𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀 | elektra perkins

013: viva carmen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Viva Carmen

❁ AUTHOR'S NOTE ❁
this chapter contains depictions of a lil panic attack/breakdown and is also shorter than most, sorry about this!
❁❁❁

Nova woke up the following day feeling more melancholic than usual. She tried to wallow in self pity in her bed for most of the day, but Liam insisted Nova gave him a rematch at pool, knocking on her door every five minutes until she gave in. The red head had gotten dressed into baggy trousers and an oversized knit sweater. She had thrown her ginger curls into a top knot.

Nova sat in the window of the lounge, knees to her chest, waiting for Liam to take his go at pool. Their game had been interrupted when Carmen's mum had turned up. Nova watched from the doorway of the lounge as Carmen refused to see her mother. Nova frowned; she'd give anything to see her mum again.

Nova realised there in that doorway, watching Carmen and her mother fight, that she was angry at her mum for leaving her with her father. She sat in the window now, as Liam was potting every one of his balls consecutively, thinking about this newfound anger. Then she was angry at herself for getting angry at her mum, and by extension her little sister. Nova was sure her frown line was permanent by now.

Nova was brought out of her self-destructive thoughts by the noise of everyone arguing about Carmen's mum.
"She hasn't seen her mum in ages, then when she shows up she screams her head off and runs away. No way her mum's going to come back now." Johnny said, slumping down onto the sofa.
"Who cares, they're just parents." Sapphire shrugged, her attention more prominently on her phone than anything else.
"She's probably got reasons why she doesn't want to see her mum. What happens if she's like your dad?" Liam replied to Johnny, finally having missed his shot.
"He is not our dad!" Johnny replied angrily.

Nova couldn't take any more of the loud arguing, and closed her eyes and pressed her hands against her ears. She burrowed her head in her knees and started rocking forward and backward, humming her favourite song into her legs. Everything was so loud, and it reminded Nova of nights when her father was drunk and picked fights with anything living, nights when her father used to yell at her when Nova couldn't stop Liliana from crying, nights when Nova had to lock herself in the bathroom, too scared of her father to trust being in the same room as him.

Johnny and Liam broke out into a fight, the two boys wrestling each other to the ground. Everyone then began yelling at them to stop, so Nova closed her eyes harder, trying to stop the tears from spilling. She was stronger than this.

"Shut up! All of you shut up!" Nova yelled suddenly, resting her head back against the wall, tears slowly falling from her eyes. The noise had brought back memories of her father she'd rather forget, and ones of Burnywood when the other kids would nick her stuff.
The yelling then stopped.
Tracy came in with Gina upon hearing the racket and dealt with Liam and Johnny.
"Nova, are you alright?" Tee asked the trembling girl, who had once again curled herself into a ball in the window. Nova ignored her and ran to her room, ignoring any calls after her.

Nova closed her door and leant against it. She tried to focus on her breathing but found everything fuzzy. She squeezed her eyes shut in hope to stop a headache forming, but it didn't work, much to Nova's annoyance. Nova hadn't had a breakdown like this since Burnywood, and didn't want anyone to see her vulnerable, so decided she needed a place to hide whilst she cried everything out.
She concluded the window sill was too open and bright; she needed to be enclosed somewhere quiet. Nova grabbed her duvet and stuffed it into the bottom of the emptiest wardrobe.
she enclosed herself in the wardrobe and let her tears turn to sobs.

"Penelope!" Dad yells from outside, "Penelope! Get down here and tell this maniac to piss off our house!"
"You're the maniac here, not me. And you can piss off my property."
"No one calls me a maniac." Dad slurs back. Liliana cries. I can't calm her down. I leave her crying to go stop Dad fighting. I'm too late. dad then yells at me and shakes Liliana to shut her up. She cries even more.

Nova stopped crying as she replayed the memory, and stared at the wall. Nova scrunched her nose up at the damp smell of her wardrobe, but didn't make any attempt to move.

Tracy knocked on Nova's door, but couldn't find the ginger so left again. Nova closed her eyes and fell asleep, drowsiness controlling her body.

❁

Nova was awoken by a certain blue haired girl yelling her name. Nova groaned, and went to stretch her legs out, momentarily forgetting where she was. when her legs hit the wood of the wardrobe door, she groaned, opened the door and cursed at the brightness of her bedroom. Nova's neck was stiff and her back ached like hell. That was the first and last time Nova was going to sleep in there, that was for sure.

"Parks! What are you doing in there?" Elektra questioned, an amused but confused look on her face.
"Sleeping."
Nova heard Mike call for her from the hallway and sighed, preparing to face Mike.
"Quick, let me in." Elektra said, squeezing into the wardrobe beside Nova. Nova sat exasperated by Elektra, her head throbbing from crying earlier.
"Nova?" Mike called. The pair stayed quiet until he left.
"He's looking for you. So's Tracy. They're trying to take us bowling." Elektra explained.
"That's stupid." Nova whispered.
"I know." The two sat in silence for a moment before Elektra spoke once again.
"Are you okay, Red?"
"Red?"
Elektra explained how she preferred the nickname Red to Ginge.
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine." Blue pushed. Nova turned to face Elektra in the dark. Nova found everything was calm for a second as she was completely focused on her face.
"I'm fine, really."
Elektra didn't reply, so Nova climbed out of the wardrobe and groaned in pain as she stretched out her pale limbs.
"Nova..." Elektra trailed off. Nova rubbed her eyes.
"You never call me Nova. I haven't known you long but you've never called me that."
Elektra shrugged. The pair held eye contact for a while before Mike called for Nova again.
"I didn't find you, okay, Parks?" Elektra said. Nova nodded and Elektra left after adding "Oh, and your makeup is all smudged." to which Nova groaned and looked at herself in the mirror. She was a mess, to say the least.
Nova hauled the duvet back onto her bed, wiped her makeup off, reapplied some mascara and went to see Mike.

"Ah, Nova, where have you been?" Mike asked, concerned. He reached his hands out and placed them on the petite girl's shoulders.
"In my room." Nova said softly. She could feel herself slipping into a dissociative state again.
"Are you alright? Tracy said you were crying." Mike looked into her eyes. Nova looked at the floor.
"I'm just tired. Got a bad headache that's all."
Mike said Nova could stay behind and miss bowling with Tracy and Carmen, to which Nova thanked him and went back into her room.
She fell asleep again, though this time in the comfort of her bed, thankfully.

❁❁❁

"Power's gone out." Liam said, entering Nova's room . The girl simply nodded.
"You alright?" He joined Nova on her bed.
"Yes, I'm alright! And you can tell everyone else that so they stop asking!" Nova snapped back at him.
"Sorry." he muttered back defensively. "Just trying to help."
Nova rolled her eyes, feeling slightly guilty at snapping at Liam when he was only trying to help.
"Mike's doing a barbecue. He wants your help."
Nova shook her head, "Not hungry. You can go if you want."
"I'm not leaving without you, Nova."
Nova sighed and smiled softly at the boy's persistence. She rested her head against his shoulder and asked, "Why do you care so much, Leo?"
"Because I like you, Nova. We're mates, aren't we?"
"I suppose we're mates."
"Well mates look after each other here Nova. It's not like Burnywood."

Nova smiled, and joined Liam and everyone else in the garden. Nova found out that Carmen had been offered to go live with her mother in Spain, but had turned it down because she didn't like her mum's new boyfriend. Another mother that let their daughter down...