The Odds of You and Me

03 | avant-garde

A V A N T - G A R D E

"There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven't started wondering about yet."

-James and the Giant Peach

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It was Monday, and I had gotten up at six to make time for a morning run before school. It was strange to be without my personal trainer, Tammy, who was always so fun and encouraging. I loved to run, even though I was self-conscious of my long legs which constantly knock kneed. I always ran on he treadmill, so it was refreshing to be able to run in the fields and on the country road which no cars were on this early.

I ran three miles out, and three miles back, which took about fifty minutes for me to complete at a steady pace. Charlotte, however, could run sprints really fast, but also run  half-marathons and 10ks with great endurance. I swear, she was a cheetah in her past life or something.

I got back to the house, passing Easton's on my way, and found a plate of breakfast waiting for me. "Thanks so much, Aunt Hillary!" I said, quickly digging in after a quick shower and a change of clothes. There were some boiled vegetables, a boiled egg cut into neat pieces next to a sausage, and a bowl of oatmeal with frozen fruit on top. It was quite possibly the best and most invigorating breakfast I'd ever had.

"Ready for school?" Aunt Hillary asked, as Charlotte came out, drowsily rubbing her eyes.

"Yep, I'm excited," I responded. The dopamine levels in my brain were soaring high from the run and the amazing food, which made me even more positively anxious for my first day of high school.

"I'm a sophomore too," Charlotte added, raising her hand with a mouth full off egg. "Same as Alexis. I can show her around."

"You better," Aunt Hillary reprimanded. "Also, swallow before talking. No one wants to see that nasty chewed up food in your mouth."

It turned out Easton was the one who drove Charlotte to school every morning, since Uncle Smith needed to get to work every day at seven, which was too early. The two families were super close, naturally, considering that they were neighbors and the only people around for miles.

Easton pulled onto the gravel makeshift driveway in his tattered, rusted truck, which was seriously chipping paint now that I've gotten a good look at it. "Hurry up! We're late!" He hollered impatiently, as Charlotte struggled to shove her feet into her sandals. I was wearing some Converse, paired in an outfit with some high waisted floral shorts and a white shirt. I spent quite awhile searching for an outfit that didn't seem too dressy or too casual.

"What's new," Charlotte muttered in response, clambering into the backseat with her multiple bags swinging around. I lifted myself up into the passenger seat, so I could control the radio. It was already on, blasting some ugly sounding country music. The singer had a scratchy voice, there was no melody and the music was hella flat.

"We need to change the station right now," I said, twisting the knob. There was still an old fashioned cassette tape player in the truck. People rarely use CDs nowadays, let along cassette tapes. I switched to the top songs station, and my ears were immediately met with my own voice. They were playing a song from the last album I released, about half a year ago.

"Hey, didn't like the girl die on overdose of drugs or something?" Easton spoke.

"It was a pain reliever," I clarified defensively. I felt Charlotte become silent behind me, because Easton didn't know that I was, in fact, Alessia.