A random, gloomy, Monday in September 2012
Celia Conners woke up early, around 6. It was her first day of school in this totally new environment, and her blaring alarm was not a fun wake up call. The 3 hour time difference did not help the already overwhelming experience of moving all the way across the country.
She groaned as she stretched her way out of bed, almost falling on the floor, but planting her feet, catching herself before she did. She made her way over to some piled boxes that had been sitting for nearly 3 days. She'd been too lazy to unpack, despite her dad repeatedly asking. She sighed as she yanked out the first t-shirt and jeans that she saw and threw them on without a singular care in the world. Checking the time, she groaned before walking over to the kitchen where she put a pot of coffee on, then made her way to her dad's room. Knocking on the door, she pushed it open. "Dad, cmon, it's morning, get up." Celia tugged on his blankets and shook the mattress sitting on the floor. "I put the coffee on for you already, and I have to leave soon for school." she yawned as you walked out of the room.
Mr. Connors, Celia's Dad, had earned a living as a scientist, working with insane theories about cross species things that Celia had not cared about enough to understand. Pretty much the only thing she knew about it, or at least thought was associated with it, was his injury that resulted in the loss of his right forearm. His experiments and research had failed, years ago, and he had been shunned out of the community, most especially by his ex-partner, Richard Parker, causing him to move from loud New York to sunny California. As the years passed, he'd eventually bought a cozy home and settled down so comfortably that, although it still hurt, the death of his ol' pal Rich hardly affected his life, other than emotionally. Conners was lucky enough to still be alive with his wonderful, smart wife, Martha (who had a PhD in astrophysics) and their 2 children, one being Celia, and the other being her older brother, Billy, who was currently attending University of Michigan, studying biopsycho-something. A major that Celia had also not cared about enough to memorize. At least, that's what she told people.
Celia opened the door and stuck her head into the hallway, looking at the floor and picking up the newspaper that the neighbors' 6-year-old kid decided to kindly drop off every day. You skimmed what you could see without opening the thing and shut the door. The word "goblin" stood out to her on the page, but it didn't really register enough for real though. She just figured it was some sort of video game, parents complaining saying it's rotting kid's brains or something. Lina tossed the paper down onto the counter before slowly making her way over to the fridge. She sighed as she studied the contents: an orange, a carton of eggs, half a gallon of milk, and some apple juice. She grabbed an egg and scrambled it in a pan before pouring 2 cups of coffee. She drank one quickly, leaving the other sitting on the table next to an empty plate. She slid the eggs off the pan onto the plate, before tossing that into the sink, and reaching over for the newspaper, which was then placed beside the plate. "Dad, cmon, get up!" She called as she walked around the table. "Why do you have to wake me up so early, I don't start work for another 2 days." He sighed as he slowly stepped over to the table. "To start a good schedule." She checked her old, worn and decaying, well loved watch, "I have to go to school, I'm gonna be late." She kissed her dad on the cheek as she walked over to the door, where she'd left her shoes. She slid them on and picked up her backpack. "By the way, we need groceries. Today. Or we will literally starve." she tiredly half-smiled. "Will do. Have a good day at school, love you." "Love you too." She shut the door.
From a young age, Celia had always felt the want, the need, to live up to her parent's genius. Her brother, only 2.5 years older than her, had been known around their elementary school as the smart kid. On her first day, it was always "Do you have a brother? Is he William Connors? .. Wow.." What was previously known as motivation quickly turned into expectations and pressure. And she did not excel in school the way she'd hoped to. When Billy had "pleasure to have in class" written on every report card, Celia had "needs improvement" or "Disruptive". Her feeling of displacement reflected in her way of living, her actions, her style, her everything. She wanted to fit in with her family, but she was constantly in comparison to her brother. Originally, she tried to stand out with her actions. If he stood out on the page, she was going to jump and scream until there was room for nothing else. As she aged though, she realized why this attention wasn't so much the same. So she decided to just try and fade into the background. They'd been seen as so different that by middle school, no one even asked if they were related anymore. How could they be? Billy was a brain who played basketball for the school's team, and Celia was a loner who was annoying and loud in elementary school and suddenly switched to a quiet, dark-tone wearing tween. They never spoke either, due to their age gap and the weird social circles and hierarchies in school. He never realized what she was going through. If he had he would've done something. She knew that and didn't mention it. She didn't want to make it a thing. She would never have chosen to have all the attention she got for the following few years.
YOU ARE READING
Until I Drown (Peter Parker) [TASM]
RomancePeter Parker x Fem!OC Set in The Amazing Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield/Sony) Universe After moving across the country, Celia Connors has a lot to adapt to. New school, new people, new neighborhood criminals, new superheroes... lets just say New York...