Lovely, Lovely Freaks

Chapter 5

"Hey, what time is it anyway?" Matt asked as Liz pulled him through the tent and lead him behind the stage. He had noticed that the sun was up, and the heat was ridiculous. "A little after three. Jethrow said not to wake you because you needed some rest." "You kept saying good morning earlier though!"
"Well, I lied, it wasn't really morning." She replied as she began to look around.
"Speaking of Jethrow, you said that he's your dad, but he looks like he could be your granddad, and you two look nothing like him."
"Oh, we're adopted." She brushed it off, still looking around for something. Matt was a little shocked at the way she said it like it was the most ordinary thing in the world. Then again, nothing there was ordinary. "So, uh, do you need help?" He finally asked when she hadn't stopped looking.
"Oh, no, I'm just looking for-"
"Looking for this?" Another voice said behind them. They turned around and there was Cecilia, holding a broom in her hand. She barely glanced at Matt, and gave her full attention to Liz.
"Jerry had it. Thought you might be looking it for it eventually." She said cooly as she switched the broom from hand to hand. "Oh! Thanks, CiCi! I was just about to show Matt here how to clean the stage."
"I'll do it. You didn't finish giving Androcles his bath. We have a soaking wet lion running around and he's getting everyone muddy." Liz's eyes widened and she was already running out of the tent whenever she called back, "See you later, Matt-A-Roni!" Matt shifted uncomfortably at the nickname and watched Cecilia as she scrutinized him. He felt like she could see through him and read his mind.
"So... Uh, the stage..." Matt fumbled out. Cecilia sighed and walked past him and onto the stage, Matt close on her heels. When she stopped he accidentally ran into her. "S-sorry." Matt fumbled again, feeling a blush creep up his neck. She turned to face him and pretended like nothing happened. Her hair was down and flowing, and she wore a t-shirt that hung comfortably on her. There was a bit of sweat on her forehead, and Matt had the strangest urge to wipe it off for her. "You've swept a floor before, right?" She asked. Matt just nodded, finding it was hard to form words with her looking at him like that. "Well, your job is to sweep up before and after the show. Go from left to right, make a pile in the center, and then Jerry will come and sweep that up. Got all that?" Matt nodded again. "Here you go." She gave him the broom and he went off to sweep. Then, he realized that Cecilia hadn't gone anywhere. She was just watching him. "Um, don't you have some chores or something to do?" He didn't mean for it to sound rude, but Cecilia had pushed her eyebrows together and crossed her arms across her chest. "I already finished mine."
"Oh, okay." Matt humbly began to sweep from left to right, just as he was told, and he could feel her eyes on him, waiting to see if he messed up. "So, uh, tell me about you guys. How old are you?" Matt said, desperately trying to break the silence. "Liz and I are seventeen."
"Hey, same age as me."
"I know."
Silence again. Only the sound of the broom brushing against the wood could be heard. "So, it's Cecilia, right? That's an awesome name."
"Thanks. Most people call me Cig."
"Is that your stage name?"
"Mhm."
"Well, I think I'll just call you Cecilia."
Again, the conversation ended. Matt tried to think of something to get her talking, then he thought, "You're a fire breather, right? That's cool. I've never seen anything like what you and your sister did."
"Yeah, and then you called us sick and tried to run away." Matt felt flustered. He didn't know what to say, and he didn't know what to do. He had never not known what to do before, and he didn't like it.
Suddenly, his stomach growled, really loudly. Matt tried to grab his stomach and somehow will it to shut up, but it kept going like some race car engine. Then, something he didn't expect at all happened, Cecilia laughed. It was sweet and echoed through the tent, but she stifled it quickly by putting her hand over her mouth and by trying to put her serious expression back on, and she asked him if he had ate at all since he'd been with them. Matt admitted that he had not and she took him to get some late lunch.
