Underground

2

Estelle
Logan shakes me awake, her foot nudging my shoulder as she stood over me. "Wake up, Dad wants you to go to work with him."
I rub my eyes and sit up. "Maverick?"
"Nope, Logan." She says, pulling me up. "Mom made waffles, hurry up."
"Waffles?" I ask.
"It's food, now let's go." Logan says, pulling me off the ground.
I fall back onto my knees, then pushing myself up. "I'm not hungry."
"Well, I am, just have some coffee or something." Logan says, grabbing my bicep and pulling me out of the room.
The smell of food hits my nose, like a punch in the face, and honestly, it was painful.
Logan walks us to the kitchen and releases me.
Nigel walks into the room, wearing a lab coat, a button-up shirt, and khakis. "Oh, why aren't you dressed?"
I shrug, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
"Are you hungry, E?" Jane asks.
"E?" I ask in return.
"It's a nickname sweetie, Estelle's too long to just say casually." Jane explains.
"No it's not." Nigel says. "It's actually quite short in comparison to my family's names."
"Well your family is weird and German." Jane says.
"Says the Irish one." Logan blurts.
"Well the Irish one is right." Jane says, turning on her heel, setting a mug of a brown liquid in front of me.
"What's this?" I ask.
"Coffee, darling, drink up." Jane offers
"Unless Dad wants it, then donate to the cause." Logan says sarcastically.
"Nigeel?" I ask, handing the mug to him.
Nigel gives a closed-mouth smile. "Thanks sweetheart."
"Logan, go get Esty dressed and ready to go to work with Nigel." Jane orders, pointing a spatula threateningly at Logan.
"Stop calling her nicknames and just call her Estelle." Nigel says. "You're making her sound like some kind of baby."
"Yeah whatever." Jane says, not fully caring anymore.
Logan, again, grabs my bicep and pulling me back up the stairs. "What do you wanna wear?"
"Something normal." I say, nodding.
"Well, there's a variety of normal." Logan says.
"Normal to you." I demand.
Logan smiles and grabs a pair of pants and a shirt out of her dresser. "Here ya go."
I give a nod as a thanks as she walks out of the room.
I get dressed in the clothes she gave me from her dresser.
She gave me a black short sleeve shirt with a slight v-neck and also skinny jeans.
I walk back downstairs and stand by Nigel.
He reaches down and picks up some of Logan's discarded shoes. "Logan we're using these."
"Okay!" She yells from the living room.
I take the shoes and put them on.
"Are we ready?" He asks.
I nod.

At the lab, Jackson had hired a lady to train me in English and combat.
Her name was Abigail Reechee and she was what they call "Asian." Realistically, she was just really tan and had squinty eyes. She's a very nice lady.
She taught me how to correctly say Nigel and Jackson's name, and the months and the days of the week.
She also taught me how to correctly punch a dummy, but dummies don't move so I don't think it'll be very effective.
Now, Nigel and I are leaving, and getting into his car.
"I think we need to get you a phone."
I look at him. "A phone?"
"Yeah, it can help you communicate and such." Nigel says, turning the car down a street.
"How?" I ask.
"I guess it has something to do with circuit boards and wireless-connection, I don't know, you would have to give me a model." He says.
"Is it breakable?" I ask.
"Of course, if something is built, there's always a way to break it." He pauses. "As I like to say."
"Oh." I say.
Nigel pulls into the parking lot of some store, and gets out, motioning me to follow.
I pop open the car door and follow Nigel into the store.

What seemed like ages later, I had a phone, with a pretty case. The case had an elephant on it.
On my way out of the store, I bump into a person, a male person specifically.
I look up into chocolate brown eyes, which makes my heart skip a beat.
"I am so sorry." He apologizes.
"Me too." I say, the corners of my mouth perking into a smile.
"Let me make it up to you, how about dinner?" He asks.
"Um, maybe names first." I reply.
"Oh, I totally forgot! I'm August, August Jones." He says.
"I'm Estelle Zaveri." I say.
We just stand there looking at each other.
A few minutes later Nigel walks out of the shop.
"C'mon Esty, we've got to be home before-- Oh, who's your friend?" Nigel says.
"This is August." I say, turning to Nigel.
"Who's that?" August asks.
"That's Nigel." I say.
"Estelle, we should be home before Logan, it's what's expected." Nigel says.
"Um, bye August, nice meeting you." I say, tearing my eyes away and walking to Nigel's car.
I hop in the passenger's seat and fiddle with my phone.
Nigel hops in the driver seat and starts driving.

"Did you meet anyone new?" Jane asks over dinner.
Nigel answers for me. "She met Abigail and some guy on the street."
"His name was August." I say.
"Does this August have a last name?" Logan asks.
"August Jones." I answer softly, stirring my pounded potatoes with my fork.
"Like the author?" Jane asks.
"Author of?" Nigel asks.
"Y'know, those romance books that Logan and I read." Jane says, somewhat dreamily.
"Oh! Not those! Those are terrible!" Nigel says.
Logan looks offended. "Says you of all people, all you read is nonfiction."
"Because I don't wanna fill my head with lies." Nigel says.
"Lies are better worded and more interesting than the truth." Jane throws in.
The family was too busy arguing to notice I had discarded my plate and scurried up the stairs to Logan's room.
I flick the lights on and plop myself down on her desk, grabbing my phone out of my pocket. It was smooth, and electric.
I set it on the desk and turn off the lights and wriggle into my make-shift bed, staring at the ceiling, then falling asleep.