Dear Diary

Chapter 20

Sunday was ... different for Sophia. As soon as church was dismissed, it was inadvertently decided that Sophia would ride with the Woods. How did that come about? It was quite simple really. Sophia's father left mid-service due to a work-crisis. Just because her father went to church every week did not mean that he stayed for the whole sermon every time.

Once, when she was only eight, she had come out of Sunday school only to find her father's car nowhere in sight. Luckily, she had some allowance on her and she paid for a cab ride home. Even though her father acted like she was a ghost, it did not make the disappointment of his abrupt departures any easier for her - no matter how old she was. She at least had the car rides to spend time with him. As ugly as it sounded, they were the only reminder that she wasn't an orphan, because that was what she felt like most of the time.

Now, due to her way of life, Sophia had become quite a closed-off girl, preferring the quiet as it was what she was used to. As they say, circumstances are what build a person's personality. But even if Sophia had read every single book in the world on noise, it would not have, by any means, prepared her poor eardrums for the Woods twins.

"Mom, Mary shoved me!" Olivia screamed.

"I didn't!" Mary shot back.

"Yes, you did!"

"Nah-uh!"

"I want to sit on Luke's lap now!"

"No way!"

Through this whole episode Luke and Sophia sat quietly as they listened to the twin's dispute. Mary was seated on Luke's lap due to the lack of space that was created by six bodies in a normal-sized car. Although Luke didn't seem bothered in the least by how cramped it all was, the same could not be said for Sophia.

Because she had grown up alone most of her life, there was one thing she never lacked - space. And only now, being cramped in a vehicle, did she realise that she didn't like the feeling of someone being pushed up against her and invading her personal bubble.

Thankfully, they had given her the window seat so she had the view to keep her mind occupied and the warm summer breeze blowing her hair, made her feel a little less claustrophobic. It wasn't a long drive before the car pulled up in front of a moderate single-level house made of stone, much like the rest of the buildings in Ridgeview, with a stone wall and hedges surrounding it.

Luke was surprising Sophia more and more. She had expected him to be inexplicably rich. He appeared so ordinary when out of school and away from his fan-girls.

As soon as the car came to a stop, Sophia tried to be calm in her haste to get out of the car and gain her personal space once more. She noticed that Luke's motorbike was leaning against the wall of the opened garage and Sophia suddenly wished for her own. She definitely preferred it to a car.

"Luke, why don't you take Sophia inside and offer her a drink?" Mrs Woods called to her son as she walked up the front porch steps, twins stampeding after her. "Sophia, honey, lunch will be ready in a few minutes."

Sophia nodded her head and followed Luke silently as he lead her up the steps and through the door that the rest of the family disappeared into.

"Is lemonade fine with you?" Sophia turned to see Luke giving her a smile as warm as the summer sun.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Sure," she said and watched Luke disappear into the house.

As soon as Sophia stepped foot in the hallway, her mind couldn't help, but immediately point out the differences between her house and Luke's. Her house consisted of modern furniture and grey paints paired with white tiles. A view which alone gave the feeling of a place to live and not a place to call home. Luke's, on the other hand, had cream walls and deep wooden floors with thick white carpets draped over them.