"Missed the last train home, birds pass by to tell me that I'm not alone. Well I'm pushing myself to finish this part, I can handle a lot, but the one thing I'm missing… is in your eyes." -Eyes, Rogue Wave.
Ellie was well prepared for her first day of school. She didn't need much sleep, in fact it was difficult for her to sleep. Her father had discovered his daughters strange sleep disorder when she was two. Ellie needed movement, she was a restless person, when she slept all by herself there was no movement and she'd toss and turn usually only getting two hours of sleep before her body woke her up. But if she had someone else in her bed with her she could sleep much longer, sometimes all throughout the night. The breathing and movement from the other person soothed her and made it easier to relax. Ellie was perfectly content with just sleeping by herself though, three hours of sleep was more than enough to regenerate her system.
So Ellie had woken up at 5:30. She hadn't done much with her, it was a lost cause, her blond hair was flat and pin straight almost incapable of being curled or scrunched. She decided to wear her orange sun dress. It was a loud color, but it was pretty much solid, save one curly flower design that led up to the shoulder. Most of her clothing were pastels with intricate designs and Ellie wasn't really in the mood to get noticed. The dress was a decent length too, most of her dresses and skirts pretty short. She had her best friend Constance to thank for that, she could clearly hear her voice ringing through her head the day they had picked out her wardrobe, "You have nice legs Eleanor! It's a crime to hide them! Besides maybe guys will be so distracted by them they won't notice your ironing board chest." She rolled her eyes, only Constance could cancel out a compliment with something to shatter her self esteem. Ellie then remembered something; she still hadn't properly treated her burn. Then as she started to the bathroom she realized something else… she didn't know how to properly treat a burn. So that's what brought her to the white door as she quietly knocked.
"Daddy?" she called. Whenever she needed help from her father it always set her back to when she was five years old. "Are you awake yet?" Malcolm opened the door. His hair was disheveled and he was wearing flannel pants and a large grey T-Shit with the New England Patriots logo across it.
"Well don't you look pretty." he yawned. Ellie smiled and looked away bashfully.
"Thanks dad…" she said, then she looked back, "Um, how do you treat a burn?" Malcolm's eyes fell into a curious suspicion.
"Why?" he dragged out quietly.
"I may have been injured in my last fight…" Ellie said vaguely, Malcolm crossed his arms, Ellie sighed, "OH come on, I'm not used to fighting a hyped up little pyro, he got a lucky shot, it's not gonna happen again."
"Why don't you learn about your enemies before you face them? You just have to RUSH in and act reckless and… I'm not getting into this, I'm tired. There's some burn ointment in the medicine chest which is…" Malcolm went to point at the bathroom but groaned, "packed." He finished weakly.
"I still have an hour before school, I'll look for it. Thanks dad." Ellie reached up and kissed his cheek.
"Will you wake up Peter before you leave?" Malcolm requested. Ellie paused and shifted.
"Do I have to? Pete's pretty mad at me." She stated. Malcolm looked up curiously for the second time.
"Pete's always mad at you."
"It's different…" Ellie sighed, "I think I screwed up."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know… I kinda feel like I crossed a line with him. I'm not sure how. I always thought it'd be like a comment about being jobless or his lack of ambition to set him over the edge."
"Why are you trying to set your brother over the edge? Isn't moving stressful enough?"
"I wasn't trying to! He pushed me first; he took a shot at Velocity." Ellie said defensively.
"Oh… I see. Do you want me talk to him?" Malcolm asked.
"No, it's a sibling thing… we'll work it out, don't worry that pretty little head of yours." Ellie smiled grinding her fist into the thick brown curls she had NOT inherited. "Go back to sleep and have a spectacular first day."
"I hope you have a spiffy first day yourself El," Malcolm yawned and retired back into his room. Ellie skipped off to the bathroom and began to shift the boxes around. She knew the medicine chest weighed more than she did. Her father was always prepared in case his little Velocity came home with a bad battle wound. Not to mention the fact Peter was also a danger magnet. He was really tall but anything but graceful, he had a habit of hitting his head on doorframes and tripping over things. Ellie eventually found the chest in the bottom box. She pulled it out and sorted through it. The burn ointment was at the bottom underneath most of the first aid supplies. Ellie hiked up her dress passed her belly button and applied it quickly then she took the gauze and wrapped it around her stomach the best she could. She flattened the wrinkles in her dress and let her shoulders relax. She was done preparing everything but something felt missing.
