Fraternizing With The Enemy

When She Overthinks

PEARL BLANCHARD DOESN'T believe herself to be a saint. She knows sometimes she says and does wrong things and even if she has never dated anyone in her seventeen years of life, she thinks she could never cheat on someone. She finds certain idiocy in people that do such a thing. If you are with someone else, and you truly love them, there's no need to be with anybody else. And even if it's not love, there's still no need. For if you feel attraction for somebody else, you can just end the relationship with person A, that way you'll be single and free to be with person B. She looks at Elijah, unable to understand how her brother can do such a thing. Surely, he isn't the one cheating on Heath, but it's doesn't lessen the fact that what he's doing is wrong. Very wrong. Elijah's had a crush on Imogen since forever, it's clear that he's whipped. But for Pearl, this profound love of his was being fed with the delusion that she might love him back someday.

And now, she knows she's been wrong all this time. Imogen, herself, has been feeding the love Elijah feels for her. "Why are you staring at me?"

Pet blinks a few times. "Not because you're beautiful, that's for sure."

"Ugh, and here I was hoping you'd be my Augustus Waters," Elijah pouts, seemingly sad. But Pearl only rolls her eyes, feeling annoyed by her brother. It's been getting harder for her to hide her anger, along with the indecision of whether to talk to Elijah about what she saw or not.

"No, thank you. I don't want to die young," she sticks her tongue out.

"Well, you clearly don't agree with my girl Kesha," Elijah chuckles. "I hear your heartbeat to the beat of the drums," he stands up from the couch, singing. "Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone —"

"Shut up, Eli," Pet snarls, darting her eyes back to the TV screen.

"Ouch, why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human, too," he presses his hand against his chest. Quickly, receiving a cushion on the face thrown by Pearl. This time Elijah seems to realize that she's pissed at him. "Okay, what's up with you?"

"Leave me alone," she mumbles, already pissed, and then gets up from the couch and runs upstairs to her room. She hears him yell something but ignores him, feeling so angry at him for doing this. So mad at Imogen for cheating on Heath.

Pet can't seem to understand why she doesn't just break up with Heath if she's going to be with her brother. But then again, Pet remembers how popular Heath is, and how every girl in school wants to be with him, and all the boys want to be him. Imogen is probably with him only because of his popularity. And the reason she's with Elijah is not clear to Pet, but either way, it's wrong.

In the middle of her overthinking session, Pearl falls asleep, her face covered with the pillow. That's why when someone calls her name, removing the pillow; the radiance from the light bulb hits her right away, and she has to blink several times. A face with blue eyes and a prominent jaw meets her gaze, and she growls.

"Mom and Dad are here. Come on, get up," Elijah starts pulling her arm, which highly irritates Pearl. And she groans again, swatting his hand, so he'll let her go. "Don't be an ugly sloth, get up. You can't fix your ugly face, but you can do something about the sloth part. Come on."

"Elijah, leave me alone. I'll get up in a minute, okay?" She turns around, grabbing another pillow to cover her face again. For a second, she doesn't hear anything, but the feeling of satisfaction doesn't have time to settle on her chest because Elijah, in a matter of seconds, pulls her by her feet, taking her out of bed.

Her head meets the ground, and a throbbing pain takes over her. The sound of strong and fast steps are heard. Elijah has run out of her room, but Pearl can only think of ways to kill him. After a few seconds, she gets on her feet without caring about anything else, she's running downstairs as fast as she can, a pillow in hand.

The object of her headache is sitting on the sofa. "I'm going to kill you." Elijah starts laughing, though it doesn't last long because his head yanks backward as Pearl hit him right in the face with the pillow.

"Pet," her mom calls for her, the expression on her face as Pearl looks at her is one of reprimand. But that doesn't matter to Pearl because the embarrassment she's feeling right now is bigger than any lecture her mom might give her later.

Asher's standing not too far from her mother. And Pearl only wishes for the ground to swallow her up. They stare at each other until she can feel the heat crawling up to her cheeks, so before anything happens, she glances at her mother, saying, "Excuse me."

She turns around slowly and makes her way upstairs, to her room. Oddly, the embarrassment only increases when she's standing in her room and watches her reflection in the mirror. Her body was covered with an old, worn shirt and pajama shorts. Her hair picked up in a ponytail, a few strands out loosely, but not in a cute way.

Rushedly, she looks for her comb and brushes her hair neatly, then changes her clothes into decent ones, and brushes her teeth. After that, with a deep breath, she goes downstairs, promptly seeing Asher and Eli together in the living room. It doesn't take long for the new neighbor to look at her while her brother has his eyes on his phone.

Asher smiles at her, but Pet only feels like running back to her room. "Elijah, maybe we could ask Pearl for some help, don't you think?"

