[completed] Nova Carter knows exactly what the next few years of her life will look like: she will work harder than anyone else (as she didn't get into New York University to slack off); she'll be keeping her head down and prioritizing getting her a...
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Chapter Twelve | Total Zombie
♫Total Zombie by Day Wave
I think I'm avoiding having to be alone.
Which is kind of funny, considering I've been alone my entire life. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to have so many people around that aren't related to me in any way— Atlas and Milo and the rest of the group, Olivia, Logan, and doctor Hyde's talk group. I know it's a part of growing up, I just never expected it to change this quickly.
Still, it's important to have some me-time. In between class and my next meeting, I purposely round the block instead of cutting through it, on my own. Well, not entirely. Logan's on the phone that I press between my hand and my ear. I seem to be extra uncoordinated today, but that happens sometimes. I try not to dwell on it.
"I'm sorry," he apologizes for the thousandth time. "I really meant to text back, and call, but I've just been busy."
Two weeks have gone (flown) by. Whereas my first official week of classes was surprisingly social, the two weeks following it has been more of a stress-inducing period of time. I got to discover the insane speed I'm expected to keep up with when it comes to schoolwork, and in my spare time I committed to helping Milo paint a living room wall forest green and haul a TV up the stairs of the Capitol. It's painful to admit, but Logan (read: Logan ignoring me) hasn't crossed my mind that much at all.
"I get it," I say as I cross the street, trying to match my strides to the ones of the person in front of me: a short, bald man in a suit. "Moving on. What's been happening? How was that party?"
"No farm animals were harmed."
"Funny."
He sighs. "It was good. I mean, classic party. I never thought I'd be a fraternity bro."
"Are you? A fraternity bro?" I pull a face. If it took a few weeks of not speaking to me for Logan to join a fraternity in my absence, I have to admit I don't know him as well as I thought I did.
"No," he laughs. "But I kind of had an image of fraternity bros in my head, you know? And now I see it's just a stereotype, and I'm realizing I might be more similar to them than I initially thought. Anyway, the past few weeks have been the start of everything, so finding time to talk to people was just really hard."
"It's cool. But maybe next time put that into a text, so people don't think you're trying to shake them off of your pant leg or something."
"I will. So, what are you doing today?"
"I have a group meeting again today." I shrug, but then realize he can't even see me.
"Again? You had one last time we spoke."
"Yeah, it's a weekly thing. That's what you get when you don't respond to my texts for that long." Okay— maybe I'm more offended about him not getting back to me than I tried to tell myself. But if there's anyone who can handle my passive aggressiveness, it's Logan. It took us two years to get to this point, after all.
