The House and The School

The room Olivia gave us was great, of course; for a girl that is. It was completely pink: the sheets, the couch next to the coffee table and chair, the plushies over the study desk, the small carpet that covered the ground. Even the walls of the room. It was all pink — I think it gave me a pink headache.

We stole the child's room, no wonder she was all upset. She was probably forced by her mother to add me on social media too.

The next morning, Li and I went downstairs to the kitchen, following our noses, shamelessly. The air smelled like pancakes, omelets, and grilled sausages. The list was long for one word. Heaven.

My brother and I stumbled over the stares, our cavemen's hunter instincts kicking in and waking us up before we reached the kitchen. There, standing with a pan in her right hand in front of the stove that was the place where the magic happened, was the famous Sophia — well, Sophie according to her mother.

She was a slim medium-height girl who wore a white apron over a short white t-shirt and blue jeans, she had wavy honey blonde locks that reached the middle of her back, and she was almost showing off, effortlessly flipping pancakes — I had only seen it done like that on television before.

To my sheer bewilderment, I instantly liked her. I had no idea whether we could be friends, but I had every intention of trying... I always had a dream of being friends with someone who can cook well — the kind of cook that was worthy of complimentary. In return for her skills and spoiling my taste buds, I was willing to spend time doing whatever she wanted.

"Wow, hi, you must be Sophie! Thanks for the food!" Liam was equally impressed and grateful; the day was starting on the right foot for both of us brothers.

I was very relieved that with Sophie around, at least for today, I wouldn't have to settle for burnt French toast or undone sunny side-ups, Liam's specialty.

"Hi! It's so nice to finally meet you, Li, Theo" Sophie turned and faced us after flipping the final pancake onto the serving plate. Her rosy cheeks reminded me of Olivia's. She was pretty much the definition of adorable, with hazel eyes, full lips, a small nose, and many cute freckles. I immediately wished she was my little sister — what was she like, fourteen?

.

.

.

The breakfast table was bubbly; it was all due to the little firework that was Sophie. She was so warm and shiny, cracking jokes left and right — I found her funny. I didn't have to fake laughter once. It was more than what I had to say about hanging out with the friends I grew up with. When I wasn't laughing, I was smiling because Li was. It was the first time since we received the tragic news that we ate or laughed that much.

After we had our fill of Sophie's to kill for food, we headed out to check the house with Olivia. It was a Sunday morning, so Sophie tagged along, on the way to the place that 'aced' all her mother's tests, I learned that Sophie was about to become sixteen.

My jaw dropped.

"How come you're so tiny?" I said between two Fish and Chips bites I was stuffing my mouth with.

"Um, excuse you? The word is 'petite',"

I almost choked with laughter.

"It's not my problem that you're practically a giant." She was right about that; Liam and I were both above average. "I'd like to have you know that I'm still growing." Yeah, I was still growing too, I decided not to brag though.

I wished Sophie and I went to the same school, but her school was special. "So, advanced classes, I mean wow. A great cook AND a smart person, who needs to get taller after all that?"

We heard the little bells by the door before she got the chance to make one of her funny comebacks, It was Li and Olivia.

The house turned out to be great, so I left Liam to handle the signatures while Sophie and I hung out some more.

Our newly rented place was a three-story house painted red, looking good under the blue rooftops and the white-painted garage doors — the perfect shelter for the motorcycles. There was a mountain behind it and trees all around. It was almost isolated in all its glory, yet extremely close to the busy neighborhood. Giving us the perfect amount of privacy.

The only change Li and I would need to make on the inside was adding a few furniture pieces, and getting a couple of desks for our rooms on the middle and third floor. The kitchen that was next to the Livingroom in the first floor did not lack for a thing. The Livingroom was also fully furnished; it even came with a TV. There were two small bathrooms at the top of the stairs on the middle floor, which meant that we would not have to share one. Not that either of us minded if we did.

Olivia was a life savior. She was only missing the wings before she flew back to heaven like the angel she was.

One of the many great things about both Olivia and Sophie was the fact that they were experts in reading the room. Whenever Li and I needed a moment to ourselves, they magically disappeared. It wasn't even awkward. They were just highly intuitive, extremely graceful women.

We were able to move to the new house that same afternoon. The girls left us alone to unpack and get familiar with the new space. It was good to be with Li... I was glad I didn't have to go through all of this alone.

Now that all the biking and running was over, we could quietly mourn our parents. They married young, had us young, and then died young. Always together, not even death did them part.

I sat on my bed and stared out of my window, Liam let me have the only bedroom on the third floor, it was significantly smaller, but it had the great view he knew I sought.