Elijah looks up at her sister, shaking his head, and then looks back at Asher. "She never helps me with my homework. She'd rather die before doing something like that."

"I don't mind helping you, only if you ask for my help instead of asking me to give you my homework," Pet retorts quickly.

"Technicalities," Elijah waves his hand in the air.

"What do you need help with?" Pet asks, gazing at Asher, who stands up and approaches her with a piece of paper in hand. It has several questions printed on it, and she can see they're all about chemistry.

Asher, who is now standing next to her, body turned towards her, his face only inches apart, says, "The chemistry teacher left us these questions, we must answer as many as we can without searching on the internet or in books."

She reads the first question.

1. Methanol is highly poisonous. Comparing to ethanol, is it more or less sedative?

A) More sedative.

B) The same.

C) Less sedative.

D) That depends on the temperature.

"I think... Less sedative," she answers, looking up at Asher. He smiles, causing her to smile back. "Not sure, though."

"No, that's exactly what I was thinking. Just needed someone that could back me up," he says. "What about this one? I've been analyzing it for hours, but I have no idea."

2. Noble gases are inert because they have completed outer electron shells. Which of these elements isn't a noble gas?

A) Helium.

B) Argon.

C) Chlorine.

D) Krypton.

Pet grabs the paper in her hand, takes a sit on the sofa with a slight frown on her face. When Asher sits beside her, she says, "Usually, what I do with this sort of question, is discard the ones I know aren't the correct answer. If there's one I can't explain, I know that is the correct one," she says, sounding a little too excited.

Pet can't hide it. She loves these sorts of questions, the kind that makes you think and use your brain. She isn't a school lover, and it's not like she adores having homework, but indeed, she doesn't hate it either. Sometimes, she finds herself enjoying it, depending on the subject.

"But..." she starts. "I'm not going to do that because that'd take us a while. So, the answer it's chlorine. You want to know why?" He nods. "Chlorine is not a noble gas. It's one electron shy of a full octet, so unlike the noble gases, it's highly reactive. That's why."

The way Asher looks at her - in a way that she can't describe - brings her back to reality. She realizes she's talking a lot and for a girl like her, that's odd. Mainly because it's with a person she met only days ago.

"And Pearl Blanchard strikes again," Elijah says, clapping his hands twice. "Sometimes, I wonder if your brain is bigger than everybody else's."

"Elijah, don't you have to do that, too?" Nicholas enters the living room with his wife by his side. Pet jolts at the sight of them, remembering she hasn't greeted them, and quickly hugs them.

"Sorry, I got caught up with the homework," she smiles apologetically, as she takes her seat next to Asher. Her parents nod, calmly.

"Well, Elijah?" Their father speaks again, gazing at his son. He doesn't seem angry, which means nothing because all the members of that family know he's very good at hiding his emotions.

"Dad, we're supposed to do it in pairs of two. What can I do if Asher and Pet are doing it by themselves?" Elijah shrugs innocently.

"What about if you help them?" He arches an eyebrow. "I need to talk to Abe about something. When I come back, I expect you to be doing something productive."

"Yes, sir," Elijah puts on a deep voice, most likely imitating a soldier or something of the sort. To which his dad responds with a glare before leaving.

Then, Ava looks at Pet, and asks, "Aren't you hungry? I cooked dinner. Come on," she stretches out her hand for Pet to take it. And together they go to the kitchen. Where her mom serves her dinner, a delicious plate of Swiss chard with chickpeas and couscous. The young girl says thanks to her, and eats her plate quietly, while her mother organizes something in the pantry.

"Mom?" Pet asks as she finishes a bite of her food. Ava turns around, resting a hand on the counter, waiting for whatever her daughter is going to say. "Can you please give me some money? I kind of need to buy a dress."

She frowns. "A dress? What do you need a dress for?"

For no apparent reason, Pet feels sort of embarrassed to tell her mother about how Mack asked to go to the homecoming with him. Not because it's Mack, that's complete nonsense since she cares for him and she isn't ashamed of him in any way, even if he can be somewhat of a nerd sometimes.

Never in her life, Pearl Blanchard has assisted any activity of that kind. Mainly because she has never felt like going, but also because anyone has never asked her to. She isn't the type to socialize with boys, with people for the matter. Again, the friendship she has with Mack surged for the human necessity to communicate, and soon enough they found out they had many things in common, and for all these years their friendship has only grown stronger.

"Mack asked me to go with him to the homecoming," Pearl mumbles, looking down at her plate, moving the chickpeas from one place to another with her fork.

"That's great, Pet!" The smile on her face is as bright as the sun on a perfect summer day. "When did it happen?"

