September 30th, 5:30 AM-
If it weren't for long hot showers first thing in the morning, Nixie didn't think she would actually wake up until at least noon. But a shower wasn't just for waking up, and the more obvious purpose of getting clean. No, a nice hot shower often ended up being her favorite part of the whole day. In the shower she had all her best ideas. Thesis statements came easily, as well as ideas for new crafts, accessories, anything. If given enough time in the shower, Nixie was certain she could solve world hunger, cure cancer, just about anything. It was remarkable how much she could get done when allotted just a little peace and quiet, and some time to herself.
As soon as she stepped out of the glass safe haven of the shower, it was time for responsibility. Her little sister Eva like to pretend to help out, though more often than not she ended up making a bigger mess for Nixie to deal with, unsurprising given that six year olds are rarely very helpful. That was the precise reason why Nixie had negotiated with her little sister some weeks beforehand to work out a system. The two had come to an agreement that instead of attempting to wake and feed their two younger brothers, Finn who was four and James only two, she would instead be in charge of getting herself awake, fed, and ready to go by 6:30 when it came time for them to leave.
Though the day had just barely started the kitchen had already become a mess when Nixie trotted downstairs, but this time it was a result of her being too busy to clean the night before, rather than her sister's clumsiness. Getting breakfast prepared and on the table for the boys, the strawberry blonde managed to squeeze in a brief amount of time to whip up some peanut butter toast for herself before carting everyone to the bathroom for a good group tooth brushing. As always, James fussed about having his teeth brushed for him, insisting that because he was nearly three he could do it himself. Nixie had long since learned to pick her battles with the youngest of the Sørensen clan, and let him stiffly brush his teeth while she worked on her own.
"James isn't doing it right," Eva whined, spitting foamy toothpaste residue across the mirror as she spoke. At least she tried to be helpful. That was more than could be said for the two boys, though it wasn't really fair to expect much of children.
"Leave him alone and just work on your teeth," Nixie reminded her gently as Finn spit and rinsed his mouth, running out of the bathroom with the pitter patter of little feet on linoleum mixed with enthusiastic cheering about cartoons. "Not until you put some clothes on!" she called after him, unsure of whether or not he heard, or cared. She bent down with a heavy sigh to make sure James' teeth got at least somewhat clean, giving them a few good scrubs of her own before lifting up the boy so he could spit and rinse as well.
"I want cartoons too Sissy!" James requested with a bright smile. The kid sure was cute. Nixie's face softened, tousling the boy's blonde hair briefly before sending him on his way.
"Go pick out an outfit and then you can watch cartoons," she said gently, and the boy waddles off and around the corner excitedly.
"Hey Eve, can you go make sure Finn's clothes match?" she requested, raising her brows and offering the girl an encouraging smile. The little girl brushed her curly hair out of her face which immediately lit up at the prospect of being helpful, and immediately she took off running.
"Hey Finn! I need to look at your clothes!" she shouted, causing her younger brother to whine loudly.
"Inside voices!" Nixie reminded, raising her tone herself as she called out, plopping down on the couch with a heavy sigh, hoping for a moment's rest. As she heard the patter of James' feet approaching from down the hall she flipped on the TV, craning her neck to see the boy rounding the couch in a t-shirt with airplanes and a pair of blue shorts.
"You sure you aren't gonna be cold in that? It's September," she asked, looking down at the boy who climbed onto her lap.
"Nope!" he said simply, settling down with his head against her with his eyes trained on the television. Nixie wrapped an arm around the boy fondly as he leaned into her. James was a good kid, quiet, and usually did what he was told despite being in the so called terrible twos which indeed she remembered being quite terrible for both Eva and Finn. Hell, the older of the two kids still didn't do what they were told, having since learned that they didn't actually need to anything the eldest sister said. However, much to her surprise they too come out dressed reasonably as asked, and looking moderately cheerful.
Today would be a good one.
September 30th, 6:30 AM-
Piling everyone into the little car was another work of coordinated magic, but the Sørensen gang seemed to have the routine down by now. James clamored into the car first, and sat in his car seat which was secured in the middle. He was even able to do the first set of his buckles with a proud smile, though he required assistance for the last few clicks. Eva sat on his right, helping him with the last of his buckles before strapping herself in, while Finn hopped into a small booster seat to James' left.
Once all of the contents in the vehicle were secure, Nixie pulled out of the driveway and headed off to the first stop: daycare for Finn and James. Getting them situated didn't take much time, with Finn always running off to play as soon as he got checked in. The staff always had a friendly disposition towards Nixie, though she couldn't help but notice the look of pity on their faces whenever she walked in with the boys. James tended to be clingier than Finn, Holding on tightly to Nixie's blue school skirt as she turned to leave. His bright blue eyes wouldn't meet hers, as he looked at the floor and pouted. Gently, she uncurled his little fingers with a sympathetic smile, crouching down to kiss him on the forehead.
"I'll be back before you know it," Nixie promised, ruffling his blonde hair before straightening up and heading back for the car.
