Paying forward

Chapter 3

    "...and may Jesus bless our meal with grace and we thank him, our lord. Amen." My mum finished saying our evening prayer while we held hands and closed our eyes.

"Amen!" I repeated along with the rest of my family. I grabbed some ham, broccoli, and steamed potatoes and dug in. "So mum what did you want to talk about?" I asked shoveling some butter bread in my mouth.

My mum smiled at my dad and cleared her throat. "So...you know how every year one hotel in England hosts a gala during Christmas? Well...our hotel got chosen this year!"

I smiled and clapped along with Anthony. Alexis and Amanda were too little to understand what was going on, but they clapped along too. "Why's that bad?" I asked still confused.

"Honey, the Duke and Duchess of England are going to be there and we decided to have you go to the gala as their son's date!" My dad answered my question giving mum a look.

I felt my jaw drop. "Absolutely NOT! I am not going to some stupid gala with a blind date! MUM!" I cried throwing my fork down.

"Told you she'd get mad Maria..." My dad warned my mother who sat their with shocked look on her face. I was furious, but decided to hear my parents out. They know how much I hate blind dates. My friend Kenzie decided to set me up with a random dude name Collin and things ended up...well...let's just say Collin can't see out of one eye now.

"But...honey...we'll get paid!" My mum tried covering up her mistake by bringing up money?! Oh heck, no I was not going to let my own parents hook me up with a blind date and then get paid for it.

Slamming my hand on the table, I narrowed my eyes at both my parents. "Mum do you seriously expect me to go to some stupid gala with a boy who's four years older than me, you are wrong" I smiled a fake smile and turned on my heel to go upstairs.

"Sweetie... b-but it's for the best!" My dad tried getting up from the table, but mum stopped him. Meanwhile, my siblings were sitting at the counter with their mouths open in shock.

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    I slammed my bedroom door shut and jumped on my bed. Sighing, I looked at the picture of my two best friends, Kenzie and Elenor. The picture was taken at my sweet sixteen party a couple months ago in June. It was a sweet party. My parents rented out a live band, chocolate fountain, and there was a ball pit!

Looking at my clock I realized it was almost 7:30 and I haven't finished my reading for English. We were reading this dystopian book called The Selection. It was really stupid in my opinion, but not to Kenzie. She was into Kings and Queens.

I finished reading the two chapters we were supposed to read, comprehend, and write a paragraph on for Mrs. Woods tomorrow. It was already 8:55! Wow, time sure flew by.

I got up and opened my pajama drawer digging for some warmer pj's as it was supposed to get down to 45 degrees tonight and it was September! I put on a purple tank top and blue bottoms.

I put my rubber bands in and brushed my teeth. As I was washing my face I noticed that I had a small pimple forming on my nose. I knew what that meant. My period was going to start soon.

Grumbling I threw in extra pads and tampons for tomorrow. Putting my hair in a bun, I set my alarm clock for twinkle music, and got into bed dreaming of Nate Millerson, chocolate cake, and the gala.