Two Worlds in One Setting
irony: [ahy-ruh-nee]; noun; an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected.
"So how was your first day?"
Felix felt obligated to make conversation with his cousin as they drove home from school that day. He felt as if his outburst with Jessica Anastos was embarrassing for Nova, and tried his hardest to be kind to her for the rest of the day, even if that had meant sitting with Jessica and her posse at lunch. He was very well aware of the dirty looks being thrown his way every few minutes.
He had a total of four classes with Jessica Anastos and only three with Nova. He had never been more embarrassed in his life to be in so many classes with someone so far below his intellectual level; Jessica Anastos was no Einstein. He had a break from her between 1st period Psychology and 3rd period Music Theory when he went to AP Marine Science with Nova, but was back with her for 4th period Creative Writing. Another break ensued when Felix headed to 5th period AP US History, where he was surprised to find Caleb Halpon sitting next to him.
6th period English brought the worst class he could have imagined. There was only one option for seniors where English was concerned, and it was the generic 12th Grade English class, taught by an angry teacher with next to no personality and certainly not a care for teaching real material. The class consisted of only one person Felix liked: Nova. The rest contained the likes of Jessica Anastos, Sasha Corrian, Ethan Meek, and Caleb Halpon. And with the basketball team still feuding with the cheerleaders, there was little anyone did in that class but glare and whisper.
7th period brought a relief in the form of AP Calculus. There was nothing Felix enjoyed more than working out math problems after a stressful day, and that's exactly what AP Calculus brought him as he tried to ignore the ever-present presence of Caleb Halpon in the back of the room. The kid was certainly desperate for AP credits.
"It was...interesting." Nova replied cautiously. "I'm not sure how well I fit in with everyone. I did enjoy my drama class."
Felix nodded.
"You'll fit in fine once you get the hang of things. Maybe you could try out for the school musical; I think they're having auditions in the next few weeks."
"Really?" Nova's face lit up when Felix spoke. "Do you know what the musical is?"
Felix shook his head.
"I just know that they always have auditions at the beginning of the year, really close to the first week. I think one of my friends did it last year."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, until Felix made a sharp left turn into his neighborhood.
"This is it." he announced as they pulled up to the house. "This is our home."
He watched as Nova looked up at the modest three-story home, her eyes widening.
"It's huge." she whispered.
Felix wondered worriedly what she had been living in for the past few years. His house was far from huge when compared with many of the mansions that the kids in his school lived in. If Nova ended up becoming friends with the popular crowd, she would soon end up seeing what kind of houses she was really missing out on.
"Well, let's go on in." Felix said, realizing that they were still sitting in the driveway. He pushed the parking break down and turned the car off, hopping out with his bookbag in one hand and his phone in the other.
"I think all of our stuff was moved in already." Nova mused aloud.
"Yeah, my mom said they would be bringing it in while you were at school." Felix walked up the driveway and punched in the keypad code to open the garage.
"The code is 0987, for future reference." He told Nova over his shoulder as the garage screeched open. Felix had long ago forgone any idea of trying to sneak out at night--the garage door was louder than any police siren in the Eastern United States.
At the same time, Felix couldn't honestly think of a situation where he would feel the need to sneak out of his house.
After showing Nova around the house for a bit and checking the messages on the machine, Felix checked the time to see that he had barely ten minutes to get to the middle school and grab Paul & Natalie.
"Lindsey!" Felix yelled as he grabbed his keys, "I'm leaving to pick up the middle schoolers! Make sure Nova can find her room through your pile of crap!"
Lindsey shouted some incoherent but clearly angry sentence back as Felix slammed the door shut. She got a ride home with a different popular friend every day, refusing to be seen leaving school with her brother. He didn't quite care; it means that he had much less blabbering to listen to every day.
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"I'm home." Jessica pressed her finger to the button on the intercom. There was no reply back, but a yellow sticky note could be seen on the counter, the note written in her mother's pristine cursive handwriting.
We had to run out to grab a few things. Please pick the boys up from school. Love, Mother.
Jessica rolled her eyes. The elementary and middle schools were connected and got out at the same time, and trying to get your child picked out of the masses and into the car in under twenty minutes was the most difficult task allotted to any human being in any time period.
Grabbing her keys and sprinting out the door, Jessica wondered why she had to take the time out of her own day to go and pick up her siblings. It wasn't as if she were being paid to be their chauffeur.
As she drove Jessica mulled over her senior year schedule. The day hadn't been terrible, besides the awkward fact that she and Sasha had planned to have certain classes with the basketball team before the breakup. The classes remained but the feelings certainly did not.
She pulled up to the school just as her favorite song came on the radio. Seeing the giant line of cars in front of her and dreading leaving her car to go and brace the madness, Jessica opted to listen to rest of the song. Her brothers could wait a few extra minutes.
As she sang along and looked around her at all the rushing parents, she saw a familiar face approaching her car, accompanied by two middle school-aged kids. He looked the sleek Lexus up and down, as it stood out among the minivans and trucks that surrounded the rest of the school, before looking at the driver. Felix Brannon and Jessica Anastos made immediate and awkward eye contact, followed by a brief second where neither of them knew quite what to do.
Jessica offered a friendly--if not slightly unwelcoming--wave from her seat, and Felix nodded politely before steering the two kids accompanying him towards the back of the parking lot.
As she watched him walk away, Jessica wasn't sure what caught her eye--he looked exactly as he had at school that morning--but something about the nerdy kid in the flannel shirt and old jeans made her heart beat just a little faster.
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-Katherine