“That bad, eh? Come into the parlor and tell me all about it.”
She pulled Sofia and her orange juice into the living room to be. It was a light room with wooden floor and large windows presently covered with new, purple drapes.
The two of them took up position on the floor since there was nothing else to sit on. Sofia stared into her glass.
“I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”
”Did you at least meet some nice people?”
Sofia shrugged. “I suppose. I miss everyone back home.”
Her mother smiled sympathetically. “Of course you do, honey. But you're going to make new friends here, just you wait and see.”
Sofia didn’t argue. She had done a lot of arguing before coming here and it had made no difference whatsoever.
“I know mom,” she said, getting up. “I'll be upstairs doing homework if you need me,” she told her mother and headed up the stairs.
Sofia would never admit it, but she did kind of like her new room. It was twice as big as her old one and had large windows overlooking the street.
Still, not having any furniture was surprisingly annoying. Her new bed hadn't arrived yet so she slept on an inflatable mattress on the floor. She sank down on it now and pulled up her brand new phone to Skype-call Tessa.
“Whaddaya want?” came the sleepy reply when her friend finally picked up.
“Hey!”
“Sofia? What time is it?”
“It's 4 pm here.”
“No! I fell asleep! No, no, no. I was supposed to get the math homework done for next week! See, this is what happens when my best friend abandons me, I get so depressed that I can't do my homework. My grades are going to fall, I’ll never get into university and it will all be your fault,” Tessa complained.
“At least I woke you up,” Sofia said, smiling.
“You did, and I was having such a good dream too.”
Sofia rolled her eyes. “So anyway, I had my first day today,” she said before Tessa could tell her all about her dreams. She didn’t want to hear about her friend’s dreams. They were always weird and disturbingly often they revolved around amputations.
“First day? First day of what?” Tessa asked innocently.
“First day of school here.”
“First day of school?” Tessa continued to repeat like a slightly demented parrot.
“Oh, cut it out. I'm sorry I woke you. I'm sorry you were having a good dream.”
Tessa looked at her expectantly. “And...?”
“And for the hundredth time I'm sorry I had to go with my awful parents to live in a different country and leave you all alone in a high school full of idiots,” Sofia said irritably. They had been over this a few times before she left.
“Stupid, insensitive idiots.”
“Stupid, insensitive idiots,” Sofia amended.
“Do you miss me terribly?” Tessa asked.
“Terribly. I am horrifyingly, depressingly, miserably lonely here.”
“Aw, poor you,” Tessa said, sounding pleased. “What's your new school like?”
“Filled with stupid, insensitive idiots …” Sofia said and pictured Thomas Jefferson. She shook her head. She didn’t like that he seemed to have taken up permanent residence in her brain.
“Of course it is. It's high school.”
“… and people believe I'm a communist who moved here to escape man-eating polar bears, but otherwise I guess it's okay.”
Tessa was quiet for a moment, blinking confusedly at the camera before she started to laugh.
“They think you're a what?” she asked when she’d finally stopped laughing.
“Yep. And two guys asked me out. One of them insisted on driving me home.”
“What? You should have led with that! Who is he? Is he hot?”
Sofia forwarded the picture Jock just sent of himself in the changing room before baseball tryouts.
“Oh my.”
“I don’t know what he’s after.”
“I think it’s obvious what he’s after,” Tessa said with a wiggle of her eyebrows. ”He might be good for you. At least he can’t be worse than Andr….”
”Don’t say his name!” Sofia hissed.
”Come on, Fia. He’s not Lord Voldemort.”
”Still, I’d prefer it if you didn’t bring him up.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. ”Fine. This one looks good though,” she said looking back to the picture of Jock. ”Especially without his shirt on.”
Sofia sighed. “Yes, he does and he knows it too. His friend hates me.”
“What? How? Stop giving me these random tidbits! Tell me everything! Right now!”
