Superman

Chapter 7

As promised, I woke up early enough to clean up my room and bathroom much to my mother's delight. After a quick breakfast and shower I drove over to pick up Pippa. But this time she wasn't waiting for me outside like usual. I knocked on the door hesitantly and Julia greeted me. "Oh Felix, it's good to see you!" She exclaimed. "You must be here to see Pippa."

"Yes ma'am she asked me to pick her up." I replied.

"Well you just come right in. She should be in her room but you can go on up there."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh yes it's fine. Go on!"

I ran up the stairs and found the door open. I stood in the doorway and looked around. The room was an absolute mess. If my mother saw it, she would keel over. There were piles of clothes and stacks of papers and notebooks littering every surface. The trashcan was overflowing with waded up pieces of paper and granola wrappers; apparently we both missed a lot of meals because of our work.

Pippa was sitting at a small desk in front of a window and the sun shining through seemed to radiate through her. Her hair was up in a bun and she was wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt and green shorts. One of her bare feet was tucked underneath her and the other one hung loosely. She was hunched over a notebook writing so fast her words looked like a small child's scribbles. The cup of tea sitting next to her appeared abandoned; it was ice cold and the creamer had floated to the top.

I smiled. Even looking like this sitting amongst piles of garbage and laundry she was still drop dead gorgeous. She was in her own little world; what I wouldn't give for a glimpse into it. "Are you busy?" I finally said with a laugh.

She bolted around in her chair. "Felix! What are you doing here?!"

"Um, it's Thursday. We have Drama Camp, remember?"

"Oh my gosh is that today? Crap! If I'm late Lamar will literally kill me."

She ran around shuffling though piles and throwing random notebooks into her messenger bag. She smelled the shirt she was wearing, made a weird face, and began searching for a clean one.

"How do you ever find anything in this?" I asked.

"I find my chaos comforting" She replied. "Oh there it is!"

She grabbed an oversized plaid shirt and her camp counselor t-shirt and proceeded to strip in front of me. Before I could protest, she slipped off her Pink Floyd shirt and pulled on the clean one. She went to pull her shorts off and I decided to make my presence known. "Woah! I can go outside and wait."

"Oh my gosh I forgot you were there! I'll just step into the closet." She replied.

She emerged a few seconds later fully clothed. She tied the plaid shirt around her waist and began scavenging for socks. She slid on two random ones and then jumped on one foot as she put her sneakers on. She pulled the ponytail holder out of her hair causing it to cascade down her back. She bent over and brushed it with her fingers before flipping it back up. The butterflies came back in giant hordes in my stomach.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and said. "Ready." She grabbed the mug of tea from her desk and took an eager sip. She quickly spat it out and made a gagging sound. I laughed.

She rolled her eyes. "Let's just go already."

We said our goodbyes to Julia before climbing into the truck. Even though she had stopped writing, she still had the dreamy, far off look in her eye and she was drumming her fingers on her leg.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

"Birds. They're so carefree. Wouldn't it be so great to be able to fly; to go wherever you wanted  whenever you wanted?" She replied.