25 Days of Insanity: Day Twenty-One

Day Twenty-One: Misconceptions

"Charlie, are you—are you sure it's a good idea to leave them alone?" Natalie glanced over her shoulder toward the living room before looking back down at the soapy dish in her hands and continuing to scrub it. "I mean, I know they don't actually know each other yet. But whenever Cassie sees or hears about Stefan, it feels like, I dunno, there's just a weird aura." She set the dish in the other part of sink and picked up a bowl to clean as well.

She and Charlie had both invited their friends over today—without telling one another—and before they even had the chance to hang out, Mr. Baker came in and reminded the two that someone needed to do the dishes. So, the two were shooed into the kitchen while Stefan and Cassie were forced to wait in the other room.

Charlie began rinsing off the dishes his friend set in his half of the sink but looked back at her curiously. "An aura? What's that?"

"Well, it's a…a feeling that sometimes lingers in the air. It's usually really obvious to everyone even though no one necessarily says anything," she reiterated, looking back at him. It was silent for a minute while her words seemed to hang in the air around them. She blushed, an air of awkwardness seeming to have descended upon them. "Kinda like right now…"

"Well, I'm sure they'll get along fine," Charlie said, setting one of the plates in the dish rack. "I've known Stefan since we were kids and I haven't really met a person that he can't along with." He shrugged, continuing to fill the dish rack. "I doubt they won't get along."

"I guess that's true…"

But in the other room…

Stefan watched the girl glance about the room and it seemed—to him anyway—that she was trying to look at anything except for him. He cleared his throat loudly, attempting to catch her attention, but she ignored this. His mouth twitched; he wasn't used to being ignored by someone, even Xander didn't do that, and he wasn't even that fond of him.

Why did it matter that she wasn't paying attention to him? That was what he always wanted, wasn't it? To, for once in his life, be treated normal by a peer and not looked up upon simply because he was upper class… No, he thought to himself, this is different. He frowned when she stood to observe a picture on a shelf.

After all, there was a big difference between being treated normally and the way she was treating him; she was ignoring him, as though he didn't even exist. She would rather stare at a stupid portrait on the wall then even give him a passing glance, he noted to himself. He frowned determinedly; he would make her notice him if he had to. He just couldn't handle the fact that she was just disregarding him completely. It just…wasn't normal. Not right.

He decided to start a conversation; that ought to make it easier. "So, Cassie, you're Natalie's friend, huh?"

"Yep," she said simply, turning her gaze to another frame on the wall. He waited for her to say something more but she didn't.

Okay, so conversation number one was a fail. Maybe he should try again, something that she would have to elaborate on.

"When'd you guys meet?"

"In school."

"…well, yeah, but—but WHEN during school?" he pried.

"I dunno, kindergarten, I guess."

Second conversation starter had failed.

"Um..." Gosh, this was hard. Didn't she know what it meant to be social with people?! Well, he didn't really either, but that was beside the point! "Er, what do you like to do?"

"Lots of things."

Stefan resisted the urge to pull on his hair in irritation. "Why are you being so difficult?" he managed to ask without raising his voice too much.

She was quiet and he thought he'd get a reaction this time but she turned to another decoration, saying, "I'm not being difficult." Stefan only shook his head, bringing his hand up to rub the bridge of his nose; this…was not working out as well as he had hoped it would…

When the other teenager stopped talking she took a glance at him from the corner of her eye. He was obviously annoyed, running a hand down his face with his fingers tangling into his gray bangs. Good, let him be, she thought to herself as she continued looking around the room.

It wasn't really like her to be this rude or difficult with people she barely knew, but this time she just had to be. This guy needed it. After all, she heard about him all the time at school. It was annoying to hear how people fawned all over him. He was rich, smart, athletic, and supposedly the nicest guy around. It was ridiculous; nobody could be that perfect.

Besides, as far as she could tell he reveled in this reputation of his, he just wanted everyone to look up to him. She wouldn't stoop to that level; after all, someone had to knock him off that high horse. Cassie would show this guy that his supposed "status" didn't matter to her. It was just what he needed, she thought.

Just then, Natalie came back into the room with Charlie not too far behind and said, "Sorry that took so long. So, how are guys getting along?"

"Just great," Cassie answered, smiling at Natalie.
Stefan narrowed his eyes, noticing just how eager she was to talk to someone else. "Yeah, peachy," he lied, attempting to keep calm. It was official: this girl was purposefully trying to drive him insane.

"See," Charlie said, completely oblivious to the crackling aura around them and the agitated look Stefan was sending Cassie, "I told you they'd get along!"
Natalie, however, wasn't so clueless to the tension in the air and frowned somewhat. "Uh, yeah, right…"