Young Writers Society

Chapter Five

Sunday had been a blur. The weekend felt like the best gift that she had received only to find it gone.

Decorations were stationed in the garage and color schemes set, catering ordered, and invitations were given out, that only the dinner was left.

Curi smirked in an odd way. Her parents were always out of funds, or in simpler terms broke, near her birthday but saved enough to throw these parties. She had been in the living room, watching a video on her laptop before her mom shooed her out.

“Curi, Taveo, and De'ron, I need y'all off these floors! I have to clean them because the party's drawing closer,” Mom said, twisting liquid out of her mop.

Her dad nodded and after he changed out of his eight-piece suit, something Curi hadn't even known existed, he began helping his wife mop. Everyone pulled their weight in the Andrews' household.

“Mom, can I still get a plate even if I don't come to the dinner?” Curi yelled from the hallway. This year the menu looked promising.

Mom shook her head without stopping her work.“Nuh-uh, if you want some of the catered food you have to come to the dining room and get it. I can save you a biscuit, but not much else! We have too many people to feed this year.”

Curi sighed. She didn't prefer biscuits, and she actually had her hopes set on snatching a few sweet rolls. The ones her Mom brought for dinner parties were everything right in the world rolled into a dough.

There were some redeeming qualities from her parents' dinner parties. Besides the delicious food, having so many different people over was nice most of the time. People would pack into any seemingly empty spaces and noise always filled the rooms. The walls were thin enough but chatter and music blasting made the parties unable to ignore. Since most of the time it was just Curi and her family alone, Thanksgiving and dinner parties were the only time company came over, so they made the house feel full. She always entertained herself listening to the gossiper guests.

Some parties were less memorable than others but had not failed to have a mishap at some point. Curi didn't involve herself in others' foolery, but a carnal side of her enjoyed watching it take place. It gave her a change of pace from her normal, drama-free life. As a home-schooled teen, she didn't have much room to get into trouble with her Mom nearby.

“Alright Mom, I will probably have to momentarily come out to eat something,” Curi relented. The mop's cleaning liquid spread across the wooden floor and inadvertently caused Curi to move further back. Her yellow socks dampen at the toe.

“Good Aucuria! You can't live in your room all your life,” her dad quipped. She chose to ignore the comment. Certainly, there were events and people worth meeting outside the comforts of her room.Wolfeman would attend this year and maybe tell her another travel story. He liked to make her request a few times, before recounting his tales, even though he liked to share his stories. Not to mention this was the first year Cooleo, Toki, and possibly a girl from her art class would come.

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Where had time gone? Curi felt as if a time skip had occurred, but truly the rest of the week passed by event-less. Now, it was Thursday, the day before the party and the Andrews' home was busy.

The house was hot with oven heat, and she watched her mom make last minute arrangements. The turkey cooking engulfed anyone near the kitchen in its warmth.

Mom with a wide smile, sashayed into the kitchen holding a folded fabric. She opened the cloth

“Curi-baby, help me set the dining table. I got this beautiful Nigerian pattern online! You like it?” Mom thrust the cloth into her arms.

She did. The fabric felt soft in her hands and the geometrical pattern looked rich.

Curi and her mom draped the cloth over the dining table, which had been extended purposefully for the party, and smoothed out wrinkles before setting the silverware. Forks, knives, napkins, and name tags had been placed in their intended spots. The scenery looked appealing to Curi's amateur design eye.

In the distance, the noise of a lawnmower grew fainter, when her brother had cut the lawn to his liking. Curi heard the front door open, as he walked in, grass-stained shoes and all. Of course, the completion of decorations and lawn care didn't mean everything had been covered.

“Dang!” her mom snapped. She peered into the refrigerator, disgusted by what she saw. “Curi, can you go to the grocery store with me?

“Yeah Mom, no problem I can manage,” Curi said, shrugging.

Mom grabbed her keys and purse out the coffee table. “Taveo, watch my turkey and don't let it overcook!”

Taveo gave a slow nod and said he would watch over the turkey, though he was already fiddling with his ever-present phone. Curi snorted. If she acted as nonchalant about precious dinner party food, her parents would surely reprimand her. Taveo is so dense and distracted that Mom and Dad probably don't expect much from him, Curi thought.

“Alright, let's go then!” Mom announced. Curi didn't get a chance to fume. The car engine roaring brought her out of her inner-rant on sibling-favoritism. It would be more beneficial for her to concentrate her energy on remembering the items her mom needed.

