head falling slightly. "But what are we supposed to do about Miren? She doesn't even know that you're coming. Let alone your brother." She placed her head into the palm of her hand. 

This could have been fun. If Penelope wasn't an evil girl who insisted on being with Parker, maybe he would have been with Miren. Maybe this could have been a nice double date. Instead, this was going to be a disaster. Of her doing. She was the inverse of Penelope, good intentions gone bad.

"I'd like to say that this isn't a big deal, but Parker could pose a real problem." He tapped his fingers against his chin. "Where is she? Bring her over."

Chara raised her shoulders, which now felt heavy with doubt. "What's that going to do?" The whole night was ruined, after all."

"Well first off, I need to give her these transfer documents," he said, waving a manila file in the air. "And secondly, if I can see her before Parker does, maybe I can determine if you've done a good job with the whole transformation. I am a guy after all," he reasoned. "If I don't think it's good, you can tell her to wait upstairs. She can lie that she has a stomachache and be completely out of the picture. Just make sure your mom doesn't mention her. In fact, she might be the one to unravel the whole thing if we're not careful."