Breakfast, she realized. So she raced down the stairs into the kitchen and pulled out the bacon and eggs from the fridge. She was sure to make extra for Malcolm and Peter, she placed two lids over the plates to preserve heat. She made her breakfast into a sandwich and she decided to go and visit Richie. She had a half an hour to kill and she had to work on getting closer to the blond. Her curiosity was eating her alive, how could geeky little Richie have any connection to Static? She knew she couldn't ask him directly, after all she had been "using the telephone" when Velocity was talking with the two. She'd have to do this the old fashioned way… good ole chick manipulation. Her mother would have been a more than adequate teacher if she hadn't left. But Ellie had learned from the best, another good tip she had gotten from Constance. So she walked down the steps of her home and gingerly skipped across the street. She knocked on the door only once. It took a grand total of four seconds before a tall burly blond man answered. Ellie shrunk into nothing and decided she would rather face Hotstreak again than this man. He was a beastly looking and had a stern grumpy look on his face.
"Whaddaya want?" he questioned.
"Um… I'm here to see Richie?" Ellie squeaked unsure of herself. The man grunted in approval and opened the door slightly. Ellie walked in awkwardly standing off to the side.
"Rich, you have company!" he called loudly. Ellie was thankful when he walked away not bothering to wait for his son's reply.
"V? You here already?" Richie started as he went down the stairs and stopped when he saw Ellie, "Oh, hey Ellie, what's up?"
"Oh not much… I thought I'd stop by and see you. I don't really want to be alone… First day jitters." She explained twirling a piece of her blond hair and then she looked down, "I can leave if you want."
"Oh no, it's okay. You can catch a ride with me and V. We'll make sure you get to homeroom." Richie offered. Ellie was internally grinning mischievously; Richie was certainly buying into the helpless girl next door act. Richie motioned upstairs.
"Uh… I have to finish getting ready before V comes." Richie started.
"Oh, I'll help. It's the least I can do." Ellie finished and pranced up the stairs beside him. The burly man re-entered and watched Ellie as she walked up the stairs with his son. As soon as they reached out of his earshot Ellie whispered, "Your dad is pretty intimidating."
"Yeah… he scares away most of my friends." Richie grinned, "But he's just extra grumpy this morning. He's leaving for a business trip in New York, it's gonna take him all day to get there."
Richie opened the door to his room and Ellie looked around curiously when the lights were flicked on. The floor was scattered with his Biology and History notes, the desk occupied some partially read comic books and some open bags of chips. Ellie sat down on his blue comforter. She watched him hurriedly gather a mixture of books and binders; he shoved them in until his backpack was stretched out to its maximum length. He had to grab onto both pieces of fabric and pull them closer together in order to zip it shut. Ellie pulled out her pathetically empty backpack which consisted of one notebook, a pencil and her bacon and egg sandwich. She pulled it out and unwrapped the foil she had covered it in. She ripped it in half and outstretched her hand inviting Richie to take one of the halves.
"Oh… I'm alright, I usually just get something from the vending machines anyway…" Richie explained.
"Oh come on, I insist. I wasn't even going to eat the whole thing anyway. If you refuse you're only starving those poor kids in Africa everyone hears so much about." Ellie persisted.
"Fine, I'll do it for the children." Richie smiled and took the half. He sat down on the comforter next to her and they ate together. Ellie glanced over and noticed he wasn't wearing his glasses. There was nothing obscuring the beautiful shade of blue in his eyes. She couldn't help but be jealous of the deep ocean blue color that was painted over his irises. She was also jealous of how innocuous they were, they gave a certain gentility to his face. Every feature of his face complimented each other. Richie paused as he noticed Ellie gazing at him. His hand moved to his cheek self consciously and he asked, "Is there something on my face?"
"No." Ellie assured him and took another bite of the sandwich, "You're very easy on the eyes."
"What?" Richie said as he choked on his sandwich. The thought of being hit on by the pretty girl next door was quite outrageous to him.