Half an hour later Sofia's throat was sore from all their talking and laughing, but the rest of her felt a lot better.
“You have to come visit soon, promise?”
“Promise. Dad hired me to help out in the garage so I’ll be able to save up enough for the tickets.”
“But you always help out in the garage!”
Sofia had basically grown up in Tessa's dad's garage. When they were in kindergarten they’d fetched things for the mechanics and as they grew older they helped with fixing the cars. Tessa's dad's friend Matt had even shown them how to hot wire an old Audi back when she and Tessa discovered Grand Theft Auto. The game, not the crime.
“I know, but now I'll get a schedule and salary and all,” Tessa said proudly and Sofia felt a sting of hurt. She should be there, working alongside Tessa and getting a schedule and salary and everything too.
Tessa yawned. “I'm sorry. I need to go back to sleep if I'm going to be able get up tomorrow,” she said and yawned again.
”I thought you had a math assignment?” Sofia asked, reluctant to end the call.
”Yeah, yeah. Don’t remind me. We'll talk soon, yeah?”
“Yeah. And good luck with the math assignment.”
“Thanks babe, I'm gonna need it,” Tessa said. “Good luck with your reverse harem situation.”
“It’s not a rev…”
“Sleep tight!”
Sofia pulled out her headset and glared at her phone. With a sigh she pulled the textbooks from her bag to do her own homework.
Two men and three women sat staring at the smart screen on the wall in front of them.
“I’m not sure what it is he wants from us,” one of the men complained. “These are some of our best ideas! They’ve all been tried and tested. We know they work.”
One of the women rolled her eyes. “They used to work. Three years ago.”
“They still work! Look at our competitors. None of them are trying to reinvent the wheel or spend a load of money on a project that might never take off.”
“Wall of shame,” one of them muttered. “He called it a wall of shame.”
“It’s not that bad. I don’t understand what he’s after.”
Mr. Jones sipped on his drink on the other side of the door, listening to his employees trying to come up with an original idea. They weren’t making much progress.
“Top up, sir?” Mr. Sims, his assistant, asked.
“Yes, yes,” Mr. Jones said distractedly, holding out his glass. “Have you noticed that the shows are getting longer and longer, Sims? They do up to ten seasons of the same thing. Then there are the endless movie sequels. It’s like no one can come up with an original idea anymore.”
His assistant, distracted by the complaints of the group on the other side of the door, was abruptly pulled back to their conversation when Mr. Jones reached back and poked him in the arm. ”Hrrm? What was that, sir?”
“The shows! They go on forever. Endless reruns.”
“People like knowing what they’re getting,” Mr. Sims replied.
Mr. Jones drummed on his arm rests. “I suppose they do,” he finally agreed, before tapping the button that made the door swing open.
His employees stared at him with expressions ranging from surprised to horrified as he made his way inside with Mr. Sims trai
ling behind him.
“Mr. Jones, sir,” one of them said, getting to his feet.
Mr. Jones waved at him to sit. “No need for that. I came by to see what you’ve come up with so far.”
“Sir… We… that is to say, I…”
“Never mind. I have an idea.”
They blinked at him in confusion and Mr. Jones wondered what sort of idiots he had working for him. He would have to address their hiring decisions with Ms. Hearning. Later.
“You… you have an idea, sir? But you never get involved in…”
“Yes, well, I’m involved now, aren’t I? So this is what we’re going to do,” Mr. Jones said, leaning forward in his chair.
6
Absolutely Ridiculous
The canteen was packed and loud and the food served managed to be both tasty and gross. Sofia thought, for what had to be the first time, appreciatively of the canteen food back home. She’d switch these fries and pizza slices for anything from her old school, even the meatloaf.
Sofia took another bite and drank some more soda. If this was going to be the kind of lunch she ate for the next two years she was going to sprout pimples like a… well a teenager who ate this kind of stuff. For two years. She was going to have to do her own lunch boxes or invest in some exorbitantly expensive skin care products.
