Page 14 of The Prom Queen Project
Sometimes, wearing her old clothes brought me peace. I pulled the fabric over my head and wrapped my arms around my torso.It still smelled like her.I sighed. If I could just hug her one more time, I’d never wish for anything else.
“Clarke, is that you?” I heard my mom’s voice call out from downstairs.
“Yeah, I’ll be down in a second!”
Scurrying around my room, I frantically put away my belongings before making my way into the adjoining bathroom. Sliding my contact lens case to the edge of the sink, I unscrewed the caps and filled each compartment with saline cleaning solution.
“Ouch!” I cried, accidentally jabbing my eye as I attempted to pry the contacts out. “Fuck! Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck!”
“Sweetie, are you calling me?”
“No!” I yelled back while still holding my eye. “I’m good! I’ll be down soon!”
The throbbing pain radiated through my face. I looked in the mirror and saw my eye was slightly pink. I sighed.Stupid contacts.After several more attempts, I finally removed the lenses and replaced them with black rimmed glasses.
When I finally came down the grand staircase, a deep thumping sounded outside the front door, followed by the familiar metallic jangling of keys clanking against the doorknob.
“Who wants pizza?” my dad shouted while bursting through the door, dropping his keys on the floor. He stood still as he tried to balance the two large boxes of pizza and three Coke bottles in his arms. “Shit.” He looked down, staring at his keys.
Without hesitation, our cat, Cleo, rushed over, pouncing on his keys as she began swatting at them, pushing them along the hardwood floor.
“Christopher! Language!”
I rolled my eyes at the train wreck of an entrance he had just made.
“I’ll take the pizza, hold the shit please.”
“Clarke!” my mother scolded.
My dad shrugged as he stifled his laughter. “Well, if we ever doubted it, she’s definitely got my sense of humor.”
I walked over and kissed him on the cheek while grabbing the pizzas. My mother sighed and knelt down to retrieve his keys from Cleo, who was less than pleased by the confiscation of her new toy.
“What am I going to do with you two?”
Their voices grew softer as I put some distance between us, entering the dining room. I placed the boxes in the center of the table and grabbed four plates from the cabinet. Swiftly, I pivoted on my heels, but as my eyes reconnected with the ceramic dishes in my hands, I froze.
Four plates.
We only needed three.
It was the small things I seemed to forget about my sister not being around. Sure, she wasn’t physically here—that much was pretty obvious—but grabbing three plates instead of four was a little harder to remember.
“Clarke, please tell your mother that talking about our day over dinner is completely normal.”
I turned around and saw Mom glaring at Dad.Hard.
“Clarke, please tell your father that rule doesn’t apply when he wants to talk about the surgery he performed today.”
I put the extra plate back.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to side with Mom on this one.”
My dad reached across the table, picking up the boxes once again. “Then, I’m taking these pizzas back!”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Christopher. Put the damn pizzas down.”
“Did you just…” I lowered my voice before continuing. “Cuss?”