"Your eyes… you have nice eyes." She informed him.
"Oh… um… thank you." Richie sputtered, he observed her face as well and added, "You have nice eyes too."
"Mine are kinda pasty…" Ellie said her mouth tilted to one side in distaste.
"They give you character." Richie guaranteed her. She grinned.
"Character, huh?"
"Yeah…"
"That's just a polite way of saying freakish."
"No it's not, it's saying they're a unique trait. They make you stand out." Richie explained. Ellie gave a small laugh and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Thanks Richie." Ellie stated. She let out a yawn as she stretched her back. Her legs crossed and she grinned as she noticed Richie's eyes had laid rest on them. It felt weird flirting with him as Ellie. Velocity flirted with everyone, so Ellie got out all of her wild behavior through that vent. But the hyper teenager was actually more old-fashioned than she seemed. She was a firm believer of that old saying that men should make the first move.
Ellie had to stop and consider this for a moment. Was she leading him on? Just using him until she got the information she wanted? Now she was beginning to feel bad. In fact she felt downright horrible! How could she do that to poor Richie? She did like him. He was funny and sweet, and she had to admit that he was cute. She couldn't risk hurting him. Maybe she'd just have to get closer to him another way…
"Can you help me out in History?" Ellie blurted out. Richie looked at her strangely.
"What?"
"I'm totally clueless in History as it is… and I have no idea what you guys have learned so far." Ellie reminded him.
"Oh… um yeah. I could do that." Richie nodded.
"Great!" Ellie grinned. The blaring noise of a car horn filled Richie's room. The two blonds stood up impulsively.
"The V-Bus is here." Richie announced as he slung his back pack over his shoulder.
"Hope Virgil doesn't mind that I'm hitching a ride." Ellie wondered out loud.
"Oh he won't care, Virgil has a constant need to help people." Richie explained. Ellie lifted her backpack as well and she was now anticipating the commencing of her first day of school at Dakota Union High.
She was now desperately awaiting the end of her first day of school at Dakota Union High! Was it possible for anyone to have worse luck than her? Her day started off with the slimiest teacher in the world. Richie and Virgil's description of Mr. Goff did not accurately portray his pure evilness. He growled a less than humble welcome to her after tossing the three hundred pound text book at her. He appointed her the front desk and then called on her four times during the lesson. And then he assigned her six pages of homework on her first day.
The classes she had with Virgil and Richie had been sufferable. Especially when Richie told off a group kids that had been gawking at her like she was a Martian. The high point of her day was lunch, she got to meet Daisy and she was re-introduced to Frieda under better circumstances. The greasy sloppy joes were the only thing to damper her cheery disposition during lunch.
But gym. Gym was supposed to be cake for her. She never even considered gym a class, it was her break during the day. It actually bummed her out that she had to slow down her running. But other than that Ellie had everything a natural athlete had. She was graceful and she had excellent hand eye coordination. But of course, something had happened to ruin the easiest class in the world. Francis Stone happened. She hadn't considered him the type to be in school. But he had been released for good behavior (which made Ellie wonder what exactly the juvenile delinquent centers standards of good behavior were) and since he hadn't been caught the previous night, he was still going to school. But Francis recognized Ellie as the girl who had turned him down and mispronounced his name. This made her gym class absolute Hell. The fiery red head paid some very inappropriate attention to her. And of course Ellie had no defense mechanism so she angrily had to sit back and take it. Even when he slapped her butt with a blazing hand. Oh yes… Hotstreak was going to pay when Velocity ran into him.
So now Ellie had to sit back in her Spanish Class desperately awaiting for her last period of the day to be over. The bell finally rang and Ellie jumped up carrying her backpack which now weighed much more due to the accumulated books. She practically sprinted into the hallway and through the bustling crowd of students. She pulled a sharp left right outside two twin doors. She was in the back of the school and she grinned when she saw no one in sight. It was perfect, she could change into Velocity and go on a quick patrol before going home. She straightened her back and pulled the yellow costume out of her backpack, until a certain blond appeared almost out of no where.
