Borderline

Session One: Chapter 1

Sophie had once again found herself at a new school, only this time it was because she was finally going on to middle school. It was a record for the Coleman family to stay in the same town for two years in a row. Vincent Coleman, Sophie's father, was constantly on the hunt for a new job, seeing as no place was good enough for him. Janine Coleman, her mother, was a lawyer who never had a chance to pursue her dream and start her own firm, because she wanted to support her husband on his quest for a satisfactory job. Mrs. Coleman was in fact their main source of income on most days.
The beginning of a school year at a new school was always a cause of stress for everyone in the family. Everyone anticipated when Sophie would have to meet new people, inducing most of her episodes. When exactly this started she had no idea, but it feels like she was born from this black hole that spilled every terrible thing out in the open.
"Now, I know this might be the hardest task for you to do, but Sophie, at least try to act normal." Mr. Coleman had told her that morning. It was something he said every time they moved, it was always Sophie's episodes that caused her father to lose his job by the end of the year. Not because he'd get fired but because he hated the attention shifting from him to his crazy daughter.
"Sweetie, if you just stay with your brother, everything will be alright. Sebastian, you'll look out for each other won't you?" Her mom would always say this afterwards, playing that role of sweet optimism. Sebastian, Sophie's twin brother, and the golden Coleman child, was the only source of joy in her life, he cherished and treated her as if she was the best thing that ever happened to him. And Sophie adored him for it.
"Of course I'll take care of my precious light" came Sebastian's usual answer putting a smile on Sophie's face.
The first day wasn't as bad as it was the previous years when she would start at a new school, a new town, with entirely new faces. This time, most of the people she was already with in elementary school and everyone stuck with their usual cliques. And anyways, this time she's not the new girl.
Still, Sophie stuck to her mother's advice for the first month at school, at first it went well and nothing was out of the ordinary. But then, due to her brother's utter charm and his friendliness with almost everyone he met, Sebastian became popular, fast, and Sophie became merely the shadow to Mr. Popular. During the second month of middle school, someone finally acknowledged Sophie's presence as more than a shadow. That someone was Alice Maya .
Alice came from a different elementary school than Sophie and Sebastian, a different town altogether. She was the new girl, and she was all about sunshine and rainbows. Alice was probably the happiest and the nicest kid Sophie had ever met. She had approached Sophie and Sebastian while they were eating in the cafeteria and saw that Sophie was eating her apple slices dipped in Nutella.
"I totally love eating them like that! Have you ever tried it with oranges? My parents never let me eat them like that, I just have to do it in secret. I'm Alice." She extended her hand to Sophie. She sure was a talkative one. Sophie only looked at her extended hand not knowing what to do. Sebastian took it.
"Hi, Alice, I'm Sebastian and this is my sister Sophie. You can eat with us if you want." There it was, his constant friendliness. Alice settled down with her tray of hot lunch from the cafeteria. She was finally at eye-level with Sophie, and Sophie got a good look at her. She was pretty indeed, she had long brown hair and a face full of freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks.
"I've tried it with carrots" Sophie said as she looked into Alice's friendly hazel eyes, that were now smiling back at her.