Superman

Chapter 1

"Felix, please, at least pretend that you want to be here." My mother begged. "This is very important to me."

"Mom, I told you I don't want to be here; I have stuff to do." I replied.

"All I ask is for you to sit for a couple of hours and meet Julia. Please."

"Fine. Whatever."

"Thank you."

We were standing on the porch of a large farmhouse. My mother had insisted upon me joining her to visit her best friend from college, Julia Walldridge, and I had insisted that that was the absolute last thing I wanted to do on my first day back in town. What I really wanted was to find my best friend B.J. and tell him all about The Girl. But I gave in to my mother's wishes and joined her for the afternoon. Julia finally answered the door after we rang the doorbell for about the millionth time.

"Martha! It's so good to see you!" She cried. "And this must be Felix. I haven't seen you since you were in diapers."

"Pleasure to meet you." I said with as much charm as I could muster.

"Please come in and I'll put on some coffee."

Julia was a small woman with long, brown hair streaked with grey. Her house was a bit of a mess on the inside despite the cleanliness on the outside. She bustled around the kitchen making coffee while talking nonstop to my mom. I roamed around the large living room looking at pictures of Julia in her younger years with a man I assumed was her husband. All of the pictures were old. In some of them there was a little girl with bright red hair like her fathers. Something about her seemed familiar though I was fairly certain we had never met.

We all sat down with our coffee and some super delicious banana nut bread and I zoned out while my mother and her friend caught up on old times. I was trying to come up with a polite way to ditch them when the prettiest girl I had ever seen floated into the room. The instant I saw her, my heart momentarily stopped beating. "It's you!" I cried. My breath caught in my throat and my hands began to shake uncontrollably. She was like an angel. She radiated beauty. She was tall and lean with ruby hair flowing down her back in an unruly mess of curls. Her eyes seemed to see into the depths of my soul. "Excuse me?" She said.

I snapped out of my trance and found myself unable to speak in any human language. "I, uh, um, I, uh, uh.........."

"Oh, Felix," Julia exclaimed. "This is my daughter Piper. Ya'll are the same age and were the best of friends when you were little. Though I guess you don't remember that. Piper, this is Martha's son Felix."

 She was staring at me like she remembered me but couldn't figure out why. My palms started to sweat. I just knew I was going to pass out. She held out her hand. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Felix. Please call me Pippa."

I shook her hand but found my mind was completely vacant of words to say back. I just stood there gaping at her. Someone was speaking to me. Who was it? My mom. She asked me something. What was it?

"Felix, are you okay, sweetheart?"

"Wh-what?! Oh!" I exclaimed. "I'm fine. Never better."

Somebody else said something that caused Pippa to laugh which caused my heart to nearly explode. She was so beautiful. "What's happening to me?!" I thought. This had never happened before. I was always good at talking to girls; why was she so different?

"Felix, You look sick! Maybe you should go home and lie down for a bit." My mother said.

"No! No I'm fine. Sorry I just zoned out for a minute." I laughed. "I promise I'm fine."