8. Nova
He was watching me. I knew he was because I could feel it.
He was always watching me and it made my skin crawl.
“Shit, Creepster Christian is looking at you again.” Zainab hissed from next to me, causing me to roll my eyes.
This girl had no freaking chill and wouldn’t know discretion if it hit her in the face.
“I know. I can feel his eyes on me.”
“How are you so calm? He’s so weird, just standing there with his dumb headphones on, greasy hair and smelly self.”
“Just don’t look at him.”
“He’s a freak. Did I tell you he called me a towelhead last year? It’s him Aiden should’ve punched three years ago. Oh my God, he’s looking at me now!” She gave a dramatic full body shudder before turning around and rummaging through my locker with me.
“Well, you were staring.”
“And remind me to never do that again.” I chuckled and shook my head.
I couldn’t lie and say there wasn’t something about Christian that creeped me out. Even more so than his friend Sebastian. Their eyes were constantly roaming my body, they did everything that was in their power to graze me in busy corridors and stood way too close for comfort whenever they talked to me.
“So, anything interesting happened yesterday?” I stiffened as we both started walking towards our next class.
Zee really rarely asked questions she didn’t already have the answers to. I narrowed my eyes at her only to see a sly smile splitting her lips.
“A little birdie told me that a lone wolf came to see you last niiiiight.” She said in a sing-song voice.
Eyes wide, I looked around to make sure nobody had heard before shushing her.
“Zee! Keep your voice down.”
“So? Did the big bad wolf get into the sheepfold yesterday? And by sheepfold I mean your house, not your pussy by the way— at least for now.”
“Girl!” I slapped her shoulder and thanked God that it was still early to submit an assignment and almost no students were here yet.
“Oh, come on, give me something!” my best friend exclaimed, “You know my love life is lived vicariously through you guys.”
“Aren’t Jelena’s flings enough?”
“They get boring after a while and she’s always way too explicit, whereas you? It’s been simmering for the past three years so I know it will be good once it finally boils over. I love me a good slowburn.”
“What are you saying?” I frowned and she rolled her eyes at me. Cheeky little thing.
“Oh, come on, Nova. I know you dislike him because of the way he constantly acts like a jerk to you—”
“—And because he’s a bully,” I interjected.
“Innocent until proven guilty, we don’t have the whole story.” she pointed out, “But anyways, even through your blatant dislike, you never badmouthed him or stood by while Southie assholes talked shit about him.”
“I would do that for anyone.”
“Okay and do you look at anyone like you’d like for them to wreck your panties?”
“My God, you kiss your mama with that mouth?!” I hissed, glaring at the girl I considered a sister.
Mrs Sherwood, our school’s librarian, had been passing by and sent us a disapproving look.
“Not denying it, I see.”
“Of course I’m denying it! I never looked at him like that. Not once.” Except maybe yesterday when he cornered me in the library. And then again at my house where we ended up working on our project for well over an hour.
It hadn’t been that bad. At all. In fact, it was pretty fun and I would be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed myself. We had both agreed that meeting outside of school felt better to work so I was going to his house in two days to continue our assignment.
“Remember last year when we had PE together? Aiden had been sweating so he used his shirt to wipe at his forehead.” I looked away and felt my cheeks burn. Shit. I had totally forgotten she knew about that. “Oh yes, missy, don’t you think I didn’t notice!” she giggled, “You looked at him like you were starving and he was the juiciest piece of meat out there.”
I didn’t say anything, simply looking away because I knew she was right, I remembered that day. It was around the time Zainab and I had started attending book club meetings and reading more… risqué romance books. I guess my hormones were starting to feel all over the place because I just couldn’t take my eyes off of his abs.
“He came over, okay?” I caved and confided in a hiss.
“Only over?”
“You are the absolute worst.”
***
“Nova!” Cece exclaimed as soon as I entered our house.
She launched herself into my arms and I caught her easily, making her giggle and throw her arms around my neck, hugging me tight.
“Woah,” I laughed, “Did you miss me, baby?”
“I did. Oh, oh! Mrs Kurinski told us to draw our family today, do you wanna see, do you wanna see?!”
“Of course I do.” She squirmed until I put her down and her little feet stomped the floor until she disappeared up the stairs. Always so hyped up, that girl. I suspected she had eaten too much sugar today.
Shaking my head, I took off my shoes and put my bag on the small bench that decorated the entry. Walking into the living room, I noticed Rory sat where Aiden and I had been sitting barely twenty-four hours before. I blinked away the memory and smiled at my sister.
“Hey, Pipsqueak.” I let myself fall next to her and she gave me a quick hug.
“Hey sissy.”
“What are you watching?”
“Just some documentary on wild animals’ parenting instincts.”
Of course she was. Rory had a passion for animals. She’s wanted to be a vet for as long as I can remember.
“Sounds interesting.” She gave me a look that said she saw right through my lie but her lips were spread in a smile. I chuckledn “Is Mrs Richardson still here?”
“I told her to leave a few minutes before you came home. Her granddaughter had her first recital today and I didn’t want to risk her being late.”
I smiled inwardly. Another thing about Rory was that she was really thoughtful. I guess you could say her love language were acts of service because she always knew what to do to make others happy.
“Such a good heart.” swinging an arm around her shoulders, I pulled her to me and kissed the top of her head, but she tensed, which was unusual.
That’s when I saw it. A braid was missing from the top of her head, and if the way her scalp looked raw and was still bleeding a little was of any indication, it had clearly been ripped off.