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“Hmm... Generic or name-brand?” Curi weighed the two mustard bottles in her hand. Did it matter with mustard, as long as it was sour and yellow? At the sound of footsteps, her attention switched from the condiments to a person walking toward her.

A familiar voice welcomed her ears. The tone was loud but sweet like a newborn baby.

Curi felt the person lean over her shoulder. “I would go with the name-brand just so people feel like they're hot stuff squeezing it on their food.”

“Oasis?” Curi called. This was the girl who had recently crossed her thoughts. She was a shade of brown lighter than her and wore loose gym clothes.

Curi got along well with her, even with Oasis's brash personality, which often turned people off. Curi had managed to put up with her, and she liked Oasis for the most part. They had creativity in common and had bonded over it. However, they had only conversed with each other at the library's community art class, so to see her in public felt surreal.

“Aucuria! How are you? Whaddya doing?” The slightly taller girl asked. As usual, her breath smelled minty. The girl's thick black braids swung upward as she bounced around. Oasis liked to move and hated to stay still for too long. It looked like her sneakers were scuffing the grocery store floor.

“Mmm... Not much just buying a few things for my parents' party,” Curi replied. She wanted to ask if she was coming, but an irrational scene of Oasis getting offended at her made her stop.

Oasis absentmindedly picked at her sock sliding down. She shuffled a mint tin in her hands.

“So, will you be coming to the party?” Curi said in a burst of words. The faster she spoke the less she had time to overthink. If she did not stop these asinine thoughts, she would be on her way to social awkwardness.

Oasis' eyes widened a bit, probably surprised to witness her talkativeness. “Yeah, my mama and my sister are going. I will tag along too if you think it will be any fun.”

“You should!” Curi said, smiling. Her smile shrunk a bit when she realized how dumb her apprehension had been. She had to work on speaking her mind more. “No one our age usually comes, so it would be cool to see you there. We could have our own kids, I mean teen's table!””

“Everyone doesn't look as young as you, girl. I am all woman, thank you.” Oasis corrected, gesturing to the curves of her hips. “Still, I want to come.”

Curi resisted the urge to bicker with her about the shady dig at her childlike looks. If a person could look past Oasis's crude way of speech, he or she would see a lovely girl.

“You got all your supplies for your mama?” Oasis asked.

“Well, I just have to pick up some yogurt for myself and a rotisserie chicken for her.”

Curi walked toward the deli before she stopped. This would be a great opportunity to spend some time together before their next art class. Time to speak up! Curi thought.

“Uh, want to come with me? It takes a while for the chickens to cook.”

“Sure,” Oasis smiled. “My mama's at the fish counter, waiting for a worker to package her sushi, so I can wait with you.”

The two walked to the deli. While there Oasis showed her a risqué picture of some boy, she had met off the internet on her cell phone, and Curi tried not to drop her basket of items. She wasn't surprised at seeing that type of thing from Oasis but struggled to shield it from the people in line. Curi threw her own look of contempt at an older woman, who had the nerve to sneer at them. Oasis only showed her more photos not bothered by the dirty look.

Oasis is a sweet person, but she involves herself into things too mature for her, Curi thought.Oasis had once said that she liked her because she kept her grounded from anything too crazy.

“Ooh-wee! Look free samples!” Oasis suddenly cheered, pointing across the room. Curi placed a packaged deli chicken into her basket, careful not to let it touch the cold items.

“Curi, come on!”

Oasis had streaked ahead and Curi could only see the back of her workout clothes.

“Ok, okay!”

The much taller girl took them to the bakery. She grabbed two slices of an unidentified cake from the baker and handed one to Curi.

Curi felt her shoe slide a bit when she walked to the trash can. Underneath her boot was a flier for her parents' party. In her peripheral view, someone wearing a black hoodie ducked down an aisle.

“Gosh, how big is your parents' party?” Oasis asked, stealing her attention, cake crumbs in the corner of her mouth.

Curi touched her temple. Her parents had marketing for the party? “Oasis, I honestly have no idea.”

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That night she dreamed of nothing. Curi couldn't tell if that was promising or mildly ominous. Either way, tomorrow was the day, the countdown to the dreaded dinner party. 

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This is chapter five of a story I wrote almost two years ago.Thanks for any reviews/critiques and comments. Also, there are no more characters introduced after this! :D