She was sitting at a table with Denise and Denise’s two friends Marlene and Claire. Sofia guessed that they technically were her friends as well now. She wasn’t sure about the time references here across the Atlantic Ocean when it came to making friends, but sitting at the same table during lunch for a week as well as engaging in small talk in the corridors and classrooms should qualify as friendship.
She missed Tessa and her other friends intensely. Talking to them on Skype in the evenings wasn’t the same thing.
She looked around. Canteens. That's when you needed to have friends IRL. Everyone was sitting with their own particular cliques and she counted herself lucky to have found one that was willing to accept her so soon. Making friends was not her strong suit, nor was trying to fit in with people she didn’t know. She couldn’t believe no one here had caught on to that yet.
“So, you survived a polar bear attack?” Marlene asked casually, her hazel eyes taking her in from behind horned glasses. Both of Denise’s friends were blonde. Claire’s hair was long and straight and so pale blonde it was nearly white. Marlene’s hair was darker, shorter and curly. It bounced when she tilted her head, like she did now, to get a better look at Sofia.
Sofia didn’t know why se was surprised that word had gotten around about the Swedish polar bears. Not a lot of interesting things seemed to happen here so stories about polar bears would definitely make the rounds.
Sofia briefly considered lying. A lie would be more interesting than the actual truth. Besides, what is the truth to the educated mind? It was all about perception anyway. For a few seconds she tried to perceive herself having survived a polar bear attack. She gave up.
“No, we don’t have them at all,” she admitted. “We have plenty of brown bears, wolves and moose though.”
“What’s a moose?” asked Marlene.
“It’s a large animal. Like a deer, but bigger... here let me show you,” Sofia said and pulled up her phone to find a picture of a moose.
“Oh that’s so cute!” Claire cut in, beaming at Sofia.
“What is?” Sofia asked, briefly looking up from her phone. She hadn’t found a picture yet.
“The way you say ‘bigger’. You have the most adorable accent!”
“I do?” said Sofia who wanted to be adorable nearly as much as she wanted to be ripped to shreds by a polar bear.
“You do.”
“Er… thank you,” Sofia said and organized her face into an expression of appreciation. She hoped. She might also come across as somewhat constipated.
Claire smiled as if she had given Sofia a compliment and continued to drink her coke light. She was drinking a lot, but she hadn’t picked up anything to eat.
Marlene was munching away at a hamburger and Denise had practically devoured her lunch, but Claire didn’t touch anything but her soda.
“Aren’t you going to eat something?” Sofia asked with a look at the empty table in front of Claire.
“I’m not hungry,” Claire said, yet she was gazing at Sofia’s pizza slice with longing.
The glint in her eyes that made Sofia think of hungry polar bears for the second time in two minutes. That had to be some kind of record.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!” Claire said agitatedly, still not taking her eyes of the pizza.
“Claire is on a diet. She thinks she’s fat,” Denise whispered to Sofia.
“But she’s not,” Sofia whispered back.
“Yeah, I’ve told her so but she won’t listen,” Denise said with an irritated huff. “Be careful not to annoy her, she hasn’t had a proper meal for at least two weeks.”
Sofia shook her head and dug into her pizza. It was as delicious as it was unhealthy. She closed her eyes to let the flavor of cheese and tomato roll over her tongue.
She heard a moan and for a second she was afraid that it had come from her, but when she opened her eyes and found herself staring into Claire’s big, blue and hungry ones.
“For heaven’s sake Claire!” Denise cried exasperatedly, gesticulating with her hamburger. “Go get yourself some pizza!”
“I can’t!” Claire piped back, cringing in her seat.
“Yes, you can. Walk up to the counter and buy some. You’ll be fine honey, it’s just one slice, we won’t tell,” Marlene said sweetly.
Denise groaned. “Tell? Who would we tell? The diet police?” she asked and pointed to a group three tables to their right.
