high school is kind of boring really

[self_composed]

School plods along. Bella is native-quality fluent in Spanish, professor-level at math, well and thoroughly versed in the workings of the United States government, capable of doing actual independent research projects in biology, and she's been speaking English since she was one. Alas, these skills only make classes easier for a short time. After the novelty wears off they're just tedious. Bella winds up squaring her homework done more often than not so she can work out the kinks in her design for telekinesis, or play music, or attend soccer practice, or write little computer games, or read, or just fly around. This works out fine. Magic is pretty good at homework.

She winds up not attending most of the dances, but she does want to go to the end of year one, as she will be leaving Forks High School forever and it has some good points. Alice promised her a dress...

Comments

[self_composed]

Renée is a little more thrown by the skirt than by the name, but she doesn't say anything about it and welcomes him into the house. Bella waves from the dinner table, with the hand that isn't spooning mushrooms and rice onto her plate.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Hi," he says cheerfully when Renée lets him in; and, "Hi, Bella," when he comes to sit down at the table.

[self_composed]

[It just occurred to me that kindergartners probably ask her to call them random things all the time,] Bella says wryly, [but they show up to school in what their parents dress them in.]

"Hi!" she says aloud.

[edgeofyourseat]

[Huh? Oh,] he says, looking down. [Yeah, I just wished up what I felt like wearing.]

"Do anything cool today?"

[self_composed]

"Went to the beach, swam around," Bella says. "You?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"Hung out," he says, shrugging. "Not much, really."

[I'd say 'made out with you underwater', but I'm betting you don't want those awkward questions.]

[self_composed]

[Indeed, not at this time.]

"Where are you staying? Have you got family in the area?" Renée asks, serving Alice some risotto and a medallion and a generous bowlful of leaves.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Nope," says Alice. "I don't have family much of anywhere, actually. Ooh, this looks tasty!"

[self_composed]

"No?" Renée asks, tilting her head, deerlike in puzzlement. "Oh, thank you, risotto's one of a handful of things that I can sometimes turn out nicely..."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Yeah, my mom still lives in Forks and she's the only one I'm in touch with."

At least, he's pretty sure his mom still lives in Forks. She seemed very fond of that stupidly huge house last he checked. He'll find out when they go back, anyway.

[self_composed]

"Oh, I see." And Renée does not pry.

[Yeah, I don't really know where my curiosity came from,] Bella remarks. "This is great, Mom, thanks."

"Oh, thank you, Bella."

[edgeofyourseat]

[I think it came from you,] Alice says fondly.

Nom!

[self_composed]

[Ah, spontaneous generation theories. How nostalgic.]

Nom indeed!

[edgeofyourseat]

[Nostalgic how?]

[self_composed]

[It's not really the same thing - spontaneous generation supposes that maggots just happen by themselves when meat is left around, and so on. People didn't catch flies laying eggs until later. Still, my curiosity has to have come from some combination of genetic and environmental factors - it's not like I have an immaterial soul or something.] Pause. [You don't believe in immaterial souls or anything, do you?]

[edgeofyourseat]

[I don't not believe in them,] he says.

[self_composed]

[What's that supposed to mean?]

[edgeofyourseat]

[It means how the fuck should I know?]

[self_composed]

[Right, but I mean, you have no personal interactions with the surface of Pluto either. Do you think it has pandas on it?]

[edgeofyourseat]

[You have no idea how tempted I am to wish for pandas on Pluto right now,] he says, although it wouldn't exactly be hard for her to find out.

[self_composed]

[The pandas would die, Alice. But you still think you'd have to wish for it, right? They are not there yet.]

[edgeofyourseat]

[Not if they were magic pandas! But that's kind of my point,] he says. [I don't know that nobody else has wished for pandas on Pluto, and you don't either. The only way to actually find out would be to take a look at Pluto and check. If magic didn't exist I'd say there'd be no way a panda could've gotten to Pluto, but it does, so literally anything we can think of is possible because if we can think of it then so can somebody else and they might have a star.]

[self_composed]

[...Are you saying the only reason you don't not believe in immortal souls is because it seems like the kind of thing somebody might have wished for?]

[edgeofyourseat]

[Yeah, basically,] he agrees. [I mean, they might exist because of magic for some other reason I haven't thought of because I don't really care that much. Maybe they're what coins are made of.]

[self_composed]

[Okay, fair enough. But why would coins be made of souls?]