"Hey Ellie." Richie greeted pleasantly. The sudden human interaction almost made her jump out of her skin. The right hand that held the costume zipped behind her back to conceal it from sight. She stumbled and fell into an awkward stance, she leaned against the wall for support.
"Uh, hey Richie. What's up?" she answered too quickly. Richie looked at her with a strange expression on his face.
"Nothing much… did you still want that help in History?" he asked. Ellie nodded vigorously.
"Mmhmm, sounds great. I… uh… I mean uh, when did you want to do that?" Ellie asked.
"How about today? Well I mean unless you're stressed from your first day."
"Well uh yeah, just um…OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THAT LLAMA!" Ellie shouted and pointed directly behind Richie. The blond turned quickly and Ellie shoved the yellow costume back into her book bag. Richie looked back slowly with a confusion etched into his expression. Ellie smiled sheepishly and retracted the arm that had pointed. "Oh… I guess it was… just a tree."
"Yeah…" Richie said still slightly bemused at the sudden outburst. Ellie perked up right away now that she didn't have to worry about Richie catching her as Velocity.
"Yeah cool, let's go now, my dad gets out of work at 5, think we'll be done by then?" Ellie asked.
"Well yeah, I'm sure it'll only take an hour, the New York educational system isn't that far behind." Richie shrugged.
"Ha! Most of my friends are either sluts or gang bangers and they manage to pass accelerated classes. Trust me, I'll need all the help I can get." Ellie grinned.
"Whatever you say. Come on, we can make this bus." Richie pulled her along and they both raced up the stairs of the public transportation method. They sat down on a grimy seat that reeked of sweat. An obese man wearing a white beater had fallen asleep with a greasy hotdog resting on an oily roll of his fat. His mouth was opened wide and he was snoring was loudly.
"And here I thought nothing would ever feel like New York again…" Ellie wrinkled up her nose in distaste/nostalgia for the many days of traveling via bus, taxi cab and subway.
"I think all cities are the same when the chips are down." Richie shrugged, "Depressing, hectic, polluted and filled with budding criminals."
"Well, not all cities, I mean, you guys have Static, right?" Ellie reminded him.
"Yeah we do." Richie grinned and nodded.
"…what do you know about Static?" Ellie couldn't help her curiosity, trying to cover up the small bit of suspicion in her voice she added, "I don't know that much about him or anything. Just what I read in the newspaper."
"Well… he's basically our local super hero. He's a great guy, one of the best you'll ever meet."
"You've met him?"
"Oh well, yeah, you know a few times. Trouble seems to find me and he's gotten me out of some sticky situations." Richie said.
"Do you ever help him out of trouble?" Ellie asked. Richie squirmed uncomfortably his eyes darted to the window.
"Almost our stop." He stated quickly.
"Alright…" Ellie said deciding not to press for any more information. After the familiar neighborhood setting came into view. The two teenagers exited the bus. Richie walked up his driveway as Ellie pranced along side of him. She was filled with bountiful energy as always. Richie pulled out his key and unlocked the door, Ellie stepped in after him. The house was empty, because Maggie Foley had already left for work and Sean Foley had left for his business trip earlier in the morning. Ellie smiled, she had been so intimidated by Richie's father that she hadn't really looked around at the household. It was warm and welcoming, a pleasant mix of colors creating a friendly vibe. The curtains were hung eloquently and there were a few paintings on the wall. It reminded Ellie of her old apartment, when everything wasn't in boxes and there wasn't an echoing boom every time someone took a footstep. She was lead back up the stairs and into Richie's room for the second time that day. Taking a seat on Richie's bed, Ellie spotted a radio, "Can we turn that on?" she pointed, "I need a little music while studying.
"Yeah, of course." Richie flicked on the switch to the ancient looking radio. There was some minor buzzing before the clear sound of a guitar riff was heard. Richie pulled out his History binder and book and joined Ellie on the bed, "So we started off the year learning about the American Revolution." Richie started to explain. Ellie internally groaned, she didn't actually want to review for her History Class, it had just been excuse to spend more time with him. The American Revolution was the farthest thing from her mind. Currently three things were whirl winding past that blond hair. Her priorities consisted of: finding out what Richie was hiding, thinking of a way to get back at Hotstreak and how she was going to dissipate Peter's anger at her. A loud radio commercial ceased Richie's talking and Ellie's thoughts.
