Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Chapter Fifteen

Sonya

"Hi, I'm James." that creepy kid with a genuine smile said.

"Who's at the door?" Kara asked as she came to the door and stood beside Sonya.

"Oh. Hello James. Come inside." Kara said gesturing him to come inside the house. James entered and he kept on smiling and glanced in Sonya's direction a few times.

"This is Sonya, my best friend." Kara said waving hand in Sonya's direction.

"And this is James. My neighbour and a very good friend of mine." Kara said waving her hand in his direction. Shane and his friends entered inside. They all smiled.

"How're you doing, man?" Shane said as they did their man shoulder and hug thing. Noah, Michael and Alex followed soon.

"So you've met Sonya?" Alex said.

"Yup. She didn't say 'Hi' to me though." James said.

"You know him?" Sonya asked them.

"Yeah. Of course we do. We used to come here for weekends. You do know that we are friends with Kara's brother. He is Matthew's friend as well as ours. Right?" Alex asked.

"Oh. I know that." Sonya remembered something and she turned to James.

"Hi James. I'm Sonya." Sonya said to him. It was too hard for her to set his creepiness aside and talk to him normally.

"Hi. I'm James." James replied. Sonya felt someone's gaze on her. She saw Shane analysing her expressions. 'Everyone is creepy here.' Sonya thought.

"What?" Sonya said to Shane.

"What?" Shane replied.

"Why are you staring at me?" Sonya asked.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about something. I wasn't staring at you." Shane replied.

"Of course you weren't." Sonya mumbled. Thankfully no one heard her.

Bell rang and this time Kara went to get it leaving Sonya behind in her awkward situation. Kara came back with the landowner, meaning her uncle with his family and her brother with her family. Kara greeted them. Then she brought them inside and introduced them to everyone.

"Hello everyone." Kara's uncle, Daniel Smith said with a smile. Kara was smiling brightly.

"Uncle, Matthew this is Sonya. And of course you know Shane, Noah, Alex and James." Kara said.

"Hello Sonya." Uncle Smith said smiling.

"Hi Sonya." Kara's brother Matthew said.

"Hello. Hi." Sonya said to both of them with a polite smile.

"Where have you been?" Shane asked as they hugged each other.

"I was busy, dude. My medical exams are coming so I was preparing. Where's Liam?" Matthew asked with a frown on his head.

"He's actually…" the doorbell rang at the same time.

"I'll get it." Sonya said. Sonya opened the door and there stood of course, Liam.

"Speak of the devil and the devil's here." Sonya said.

"What? Who's the devil? I'm an angel, Sonya. Not a devil." Liam said. Weirdly he hugged Sonya and she didn't feel awkward. As they walked inside Sonya asked.

"How was your trip?"

"Tiring actually. What happened to you? Not ignoring us anymore?" Liam said as he hugged his friends.

"We were just talking about you." Matthew said as he hugged him.

"I thought you won't attend it." he said.

"Now, there's no party without us." he replied as he and Noah bumped shoulders.

"It's get-together actually." Sonya muttered under her breath but everyone heard her.

"You didn't reply to my question, tiger." Liam said.

"You didn't give me any other option. And what's with you always coming up with new nicknames?" Sonya said.

"Ohh… did I make you angry?" Liam said pinching Sonya's nose. Sonya swatted his hands away.

"Aren't you all forgetting me?" Uncle Smith said.

"And me?" James said.

"And me?" Matthew said.

"And me?" Shane said.

"And me?" Alex said.

"And me?" Michael said.

"And me?" Noah said.

"And me?" Kara said.

"And me?" Sonya said.

"I'm not backing up either. And me?" Liam said raising his hands as everyone burst into laughter.

Mrs. Smith came a little later with her daughter Olivia from work. Mrs. Smith was a lawyer. Olivia was in college. Kara's parents arrived a little later. Mr. David Scott with his wife. Kara hugged them. Matthew hugged his father and lifted his mom in his arms saying 'you should eat more mom. You're getting thin.' Kara introduced them to Sonya and everyone else.

"So you're studying with Kara?" Mr Scott asked.

"Ah.. Not in the same school but in the same standard." Sonya said.

"Ohh. What are your plans for the future, Sonya?"

"I haven't decided yet." Sonya said but she was uncomfortable. She hated this subject.

"Well, you should've decided by now." Mrs. Scott said.

"Actually.."

"Can I take Sonya for a second?" Shane said as he placed his arm around Sonya's shoulder.

"Sure." Mr. Scott said as he gave a look to his wife as he walked away from them. Sonya's face was tucked under his arm.

"Thanks for saving me." Sonya said. Shane made a 'tusk' sound.

"I'm saving myself." Shane said as he pointed to Olivia.

"What do you mean?" Sonya asked.

"Uhh.. She always asks too many questions. I can't deal with it." Shane removed his arm from Sonya's shoulder. Sonya gave him a look.

"What?" Shane asked with an annoying tone, like he's defending himself.

"Nothing." Sonya said. "I thought…" she was interrupted by a voice.

"Hi." James said with an enthusiastic tone. His expressions were a little hesitant.

"Yo, what's up?" Shane said.

"Nothing. What were you guys talking about?"

Sonya and Shane turned to each other.

"Nothing in particular." Shane said.

"Hey Shane, come here." Alex shouted.

"Coming." Shane said. He shrugged his shoulders to Sonya and left them.

"So… I wanted to talk about something." James said.

"I think you consider me for a stalker, considering the fact that you know." He lifted a shoulder. Sonya's expression changed from shock to normal. She saw that he noticed.

"When you saw me standing on my window that day I was checking something. I suffer from insomnia and I usually get irritated with all the bugs hitting the window. I hate that noise. That's the reason you saw me standing on my window. And usually do. And the other day on the bus stop, I knew you were you might be living here. It was dark, I just wanted to make sure you get home safely but then I realise that you thought that I was following you. If any of my actions threatened you in any way, I am sorry."

Sonya looked at him while many thoughts ran in her mind. She felt relieved.

"It's fine. Things happen all the time." Sonya said. James nodded.

Later when everyone left the house Sonya came into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. Then she turned and nearly spitted on Shane who was standing just behind her.

"Can you behave like humans?" Sonya said as Shane took a few tissues from the counter and started to clean himself from the water that, unfortunately, found a way to came out of Sonya's mouth.

"What were you saying earlier? Before James interrupted us."

"When?" Sonya thought as Shane lifted his eyes and gave Sonya a meaningful look.

"Oh… it was nothing." Sonya said but she blushed a little because she thought Olivia had a crush on him. When she looked at Shane he was smirking.

"You thought she had a crush on me?" Sonya was taken aback. She never saw him smirking and he literally read her thoughts.

"No. I'm going to sleep. Goodnight." Sonya said.

"Night." Sonya heard him chuckle behind her.