An Extraordinary Life

Took Me By Surprise

When knuckles knocked against Isabella's bedroom door. The sound coming Freddie was the last thing she would have guessed.

Oscar was lounging at the foot of Isabella's patterned bedspread, his head popping up and looking towards the source of the noise. Isabella reached over and turned the sound on her turntable down a bit.

"Come in!" she called, after taking a particularly deep breath. She hoped she could hide her anxious energy.

The door slowly creaked open. When Oscar registered who it was, he put his head back down and closed his eyes. Isabella did the opposite, nearly jumping out of her seat.

"Jim Croce, eh?" Freddie teetered in the doorway, one hand shoved into the pocket of his bright red sweatpants. "Is it easy for you to listen to music and work on your maths all at once?"

Isabella couldn't believe what she was witnessing. Freddie, talking to her? Without anyone else around? It was baffling.

She blinked rapidly. "Uncle Joe introduced me to him. This is his album, he's lending it to me."

"Time in a Bottle is just magnificent."

Small talk?

"Did you ever... meet him?" Isabella struggled to keep the conversation going due to anxiety alone as it coursed through her veins.

"No, although I'm sure we would have crossed paths somewhere if it wasn't for his untimely death," Freddie looked down at his feet. "Poor dearie- had so much ahead of him."

Isabella nodded. There was an awkward silence now. She wasn't sure what to do. To invite him in or not invite him in.

Why would he want to come in, anyway?

"Errrrr-" Freddie noised, still a step behind where the hardwood floor in the hallway met the carpet in her bedroom.

"You wanna come in?" Isabella finally squeaked, turning completely away from her homework. She had barely gotten the words out before Freddie nervously stepped into the room, pacing a bit between the edge of the bed and the doorway.

Isabella remembered Joe's words from earlier, that Freddie was likely more afraid of her than she was of him. She didn't believe Joe at the time, but now she sure as hell did. This thought gave her a bit of confidence, her heartbeat slowing down a bit.

"Feel free to sit," she gestured to the bed. "Oscar's been sleeping for the last two hours despite my cursing at my study packet. He's been a great study buddy."

"Has he offered his help?"

Isabella smiled a bit. "He did, but I told him I needed to try myself first."

Freddie returned her small smile, and gingerly sat down on the bed. "Uh, did you have a nice week at school?"

"Yeah, tiring but really good- thanks," Isabella lied.

Freddie raised a brow. "That's what I used to tell my mum whenever she asked me how school was going, and I was having a hard time."

"It truly is a great school," Isabella swallowed thickly. "Really... intense. I don't think I'll ever get an education like this again."

"Be eleven, won't you?" Freddie said softly, standing up to close the door a bit more, but still leaving it open enough to make Isabella comfortable. "I'll ask again- did you have a nice week at school?"

"Nearly twelve," Isabella laughed lightly, trying to ease the conversation a bit. It was edging on emotional territory, and she didn't want him to see her upset. "And honestly, it is not that a bad place, it's just that I just... don't fit in well."