"What's up Dakota? Are you having superhero overload? First Static, now Velocity? Well tune in to 101.2 WWDK at 7 O' clock to 8 O' clock on the weekends! We're going to have one SUPER hour where you can call in and share your best meta-human stories! Hosted by Adam Evans, also known as Rubber Band Man! So start recollecting and listen to Dakota Super Power Hour, Saturdays and Sundays at 7 O' Clock!" The announcement ended and was replaced with a soft rock song. Ellie grinned and shook her head.
"Dakota's taking this whole situation a little too far… don't ya think?" she said. Richie gave a small chuckle and was about to agree but he was interrupted by the sound of the Shock Vox.
"Static to Richie, come in." Richie's small smile melted off his face completely and anxiety laced its way into his expression, his hands raced over his clothing desperate to find the Shock Vox. Meanwhile, Ellie watched him with amused eyes. Static's voice continued to ring through the Shock Vox, "Dude! Come in. I wanna meet you at the gas …" Richie found it underneath his desk and quickly pressed the button before Virgil said anything to compromise his cover. He let out a nervous laugh.
"I just…I have to… you know… take this." He cleared his throat and quickly ran out of the room. The blond closed the door behind him and walked a little farther down the hallway before responding.
"Hey Static! You have to be more careful, I wasn't alone in there!" Richie whispered quickly.
"Hey, I'm sorry Rich. But I had to get away from Sharon. Did you hear that Adam is hosting that Power Hour thing?"
"Yeah, I just heard."
"Well, it's apparently a big break for him, they're giving him money to do it and they're gonna play some of his songs on the radio. Sharon's flipping out. And she kicked me and Pops out of the house so she can make a congratulatory dinner for him. So I'm thinking let's meet up at the gas station and hit some comic book stores."
"Oh V, I can't. I have Ellie over." Richie said.
"Really?" Virgil's tone changed into a more playful sing song voice, "What are you guys doing?"
"Reviewing. For History. It's nothing." Richie stated, "You can come over too if you want."
"Nah, I'll leave you kids alone. Give me the dirty details later though."
"There aren't any dirty details, you're just assuming..." Richie started.
"Static out." The Shock Vox silenced and Richie rolled his eyes. He regained his posture and re-entered the room. Ellie's eyes quickly darted away as soon as he entered. It was quite obvious she had been watching the door awaiting his imminent return.
"Is there action going on?" Ellie couldn't help but ask.
"No. Static just called… to see… if I was okay from last night. He was concerned I was at that party." Richie lied nervously.
"So you're close?" Ellie asked.
"Oh hardly… you know… we're just like… acquaintances." Richie lied.
"Yeah, I'm sure that's why you have a walkie talkie in your room that he can contact you with at any given moment." Ellie smiled.
"It's actually called a Shock Vox…" Richie corrected, Ellie raised an eyebrow, and Richie sighed and admitted, "Okay, we're kinda close. Please don't tell anyone. He trusts me to keep his secrets."
"Sure… I promise, I won't say anything." Ellie nodded.
"Thanks…" Richie said softly, he then shook it off, "Now… how about this History Review?"
"Okay so after we learned about the Holocaust, we started to learn about the Cold War and communism. And that's basically what lead us in to Vietnam, which we're learning now…" Richie trailed off and realized he had been talking in silence for a while, "Are you even listening to me?" he turned to ask, but Ellie's eyes were closed and her mouth was parted as she breathed steadily. She had fallen asleep. Richie just let out a small amused laugh and tossed his comforter over her sleeping form. He snapped the History book shut and went to get off the bed but Ellie reached out her arm to his side of the bed. For a moment Richie could have sworn she was awake.
"Don't… go." She sleep talked and then retracted her arm, "I'm too slow… I can't be fast now…" She mumbled some more nonsense and then returned to her peaceful form. Richie understood it was just a reflex, but at the same time he felt like he couldn't leave her now that she had asked. So he rolled on his side as well to make more room on the bed and he turned off the lamp that was just above their heads.
"I was feeling tired anyways," he said to himself as he slowly succumbed to sleep as well.
Reviews are always nice sweet cake ;)