"...So, what's the difference between a dystopia and a utopia?" Mrs. Sanders asked the class. Someone responded to the question, though Vee barely noticed.
Struggling to stay focused, she scribbled on her fingernails with her mechanical, light green pencil. One nail she colored completely black, then the next had horizontal stripes. A perpendicular nail, a diagonal. She drew spots on her thumb.
"... it's impossible! Right? That's what I want you guys to decide..."
What was Cole going to do with the cat? Nadia was allergic. He couldn't keep it. It's nice he wants to take care of it, and it doesn't deserve to suffer or anything but... there's people more qualified to take care of it, right? Like, an animal shelter, it's literally their job to take care of it! And what if he or Nadia get sick? Nadia already has allergies. What if she gets fleas?
Even still... when Vee saw the cat kneading the heating blanket with its one paw as she walked past Cole's room this morning... it was pretty cute. It reminded her of Stitch in some ways. Kind of weird and ugly, but soft.
"... Groups of two! I want a PowerPoint on your own utopian or dystopian community. I have my requirements listed on the board so please take note of them."
Vee swallowed hard. A group project? She hadn't been paying any attention! Her pale blue eyes skimmed the white board.
A group of two was required to present a PowerPoint of fifteen slides by the end of the week, explaining the laws of their dystopian or utopian realm, Vee gathered quickly. Oh, Gosh. Vee thought, I always partnered up with Carter, I don't really want to work with anyone else.
Vee looked around the room. Already most of the class had gotten up from their seats, and most students were pairing up with other students they've partnered with since the beginning of the year.
Suddenly, Vee's blue eyes locked with a pair of brown ones. They belonged to Dylan, a brunette boy with curly hair. Today he wore a pair of blue jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt. He approached Vee.
"Hey!" Dylan greeted, taking the empty seat in front of Vee. Carter's old seat. The tables in Miss Sanders' class were set in pods, and each pod had four tables. Ashlyn and Kim sat in the other two chairs. Though instead of discussing their project, they talked about what movie they wanted to see after school.
"Hey, Dylan." Vee returned with a friendly smile before shifting her attention towards her class notes- she had a few lines jotted down, but mostly the paper was crisp and clean, completely untouched.
"Do you need help?" Dylan asked, following Vee's line of sight, "You didn't take any notes."
Vee lifted an eyebrow, "You help me?" She asked, teasing. Normally it was the other way around, as the two shared a math class as well. Vee's memory went back to when she, Dylan, and Carter completed their classwork together.
Dylan sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest in shock, "Wow." He said loudly, a big grin across his face, revealing the little gap in his teeth.
"Sorry." Vee smiled softly. She knew Dylan hadn't been offended by her comment, but still it was maybe a little rude. "I'm just a little distracted, I guess."
"Carter?" Dylan guessed.
Vee shrugged. As the months went on less and less people talked about her. How could they move on so fast? Vee knew Carter was safe, but they didn't. "Why doesn't anyone else care?" She asked. Cole and Nadia seemed so nonchalant about the whole ordeal as well, like they knew it was bound to happen.
"Cole brought home a cat." Vee said softly, suddenly looking to change the subject at Dylan's lost, sad expression. He didn't know what to say about Carter, but he's the first person in a while to try.
"What?" Dylan asked, confused.
"My brother." Vee said, "He found it in the street the other week- it's missing a leg so he keeps calling it Tripod."
"Tripod." Dylan repeated.
"It's the mangiest thing I've ever seen, and Nadia is so allergic to it." Vee giggled.
"What's he going to do with it?" Dylan asked.
Vee shrugged, "Who knows. He'll have to find a home for it. We can't keep it with Nadia."
"I'm sure someone will take it." Dylan said, "I know I would if I didn't already have two."
Glancing down at her notes, then back to Dylan, Vee moved on to the task at hand, "Do you want to be my partner?" She asked, "I'm a little behind though."
"For sure." Dylan grinned, then, "But class is about to end."
Turning towards the clock, Vee saw Dylan was right. In four minutes, the bell would ring and the highschoolers would make way for their next period.
"Are you busy after school?" Vee asked Dylan, "Do you want to come over? We can make the PowerPoint on Cole's laptop, then we won't have to worry about it later."
Surprised, Dylan took a moment to respond, "Uh, yeah, sure!"
"Sorry," Vee said, realizing how outright her offer was, "You don't have to. Carter and I usually did our projects right away so we had less to do later."
"No, I'm down." Dylan insisted, "It'd be nice to get it out of the way."
It's been a while since anyone's come over, Vee thought. But it might be nice to bring a friend around the house again. Is Dylan a friend? The two talked sometimes but not often. But he was friendly enough, and Vee liked the gap in his teeth.
