Salmonella

Chapter 2

🫧Two🫧

Terra and Gigi are usually so loud in the morning that they wake me way before my alarm, screwing up the rest of my day. But luckily for me, I got up bright and early today all on my own.

Hungry for breakfast, I open my door to an incoming avalanche of tops and skirts and slam it shut before the mound can flood my room.

Typical Margaday* morning.

While I wait for the girls to remove the avalanche, I hide out in my room, figuring I should get dressed in the meantime. I really don't know how they afford all these clothes when they spend so much of their lives partying. Then again, they work in the fashion industry. They're always surrounded by clothes.

I hear scraping and swishing sounds approaching my room and panic, struggling to get my shirt over my head. Hysterical laughs enter my room unannounced. I catch the girls' reflection in the mirror — they look stunning, fully made-up for whatever occasion today is, one in bright amber and the other in deep indigo. They've even dyed their hair to pair with their outfits.

"Think you're growing out of your tops, little guppy," sings Terra Bathyal, 22, as if she's doing me a favor by telling me I'm too big for my clothes. I grip my shirt in two hands, pulling it down lower to cover more of my stomach.

Terra checks her nails that are painted her signature orange just like her matching hair, makeup and bra top. "Uh, hey so ... Don't expect us home tonight, 'cause again, we're spending all day at the party..."

"At the Marvelous Mansion," swoons Gigi Bathyal, 21, probably just to rub it in. I get it, I wasn't invited. As if I'd want to go to some rich-people party anyway.

"You mean the Marmoris Mansion. Stop moving." Terra pulls Gigi to her to adjust the skirt sash around Gigi's waist.

"Uh, yeah... the marvelous Marmoris Mansion." Gigi turns to me smugly. "Jealous you can't come?" I see Terra's laughing eyes dart over to me, eager for my reaction.

I fold my arms. "You know I don't like parties. And I'm busy, anyway. I'm going to a museaum."

Terra's brows fly up. "Pfft, wow! I'm sure staring at statues of dead people is sooo much more exciting."

"There aren't any dead—"

Gigi covers her mouth with a hand. "A museaum? That's what got you up so early on a Margaday."

I feel my face crimson. "Hey, I got a free ticket, okay? I can't let it go to waste! And besides, I want to get some art references for my project on mythologi—"

The girls swim from the room, laughing haughtily. I hear the front door swoosh shut behind them and sigh. At least I can go have breakfast now...

𓆟 𓆟 𓆟

In my modern art class, we've spent the last few weeks delving into mythological creatures. Our final project is to create an imagined species of our own. Since a lot of us were stuck, our professor suggested looking at some real animals we like and creating hybrids of them. After trying out different combinations, we might find one we like enough to use for our final.

My plan is to make a creature with part of its skeleton showing, to give a fierceness and edginess to it, but also symbolize baring its insides and being vulnerable.

I spend a while sketching in the Ancient Animals wing, hoping for a spark of inspiration. I stare up at the Megalodon, the Mauisaurus, and all the skeletons in the wing, erasing and retracing curves to get my sketches just right. Sharp teeth are a nice feature, I decide. They really punctuate that fierceness I'm looking for in my creature. Hmm. Maybe if I combine the teeth from the Megalodon and the fins from...