1.13 - School

Erika shouldn't be feeling nervous.  There was nothing to feel nervous about.  She was perfect and she was going to do perfectly at school.  But she still couldn't help feeling nervous as she made her way to the elevator with her brother after they heard the bus honk its horn outside.

She didn't like relying on her brother, since she was clearly superior to him.  But for this one instance she would admit that he had more experience than she did and that she should allow him to take the lead.

"Have a good first day at school, Erika," Danisha called from the apartment, busy getting ready to go to work.  "And make sure you look after your sister, Nielson!" she added.

"Yeah, I will," Nielson called back, not looking entirely thrilled by that request.  Not that there was really much he could do since the high school was in a separate part of the building from the elementary school.  At least he could make sure she got there, he supposed.  But he doubted his sister would accept any help from him even if he offered it.

He would be surprised then to note that Erika was actually quite relieved by her mother's request.  Now she could just point out that mother told him to help her, rather than making it seem like she personally required her brother's help.

When they got on the bus Erika looked at the sea of unfamiliar faces before 'confidently' sliding into the first open seat.  She was grateful that Nielson sat next to her since she didn't want to sit alone, but was nervous that some stranger would come sit by her.  What if someone unpopular sat by her, then she'd be considered unpopular right there.  Or what if someone popular sat by her and she said something foolish to make herself unpopular?

No, she was still formulating her strategy for her perfect school year.  She just wished she'd spent more time over the weekend on it.

The bus ride was noisy in the rest of the bus, but neither Erika nor Nielson said much as they made their way to the school.  When they arrived Erika went straight inside so that she could get her schedule from the office.  Nielson intended to follow her inside to make sure that she got everything she needed all right just like their mother had asked him to, when he suddenly got a text to his phone.

I'm in front of the Prosper Lounge building.  Meet me there.  -Belisama

He stared at the text for a minute, glancing at the school, then back at the text, then back at school.  He should be good and tell her he'd meet her after school.  In fact, he should remind her that she should be in school too.  But as he recalled their date and the thrill that Belisama wanted to see him again he found himself doing neither of those things.

Be right there. -Nielson

He felt a thrill as he sent the text.  He glanced at the school one more time, making sure there were no teachers in sight, before calling a cab and telling it where he wanted to go.

When the cab pulled up to the high rise it was just starting to rain.  He glanced around for Belisama and it didn't take long for him to spot her.  She was looking up at the sky with the most beautiful smile on her face.  If he recalled correctly she always had loved overcast and rainy days.  It was probably why her skin was so pale.  He took a moment to just watch her, not approaching until he was starting to feel kind of creepy for just staring at her.

 "Hey, I got your message and...  When did you get so tall?" Nielson asked with surprise, suddenly noticing that she was taller than him.  He could have sworn he was taller than her.  And with that height a certain part of her anatomy was directly in his eyesight, and he noticed she'd filled out quite a bit too.

"Oh, didn't I tell you that yesterday was my birthday?  That's why I wanted to go to the movies," Belisama replied with a smile.  Nielson blushed.  He wished she had told him that.  He would have gotten her a present or something!  "But I hadn't realized quite how short you are," she added with a smirk.

"So that's why you called me now.  You graduated," he commented.  Which meant he was the only one skipping school.

"I didn't really think a goody-two-shoes like you would come," she admitted.  Nielson started to frown when she reached out and touched his hand.  "I'm glad you did," she added.

"What's going to happen now that you're an adult?" Nielson prompted.  He couldn't imagine her staying single for long, given the way she'd acted in school.

"When's your birthday?" she prompted.

"Saturday," Nielson responded.

"Then that's how long I'll wait," she announced and Nielson felt himself blush.

"You'll really wait for me?" he asked.

"Only that long," she replied.

 Meanwhile, Erika had fortunately managed her first day of school even without her brother looking after her.  She was a little annoyed he'd ditched her so fast, but it just went to show that she was more than capable of handling things on her own.

She'd met a few of her classmates, although it was still too soon to say she'd made any friends.  There was a progression for perfect relationships, after all.  Still, she'd managed to identify popular and unpopular kids and had made sure to only associate with the former.

Of course, there was one particular student she'd taken notice of.

 Collin Talon.  The most perfect boy in school.  His dark dusty skin, his raven hair with just a shimmer of dusty rose.  His eyes that seemed to glow when you looked into them directly.  Oh, he was perfect.  He was friendly and musical and popular and  the only worthy friend for someone like her.

