Beautiful Minds

•part 1•

"Nova, I'll be at your aunt's house all day today. Are you going to be alright alone?" Her father asked on Saturday morning of that week. His sister, Ophelia, recently had a baby and was in desperate need of sleep and help. Nova refused to go, seeing as babies annoyed her; constantly crying and pooping. No, thank you.

"I'm not 9," Nova snapped. She didn't look up from her phone where she was watching a horror movie on Netflix.

"What are you watching there?" Her dad asked and peeked over at her phone. "Ah, another scary movie." He smiled.

"Shush, dad." She shooed him away and propped her phone up against the fruit bowl at the breakfast table.

"Have you had breakfast yet? I mean, it's 11 A.M., but have you eaten today?" He inquired.

"I got up half an hour ago, I'll just make toast or something." She said absentmindedly, still staring at her screen with intensity.

"Okay. Goodbye, then." He kissed the top of her dark hair and swung his keys around his finger.

"See ya," she called out after him and he closed the front door. Nova stared out the window at the steadily-falling snow. The forecast predicted only an inch or two, but it had been three hours of snowfall and seven had already racked up.

Alone in the house, she turned her Netflix up and prepared toast for herself, popping bread into the toaster and taking the strawberry jam out of the fridge.

A chill went through her and she glanced again at the heavy snow outside. Nova went down the hall to her bedroom and slipped on dark blue fuzzy socks and her favorite black sweatshirt, returning to the smell of burning.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," She grunted, racing forward and popping charred toast from the toaster. "Damnit," She muttered, slamming a fist down onto the counter. The dull pain that erupted in her hand angered her even more, and she squeezed her fist hard it in an attempt to ease the pain...by adding more pain. Anger makes people do weird things.

After shaking it off, she sloppily lathered jam onto the two blackened pieces of toast and felt more anger build up inside her. "Fuck me," she muttered, angry over both the burned breakfast and her hand.

Nova took a harsh bite of the toast and chewed in disgust, before spitting it out into her napkin and throwing it out. "Tastes like fucking garbage," she fumed.

Her phone rang, and she picked it up.

"What?" She sneered.

"The amount of inches we're supposed to get is going up every minute. I'm just letting you know that you should turn the heat up and maybe put the weather on the tv."

"I burned my toast." She complained.

"Sorry, honey. Maybe just have cereal." He suggested, secretly smiling at his daughter's fire. He was glad she was so fierce, he thought, because no one would mess with her.

"Gross." She scoffed. "How many inches are they predicting?"

"It was two a few days ago, now it's a foot by 3:00. These meteorologists are getting worse by the day," he laughed.

"They get payed to be wrong." She mused, glad to have something to complain over with her father.

"I'll talk to you later, sweetheart. Turn the news on and I'll call in to check on you in a few."

"Later." She hung up the phone and poured a bowl of Cheerios.

• • • • • •

By 3:00 they had thirteen inches of snow. Needless to say, Nova was surprised when she heard a knock at the door, interrupting her movie-watching. She slipped off her fuzzy socks because badass people don't wear fuzzy socks. And besides, if the person at the door was a murderer, who's gonna be scared of someone in fuzzy socks?

"Who the hell is out there in this weather?" She called out, looking through the peephole in vain; it was covered in snow and she couldn't see through.

"Oh, thank god!" A female voice from the other side chirped. "I was walking my dogs around the town, and the snow started coming down really heavy, so I tried to make my way back home, but I think I may have contracted frostbite instead." Nova could hear the chattering teeth through the door.

"That was stupid of you. Who the fuck walks their dogs in this weather?" Nova scoffed and rolled her eyes, beginning to walk away from the door.

"Please can I come in? Just to wait out the storm? My dogs are really cold, and I don't want anything to happen to them. Also, I'd rather not lose my left foot to frostbite. Please, just—"

"Shut up." She cut the girl off. "Now get the snow off the peephole," Nova ordered. "How old are you?"

"17," The girl replied, clearing the snow away so Nova could see her.

Nova recognized the girl from around her own school, and came to the conclusion that she probably wasn't a murdered.

She texted her dad for approval, seeing as she wasn't stupid and had been taught not to let strangers in. She explained the situation and got his okay, sighing when she realized her day to herself was about to be ruined.

"Before I let you in, I hope you know that I'll kick your ass if you try to kill me."

"I won't try to kill you unless you try to kick my butt," The girl replied.

"I can't make any promises," Nova deadpanned.

"I'd rather face the chances of you killing me than freeze to death. Please let me in. My dogs are cold, and-"

"Shut the fuck up about your dogs," Nova groaned, unlocking the door and opening it for the girl. A pale, blonde teenager stepped inside and stomped her feet on the doormat. When the girl unzipped her big coat, Nova could make out two small dogs under her sweatshirt.

"I-I'm Lucia," the girl grinned, shivering as she knelt on her knees, letting the squirming pups out of their warm place in her sweatshirt. The two dogs immediately began to jump around Nova's leg, and she nudged they away as gently as she could with a look of distaste on her face.

"I don't care what your name is," A dog jumped at her leg again. "And the dogs stay in the bathroom."

After laying out a few towels and a bowl of water, Lucia said goodbye to her puppies and closed the bathroom the door.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Don't talk," Nova said, rolling her eyes and walking back to the kitchen. Lucia followed blindly behind her, obviously uncomfortable in a stranger's house.

"What?" She asked as she followed Nova to the living room where The Conjuring was playing on the television.

"I said, don't talk. I'm watching The Conjuring. I don't care what you do, just don't talk to me and don't make a mess." She tried her best to tune the other girl out and watch her movie, but it was hard for her when Lucia kept shifting on the couch. "Stop moving." She commanded.

"Sorry," Lucia squeaked, "I scare easy."

"I didn't ask."

Lucia nodded with a small smile on her face, which pissed Nova off.

"What the fuck are you smiling at?" She grimaced, pausing the TV.

"You're very candid." Lucia observed.

"You're a dumbass." Nova replied in an attempt to intimidate the other girl, only feeding her grin more. "Stop smiling."

"Sorry, I've just never met someone to...real." Lucia laughed, shifting her weight on the couch again and unknowingly getting under Nova's skin. "Do you have a sweatshirt I could wear? Mine's soaking wet."

Nova noticed the small chatter of Lucia's mouth and her slight shivering.

"No," She said.

"That's alright. I'm gonna use the bathroom." Lucia got up, rubbing her arms and leaving the room. Nova couldn't help but notice her goosebumps.

When Lucia returned, Nova wasn't in the room. In her place was a blue sweatshirt, folded neatly on the couch.