There five incredibly skinny girls were sitting, drinking soda and laughing. They had actually bought pizza and were playing around with it on their plates, but not one piece of the food reached their mouths.
A beautiful girl with dark, curly hair was playing absentmindedly with a string of cheese while listening, her head cocked to one side, to a blonde girl telling her a story in a high pitched voice.
“Who are they?” Sofia asked.
“They’re the ‘it-girls’ of Little Sippleton High,” Denise told her. “Thomas’s girlfriend is the one with curly, black hair.”
“She’s beautiful. Looks a bit like an angel.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Denise muttered and stabbed a fry with her plastic fork.
“You just say that because you’re jealous of her,” Claire said with a huff.
“Jealous am I? Of what? Her long, skinny legs? Her bigheaded, blonde boyfriend?”
“Both.”
“Sofia’s dating Jock and I like her just fine.”
“I’m not dating…” Sofia started to say.
“Jock’s always dating someone. That doesn’t mean anything,” Claire said before looking to Sofia. “No offense.”
“None taken. We’re not da…”
“Wayne’s asked her out too. She’s popular and she’s eating. Maybe you should be more like Sofia if you want attention,” Denise said and took a big bite of her hamburger.
“I don’t want attention! I’m trying to be healthy.”
“By starving yourself?”
“Girls! Stop it. Eat your food,” Marlene ordered quietly.
Sofia was surprised to see that they listened to her and more surprised when they did as they were told.
“So, how are things with Jock?” Marlene asked her after a moment of tense silence.
Sofia shrugged. He’d been driving her to and from school every day that week and she’d slowly stopped being annoyed with him. He’d been surprisingly easy to talk to once he’d stopped feeding her cheesy lines.
“We’re going to see a movie tonight, which reminds me. Do any of you want to come with us? Wayne’s coming too.”
Denise blinked in surprise. “Wasn’t that trip to the movies supposed to be a dat
e?”
Sofia narrowed her eyes. “For the last time. Jock and I are not dating. He’s a friend, like you all are, and I would like to go out with all of you. Celebrate surviving my first week in high school and all.”
Denise grinned at her. “I like the sound of that.”
“Good. We’ll be in town around seven. You guys can…”
“Hello,” a voice said softly from behind her.
Sofia turned around and stared. She recognized the thin blonde girl standing beside their table as one of Thomas’s girlfriend’s friends. Indeed, the rest of the group from that table was standing supportively behind the blonde who suddenly held out her hand to Sofia. Sofia grasped it carefully. The girl looked so thin she was afraid she’d break her wrist if she pressed it too hard.
“I’m Gemma.”
“Sofia.”
“I know. I’m Jock’s ex.”
Sofia’s raised her eyebrows in lieu of speaking because she didn’t know what to say. This merely confirmed her suspicions that Jock wasn’t genuinely interested in dating her at all.
She and Gemma couldn't have looked more different if they’d been different species. Well, she supposed they were both fairly short and pale, but that was it. While the light blue dress Gemma was wearing made her blonde, delicate features and body look nearly ethereal it would have made Sofia look like a stocky three year old wearing a nightie.
“I know that he’s dating you now,” Gemma said.
“We’re not dating.”
It was Gemma’s eyebrows turn to rise. “I’m sorry. I saw him carrying your things and I thought…”
“He’s being friendly. Possibly. Or it’s some kind of joke.”
“A joke?”
“Or something.”
“I see,” Gemma said, clearly not seeing at all. “I just wanted to warn you that he’s not… he doesn’t tend to date the same girl for long. I don’t want him to break your heart.”
“That’s so kind of you,” Denise said sarcastically from Sofia’s side. “I’m sure Sofia can handle it.”
“He can be very… charming,” Gemma persisted.
“He’s too smug to be charming,” Sofia muttered. “But he does have a great smile.”
Fractured (Unreel series Book 1) Page 5