And maybe, one day, more than friend.  She was already planning on having a perfect family.  Not like her current family.  As much as she thought her mother was a great person, their family wasn't perfect.  There was no father in their family and she and Nielson didn't even have the same father.  That wasn't a perfect family.  A perfect family was a mother, father and 2.5 children.  Not that half a child was possible, but that was the general idea.  She would be the mother... and someone like Collin would make for a perfect father.

Of course, she was getting a little ahead of herself.  The only thing they'd said to each other so far was 'hello'.  But that would change.  She would make sure of that.  All these thoughts ran through her head as she watched Collin get on the bus.  She was so busy daydreaming she nearly missed her own bus.  And, of course, she failed to notice that her brother wasn't on the bus.

Fortunately, Erika was able to make her way home on her own.  When she got home she got herself a salad for dinner.  She had even more reason now to insure her own good looks.  If she was to be a perfect partner than looking perfect was one of the most important aspects of that.

Not that she had any intention of being anything else, regardless of Collin.

When Nielson finally got home after spending the day hanging out with Belisama he grabbed his own dinner as well.  He wished they'd done something more romantic, date-like, but he understood that her being an adult and him still being a teenager meant there would be some restrictions.  At least she promised not to meet anyone else until he became an adult too.

He grabbed some carbonara out of the fridge and sat down across from his little sister.  "Don't you ever get tired of salads?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.  He wasn't sure if he'd seen her eat anything else.

"Don't you ever get tired of eating grease?" she shot back, glaring at him from over her plate.  Nielson just sighed and turned his attention back to his food.

After they both finished eating Nielson pulled out his homework (which he'd gotten from a friend so that he wouldn't fall behind.  He could only take so much rule-breaking) and Erika followed his lead and got hers out as well.  She couldn't have less than perfect grades, after all.

"What are you working on?" he asked as he started work on his.

"History," Erika responded absently.

"History's one of my favorite subjects," Nielson confessed.  "If you need help, just ask," he offered.

"I hate history," Erika retorted with a frown.

"What?  Why?" Nielson asked surprised.

"It's not perfect.  There's no 100% accuracy to it.  Math is much better," she replied.  Nielson didn't even know how to respond to that so he just put his face in his hand and sighed.

But for all her attempts to act mature, Erika was still a kid and went to bed pretty much as soon as they finished their homework.  Nielson wasn't ready to go to sleep just yet, so he sat down in front of the TV to watch some shows before going to bed.  He was still watching TV when Danisha got home and when she saw her son still up she sat down across from him.

"Do you have a minute?" she asked.  Nielson immediately tensed, wondering if she knew he'd skipped school today.

"Uh, yeah... sure..." he mumbled in response.

"I just wanted to thank you," Danisha began, surprising Nielson.  "I wanted to thank you for everything you do around the house, and for taking care of your sister.  I know that the two of you aren't very close but I was very grateful that you took care of Erika today and all of the days when I'm busy at work.  You're a very responsible young man.  I'm very proud of you.  And I'm sure your father would be proud of you too," she assured, smiling at him.

Nielson forced himself to smile back, but felt like he was going to throw up.  It didn't feel right that his mother was praising him like this the day he'd skipped school.  So much for being 'responsible'.  But it wasn't like he could admit it.  Not after everything she said.

"It's no problem, Danisha, really.  It's true that we're not exactly friends... but Erika's a pretty good kid too.  It's no trouble looking after her," Nielson assured, forcing himself to sound cheerful and not as guilty as he felt.  Danisha didn't seem to notice as she nodded in response.

"Well, thank you again.  But don't think that just because you have adult responsibilities yourself means you're not still a kid.  Make sure you get to bed soon too," she reminded him, feeling a twinge of guilt that she didn't do more motherly things for either of her children.

"All right, all right.  Good night, Danisha," Nielson responded, eagerly accepting that invitation to escape from their awkward conversation.  He just hoped she didn't find out about him ditching school...


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Sorry this chapter took so long.  And sorry that it was kind of dull.  I hope you still enjoyed it anyway.  I'm eagerly awaited the upcoming birthdays for the kids, but I'm going to try not to skip over child Erika and continue finding things to set up and take pictures of in the meantime.  I hope all of you readers enjoy.