An Awkward Evening
Madison
This is supposed to be the best year of my life—my senior year of high school. I don’t have to worry too much about my classes, and I ended my junior year as cheer captain, poised to take the role again. I thought it was going to be a walk in the park.
When my parents told me they were taking in an exchange student, it threw a huge wrench in my plans. I hated the idea until they mentioned it was a girl my age from Australia. The thought of having a live-in friend made it sound better. It was hard to get to know Millie over the computer because my parents were always talking to her parents.
Now that she’s here, she’s even better than I could have imagined. She’s beautiful, and everyone wants to be her friend. More than that, she’s so different from everyone else at school. She seems genuine and kind; she reminds me of my childhood best friend in more ways than I can explain. Even though it’s only been a day or two, I feel attached to her already.
I thought that since I’m nearly eighteen with college plans, I had my life figured out for the next few years. But now that Millie is here, she has completely turned my thinking upside down in just two days. I want to be more like her. I want to stop trying to be like the mean girls at school. I’ve been going along with them for too long, and it always makes me feel bad about myself.
The way she talks to me and my family is sweet and endearing. It’s not just her accent, either. I feel like Millie already cares more about me than my long-time “friends” at school do. She’s asked me more questions about myself than anyone ever has.
I can tell it makes my mom happy that Millie helps her and hangs out in the common spaces. I hadn’t even realized how much I’d closed myself off from the world and from who I am. I feel like I’ve been a robot for the last two years, and it took Millie showing up to make me realize it.
When I walked into my house tonight and saw the social pariah of the whole school standing in my dining room, I was instantly blown back. I knew that Millie had taken a liking to Trouble at the grocery store yesterday. Even when she sent me a text saying she was hanging out with him after school, I couldn’t help worrying about it.
I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s getting to know him; it makes so much sense given what I already know about her. I don’t think he’s actually a bad guy, but I do know it will cause problems for Millie at school if she gets too attached to him.
If I want to be more like her, I have to try to be nice. Thinking fast, I manage to say his name instead of “Trouble,” even though it sounds garbled.
Millie tosses her hands up like she’s so happy to see me. “Hey, Madi!”
I’ve had my bitch filter on for so long that it’s almost hard to push through it, but I do my best. “I’d ask you how your day was, but it seems like you’ve made... a friend.”
She smiles warmly at Julian before looking back at me. “Yes, it was a great day. What about you? Did you finish all your cheerleading stuff?”
I’m sure Julian hates me because of the awful way I’ve treated him, so I wonder if he made Millie change her mind about hanging out with me.
“Yes. Are you still going to try out tomorrow?” I cast a nervous glance at Julian, hoping he won’t say anything mean.
“Sure, I’ll try it. Hopefully, I’m not rubbish at it,” Millie replies.
I feel so relieved. Maybe Julian doesn’t hate me. Even though I’ve been a cow, I might still be able to turn it around. He does work at the store I’m supposed to inherit someday, and now he’s getting close to Millie.
I smile to reassure her. “I’m sure you’ll pick it up quickly. I can teach you the dance tonight.”
Julian is just standing back; I haven’t heard him say a word yet, and I have no idea what to say to him. Saying, “Hi, sorry I’ve taken part in your bullying for longer than I can remember,” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
Thankfully, Millie breaks the tension in the room. “Well, that’s us done. What next?”
Before I have to answer her, my parents start bringing the food in, so we all sit down. After everyone loads up their plates, I feel like all eyes are on me. It’s like they all think I’m going to rage out or something. That’s even more evidence that I need to fix this; my family doesn’t even know me anymore.
Everyone is quiet until Daddy digs into his food awkwardly loud. When he’s sure he has everyone’s attention, he holds up some steak on his fork and says, “Two cannibals are at the circus eating dinner, and one cannibal turns to the other and says, ‘Does this taste funny to you?’”
The tension is replaced with awkward silence while everyone stares at him. My mom looks as embarrassed as I feel.
Finally, Julian starts to chuckle. “Oh, I get it. He was eating a clown.”
I honestly never got that joke until right now, so I let out an awkward chuckle. Leave it to my dad to have inappropriate jokes at the dinner table. He’s such a good guy, but that’s one of his guilty pleasures.
Dinner is still awkward, but it’s not the worst. I’m more worried about what will happen when dinner is over. I would like to try to make things right with Julian, especially if Millie is getting close to him, but I need some time to figure out what to say. I’m not ready to hang out with him tonight.
After dinner, Millie and Julian offer to do the dishes, so I escape to my bedroom. Mom must be able to tell that I’m stressed out because she practically chases me up the stairs. After she follows me into my bedroom, she closes the door behind her.
“Madi, what’s going on with you?” she asks, sounding more concerned than angry.
“That was just stressful. I felt like everyone was looking at me like I was a time bomb.”
Mom sits at the foot of my bed and pats the spot next to her. When I sit down, she puts her arm around me. “Madison, you’re not a time bomb. I’m sorry if you felt that way, but I think the whole thing was awkward for everyone,” she assures me.
I’m not sure what she means until she hugs me and says, “Your father created this masterpiece and didn’t communicate to anyone what was happening.” She laughs.
Daddy means well, but he has been known to meddle. I wonder why he would do this, though. “Is Millie dating Julian or something?”
“I don’t have any details. Your father told me he could tell they were sweet on each other. I saw them holding hands,” Mom says, but before I can think of anything to say, she adds, “I think you need to try to be open to that idea, Madi. You need to get along with Millie.”
“I want to, more than I can explain right now. I’ve been really in my head all day today,” I stop because I can feel myself starting to cry.
Mom pets my hair a little, and before she can say more, Daddy knocks on the door. “Can I come in?”
“Come on,” Mom says.
“I’m in trouble, huh?” he says when he looks at me.
“Only a little bit,” I pout.
He sits on the other side of me. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, Madison. It all sort of happened so fast, but I knew you would be okay because I know you’re my sweet girl.”
That’s the opposite of what I was thinking. “Really?”
“Yes, without the pressure of your teammates, safe at home with your family, I knew you would be yourself.”
That’s sort of all I needed to hear. “Thanks, Daddy.”
He wraps his arm over me and pulls Mom in too. “I love you both. I’m sorry. I’m going to go take Julian home. Please don’t plot my murder while I’m gone,” he chuckles before he stands up to leave.
Once we hear him bounding down the stairs, Mom looks at me again. “Honey, it’s all going to be okay. Just go down and get Millie. Talk to her about school and reassure her that you want to be her friend. You two already get along so well.”
“Okay, I can do this.” I take a breath before I hug my mom, then head down the stairs to catch Millie.
I’m nervous just because I don’t know what really happened to her today. Trevor was being an asshole this morning, and I didn’t get to warn her about him either. I’m just going to talk to her about her day and come at her from a place of concern with everything. If I’m honest with her, she’ll have to forgive me for things I did before I even met her, right?
