Something About Septimus

15 - No More Brothers.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

My hand reached out and smacked my alarm clock, silencing it. I gazed out the window and saw little tiny snowflakes falling to the ground in a flurry. The first snow fall of the season. My smile grew wide and I hopped out of bed. I snatched my phone from my dresser and immediately called Kaitlyn.

"It's snowing!" I yelled into the reciever.

"Yes I see that." She responded back. 

"Is school closed?" I asked as I put her on speaker phone and began to strip out of my pajamas.

"Unfortunately, no. I'll be house your house in 15 minutes. Hurry up and get ready because I know you're not dressed yet."

"Psht I'm all dressed and ready. Why do you doubt me so much Katy?" (Katy was the nickname I had for her and she hated it.)

"Stop lieing to me Etta Marie Collins. I'll be there in 15 minutes so get your butt moving."

I heard a click as she hung up. I mumbled mean things about her as I pulled on a pair of jeans and a black sweater. I ran a brush through my hair, making my straight blonde hair smooth and soft. I applied minimal make-up to my eyes and I began to head downstairs to grab a quick breakfast.

I've changed a little over the past couple of months. I now wore make-up and I now wear my hair straight even though it's naturally wavy and very thick. Also I stopped wearing those stupid thick-rimmed glasses and I threw away all of my nerdy shirts. It was a very difficult process to get rid of them but Kaitlyn kind of forced me and then bought me a whole bunch of new clothes. How could a girl refuse that?

I have not spoken to any of the brothers since I left their house that day. I saw Spencer, Septimus and even Sebastian throughout the day because they were in my classes but I haven't uttered a single word to any of them. Every night Septimus still went into the forest and I noticed that Spencer and Seth were never home. I kind of missed the brothers but that was my doing and I was going to stick with it. 

I was pretty happy without the brothers. I got to spend more time with my mom because I was now volunteering at the hospital with my mother and also helping out with the patients (it was great community service hours and the people there were also really nice.) Kaitlyn drove me to school everyday, then I would walk to the hospital and spend a couple of hours with my mother and she would take me home every night. I was close to finally getting my own license and Kaitlyn told me that even when I have my license that she will continue driving me places because it just didn't feel right if she didn't do it.

I had to admit that things were going really great now. It was the day before Christmas break and everyone was so excited to finally get out of this hell-hole. 

I made it downstairs and I heard a sharp honk from the front of my house. How long did it take me to get downstairs? I shook my head as I hastily grabbed my winter coat and a protein shake from the fridge.

"BYE MOM!" I yelled up the stairs. I waited a second and no answer came. She was probably still sleeping but I didn't care.

I ran out the door and dashed into Kaitlyn's car to avoid my hair getting wet and snowy. I clicked my seat belt on as Kaitlyn pulled out of my driveway. I opened my bottle of protein and chugged the whole thing.

"Slow down there bucko. Don't hurt yourself."

I laughed. "What? I'm hungry and I wasn't able to get a sufficient breakfast because someone was in a hurry." I gave her a pointed look and she shrugged.

I wanted to get to school early. Don't blame a girl for wanted to study before her exams."

"We have no exams today Katy."

Her lips pursed into a thin line and I smirked. 

"I can't tell you why we need to be early."

I leaned towards her in my seat, my seatbelt constrictnig me. "What's going to happen this morning."

"Nothing" Kaitlyn responded too quickly.

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't you lie to me Kaitlyn Elise Brown."

She glanced at me and smiled. "I'm not. Nothing is going to happen. Now calm yourself, we're almost to the school."

We sat in silence for the rest of the car ride.

Kaitlyn parked in her usual spot and we both got out of her car and headed to the doors. Snow still fell down on us in little puff balls but it wasn't sticking to the ground yet which was a disappointment. 

Kaitlyn and I walked to our lockers and the whole time she had a goofy smile on her face.

"Seriously Kaitlyn, what is going on? You look really creepy right now."

She never answered me but her whole face lit up when she looked behind me. I turned around and to my utter astonishment there was Septimus walking towards us with a little smile on his face.

He too changed in the past couple of months. He was slightly taller and more muscular and lean. His dirty blond hair was darker and longer than it usually was. I thought I would have noticed these differences but I haven't seen him face to face since that night in the woods. I only saw him in classes and when he walked into the woods. But I wasn't focused on him then and also it was dark when he took his daily walk.

Septimus stopped in front of me and smiled. "Hey Etta."

I nodded to him. "Hey yourself."

Kaitlyn put a hand on my shoulder. "I'll see you two later." She began to walk away. When she was some distance away she turned around and winked at me.

"I am so going to kill that girl."

Septimus laughed. "Don't do that. Blame me. I've been wanted to talk to you for a while and I finally got the nerve. You look-" His eyes wandered up and down my body. "You look really good."

I blushed and smiled sheepishly. "You do too Sep."

We sat there in silence for a few moments.

"Hey I-"

"I kind of-"

We both spoke at the same time. I laughed awkwardly and so did he.

"You go first-"

"No you-"

We laughed again and Septimus scratched the back of his neck shyly.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out again sometime. I've really missed you Etta. My brothers are acting really strange...especially Seth. That Trina girl is messing with him and I don't like it. I just need someone sane to hang out with."

I giggled. "I see. I kind of missed you too Sep. As lovely as it was seeing my mom and Kaitlyn everyday...I need someone else to talk to or I'll go crazy."

Septimus flashed me a toothly smile. "Great! How does tonight sound? Take a little walk?"

I nodded. "Sounds good."

He nodded too, then turned on his heel and continued to walk down the hallway. I sighed and leaned into my closed locker door.

I never really realized how much I missed Septimus until now. Feelings that I suppressed long ago came flooding back and they felt nice. I thought I got rid of those feelings long ago...but I was wrong. They were definetly there all along. 

The bell rang and I jumped. I realized that I would probably be really late to my first class. But I didn't care. I ran, almost skipped, to the room with the biggest smile ever on my face.