5
Laura wakes up slowly, aware of a weight on her abdomen. When she does open her eyes, it's still dark in the room, but she can see fine. Her eyes are sharper than most peoples'.
The weight is Julian's arm, haphazardly thrown across her as he sleeps. She takes note of this; he usually doesn't come anywhere near her, even when unconscious. She wonders if he is feeling more comfortable
about her presence now. She lets her eyes drift closed and does not move.
…
At the cafeteria, it happens. She's sitting at his table, smiling at something he's said to Cessily.
Then she hears his heart speed up—just an extra beat here and there—and she stiffens, afraid to look. It's going to be her, the bitch she's not ready to meet. The hitch in the life she's trying to build. She closes her
eyes, composing herself, the smile fading.
"Something wrong?" Julian asks her suddenly.
"Oh, no." She thinks. "I'm a little tired." His heart has returned to normal; her eyes flit around the perimeter and settle on the only girl in radius that could possibly have been walking by at the precise
moment. Her heart drops; she's gorgeous. A long brown ponytail sweeps behind her like a streamer.
"Kenny was fussy last night," Laura adds, and this is true. There had been a tantrum over being denied a pair of colorful scissors that Julian had accidentally left in plain sight.
"That kid is going to be a singer someday, I hope," Julian says. "At least then all that screaming power won't be wasted. My god, I thought she ruptured my eardrum."
"Aww," Cessily says. "How'd you stop her?"
Julian trades a glance with Laura. Another thing they couldn't tell the truth about. He'd made Kenny fly by picking her up with his mind, and this had so startled and delighted the little girl that she'd ceased faster than
a traffic light changes color.
"I gave her the new rattle," Laura says. "It took a bit of coaxing, but we made her forget about the scissors." She glances up again; the girl has sat down a few tables away, no longer in Julian's field of vision, but still
visible in hers. She looks foreign; South American, perhaps?
Under the table, Julian puts a hand on her knee, and she stiffens. Is he consoling her for his transgression? He must have seen her notice. He leaves it there throughout lunch, and when they go, Laura is relieved.
She nearly cries into her jello again.
…
In the weeks that follow, Laura keeps herself busy, and snoops on this girl. She finds out her name is Sofia, and that she is indeed South American—Venezuelan, to be precise. And she was correct before about thinking she
would probably think she is a perfectly nice girl and see what Julian sees in her.
Curses. Laura realizes the girl is in her English class, and hates her with a passion, despite her worry that she would not be able to hate her. Yes, Laura knows she's actually a nice girl; she even likes her; but she hates her,
and slips into daydreams about killing her.
She won't do this, of course. It would jeopardize her place at the school—and Kenny's place—and any chance she'd ever have of being on civil terms with Julian. He'd hate her with a burning passion then, and she wouldn't
want to cause him pain. She'd felt that instinctively the first time she had met him, on the rooftop, when he'd been grieving his friends. Julian didn't say a lot, but he felt things very deeply.
It hurts no one to daydream though. Laura comes up with a hundred ways to kill her. Some untraceable, some not. Sometimes she fancies Julian would be so impressed with her skills that he'd overlook the fact that he'd just
lost someone. Those day dreams made her smile a little.
…
"Wait—" Julian says, as Laura hoists Kenny up, to go for a walk. She's bundled the little girl in a miniature winter jacket, booties, mitten, and a toque; she herself is dressed in a light parka and a knee-length cotton skirt, her
legs firmly encased in thick woolies and boots.
He grabs his jacket. "I'll come with you." He's been trying to catch the precise time that Laura whisks Kenny outside; he's found that not stopping to chat at one class, and leaving lunch two minutes early seems to have done it.
"Okay." Laura holds the door for him and they go out into the cold, Kenny getting excited when she sees the late October snow. She babbles to her mother about random things; Laura occasionally points to the objects in question, correcting her.
"Jeez, it's almost winter out here," Julian says. He can see his breath. "What you miss when you're trapped inside all day, huh?"
"Mmm." Laura walks every day, so she's not surprised. Kenny tugs on her hair—which is braided in two parts—and then points at Julian. "POO!" she says enthusiastically.
"I hope you're not encouraging that," Julian says.
"Not really." Laura tramps on ahead, into the unbroken snow. Kenny loves the crunch crunch crunch noise of her boots packing the white powder under their heels.
"You okay?" he asks, following.
"Never better." Kenny looks over her shoulder and mouths 'POO' at Julian again. He's torn between annoyance and amusement; the latter wins and he smiles.
"How's school for you?" he asks.
They are heading down the driveway now. Laura sticks to the grass because the gravel is icy.
"Not bad," she says.
"I—OOOPHHH!" Julian has slipped, not noticing the ice; he lands on his back like a turtle. "Son of a bitccch," he groans.
"Bitccch!" Kennedy repeats. Laura rolls her eyes, then stomps back to where he's lying. "Hurt yourself?"
"Kill me now," Julian groans, but he reaches for her hand as she offers it, and struggles back to his feet.
"My luck sucks," he adds, brushing snow off his pants.
"Yes, it does," Laura agrees.
Julian doesn't reply. After a while they continue walking. Around the school, by the gardens, into the woods they go, Julian tired and sore but not commenting. Laura won't stop if he complains; she'll just tell him to go back.
"Ickle," Kenny says, pointing at an enormous icicle hanging off a tree.
"Ice-ick-le," Laura corrects.
"Ickle!" Kenny repeats. They move farther down the path, and Kenny spots a bird singing. "Bed," she declares proudly.
"Bird," Laura supplies patiently.
"This is nice," Julian says suddenly. He sounds strained. Laura sighs; they turn around and head back towards the school.
"She's really smart," he says, as they exit the trees. "Kids usually don't know half as many words by her age."
"I know," Laura says, instinctively smiling at the compliment to her child.
She stiffens as she hears his heart do that extra-beat again; turning her head ever so slightly…yes, there she is. Ruining this moment, walking up to them with a big smile.
"Hello, Laura!" She remembers her from English.
"Hi," Laura says, a little less enthusiastically.
"I was wondering…can I borrow your notes for last lecture? Mine were destroyed when I spilled my drink last night."
"Sure. I'll bring them tomorrow morning."
"Thank you! I really owe you!" Sofia smiles again, and she smiles back, trying not to listen to whatever Julian's heart is doing now. Sometimes she hates her powers.
After they are inside, Julian speaks again. "I didn't know you knew Sofia."
"Barely." They climb the stairs, Julian wincing. He's definitely pulled a muscle in his back. To distract himself, he talks. "She's a real peach. She had quite a difficult background—mother died in a riot, she
got lots of prejudice when she came here…but she's never let herself get down, not once."
"It's the happy ones you have to watch for," Laura says. Kenny looks over her shoulder again and mouths 'POO!'
Julian rolls his eyes and stops talking about Sofia, noticing that Laura seems to be bristling over the topic of the other girl, but he can't imagine why. Who could hate that girl?