Outlier

I

It's May 10th, my 13th birthday. This is the day I am taken more seriously. The day I become a woman. Me and Guppy are very excited... I can feel it in both of us.

"Good morning,mama! What a wonderful, happy, joyous day today will be! I am very excited."

" I can see that," Mama said as she wiped her delicate hands of soapy bubbles. She looked up at me and smiles as she opens her arms to me.
" Happy Birthday, sweetheart! You are on the verge of becoming an adult. I hope you'll actually act like a woman now." She says as she hugs me tight. I could barely breathe.

" Of course, I'll be the best woman there is!"

"Good. Now be a darling and finish the dishes, I have some work to do."
"But I'm the birthday girl." I said with a puppy pout on my face along with an innocent voice.

She laughs at my horrible pleading face. "Fine...but you are going to cook tonight!" She exclaimed as I went back to my room, rolling my eyes. It seems like the older I get the more chores I do. I wish we had maids again.
Father used to be an incredibly wealthy man. He never told me or mama what he did for a living but he had a lot of money. A lot.

We lived in a humungous mansion with chandeliers and fancy glass decorations everywhere. That house was where I would explore everyday since father purposely bought it to have secret rooms. When he was home, I'd drag him to follow me through the vents and secret doorways so we could explore together.
I loved him very much, he was a great father even though he had to leave all the time for "business". He'd always get me something and I'd cherish it forever. And I know he loved me and Guppy very much.

But one morning, he left. He was gone. I asked mother where he was bit she never answered my question but told me instead:
"We're moving"
Now we live in an apartment that we painted minty green together. But my room is sunshine yellow and hers is a bold red. We customized everything together, I didn't care about our old house anymore. I didn't think about my favorite spot being hidden twenty feet underground. Great, now I'm thinking about it and to be honest, I do miss it.

"Mama?" I yell from my room two hours after getting ready.

"Yes dear, what's up?" She answers as she bolts to the door of my bedroom.

"Where's Guppy?" I ask, staring at her as I sit on the fluffy floor.

"Guppy?" She repeats in confusion.

"Yes mom,Guppy."
There was a silence.

"You mean, your brother? The one you nicknamed Guppy?"

"Yes." I say staring into space. " I thought you'd forget about him."

"I'll never forget...Guppy. He was my child...my baby...I remember when you first saw him. You asked 'Why is he so small? He's so small like a fish. Like a guppy!' I remember."

Another silence came between us. I laughed for a second then stopped.

"But where is he?" I say actually looking up. I try to look her in the eye but she looks down. Her short black hair covers her face. I look down also.

"Elle, I don't know where Guppy is, okay? You want to know so many things that I don't have the answer to. I do not know where he is."

"You're lying to me. I heard you talking to dad. Before he left. I know he's dead. He's dead isn't he?" I exclaim. I didn't cry though because I've cried out all of my tears, I have run out.

"He is not! Elle, believe me. I don't know where he ran away to!" She exclaim even louder. I calmed down trying to contain my anger. Trying to turn my 220 down to 98.6 again. Breathe,Elle, breathe.

"He ran away." I repeat after her. Finally understanding. "Why is everyone running away from us?" I ask.

Someone knocked on the door.

I open the door to see a boy around my age in front of me. I smile as he stares as at me creepily and I stared back, smiling.

"Uh...are you Elle Brown? You're in my...um...history class?" The boy stuttered.

"Yeah. You're Thomas?" I ask.

"Yup,that's me. I...uh... was wondering if you had notes for the test on Monday..."

"Sure! Come on in!" I say. Thomas was the quietest person I've ever met. He had geeky glasses and the darkest eyes ever. As if they were black, like mine. His hair was black like mine but shorter. But when ever I talk to him, he avoids eye contact, like mama.

I dig into my backpack and found my social studies notebook. As I handed it to him, he looks up at me. I smile again not knowing what else to do.

" Would you be willing to study with me?" He asked out of the blue.

"Today?" I ask.
"Yeah, well tomorrow is Monday..."
"I can't today's my birthday and I'm having a party. You should come." I say with a bit of guilt in my voice.
" That's okay."

This kid is known for being really smart and never talking. But when he does, he gets hurt.

"No really. You should come."

"I don't know we'll see...oh and um..." He started to stutter nervously again. "Happy birthday."

"Oh thank you!" I say in the politest way possible. I knew there and then he had a crush on me. It was very obvious, I just had to...I had to ask.

"Hey, do you think maybe we could go out sometime? It seems to me as you kinda like me."

He froze, surprised by the suddenness of the question. I was scares for a second I just embarrassed myself, but luckily he smiled.

"Yeah sure. Maybe on Wednesday?" He asked.

"Why not? Meet me here at six." I answered. He turns around, with a wide smile on his face.

Oh no! What did I get myself into? But he's a good kid, right? He's cute in his special way but not boy-band-cute, if you know what I mean. This is gonna be great...I hope.