Jupiter's Children

Chapter 1

I woke up to the smoke alarm going off. What a terrific way to wake up. I sat up and put my feet on the floor, immediately regretting it. I have wooden floors, and they were freezing. I jumped up and ran downstairs just in time to see the basement door bust open, releasing my parents and a huge puff of dark, grey smoke. The smoke rushed into my face causing a coughing fit. My eyes began to burn as well, so I suspected something complex just exploded. Usually it isn't this bad. My mother raced over with a towel and started swatting at the smoke trying to get it to calm down while my father rushed into the basement with a fire extinguisher. Once the fire was out and the smoke was almost gone, my parents briefly apologized, and went back to the basement to work again. My parents are both scientists, and both workaholics. They always say they are on the brink of discovering something huge, but they won't tell us what it is they are trying to discover. They always tell us their work is "top secret." I jogged back upstairs to the bathroom to discover it was locked.

"Callisto! Get out I need to pee!" I yelled banging on the door.

He opened it moments later looking like he hadn't gotten much sleep at all. He shuffled past me as I walked in and shut the door behind me. I placed my hands on the counter and glanced up at the mirror. I hate my hair. It's jet black, naturally, its pin straight, and I have bright blue eyes to go with it. It's the same with my brother, we are twins, and we both have this freckle on the upper right corner of our mouths. I'm older by exactly two minutes, yay me. Once I got to thinking about how much I hated my hair, I started thinking about other things I hate. My name would be one example. Elara, so weird and uncommon, i guess it matched me. Callisto also has a strange name. It's because our parents are obsessed with space, being scientists and all. They are especially obsessed with Jupiter. Elara and Callisto are names of two of Jupiter's many moons. It's kind of embarrassing actually.
I brushed my teeth and applied a bit of makeup before exiting the bathroom and bumping into Callisto.

"Watch it, butthead" He said as he started going downstairs. I saw he dropped a pencil so I picked it up and whipped it at him. I missed, of course. 'Oh well' I thought as I turned to head to my room to grab my bag and get dressed. After I did I headed downstairs and grabbed my keys to my car. I stepped outside, and it was freezing. It's December 1st. I had just turned 16 recently and my parents bought both me and my brother cars. I hopped in my blue convertible bug, which is so cute, and went to pick up my best friend, Olivia. I parked in her drive way and honked my horn, and she came running out to me. She had a huge smile on her face and her blonde hair was extra curly today, she never does anything with her hair. 'She must be in an extreamly good mood.' I thought to myself as she jumped in the car.

"Guess what!" She said with a huge smile, flashing her perfectly straight teeth.

"What?"

"You have to guess!"

"Ughhhh its too early Liv, I can't guess. Just tell me?" I asked with a pouty face. She looked at me with a momentary annoyance and said,

"Ryan asked me out!"

"What! When?"

"Last night. We were texting and-"

"Wait," I cut her off, "he asked you out over text? Liv... That's lame." I said pulling out of her driveway and heading to school. Olivia is my best friend, I have known her since birth. She had been crushing on Ryan since the eighth grade, now we are sophomores in highschool. He's hot, but he's a bit of and idiot. As long as she's happy I guess I can live with it.

"Well he sent a picture of roses..." She said fading off at the end.

"No. Stop."

"But-"

"Shhhh" I said as we pulled into the school parking lot. I parked my car and got out. Olivia ran straight to Ryan and he put his arm around her as they walked away to class. I never really understood relationships, maybe because I've never liked anybody. People have asked me out before, but I've never felt like it was right. I sighed and went to my first period. We have exams this week. Today will be spent in my first and second period classes taking exams. First period, science. It's all about space and the planets. Growing up with scientists for parents who study planets specifically, this is the easiest class ever. I flew through the exam and went to second period, English, and flew through that too. Once school was over I was waiting by my car for Olivia only to get a text saying,

"Heyyyyy! Ryan is driving me home today. He's so sweet ❤ "

Ugh. Whatever. I drove home and sat down at the kitchen table to study for my math exam. There's this one problem that I can't figure out.

"Callisto!" I yelled, "can you help me with math?"

"Nah I'm busy!" He yelled back. Fine. Ill just ask dad then. I walked over to the basement door and knocked on it.

"Come in!" I heard my mother yell.

I walked down into the basement that was lit with technology. Tons of computers of all sizes and chemical mixes of all different colors everywhere.

"Mom, dad, can one of you help me with math?" I asked.

"Not right now, princess" my dad said, "We are the closest we have ever been to a break through. Look it up on one of the computers."

"Okay..." I said as I sat in front of one of the computers and typed in my problem. The screen read, "ERROR"
If the computer can't solve it, then its unsolvable. I grabbed my math sheet with a sigh, went upstairs and plopped down on my bed. I glanced out my window and saw a thick layer of fog. The weather has been changing all day. It was freezing this morning, then pretty warm in the afternoon. It went from gloomy, to sunny, and now foggy. This is very strange. I shut my eyes and began to drift off to sleep as it began to rain and pitter pattered on the roof to create a peaceful lullaby.