After daycare, the next stop on her laundry list was Eva's elementary school. The old school house was the very same that Nixie had attended years ago, and remained largely unchanged since her days there like a ghost of a simpler time. Often she would run into old teachers when coming in for her sister, those too stubborn to retire or move on to bigger and better things. They usually stopped to chitchat about how she was doing, always with the same look of sympathy as the ladies at the daycare center. Nixie didn't mind their sympathy; it could be disheartening, but not devastating. Instead, it was when she began to feel sorry for herself that she got upset. Intentionally or otherwise, the one thing her mother taught her about coping was to suffer in silence, else become a burden unto others.
September 30th, 7:30 AM-
At school, she received no such looks. No one at school knew much about Nixie's family life, and to be perfectly honest she preferred it that way. No one knew much of anything about her really, only a few of her close knit group of friends were even aware she had younger siblings. Everything was a big protective measure against feeling sorry for herself, carefully constructed over the years. If no one knew anything was wrong, then she couldn't go around moping about it.
English was her first period, luckily. Nixie had been an avid reader since childhood, and wrote near constantly due to the thrifting blog she ran. Online people knew even less about her, which made her feel safe. All anyone knew was she was great at spotting diamonds in the rough at thrift stores, and making her own accessories. She wrote little thrifting diaries and created tutorials, and occasionally held giveaways for the little bracelets she made at home. The more she helped other people with their problems, the less she had to think about her own.
Of course, her problems were never fashion related either. Nixie prided herself on being thrifty, yet well put together regardless of the situation, social or financial. Her craft wasn't allowed to be showcased at school as there was a uniform requirement, but on the weekend she paraded around in her new finds and let her friends fawn over how stylish she looked. At those times, her problems seemed furthest away.
None of her friends were in her first class of the day, but once she headed over to her earth science class she had her two closest companions for company. Farrah Santiago was a bubbly volleyball player with big brown eyes, voluminous, curly air, an addiction to anime, and a laugh like a donkey. Sydney McMullen was one of the smartest people she knew, though she invested all of her efforts into hunting paranormal entities, convinced one day she would become a renowned cryptozoologist and find definitive proof of bigfoot, lake serpents, Minnesota's local wendigos. In anyone could manage that, it had to be Sydney.
Having friends in that class didn't benefit Nixie much, as that particular teacher was the only one in the entire school that insisted everyone sit in assigned seats as though they were still in Kindergarten, though it felt a lot less fun that Kindergarten and a lot more like hell. Today was a project work day however, and as soon as the teacher dismissed them to break into their groups the three clumped together quickly with their supplies in hand.
"Ready to build our fish and cricket torture chamber?" Sydney asked dryly, causing Farrah to burst into her distinctive giggle, doing her best to mask it and contain herself but failing miserably.
"Well supposedly if we build this biome Mrs. Van Buren designed, then all the nutrients will cycle through and that's why we aren't allowed to feed them," Nixie offered with a shrug, looking at the assignment sheet.
"Yeah, sure. The only problem is I don't think she actually knows what she's doing," Sydney replied flatly.
Nixie snorted, producing the three two-liter bottles they needed, as well as setting the instructions from their teacher on the lab table. Farrah pulled out a small fish in a plastic bag, as well as a small container filled with crickets, both of which were recently purchased at the pet store that morning. Supposedly, these animals would inhabit their little plastic world. Once the plastic chamber was constructed out of the bottles, it came time to try and get the crickets inside, which proved disastrous. As soon as the trio opened the container to put them into their layer of the biome, half of them leaping for freedom and hopping off around the classroom, not that they planned to tell Mrs. Van Buren about that.
Once everything was taped together, plants, fish and crickets sealed within their death chamber, the group took their time cleaning up and looking busy to stall until the en of class.
"Where do you guys wanna go for lunch?" Nixie asked, giving the countertop a much more thorough scrubbing than it actually needed.
"Oh…today is Chumani's birthday so Donna told us we were all going to go out and do something with her I think," Farrah said, looking guilty as she returned from putting back the tape. Nixie shrugged it off, reassuring the girl with a small smile.
"Hey, don't worry about it, I don't mind. You go have fun, I'm sure you won't miss anything. Syd, what are you craving?" Sydney had been keeping herself busy by massaging her face in an attempt to get rid of the goggle imprints that lined everyone's eyes despite the lack of any remotely dangerous chemicals used in their experiment.
"I don't have anything particular in mind, wherever you'd like to go," she said with a shrug. "Though if the question you were actually asking was 'Sydney could you decide on a place to eat?' in that case my answer would be Taco Bell, because I am in the mood to indulge briefly and then hate myself for the rest of the day, and that is the prime establishment for such an activity."
September 30th, 1:15 PM-
As soon as the bell freed them Nixie and Sydney headed out to lunch sans Farrah, eating a few questionable tacos and enjoying one another's company. Sometimes, when it was only two people, Nixie felt even closer to her friends. The more people there were vying for her attention, the less she had to give each person. The same could be said about the kids, she supposed. One at a time, she could properly adore each and every thing they did, but when they were all chattering at her at once, there were a million other places she would rather be than with them.
