I slept, I slept well: too well. Actually, I might have overslept.
I woke up found myself being made a pillow by a beautiful little girl, namely my sister. She did look punch-able and cute though: A rather weird combination. I had the urge to smack her but in the end, I decided against it, I had better things to worry about.
I got down from the bed and removed her arms and legs from my body. Did she really need to make a pillow out of me every time? With a groggy head, I looked at the clock and my whole body twitched.
The clock was striking 8.30 and my heart was racing.
‘Oh boy! I’m late.’
Late. One word. A powerful word. A word, which made me sweat in gallons. ‘Oh dear, heaven, lord!’ And I was also going crazy.
***
Class would begin at ten and I was at least two one and a half hours away from the academy even with the best jets. I was supposed to wake up at five. Just what the hell was my mother doing?
Complaining now wouldn’t get me anywhere. My thoughts weren’t really helping all that much either.
I ran down the stairs. “Mom! Why didn’t you-!”
There was someone else inside the house. Someone whom I’d never smelled before. The scent was new. The scent was different. If my nose did me no wrong, then I’d say this person had an elegant smell.
I walked down the stairs and to the living room. Mom was talking to a girl, probably my age; already in Saint Demigrace Academy’s uniform.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” I tried to conceal my hostility.
“OH this is my son, Helio. Helio, this is Margeretta.”
“Good morning, and nice to meet you. You can call me Marg.”
‘That’s a weird nickname.’
I stared at the new girl. She looked normal, as in too normal. Mutants in this age had at least one or two animal features. Some had wings, some had ears, and some even had tails. Even I had cat ears and a good sense of smell and sound, and my mom and sister had bunny ears. No tails though.
But this girl had nothing: maybe she was good at hiding? She didn’t strike me as a mutant, not even for a second. Hence I raised my guard.
“Nice to meet you too and you can call me Jintel.” My business with her was over. However, the same wasn’t the case for my mother. She averted her eyes when her eyes met mine. I wasn’t letting her go off the hook that easy. “But why the hell-didn’t you wake me up mom?” My teeth grinded against each other. I was going mad.
More importantly, I was getting late. Oh wait, I was already late.
“Jintel? No, I think I’d rather call you Helio. It’s much better,” Marg said, totally disregarding everything. Her voice was soft and left a chilling tone down my mind. Something about her put me on edge. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
Mom grabbed her hands. “Wow, we share the same taste!” Mom’s eyes were glowing. She liked this girl. But we had bigger problems. And she was just pretending to not notice them.
“Umm, excuse me?” I tried to break into the conversation. I’d be late on the very first day. I was already having a nervous breakdown and here they were flirting in the middle of the day. Something was definitely wrong with this family. And it wasn’t me.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, dear. Marg can teleport.” My mother just had to drop a bombshell without even a warning.
‘Seriously?’
My eyes twitched. Teleportation was a very rare talent. The last I heard, only thirty people for the entire last century ever had that power: twenty-two of them were mass murderers by the way. And lately, the government was spending a lot of money on this power and the research behind it.
‘Well, this just got interesting.’
Albeit, not in a pleasant way. Teleportation was useful but also frightening at the same time.
I didn’t buy it though but acted surprised. That was the best emotion I could conjure up.
Teleportation was rare: too rare. That’s why I didn’t believe my own mother. After all, mom tended to have this weird sense of belief. She’d believe a murderer if the guy approached her with enough passion. Then again that guy would probably run for his own life the moment he got to know mom some more. Sometimes I wondered maybe that was the reason the fourth member… NO.
“Now then, take a shower and get dressed. I made breakfast. And then you two could head to school together.” Mom giggled.
‘Talk about easy-going.’
I was more or less panicking even just a second ago. But I didn’t really care. As long as I got to school on time, I didn’t have anything to complain about. Not yet. And hopefully, they weren’t cheating on me.
***
We were in the living room, eating breakfast. My mom was doing some basic explanation of who the girl was.
“So basically she’s my cousin but not related to me?” It didn’t make sense even for a second.
“You see when I was in middle school…”
Here we go again.
My mom really liked flashbacks. Especially her glory days, or rather her middle school days. She was born and raised in a different country. We were currently in mainland England but this wasn’t always the case. No wonder our accents never meshed with the locals.
After a while, she got to the point and basically, Marg was the daughter of her best friend who was currently serving as a housemaid in a different country. I didn’t have any issues with it but I sure the hell wasn’t going to call her cousin.
***
Breakfast was over and I was ready. Elsa was clinging to me like a toddler. She had tears in her eyes and sniffed like someone who had pneumonia. My new uniform was getting a little dirty. I sighed but let her do as she pleased. After all, even I wasn’t so heartless.
“Are you ready?” Marg said from across the room.
“We won’t have to hold hands or anything right?”
Right!?
She walked close to me. “Actually…”
Her face was very close to my face. “Umm, what are you doing?” It made me wonder a lot of things.
I tapped on Elsa’s shoulder and she just stared at me. I would have patted her head if she wasn’t such a brat, but I just gave her a nod. She looked down and went to mom who was also standing close to me but not too close.
“Close your eyes. It’s important.” Marg looked into my eyes. Her hair was getting in the way. Her short blue hair.
‘Here goes nothing.’
I closed my eyes. “Don’t do anything funny now.” I had a lot on my mind: a lot, lot.
“Don’t forget to call once you’re in your room,” Elsa managed. She really was crying this time. Didn’t she have better things to worry about?
I don’t know why but I might have expected something soft against my hands at least. I wasn’t particularly handsome but I wasn’t ugly either. I tried to take a peek to see what she was doing but the moment I opened my eyes. “What the hell!”
We were at the academy and students were glaring at us as they passed by. ‘Nothing happened huh?’
Maybe making my lips a bit puffier and expecting something, was a very bad idea. ‘Maybe making my lips a bit puffier and expecting something, was a very bad idea. ‘You idiot!’ I really wanted to punch myself.
I might have been expecting a bit too much. So in the end, all I was left with was just plain disappointment.