My brother was taking that long postponed daily shower of his after I had taken mine — one of the bathrooms didn't have a shower cabin, so showers were a thing we had to share. I just knew the crybaby was finally shedding the tears he kept inside of him all the time.

So what was left for today?

I wasn't in the mood to think about my new school. I would push that until I had to face it, being the new kid sucked. Nothing was left to do today except sleep, so I threw my head on the pillow and closed my eyes.

I had to do the math at some point...

Anchorage had a total of twenty High Schools, with a population of 291,247 — plus two with our addition; high schoolers knew each other by heart, that was for sure.

I had always been very popular, too popular actually... I never asked for it, and blamed it on the whole quarterback thing. Li and I talked for long about it, I would join the football team here as well.

Maybe if I helped them rank up a few levels, the rest of the kids would just respect my talent enough to leave me alone.

I could handle the classes — academically speaking. But what I always had a problem with was the extra attention, I am one of those people who suffocated easily, and when that happened, I blew off the extra steam on the football court, until it became a part of me.

It eventually brought me extra attention. The irony was not lost on me.

There was no way around it.

I was 6 feet 4 inches, 246 lbs. Crafted to go into sports. It was either football or basketball for someone like me. Wearing a helmet while playing football had the extra advantage of hiding the face that didn't go well with the body. So, football won eventually. I was the star of my team back in my old high school, and I knew that at least I could count on this one thing to remain the same here. But being popular or not was never the issue.

I never truly felt that I belonged with the rest of the high schoolers. I had been looking forward to university ever since I was in elementary school. I wanted to hurry up and graduate, then start a business of my own, how was that going to change here?

Here, there, it was all the same.

I was friends with absolutely everyone, but always felt that I got along better with Li's friends than with my own. And my dad was my best friend.

I was always fine being by myself, I was never one of those people who felt strange eating alone in a restaurant or walking for hours with no one next to me in the street. Sometimes I wondered if I was the ultimate introvert, but the silly personality tests I took always indicated that I was an extrovert.

Maybe I was picking the wrong apps.

I wanted someone else to tell me what was wrong with me, why I seemed to always have everything while I felt a void growing inside of me, why in everyone's eyes I was living every teenager's dream but inside, I was never really happy.

It did not matter anymore. I got used to it and stopped searching for a psychological analysis. Life was just this, we were made to always miss something by default. The perfect survival mechanism that pushed us to always hope for more and get up every morning, thriving to get it.

People who had everything must be miserable. But I truly wish I didn't have to lose my best friend.

"Good night, mom and dad."

I stayed up all night, even after my breathing exercises, and reached one thousand while counting sheep. The alien room was fine, but the soft pillowcase was pure torture. I wished I had brought my pillow from back at home.

***

Li had left a note for me on the fridge by the time I finally made my way to the kitchen in the morning. He went to check his classes, and he wished me good luck.

He probably had a puffy face from finally letting himself cry yesterday.

Layers of snow covered the mountain behind our house, and the trees were all white too. I did not want to imagine what the weather outside was like after checking the app on my phone.

-10°.

The leftover pancakes, courtesy of chef Sophia, were an absolute treat today as well. I wished I had two stomachs as my only one was full. I just didn't find it in me to stop.

But it was time for school.

I got a crazy idea about taking out my bike as I contemplated what would be a better choice, freezing to death while walking to the bus or biking my way to the afterlife. I had already promised dad never to ride in any slick conditions like rain, that was crazy enough – riding in the snow was just plain suicide.

Freezing to death while walking it is.

I wore a long-sleeve black shirt, to match the color of my mood, snow pants, topping it with the Fleece jacket, then my trusty hiking boots.

Too much but not enough.

I hated arriving too early or too late to school, but to wear that many layers meant I couldn't possibly stay indoors anymore. I threw my jacket over —feeling every bit like a panda — and pushed the door to go stomp on some snow.

It was hell reaching the bus.

The bus was warm and dry, many students were commuting using public transportation, just like me, I wondered how Li went to university and wondered some more how we never talked about something that should be this obvious.

Fortunately, commuting within the city limits of Anchorage was incredibly simple. Roads were engineered on a grid system. They ran north and south or east and west. I would never get lost in here.

The bus stopped right by the school; many passengers descended leaving the full bus almost empty. There was a big sign with 'Anchorage High' written over it. It couldn't be missed. The many buildings forming the school took me by surprise, it was in no way small. And just like our house, trees spread all around the buildings.

It felt more like a wildlife conservation center and less like a school every passing minute.