"Just a few days ago. It's no big deal, mom. No need to make a fuss about it," Pet shrugs, cheeks turning into a scarlet tone.

"I can hear the bells ringing already." Pet turns her face to see Elijah standing in the doorway with a smirk. "First, it's homecoming dance, then it's prom... Next thing you know, you're standing on the altar."

"And you won't be there to see it if you don't finish your homework because you'll be grounded for life," Ava says firmly. To which Elijah responds by raising his hands in the air defensively and walking backward until he's out of the kitchen.

Never in her life has Pearl said or done something that might give her family the idea that there's something remotely romantic going between her and Mack. But they seem to assume something is going on. But all that only leads her train of thoughts to another trail. And that it's the fact that she's never feel attracted to anybody in her seventeen years of life.

Sure, there are actors she finds attractive and fictional characters she falls in love with. But when we're talking about liking someone of her own age, from school or around the neighborhood, the board is empty. For example, Heath. Yes, let's start with him. Her thoughts about him are that he's good looking, very, but she doesn't feel any attraction towards him like the other girls.

Or maybe, Darren Daniels - another player from the football team. The boy is just as handsome as Heath, the difference being that he isn't a womanizer. With black wavy hair, and beautiful brown eyes, he charms the girls in school, but he remains faithful to his girlfriend, Sheena, another student in their school. She isn't very popular, just a normal girl, who seems to be kind and talkative.

At least, that's the impression Pet has gotten so far. Back to the topic, her hormones have never gone crazy over anyone, absolutely anyone, nor boy, or girl. And that's just how it's been so far. She feels relief to not be part of all the things that come along with dating someone in high school, but on the other hand, she wonders if there's something abnormal about her. Or maybe her time just hasn't arrived.

Either way, she shakes those thoughts away and once she finishes her dinner, Pet leaves the kitchen, right there Elijah calls her. "Little sis, we need your brain. Asher's isn't big enough. And mine... well; my brain has decided it's had enough of chemistry."

Pet narrows her eyes. "Right. Let me see." She sits next to Elijah on the sofa, eyeing the sheet with the questions.

3. The symbol Sb stands for stibium or stibnite. What is the modern name of this element?

A) Arsenic.

B) Tin.

C) Antimony.

D) Samarium.

E) Seaborgium.

"I think is Antimony. Though I'm not sure, that's why I don't want to select it just yet and Elijah has no idea. You know, correct me if I'm wrong but stibnum is the old name for Antimony." Asher says, his eyes fixed on the sheet, as his fingers track the lines of the question.

"I was about to say Tin but-"

"But the symbol for Tin is Sn, not Sb," Asher finishes her sentence.

"You two are on fire. Finishing each other's sentences and everything," Elijah chuckles. And Asher's reaction amazes Pet. Her brother's words cause the boy to blush just slightly. "I'll go get something to eat, do you want anything Asher?" He responds by shaking his head but keeps his eyes cast down.

Once Elijah leaves, Asher and Pet keep on answering the questions, quickly forgetting Elijah's comment. Both submerge themselves in a discussion as they try to answer each of the questions correctly. She feels lightly entranced by how clever he is.

The way he analyzes the questions and recalls for past knowledge about things he has already learned, trying to remember information that might help. The only person she can speak to about chemistry, math, or any difficult subject is Mack. Mainly because he's the only friend she's got, but also because he enjoys it just as much as her. But Asher is slowly changing that. Though, Pet can't see it, not yet.

Their discussion is interrupted when Oreo comes from the kitchen running around and stops right at Pearl's feet, wagging his tail with excitement. "Hey, pretty boy," Pet pats his head, smiling widely. That dog can make her feel happy at any moment, it's just the way his big brown eyes look at her, or the way he runs around when he's happy, or when he just lies flat on his stomach, with his legs stretched out in front and hind legs stretched backward.

"Pearl, get Oreo out of the house. I don't want him leaving fur all around the house," Ava says from the kitchen and Pet doesn't need to see her face to know she's serious. "Now."

Pet giggles, and then gazes at Asher. "Give me a second. I'll be right back." He nods with a tiny smile. She stands up and guides Oreo to the kitchen door that leads to the backyard. There she goes for his plate and serves him so food. Bending down, Pet pats his head once more. "There you go."

Back in the living room, she sees her father walking in through the main door. He glances at Asher and then at Pet. "Where's Eli?" He narrows his eyes, obviously guessing the answer.

"It's okay, dad. He did help us. He just took a break to eat something and have a shower. Besides, we finished already, so it doesn't matter," Pet smiles simply.

"That's right, Mr. Blanchard. Actually, it's time for me to go," Asher starts to gather his books and stuff. While Nicholas only nods and heads for the kitchen where Ava is, doing some cleaning. "Elijah owes you one, right?" Asher asks with his backpack already hanging on his shoulder.

