I went quietly downstairs to knock on Aunt Vikki's office. There was light under the door, and I heard my aunt approaching from the inside.
"Piper, is that you?" she said.
"No, it's me," I replied.
"Oh, Nina, please come on in," she said after she opened the door and held it wider for me to enter. Aunt Vikki was her husband's personal accountant. She worked from home most of the time and only went out to meetings if needed be.
Inside the room, there was a smaller fireplace, which didn't burn real fire. It was an electronic heating system.
"Sit down with me," she said, gesturing to the couch. "I haven't had any time alone with you much."
I huddled up close to the fire for it was freezing cold at night in this big house. Aunt Vikki put her work away.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you," I said, but she just shook her head.
"No worries. My work can wait." She smiled again. "How are you doing with school and everything?"
"I've caught up with most of my classes," I told her. "It's a bit easier here than back at home actually."
"I'm glad you don't feel too much pressure," she said and smoothed my hair. "If there is anything you need, don't keep quiet."
I nodded back. I hadn't seen my aunt in person for many years, saved that one winter she visited us in Moscow. I was only twelve at that time. My aunt was a beautiful woman and so caring. When she saw I was shivering, she got up to grab a blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders. Her arms were around me the whole time with a kind honest look. I felt like that was what my mother would do to me.
Before I knew it, Aunt Vikki started telling me about mom. It took me awhile to realize she understood how I must have felt. She told me things I never knew about her— how my mom was a total nerd and had set her heart to go to a university and study classic literature. But then she fell in love with my father and dropped her dream and married him.
I wondered what was so special about Pyotr Volkov.
From the top drawer of her desk, Aunt Vikki took out a framed picture of two young women in their sky gears and sleds.
"It was taken during a heavy winter in Moscow," she told me and handed me the photo. I stared at the beautiful woman beside my aunt, and I could feel my tears burning. Aunt Vikki rubbed one hand across her eyes.
"I'm sorry if that saddens you, Nina," she apologized, but I shook my head.
"I'm glad you still have this picture."
"I will make a copy for you if you want," she offered.
"That's okay." I smiled back. "I have seen her pictures. It's just this one is not with my dad."
"Your father loves you, Nina," my aunt said in a rather pity tone. "He just has a lot on his plate right now, but I'm sure he thinks better of your future. That's why he sent you here."
I didn't say anything. I wished I could believe my aunt, but I just couldn't. I heard her sigh and got up from the couch again.
"It's late now. You better get back to bed."
I looked up from the picture and remembered why I was here.
"Actually, Aunt Vikki, I wanted to talk to you about something else," I said, causing her to raise an eyebrow.
"Oh, what is it?"
"Er...I just think that the cost to hire a cook is quite outrageous here," I started a little awkwardly. "I've been pretty good at reading recipes, and I know how to cook quite well if I dare say so myself. I think if you allow me, I can make do with that."
My aunt just stood there and looked sort of amused hearing my proposal.
"You remind me so much of your mother, Nina," she said at last. "She always tried to make people's lives easier."
I felt a blush on my cheeks along with the tears. Aunt Vikki came forward to hug me. I held her back in my arms.
"When your mother called to tell me she was pregnant with you," my aunt said, "she sounded happier than she'd ever sounded in her whole life."
~*~
The next day, I gave a presentation on my Bio II report. Everyone looked at me with hopeful eyes. I swallowed and began to speak. It was harder than when I did it in my own language, but I had no choice.
"My report is about the Flaws of Evolution," I started in a shortened breath and paused for a moment. "We all know that through evolution, humans can adapt to their environment and reproduce."
All eyes were on me, blinking and listening. Jordan gave me an encouraging nod.
"But my report is about the hidden imperfection of human race, mainly, of women," I said with a little more force of confidence after I had started.
A few girls sitting at the front exchanged a curious look, but I carried on.
"Now, we know why women would not survive ten months of pregnancy for they could die giving birth. The first stage of human development starts with the head, which has to grow big for intellectual and survival purposes. But the woman's pelvic bones are not well-developed enough to push anything with that size. That's why it's extremely painful during labor." I clicked on the slide show that had a picture of a baby inside the womb. I glanced briefly at Ms. Peterson, who wore a smile on her lips.
"So babies have to be born even they actually need longer time to develop, it's why they're such a mess. Human mothers have not evolved enough to have an easy labor like most mammals. It's kind of a huge and secret flaw in our evolution that we don't really notice. So if a woman's body can't cope with this insane pain during childbirth, she can die. And if you think it's normal to give birth, it's actually not. It's natural, but it's not normal."
I finished my report. No one asked questions, or that they didn't know what to ask.
"Well done, Nina," Ms. Peterson said after a while later.
I strode back to my desk and plopped down in my chair as if my energy was all drained.
"You did great," Jordan said, smiling sweetly.
"Thank you," I said.
"You sounded passionate about this," she added. "It's a very interesting topic."
"My mom died giving birth to me," I told her. Jordan's mouth fell open. She looked at me as if she didn't know what to say. I shouldn't have said that, but it just came out. I gave her a weak smile and waved her look away. The last thing I wanted was sympathy.
In Language Arts, I didn't feel quite as snarky as I wanted to with Allecra Knight. I got to where she was sitting by the window and sat down. Allecra had always been like a stone, but now she seemed even more unresponsive. I still thought of the neck-kissing incident. I couldn't tell if she had minded and decided to ignore me for that.
