Summary: [AU] When an old family friend comes back into her life with an interest that is just... wrong, Mia decides that it's time for something better in her life.
AN: This is AU and slightly OOC. Just a warning…
Penguin
Never forget: you're unique. Just like everyone else.
Chapter 1: Mia's Mean Streak
Infinity. Truly a terrifying concept, if you think about it. You just know that we aren't alone out there, that there are others out there, watching. Yes, you heard me. They're watching us. I know I sound paranoid, but it's true. If there is other life in the universe (and don't give me that BS about us being the only ones), then wouldn't there be more advanced life out there? As in, capable of interstellar travel?
Perhaps they're just waiting for the right moment to contact us. Perhaps I shouldn't have watched Star Trek reruns on TV the other night. Who knows? I certainly don't, though I am confident that somewhere out there, someone is watching us, be it aliens or stalkers.
No, I am not a paranoiac, though I wish that I was. I am an ordinary person who is living an ordinary life in an ordinary world in an ordinary room... okay, overdose on "ordinary". Now you know that something's up.
I am a perfectly ordinary girl who hears things. Strange things. Creeeeepy things. Yes. The voices. They told me to do it. They tell me to kill people.
Ha. Got ya. I've always wanted to say that.
The truth of the matter is, I'm a perfectly ordinary girl. Ordinary, normal, whatever you want to call it. Thing is, I used to be special. Oh, yes. Quite special. Now I've decided to go normal. Being special just never worked for me.
What? You say that you'd love to be slightly more unique than everyone else? You say I'm nuts? I'm not, you know. Here. Let me explain in more depth.
My story begins, like so many other formula romances, on the day when an old friend of the family came to visit. It also just so happened to be my birthday. My thirteenth birthday. Well, actually, I was more like eighteen at the time, legally an adult, but I felt thirteen, and that's what matters.
We'd known this person for many, many years. And it just so happened that I'd grown up with his son, before the two of them moved away. Aaah, the good old days, when I used to convince the (then) gullible child to eat sand because it was nutritious, or stuff earthworms up his nose because it would make him smarter. And I was the younger one, too.
Don't tell anyone I said that; I'm supposed to be a sweet, lovable girl who can do no wrong, and don't you forget it. Or I may be forced to beat you with a stic-- er... smile at you sweetly and ask, "How are you?" And then I would stuff massive amounts of my homemade madelines down your throa-- er... offer you cookies.
Anyhow, as I was saying, Alex and I used to be best friends. He'd offer me a plastic shovel, and in return, I would whack him with it. In his face. Hard. I have particularly fond memories of the time when I sent him running into a wasps nest in order to retrieve my frisbee which I threw there after carefully scouting out the location of that particular hive. And that time when I nearly drowned him? Pure magic. Bwahahahaha.
Sad thing is, he moved away, and I hadn't seen him in over ten years. But all that was about to change. He was coming over for a visit. I was thrilled; I'd already pulled out my baseball ba-- er... oven mitts. For cooking food. Good food. I've been told that my pies are divine. It is my gift. Someday, I plan on being the next Martha Stuart. Without the stock issues.
As she pulled the fresh cookies out of the oven (yes, I am speaking about myself in the third person. But what sane person wouldn't? ... Don't answer that...) she heard a resounding knock on the door and rushed to open it. Unfortunately, she was in such a rush that she spilled chocolate chip lumps of goodness all over the floor, and because she was so hurried, she didn't even have time to either feed them to her invisible dog or introduce them to the trash can.
Instead, she sprinted to the door (I am quite quick, you know. Twenty-second 100m dash. Boo-yeah.) and threw it open, revealing a face quite different from what she'd expected. Instead of the adorable child she'd expected, with those huge eyes, numerous bruises (complements of yours truly), and gorgeous blue locks, there was a young woman about her age with long red hair tied back in a high ponytail with fierce eyes and a wide grin on her noble face.
Shocked, the cookie-killer did the only thing she could. "Alex? Did you get a sex change?"
Immediately, the grin left the other girl's face and was replaced with a look of extreme annoyance. "It's me, Mia. It's Jenna. J-E-N-N-A. Say it with me now: Jenna."
"Oh! Jenna! I'm sorry. I was just expecting..."
"Yes, I know. Your old buddy Alex," Jenna sighed sarcastically. "Well, I'm neither old nor male. Unless Alex is a girl?"
"He could be, easy," Mia murmured under her breath before returning to her usual, cheerful self. "So! Who wants cookies?"
Before long, the two of them were seated facing each other at the wide table that was the focus of Mia's current residence, chatting away like old friends. As a matter of fact, they were old friends, though not as old as Mia and Alex were. Mia and Jenna had only known each other since preschool, as opposed to pre-conception.
As the two of them shared a very dull conversation not worth recording in this text (Okay, so it was interesting. But I'd rather appear boring than stupid this early on in the tale.), Mia waited anxiously for Alex while Jenna just chatted on about nothing to make her friend feel less nervous.
Jenna tended to be shy around people she didn't know, but once she knew a person's name, DOOM. That person would never again be safe from her violent rages, backstabbing tendencies, and brutal accusations. But that was only 95% of the time. The other 50%, she was loyal, trustworthy, caring, and kindhearted. Am I adding zeros to figures to make her appear a better person? Maybe. Anyhow, I liked her, though the reason we were still friends may (or may not) have had something to do with her hot older brother, Felix ...Mostly may not. Honest.
Nearly two hours later, Alex was still a no-show, and Jenna and Mia had moved on from talking to video gaming to napping. As a matter of fact, they were sleeping when the much-anticipated visitor finally arrived. There was a hesitant knock, then another, and then it became apparent that someone was playing with the doorbell as a constant ringing filled the house, startling the girls out of dreamland.
Mia rushed to the door and thrust it open angrily, preparing to hurt whoever was attacking her doorbell. No one. Then she heard a moan, and realized that she had just slammed her door into the offender's head. Now he was rubbing his forehead, groaning as he got to his feet. "So it is you, Mia. Only you would be malicious enough to whack a poor fellow with a door like that."
"Alex?" Mia answered, her eyes widening. She examined him closely, from his trim figure and handsome features to his long blue hair, hanging loose about his shoulders. "It is you!"
She hugged him fiercely, too glad to see her friend to even notice that, though he returned the embrace, it held an entirely different meaning for him; his hands crept lower than they should have, and a sort of satisfied grin lit his face.
Meanwhile, Jenna was preoccupied musing about "Malicious Mia" and whether the nickname might stick.
And so it all began...
AN: Short but sweet. I've never written an AU before. Perhaps it'll be easier in the long run. Or harder. isn't quite sure Anyhow, I read this fic the other day, and I was inspired to write. Hooray. Eventually, this story'll be romantic and junk, but not yet really… And why is this fic named Penguin? I don't know. Or maybe I do. Or maybe I'm just saying I do to make you think I'm a better writer. Or maybe I'm just saying that so that... eh.. I'm officially confused.