As she was leading him to the place where they kept the food, he accidentally shoulder bumped the bearded lady. "Hey, we're walking here!" Some man yelled that Matt couldn't see. He then noticed that the monkey in overalls was sitting on the woman's shoulder. It gave him a dirty look, and when the woman walked off the monkey turned around and gave Matt the good ole middle finger.
Matt was stunned into silence and he stumbled trying to catch up with Cecilia, who was now ahead of him. He caught up and stuttered, "That-the- the monkey just talked! The monkey just flipped me off!" Cecilia glanced at him and smirked, " 'the monkey' is named Simon. And, yes, he talks."
"Of course he does!" Matt yelled and leaned his back against the nearest truck. He threw his arms into the air and then pressed his hands on his forehead. This was it. He was finally going completely insane.
Matt looked back at Cecilia, and she was just standing there with one of her hands on her hips. "You done now?"
"Sure. Whatever." Matt sighed and began to follower her again. "Wait, does the lion talk? I just gave the thing a bath and it didn't say a word-
"No, Androcles doesn't talk. Nor do most animals. Simon is a very rare case."
"Of course, right! Silly me for asking!" She stopped and he almost ran into her again, and she abruptly turned to face him. They were almost touching noses. "Seriously, are you done yet! I'm not going to stand here and listen to you go on like this!" There was a fire in her eyes as she stared straight at him, and Matt couldn't help himself as he nervously smiled. He was prepared to be slapped by the girl, but instead she just looked a little confused as she cocked her head to the side and took a step back. "What?" Matt asked hesitantly.
"You have dimples." Was all she said as she continued to stare at him.
"Um, yeah, you can thank genetics for that." She ignored his sarcastic comment and began to walk away again. Matt just did not understand this girl. He really didn't understand anything about the place, but especially that girl!
She lead him to a truck and began to pull a cooler out of the bed. "Here, let me help." Matt said, and he grabbed the cooler from her and put it on the ground. "Thank you." Cecilia mumbled, while already digging in the cooler. She pulled out an apple and a sandwich that was in a ziplock bag. "Here you go."
They went and sat at the benches and Matt hungrily devoured his food. Never before had something so little tasted so good. He had finished his sandwich and started on his apple when he noticed that Cecilia was sitting beside him. He had expected her to sit somewhere else, but there she was. Matt swallowed his bite and gulped slightly. She was sitting there playing with a lit match, making it sway with her breath. It was slow and calm, and Matt caught himself being mesmerized.
"So, how do you guys get like this? I mean, like, how do you get these talents?" Matt asked, still watching the flame.
"You're born with it. Something has to finally trigger it though. It won't show until you have your trigger event."
"What was yours?" Matt asked gingerly, looking up into her blue eyes. They were like the sky on a sunny day. She suddenly looked at him and made the flame go out. "I don't want to talk about it." Noticing that something sad had flashed in her mind, Matt didn't ask anymore about it. "So, Liz's talent is pretty abnormal. Are some more rare than others?"
"Yeah, Liz is really rare, and bearded ladies are normal but Rapunzel is way more potent than normal. The rest of us are just kind of average. Except Jethrow, Jethrow's probably the most powerful of us all. He's the most powerful freak I've ever met anyway."
"What is his talent? All I saw was him taming a lion, but obviously that was fake because the lion is already tame."
"No one is quite sure what it is." This took Matt by surprise. "What do you mean no one knows? You're his daughter!"
"Yeah, but I still don't know! All I know is that he's powerful. That's it."
"So you really know nothing about him?"
"I didn't say that."
"Well-" Matt was just about to start arguing with her whenever he was interrupted.
"Hey guys I just... Oh." Liz had run up to them but then stopped. Her shirt was soaked and her pants had mud on them. She kept looking at Matt, then at Cecilia, and then back at Matt. "Aw, you guys look so cute together!" She finally said, while jumping and down and clapping. She let out a high pitch giggle. Matt and Cecilia let out several objections, and Matt had stood and moved slightly away from Cecilia while Liz kept giggling. "Oh, I'm only kidding! Come on, CiCi! We've got to get ready for the show," she grabbed Cecilia's hand, and pulled her up. She started to drag her twin off to one of the tents and called back, "See you later, Matt-A-Roni!" Matt watched them go, and he couldn't help watching Cecilia as she left.

