THEODORE GRIMES sat quietly under the moonlight and candlelight mixture, flipping the pages of her book. the clock blared a eleven forty-three pm, she was meant to go to sleep an hour and forty-three minutes ago.
but, she'd gotten to a good part of her book, which was entirely to difficult to put down. her eyes crossed pages briefly and easily, she didn't feel an ounce of tired.
outside, the night lived on. little kids sleeping soundly in their beds with a astronaut night lamp and a humidifier, the old people next door that theodore called her grandparents danced together to slow love music — theodore always envied them.
down the street, billy showalter fed his dog samson. two blocks over, finney blake and gwen blake slept soundly. the world was mostly quiet, or maybe — it was just the quiet town of colorado.
still, theodore happily read her book under the candlelight. she planned on finishing this chapter and then sleeping — she had three pages left.
in the ending of the chapter, after the last word, she bookmarked it and blew out her candle, closing her curtains, and fell asleep.
it was quiet in the grimes house, for the most part. theodore finally didn't wanna disappear from the house and go cry somewhere else. she didn't wanna run away and climb into a tree for the rest of the long day.
she felt normal. relaxed, in her small bedroom, in her small house, in her small town, in her small mind.
the next day, she woke up at six fifteen am, her siblings got up at six thirty, so she hurriedly did all her bathroom business and went back to her bedroom. in her bedroom, she finally got ready.
pulling her pajamas off and putting on a bra, she pulled out a white tank top, and pulled it over her red hair. then, she looked for her favorite jeans, and pulled those over her legs. when she tugged her socks on, it was six thirty and she could hear her siblings fighting over the bathroom.
she smiled weakly when her mother came through the door, "that billy kid says hi, and have you already done all your bathroom business, star?" her mom had a tendency to call her by her middle name — star.
with newfound freedom for her mother, she'd gone bizarre with theodore's name. theodore star grimes, weird name for a kid, right?
anyways, theodore nodded and pulled her dark green sweater to cover her arms. after pulling a belt through the belt loops she tugged her shoes on and shoved her book into her backpack.
"here's some lunch money, and extra for grab-n-go." her mom kissed her cheek as she walked out the front door. theodore thanked her and bid her goodbye, grabbing her black bike and leaving to school.
she stopped at the local gas station, grab-n-go, to grab a drink. the store was nearly empty, a few adults grabbing coffee before work, so theodore could easily grab a bottle of fruit-punch tea, pay, and go.
the sun was warm, but not warm enough, so the wind brushed across her pale skin, leaving goosebumps across it.
clouds covered the sky, making odd shapes that theodore silently pointed out to herself.
her watch read out the time seven o'five. she would be a little early to school, but she preferred it over running into her siblings while they were in a bad mood.
on the way, she swerved around the blake siblings, who walked with griffin, bruce, vance, robin, and billy.
gwen only spared the redhead a glance, but shook it off. debating with her friends and older brother.
at school, theodore sat in the back of her first class, taking notes and watching students around her throw notes and gossip behind the teachers back.
her younger sister (by half a year — irish twins were crazy) gossiped with a girl that lived three and a half block away from the grimes house.
she didn't really understand friendship, she didn't talk to anyone either way.
people didn't care to notice her, didn't care to talk to her. except for billy showalter, who she gave a bandaid after he fell off his bike.
ever since then, he insisted she owed him something.
"ah! there you are, class this is our new student — mary-jane evans. rosemary, you can take a seat by . . ." hesitating, the teacher directed rosemary evans to where theodore sat.
"hey, i'm mary-jane. my friends call me mary, or jane." mary-jane introduced herself to the redhead on her side. theodore took a second to process it, a girl her age was talking to her.
"yeah, i'm uh — theodore grimes, you can call me theo, or star. my mom calls me star." she rambled quickly, making mary-jane laugh.
"not many people as cool as you here? must've found the golden girl, nice to meet you star." mary-jane smiled widely.
"not necessarily, i don't think people find me cool. but yeah, nice to meet you too . . ." she paused carefully, "mj." she finalized. mj smiled and thanked the redhead.
"no one's called me that! ugh, we're gonna be such good friends. here, check to see if we have any other classes together." mj ushered the paper into theodore's hands. the girl laughed quietly and glanced over the paper:
history (p1)
science (p2)
gym (p3)
home ec (p4)
lunch
english (p5)
math (p6)
"we have every class but math, english, and gym together. i take art instead." theodore told mj, who counted how many classes they actually had together.
"we've got four things together! oh, and we can walk to classes together, and even walk home and to school together! i live on jefferson street." mj told theodore.
"no way! me too! and of course we're doing all that, are you crazy? you're my first friend." theodore smiled, lightly hitting the girls arm.
when the bell rang, mj waited patiently for theodore, who quickly shoved things into her bag before guiding mj to their next class.
they passed by billy, griffin, gwen, finney, vance, and bruce and robin, billy turned his head to call for the redheaded grimes girl.
"hey, theodore!" the two girls paused their adventure to science, "i was wondering if you would like to come to the drive-in with us? you can bring your friend here!" billy invited, before theodore could even muster up a response, mj spoke for her.
"we'd love to! what time, and what movie?" she blushed lightly, theodore connected the pieces — mary-jane evans had a crush on billy showalter, and theodore could see them together.
"around nine, and texas chainsaw massacre." he blushed as well, fiddling with his hands. mj nodded and confirmed that they'd be there.
mars
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COMMA ( vance hopper )
FanfictionTHEODORE GRIMES wasn't really... well - out there. at least - that was the case for daytime. in school she was quiet, kept to herself and left everyone alone. outside of school; she was different. she was never home - always running around the woods...
