Chimera (Book 2)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 Sofia stared blankly at the math worksheet lying on the desk in front of her. It had been completely filled out for at least fifteen minutes now and she still had another ten to go before the bell rang, and she was already bored out of her mind. Even so, her plans were coming together. She was able to infiltrate the school and was at least able to get into one of the classes with Joshua, she had hoped for more, but the one she got was a close one that she had to change at the last minute.

Ever since she saw Joshua on TV she knew she had to get to know him, really get to know him. She wanted to know everything about him, and she wanted to pet his soft black fur and cuddle up with him next to a fire. To her he was the cutest cat alive. She smiled at the thought before looking at the clock again. Nine more minutes, really. How much more of this could she take, it was as if someone pressed the slow motion button on her life. She stared hard at the clock hoping if she concentrated hard enough it would move faster.

 Looking around the room she could still see that half the class working on their assignment. Now Sofia was no genius, but she wasn’t about to waste energy on math when there were much more important things to be concerned with. She flipped through the pages of her worksheet smiling at how quickly she did it and wondering how accurate it was knowing full well that she had made no attempt whatsoever on a quarter of the problems.

 She pushed the paper aside and returned her thoughts to Joshua. She didn’t only want to be with him, but she wanted to be like him. She wondered what it was like to have a thick coat of fur and a long fluffy tail. She wondered what color she could be, and if pink was even an option. She continued her daydreaming right up until the moment the bell rudely awakened her back to reality.

 “Don’t forget to put your assignments in the basket before you leave.” The teacher said over the noisy crowd of students who were already halfway to the door.

 Sofia wasted no time. She grabbed her bag and threw her mediocre assignment in the basket before heading straight for the front of the school. Hopefully she could make it in time to 'accidently' bump into Joshua.

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Joshua was waiting out in front of the school to walk home when Tony showed up with Sam.

“Hey Josh,” he shouted as he neared. “Let dad know I went to Sam’s house and that I’ll be back by dinner.”

 "Ok.” He replied. “Oh wait, have you seen Sara yet?”

 “Yeah, she already went home so you don’t need to wait for her?”

 “What about Joey?”

 “Don’t know, but he’ll probably be with Jen. You’d be better off walking home alone than being that third wheel.” He said with a smirk.

 “I guess I’m walking home alone then.” Josh frowned.

 “Are you going to be ok, we can walk you home first if you want.” Tony asked.

 “It’s ok, I’ll be fine.” He said. “I’ll see you later.”

 “Later.” Tony said already walking away.

 Joshua started walking home but didn’t get far before someone else was calling his name. It was a girl’s voice and at first he thought it was Sara, that maybe she had stuck around awhile. He turned around to see who it was.

 “Joshua!”

 “Sofia?” Josh whispered, his heart starting to beat faster.

 “Joshua, Hold up.” She said as she approached him and held out her hand for him to hold it. “Let’s walk home together.”

 Joshua’s heart starting pumping harder and he began purring again. He never had a girl approach him in this way especially one as beautiful as Sofia. He was embarrassed as nearby students watched, some with slight interest and curiosity, others in obvious disgust. He couldn’t think of anything to say or do, so his body did the only natural thing it had been trained to do when a hand was presented to hold, he held it and shyly began walking.

 He had only gone a couple of steps before Sofia stopped and pulled him back. “Don’t you live this way?” she asked pointing the other direction. In his haste to escape from prying eyes of other students he hadn’t realized he had just started walking the way he had been facing when he turned around to greet Sofia.

 “Uhh y-y-yes, yes of course.” He stuttered and began walking in the right way.

 They walked silently along the sidewalk, Sofia petting his arm and staring at him with a fascination in her eyes and a smile on her face.  It was unusual for him to get so much attention from a girl, and he wasn’t all comfortable with it at first especially in front of other people, but as they furthered from the school grounds he became more and more comfortable and welcoming of her company.

 Sofia stopped suddenly as they rounded the corner of a street. “Joshua,” she said turning him and gazing deeply with her dark blue eyes into his own. “Do you like me?”

 “Uhh, Yeah I guess.” He said struggling with the words and feeling like an idiot the minute they escaped his lips.

 “You guess? What do you mean you guess?” she asked surprised at his lack of conviction.

 “Well, I mean, we just met. I don’t really know you.” He said fearing she might leave him before any relationship even started.

 She perked up and thought about it a moment. “Oh, I see.” She said returning her eyes to his. “Well, we’ll have to fix that then won’t we?”

 Joshua sighed deeply in his mind and smiled. “Yes, that would be nice.”

 “So, what do you want to know first about me?” she asked as they resumed walking.

 “Uhh, I don’t know, what’s your favorite color?”

 “Pink! Isn’t it obvious?” she said as she lifted her hand that was intertwined with his own and rotated so as to see the bright pink nail polish on her fingernails.  “How about a hard question.”

 “Ok, where are you from?” He asked.

 “Oooh, that is a hard one.” She said taking a deep breath. “Well I was Born in Ukraine, moved to United States when I was five, and I have lived in many different places since I got here so it would be hard to say where I am from.”

 “Wow, you’re from Ukraine. Where is that anyway?” he asked excitedly.

 “Well sort of, I guess. Ukraine is just south of Russia and north of the Black sea.” She stated.

 “I think that would be so cool to go to another country.”

 “What do you mean, you’ve been to Canada.”

 “Well Canada doesn’t count it’s not that different from America.”

 “Of course not, it is in North America,” she said teasingly “but it is a different country.”

 “You know what I mean, and how did you know I’ve been to Canada?”

“Oh I know a lot about you my little koshka.” She smiled villainously. 

 “How do you know so much about me?” he asked.

She looked back at him quizzically “You really don’t know?”

“No, why else would I ask.”

“You were on the news, all over the internet. How could anybody not know a ton about you without living under a rock somewhere?”

“Oh right. I wasn’t that famous though, just a few articles about me, it’s not like I was interviewed like Sara.”

“You need to Google your name.  You would be amazed at what you found now.”

“Sounds like I have some homework on the first day of school after all.” He said.

“Yes you do,” She smiled. “and I know the perfect study partner for you.”

He looked at her and smiled. They continued talking to each other all the way to his home.