Fury spread through me instantly. Not many things made me angry but the idea of someone hurting my sweet, beautiful little sister was on top of the list.
“What is that?” I grabbed her face softly, trying to get a better look at the top of her head.
“What?”
Rory was playing it off, like she didn’t know what I was talking about, but she couldn’t lie to me. I knew her too well for that.
“You know what, Rory. Did someone pull your hair out?!” The mere idea was enraging.
I knew Rory was more of an introvert, she didn’t have many friends and even those she had, she didn’t see often, preferring the company of a good book or documentary to that of people. But she was sweet and kind, there was no way she could’ve said or done anything to warrant getting hurt that way.
“It’s okay, just a misunderstanding.”
“Do not feed me this bullshit,” I gritted, surprising her because I never cursed. “What happened, don’t make me ask that again.”
Sighing, she looked down at her lap, rolling her hands together. “There’s this girl at school. She hates me because I get better grades and teacher appreciation than her. Today she was making fun of me for wearing my frog hat,” her favorite beanie was orange with a green frog embroidered on it, it was a gift from our mom, “and when I told her that if she spent more time studying than focusing on what people wore, she probably wouldn’t come second to me every time, she got… angry.”
“And yanked your hair so hard that a freaking braid gave out?” I jumped up, “Give me her name, I’ll go to her house right now.”
Immediately her eyes widened and she got up too, shaking her head, “Nova, no! Please, she already freaked out when she saw what she had done and apologized.”
“I don’t give a fuck about her apology, an apology is not going to make your hair grow back. Let me call Zainab and go to her house. She can hold her for me while I cut her hair off too.”
Out of all my friends, I knew Zee would be the one up for it. She was always down to cause mayhem, and if she knew someone had touched Rory, she would literally rip them a new one.
“Nova, please!” Rory grabbed my arm and pulled me back to her, “It’s already hard being in middle school, please don’t go and make it worse for me!”
Something in her eyes made me stop and really take her in. She looked distraught by my reaction more than the events that led to it.
“It’s not the first time, is it?” my eyes narrowed, I hated the feeling that settled in my gut at the thought. And when she looked away and half-heartedly shrugged, I knew for sure. My little sister was getting bullied.
“I’m handling it, okay? I don’t care about a few people calling me a weirdo or teacher’s pet. In a few years, they’ll be working for me, anyway. They’re stupid kids who will probably peak in high school and then spend the rest of their lives dilapidating their fathers money. I’m better than them. And what happened today will not happen again, I promise. Please don’t do anything and please, please, do not tell dad.”
I hated what she was asking of me, but at the same time, having been in her shoes, I knew going to the school would, at best, not change anything, or, worst case scenario, make everything worse. If dad heard about this, he’d go berserk and probably sue the whole school too. That or burn it to the ground.
The decision wasn’t easy to take, but I ended up sighing and closing my eyes to regain composure. Then, letting my shoulders fall, I nodded slowly.
“I won’t tell anyone, but I want you to promise you’ll tell me if something like that happens again, you hear me?”
That was partly a lie, I wouldn’t tell dad or go to the school, yes, but I’d be damned if I let her go there again without someone to watch over her. Jelena’s younger brother was around her age and my brain immediately started to think of ways to bribe him to keep an eye on her.
“I promise.” She gave me her pinky finger and I laced mine around it.
“Go get the shea butter from my dresser, I’ll put some on your scalp.”
With a nod, she disappeared up the stairs and minutes after that we both sat quietly in the living room. I was on the sofa and she took the ground, my legs on each side of her as we both faced the TV. Of course another wildlife documentary was playing as she watched it quietly. Warming the butter between two fingers, I applied it as softly as I could. I could tell it still hurt her though, from the subtle way she flinched anytime my fingers came in contact with her skin.
If I ever found out who that girl was, I would rip every hair on her head one by one.
The thought gave me pause. I had to take a deep breath and close my eyes for a second, not wanting to let the anger consume me. Anger wasn’t a good emotion. It wasn’t an emotion I should be feeling because it could lead me to worse feelings.
Little footsteps echoed down the stairs and before I could turn around, Cece had launched herself at me, attacking me with kisses. She had clearly forgotten what she’d gone upstairs for but it was okay, it had given me the chance to calm down and talk to Rory.
Her arms circled my neck and she squeezed me tight. I smiled, grateful for the distraction. I smacked a kiss on her cheek.
“Can you do my hair too?” she bounced, her wide brown eyes basically the same as mine and Rory’s.
“Not tonight, I have homework. We’ll do it this weekend, okay? You can even watch Bluey while I do it.”
Dad had gotten her a new bright pink shampoo mat with a special tablet attachment so that she could watch her favorite cartoons while I washed her hair. It made the task a hundred times easier given how sensitive she was with it.
She pouted a little but ended up agreeing with a roll of her eyes. She then settled herself comfortable with her head on my lap while I kept massaging Rory’s skull.
Eventually, she too came up to the couch and laid her head on my other thigh and I couldn’t keep the smile from my face.
I thought it was funny how, just this morning, Rory and I had a fight because she had taken one of my shirts without asking, then Rory got mad at Cece because she spilled milk all over her french homework, but now? Now, all was forgotten. That’s probably what I loved the most about having sisters. Because sisters made the best friends. Sisters were loyal and kind, they loved fiercely and fought even fiercer but never forgot where their loyalties lied.
As long as I had my sisters, I didn’t care about much else.