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Nova sat far from her parents on the plane ride home in the back corner with her journal in hand this time, trying to silence the events of the past three weeks. Yet they tormented her, writhing and contorting in a way so inhumane. And it must've shown too because next thing she knew her dad was sitting next to her, two unopened cokes in hand. She glanced up at him, noticing the large bruise forming on the side of his temple and his busted lip. Nova's tight-lipped smile quickly downturned at the sight, she was always left guessing what happened that had caused well- that.
"Hey, kiddo. Everything alright? You've been pretty quiet since we boarded." Jason asked his daughter, having already discussed with his wife their daughter's odd behavior in the last couple hours. Needless to say they were both worried sick. He slid the other soda across the tv tray to her; her refusal made his skin itch, perturbed the very second she turned her nose up at his offer.
Focusing her attention back to her journal, she turned her body away, "everything's fine," she said. Jason didn't believe her. And he was certain that Artemis, secretly listening a few seats back, knew it was bullshit too. Sure, Nova had her days but she hadn't ever been this bad.
"Are you sure? You know you can talk to me, peanut." Jason said, frowning when she didn't even acknowledge him speaking. She was still writing in that damn notebook. "Whatcha writing about?" He asked as he leaned over to see, but not before his daughter slammed it shut as she hugged it close to her chest.
"Nothing." The girl glared up at her father for trying to snoop. Why did no one understand that she just wanted to be left alone? This is the last thing Nova could handle right now. She just wanted to get home to her own room where she knew she would be safe. Perhaps she could somewhat throw them off her trail, throwing together a sort of half-thought lie surely wouldn't be too difficult. As long as the real reason remained unknown she'd be happy.
Nova bit down on her lip as she stuffed her journal in her new Justice backpack for school, and that gave her an idea. "I'm just — I'm scared for school to start again!" She told him. Still, there was some truth to her words; she was always nervous about starting a new grade. Though it wasn't the real reason she was scared, and Nova promised herself that she would never ever let anyone find out about it.
"...Well, I can understand that. Going into the third grade is kind of a big deal." Jason stated, his eyes locked with Artemis's own as she made her way over to the two.
Sliding in on the other side of their daughter, Artemis voiced her concern, "Is it because of your studies?" Much to their luck, only the three resided on the private jet themselves, besides the pilot hidden away in the cockpit, freeing them to talk about anything and everything- from having the third grade blues to the undercover mission they just completed in a middle eastern country.