In the same respect, marching band often felt a lot more like a chore than a fun extracurricular. She had been excited about being a section leader at first, though it often ended up being a lot like watching after the kids. The major difference between the two was she couldn't pick up any of the kids, and she didn't have the authority to send any of the clarinet players to their room for the remainder of the night.
And then there was Leighanne. Leighanne was hard for Nixie to figure out. On some level, she knew she was just a well meaning girl with a lot of pep in her step. She didn't hate the girl, but when it had already been a long day and she was just longing to get out of her last class, there was nothing more grating on her nerves than the sound of her voice.
"Hey Nixie!" the pigtailed girl greeted her, and immediately she could feel the headache beginning to take hold. She didn't say anything, not wanting to encourage the girl to start a conversation. Instead she smiled, a tight lipped smile that she hoped was a fairly universal sign for not wanting to talk, or being otherwise uninterested in engaging with the person. It seemed to work, and the girl turned away to take out her instrument and her music, humming the marching show's closer to herself as she did so. Leighanne reminded Nixie of a bird, little and cute, always singing some kind of song even at ungodly hours of the morning. Nixie hated birds.
September 30th, 2:30 PM-
Just because school had ended didn't mean that Nixie's day was anywhere close to winding down. There were still mountains of chores waiting for her elsewhere, the first of which was picking up the children. First came Eva, who waited for her a couple blocks from school so Nixie didn't have to fight with other potentially irritable people in the pick up line. Eva hopped into the car with a picture she had done in art class, excitedly telling her older sister about her day while Nixie nodded and smiled, slow to respond as she fought off the headache from band.
Once the first passenger was secure, Nixie moved on to the other two rascals. Finn and James were typically glad to see their sister, but today something seemed to be bothering Finn who sat pouting in the back while James talked about the new friend he had made. No opportunities presented themselves to ask Finn about what was wrong, because as soon as the car was parked in the garage he headed straight for his room.
There wasn't much time left in her schedule for playing toddler counselor anyway, as this time was solely dedicated to getting as much of her work done before band practice as possible. She hadn't been working for long when she heard the garage door begin to open, a curious sound to hear as her car already sat inside. Her mouth hung just barely ajar, silently begging answers to unformed questions as her mother strode into the house with her luggage trailing behind her as though she had never been gone.
"Oh, hey there darling. I'm going to go unpack, but then we can talk, alright?" Leaving some of her baggage in the living room she exited with the rolling suitcase with nothing else to say, though words weren't finding their way across Nixie's tongue any easier once she was gone. Her blue eyes stared down at her lab write up blankly, words unable to come from her pencil either. Standing quickly to her feet, she strode into the room she and Eva shared, where the girl was getting changed into her dance clothes, just as she had hoped.
"We're going to go to dance a little early today, okay?" Her younger sister nodded with a grin.
"Okay! Then I will have more time to talk to Miss Rosales," she beamed, grabbing her little bag and water bottle and bouncing out towards the car. Noticing the second car in the garage Eva frowned slightly, but neither she nor her sister said anything about it as they climbed into Nixie's vehicle and peeled quickly out of the driveway. There was no way she had the capacity to deal with her mother's excuses today, though judging by her casual demeanor when she walked in she probably hadn't even thought of justifying her spontaneous absence and just as sudden return.
September 30th, 3:50 PM-
Even just being away from the house helped Nixie calm down considerably, though her mind was a tangled mess as she tried to sort through rational thoughts and flurries of emotion. Pulling into the parking lot of the rec center, she took Eva's hand tightly in her own as the pair walked towards the dance room. They were a good ten minutes early, and the first to arrive, so she decided to loiter in the room along with her sister until someone else showed up.
"I'll show you what we've learned!" Eva quipped excitedly, running out into the middle of the floor to show off her routine to her mentally absent sibling.
As time passed and a few other students arrived, it looked as though Miss Rosales was running a bit late, so Nixie entrusted her sister with one of the other parents as she went to gather her things for band practice out on the field. As per usual, the kids in her section were chatting idly and not doing much of anything when she arrived, but as soon they saw the stern face of their section leader approaching they scurried to get ready. Once warm ups were through, everyone went back to their usual shenanigans, one of the drummers daring Leighanne to try to chug as much of her water bottle as she could.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she cautioned wearily, but no one seemed particularly intent on listening and Nixie didn't have the energy left to protest any further. Her mind still raced with wild abandon, and soon it felt like the chaos inside her head had projected itself into the real world as she felt the ground begin to shake beneath her feet. Nixie looked around wide eyed for confirmation that this was actually happening, and she wasn't having some kind of mental break. The others around her had noticed too, much to her relief, but the shaking increased in strength and high pitched utterances of concern chimed in with the rumbles.
With controlled panic in his voice the band director instructed everyone to sit together in the middle of the field as the stadium lights began to burst above them. Without hesitation Nixie followed his orders, though already she could feel the sting of hot tears in her eyes. Surely this day couldn't get any worse. She worried about her sister, spying the building beside the stadium shaking with equal vigor. She worried about the boys at home.
As if she knew, Leighanne grabbed her hand reassuringly.
Nixie squeezed the smaller girl's hand in her own with desperation, and squeezed her eyes shut just as tightly.