"A big one," Pearl laughs softly. They both start walking to the door.

Asher stops to look at her. "Thank you for your help. Nana was right, you're very smart." He lets out a chortle, scratching the back of his head. "I guess I owe you one, too."

"It's totally fine. You answered more questions than I did so..." she shrugs, trying to be modest. Pearl Blanchard doesn't get compliments all the time, and when she does, they're pretty much about how smart she is, even when she doesn't believe herself to be as smart as people say she is. She secretly thinks they tend to exaggerate a little, or maybe it's just that they can't find any other compliments as they do with her brother.

When there's a family reunion, bringing together uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents, everybody always rambles about how good Elijah is at football and the medals he's won in swimming competitions. About that last part, it isn't like Pet isn't just as good, if not better than Elijah at swimming, she's very good at it, but she chooses to keep that as a hobby only for herself to enjoy when she feels like going for a swim in the pool they have at home.

She doesn't need the attention, nor the chants, or the compliments. Pearl feels content with knowing what she's capable of; she doesn't need the rest of the world to know.

Asher says goodbye and leaves. Just as she closes the door, Elijah's voice reaches her ears from where he stands on the last step of the stair. "Didn't know you like them British, Pet." She turns to look at him, bewildered. "Don't look at me that way; I'm just saying what I see."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Elijah," she glares at him, climbing the stairs, and unfortunately her brother follows behind. "Isn't there something you should be doing? Like I don't know, homework maybe?"

"Your hormones stage a revolt whenever he's around. Before you know it, you'll be head over heels for him." His words cause Pet to stop right in front of her bedroom door and turn around to face him.

"Like you with Imogen?" She snaps at him and he glares at her, annoyed by her words, which makes her feel pleased. "I don't think so, big brother."

"Not funny, Pet."

"I wasn't trying to be funny. Look, I just saved you from a very long lecture from dad. You should thank me and stop teasing me." She enters her room and shuts the door. She can't contain the growl that leaves her mouth, as annoyance fills her in. Images of what she had seen at school earlier that day come back to her, giving her the need to confront Elijah about it. But then again, it's none of her business. She doesn't have a say on what Imogen and Elijah do, but she just feels that what they're doing it's wrong.

Sure, Heath isn't the nicest guy out there, and people always say he cheats on Imogen with other girls, but as far as she knows that could only be rumors. Pearl has never seen him kiss or do anything of the sort with another girl aside from Imogen, then again, it's not like she pays much attention to Heath either.

Pet decides to take a bath as if that could wash away her irritation and shoo away her thoughts, and when she finally achieves it, other kinds of thoughts fill her mind. And they have the name Asher written all over them. She doesn't want to think about Elijah's words, for all she knows he's just being an i***t as usual. But she wonders what could give him the idea that she likes Asher.

She behaved with him as she behaves with Mack, which means there wasn't anything remotely close to flirting or signs of her showing any sort of attraction towards him. Though she must admit she felt oddly comfortable with Asher, maybe it was because they were only talking about chemistry and there wasn't any conversation about personal matters, either way, she can say she sort of enjoyed it.

The next morning, Pet wakes up at five in the morning, that's something that usually happens to her, so she isn't weird out by it. Since everyone is still sleeping, her parents won't wake up until it's six in the morning, Pet decides to go to the only place where she feels truly comfortable and can forget about everyone and everything. She grabs her hoodie out of her closet, puts it on over her pajamas along with a pair of socks and her converse, and goes to the backyard where she keeps her bike.

Once ready to go, she heads for the park that is about fifteen minutes away from her house. But when she arrives, she keeps on going until she gets to the fence that separates the park from the woods. She leaves her bike resting next to a tree not without checking around for any signs of people when she sees she's the only one there, she places one hand on top of the fence, hops into the air, and rests her foot on the top before bringing her other leg over it and finally landing softly on the ground at the other side of the fence, facing the woods.

Her feet begin to drag her forward to her favorite place in her world. The amount of time she has come to this place is impossible to measure, she has lost count already. She could walk that path with her eyes closed and get there without a problem.

The meadow was a riot of color. A sea of green, purple, and blue, stealing away the beauty of the sunrise on that autumn day. All an outburst of colors that have always managed to take her breath away in awe. All in a free-for-all way, wild and beautiful, not like the city, not like the people in it.

This place was something else; no need for words or adjectives to describe it, in all honesty, even when she has found herself writing about it from time to time. She's no writer, but when her heart needs to speak about things it loves, pen and paper are the only solutions.

And she sits there only for a short while, gazing at the wildflowers, wishing she could be as wild and free as them.