Open Case File [COMPLETED]

The Museum

Sophia fascinates as equally as Carter interacting with Sophia fascinates me.

***********************************

Sophia disliked prolonged message conversations filled with redundant questions that were formed from a lack of understanding. For this reason, she stood by Harrison's car, waiting. Misunderstanding could be avoided with direct communication.

Around her, she heard discordant conversations, words without context filling her ears. But as she stood there, she wondered if she'd even truly know what the students were talking about if she heard every word.

Or was she...

Sophia dismissed the word before it entered her mind. It was a word. Words were meant for communication and nothing else. They did not hold physical weight. They could not be used as something that caused harm since they were merely sound waves transferred through the air.

"Honestly," Kennedy said, somewhere among the parked cars. "If we get another pop quiz, I'm going to lose it."

"You're so hot headed I feel like you should have lost it ages ago," Harrison said.

The pair appeared and Sophia gathered her thoughts together.

Kennedy punched Harrison's arm. Something Sophia knew she did quite frequently and didn't know how Harrison didn't have a permeant bruise from the repeated offense.

"Ready to go?" Kennedy asked Sophia.

"I wanted to let you know that you can go home without me. I'm going to the museum and will take the metro home."

Kennedy and Harrison exchanged a look. It was a look that Sophia had seen countless times but every time she saw it she couldn't make sense of it. She knew what the look was, it was an exchange of thoughts but one that didn't need to be voiced. But how did they do that? How could they possibly know what the other person was thinking at the very moment? They'd known each other all their lives, but that held true for Sophia. They'd been constants in her life same as her parents, why didn't she share that same link of thoughts that they did?

Why was she-

Again, Sophia halted the word before it could form. It was only a word.

"We can come with you," Kennedy said.

"Yeah, I could use some cultural stimulation," Harrison said.

Sophia knew these responses came from their shared look but didn't know how. But maybe that was what happened when you connected with someone beyond a friend connection. When the feelings you held went deeper. Even if the feelings they shared, they both denied.

"No thank you," Sophia said. "I'd prefer to be alone."

Without further discussion, Sophia walked away. Neither Harrison nor Kennedy followed her. She felt grateful, reiterating her boundaries always tired her. But it was something she seemed to have to do in school over and over again. Why simple requests couldn't be respected baffled and aggravated her. If someone told you what they wanted, why would someone do the exact opposite? People would say one thing and do another.

Sophia knew the world would function more efficiently if people's words and actioned aligned?  She knew from observation within her family. Her parents laid down rules and when followed life proceeded easily. When she felt the rules were unwarranted she'd discuss it with her parents. Often times she found their reasoning made sense.

But in high school it was...chaos. Someone would want to befriend her but their friendship wasn't friendship in the way she knew it with Harrison and Kennedy instead it was something with a hidden agenda. She was supposed to be something to that person that she always failed to be. And the frustrating part was that she often didn't understand what she'd supposed to be. Why were people so vastly irritating to her?