Mrs. Smith started the class as soon as the bell rang.
"Listen, class!" she said. "You're supposed to give your editing partner your stuff to read and comment on with constructive criticism, alright? You are to write a personal creative essay. It's whatever you want to write about. Now, let's get to work."
I didn't quite know anything personal and creative to write about, so I just wrote things off the top of my head. Feet crossed, Allecra turned to work with her eyes half-shut as usual. I was dying to know what she was going to write about and ready to be one hell of a critic to her. The class went silent as students concentrated on their writing.
It continued like that until the teacher said to give the writing to our partners. Allecra's long white hand reached for my pages unapologetically. But in turn, she handed me back hers.
I started to read her writing but immediately put it down.
"What kind of language is this?" I said to her. I had to wave her papers to get her attention. "I can't read this."
"It's Arzurian," she said.
"What?" I blinked back, but Allecra didn't say anything and just turned her gaze back to my writing again. I wrote about a man, who was trapped inside an acorn — sort of a brother to the girl in the coconut.
The bell went off after a long while later.
"Alright class, give your partners back their writing and we will come back to discuss it later," the teacher said.
Allecra and I hadn't even finished ours. She just handed back my papers. I was still frowning at what she had said. Instead of leaving, as usual, she seemed to linger there. After I got my books in my bag and was ready to go to lunch. Allecra stood up, too. I lifted my face to see her staring back at me. I froze.
"Come with me," she said and reached her hand out to take mine. The moment our skins touched it was like a million volts of electricity zapped through my body. If it was real electricity, I would be dead by now. Allecra towed me along without saying anything. I couldn't find a word to speak, let alone asking where she was taking me.
We weaved through the crowded hallways. Some students stared at us while other whispered to each other. Of course, it was Allecra Knight I was holding hand with. They must be surprised.
Not until I realized we were out of people's sight that I mustered up the courage to ask her.
"Where are you taking me?" I said in a panic.
"Somewhere you might know," she said and kept speed-walking. Allecra went past the baseball field and the gym, going towards the pool building. We went inside and climbed up the metal stairs to the rooftop.
I was having trouble catching my breath when she finally stopped.
Gosh, was she a mountain goat in her past life or what?
"Here," she said without a desperate gasp for air or anything. I noticed she was pointing to the small rusty door.
"Ye—yes?" I said, still breathing heavily. We were on the rooftop where I had come to write.
"Remember anything?" Allecra asked.
"How do you know this place?" I said, staring back at her in confusion. But she turned to the door and opened it effortlessly. Wasn't the door locked the last time I had tried it? Allecra motioned for me to follow her. I hesitantly stepped forward. Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I discovered that it was an attic. Below were school equipment, carts of valley balls and floats, and cardboard boxes.
"Why did you bring me here?" I asked in suspicion. Allecra slowly turned around to look at me. Her lips pressed together as if she was trying to hold back some secret from crawling out. We stood like that in a long stretching silence. Then she stepped towards me. The darkness around us made her quite intimidating. I took a step back, holding my bag in front of me like it was my only protection.
"Nina," she said in a soft tone, so soft, it sounded like a plea. Her eyes sparkled like glittering diamonds. Her smooth face looked tensed with inner conflicts. My heart began to pound wildly, and my knees started trembling. I had forgotten about how scary she could be. Maybe it was the effect of my crazy dreams that added to it.
"I think we should go back," I said and turned to the small door when her strong hands pulled me to her. Allecra spun me around and wrapped her arms over my body. My bag dropped onto the dusty floor with a muffled thud.
Then all I could feel was her lips all over my mouth. I had no voice left, not even my breath. She had taken it all away, including my strength. My struggle was unsurprisingly feeble. I came to realize how strong she was— so strong that I couldn't even move in her death-like grip.
Allecra delved her tongue deeper into my mouth, filling it with sleek softness. I felt like I was reliving the dream all over again. Only this time, it was real. Her taste made the nerves in my body tingle, and that embarrassed me to no end. It was a strange intoxicating feeling — to feel wanted by Allecra Knight.
It excited me.
Her long tongue was like a live eel in my mouth. I could barely breathe. Allecra's hands wound around my body, pressing me against hers. My eyes fluttered and then closed. There were only the quiet noises of heavy breathing between us. With that merciless tongue of hers inside my mouth, I began to melt like hot butter. Despite my confused whimpers, I was kissing her back sooner than I would like to. My hands felt the outlines of her slender body. Each part was so perfectly formed.
After a moment later, Allecra broke our kiss, making a wet sound from my blushed lips.
"Xenon is going to kill me," she said in a breathless whisper. "But I just couldn't help it."
"What—what do you mean?" I whispered back.
"I wasn't supposed to—you're not ready—"
"Ready for what?"
She pushed me against the wall and kissed me again. Her hands cupped my cheeks, keeping my head still. Then she pulled away quickly. Our noses almost touched. Allecra was staring at me with those beautiful brilliant eyes. They were neither green nor blue, but somewhere between. And in that moment, I swear I could see strange light sparkled like blue fire within the tissues of her irises. Something else began to stir up inside her body, but I couldn't place what it was.
Just like that, Allecra released me and stepped away. For the first time, she was breathing hard. My own mind was unreliable. I understood nothing of what was going on.
Allecra looked at me, frowning as if it was my fault that she had done what she had done. I just stood there, speechless. After a while, she turned her perfect torso away and walked out of the dark attic, leaving me to deal with the shock and confusion all by myself.