The show was over, and Matt had already swept the stage and had gone out to eat supper. Everyone roasted hot dogs and ate happily, while Matt silently sat by himself again. Every now and again he would catch some of the freaks giving him dirty looks, and he felt a little outcast by the outcasts. Liz had gone to sit by her sister, and Matt never realized how much he missed her obnoxiousness.
After he ate, Matt realized he was starting to smell. He had been outside for most of the day, and he really needed to take a shower, but he didn't even know if they had showers there.
He slowly walked to the bench where Liz, Cecilia, and Rapunzel were sitting, and asked about them where he could clean up. "CiCi, could you show him the shower? I'm still eating." Liz asked her sister, even though there was only a small bit of hot dog in her hand. Matt couldn't help but notice the impish look on her face. "Sure." Cecilia calmly got up and started to walk towards the tents. She lead him behind the semi-circle, where there were three of what looked like port-a-potties set up. "Those are the showers." Cecilia said while pointing at them. "Wait a second and I'll bring you a towel." She left and Matt took off his shoes and shirt. He realized how dirty his clothes were.
"Here you go." She said when she came back, while tossing a towel at him. He barely caught it, and he was pretty sure he heard her snicker.
"I, uh, need some clothes, too."
"I'll bring you some of Scar's. I'm sure they'll fit." She left before he could say anything else.
He walked inside the plastic stall and realized there was no light. "Great." He mumbled to himself. He shut the door and locked it behind him, plunging him into total darkness except for one small window that let the moonlight in. His shower was warm and pleasant, and he felt refreshed once he had finished.
Matt wrapped the towel around his waist, then unlocked and opened the door, only to run into Cecilia as she was about to knock in the door.
Matt blushed like crazy, and quickly grabbed his towel to make sure it wouldn't fall, and Cecilia tried to fumble an apology as she picked up the clothes she had dropped. She stood up and tried to apologize again, and Matt noticed that her face was bright red, which gave him a little satisfaction to know that this rock could, in fact, get flustered. It also gave him satisfaction to realize that he was the one that was making her that way.
She pushed the clothes in his arms, then turned and was about to run away when Matt said, "Thanks, Cecilia." She turned to face him again, and said, "You know most people call me Cig, right?"
"Well, Cecilia sounds prettier." Matt said it before he could stop himself, and the girl seemed to turn one shade of red darker. She turned and hurried off, and Matt let out a long sigh.
Later that night, when him and Scar were laying in their beds before they had blown out the lights, Matt decided to ask Scar about her. "So, what's up with Cecilia?"
"You mean Cig? What about her?" Scar seemed a little annoyed that Matt was talking to him, but Matt decided to ignore that.
"She's just really quiet, and kind of cold." Scar propped himself up on his elbow to turn towards Matt. "You ever hear of Yin and Yang?"
"Duh, who hasn't?"
"That's basically Liz and Cig. Liz is happy, spontaneous, and outgoing. Cig is the opposite. That's just how she is."
"Oh," Matt said, turning away from Scar and flopping onto his back again. "Why? You have a thing for her?" Scar asked. The question caught Matt of guard, and he didn't have time to come up with a good answer. "Uh, no, I just noticed that her and her sister were different, that's all."
"Mhm. Well, let me just say that you might want to steer clear of her."
"What, why?" Matt asked, extremely curious now. "Because she could cut your little feeling up in tiny pieces and eat them," Scar leaned up and blew the candle out, then said, "Goodnight, newbie." But Matt wasn't paying attention much, he was still thinking about Cecilia and how much of a mystery she was. "Goodnight."