Olivia's story

Olivia

By: Rio

                My name is Olivia Fury. My dad is the director of SHIELD and my mom is his Lt. my dad’s African-American and my mom is white—making me mixed. I’m 13 years old and I have medium brown hair, caramel skin and brown eyes. I recently got braces; with my parents at SHIELD a lot, I take the bus to and from school. My dad said that if I slack off at school, he’s shooting my laptop and stereo. I found that to be kind of extreme, but whatever. I asked for a beta fish last night and my dad said that “I’ve proven myself”. Well, I’m glad that I did.

                I’m in the 7^th grade and I play soccer. During the winter, I do figure skating. We don’t have a dog or a cat; my dad told me that I could have a fish, instead. I have trophies on my bookshelf from winning figure skating competitions, trophies for winning soccer games, and piano recitals. I’m taking piano lessons—my dad insisted. He also insisted that I learn how to play classical (Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, etc.) Like I said before, with both my parents at SHEILD so often, the house is pretty empty. I come home to an empty house and I spend at least 2 or 3 hours practicing piano, do whatever chores I have, and spend the rest of the time working on homework or something.

                I named my blue beta fish BB King. I’m a HUGE blues/jazz fan. Oh yeah, BB King is my idol. I’d LOVE to meet him. I wish I had a chance to meet Etta James before she died. Bummer; I’d love to see BB King play live. I’ve been a fan of blues/jazz since I was very little. I have every record BB King ever came out with. I have posters of different Jazz/blues artists on my wall, too. Well, let me tell you a story.

                I awoke to BB King’s “Lucille”. That’s the name of his guitar, you know. I really wanna go to Memphis. That’s where his club is. I also like Ben. E. King and Ray Charles. I’m in jazz band at school and I love it. I’d love to have a chance to show Riley (BB King’s first name) what I can do and maybe get advice and a few pointers from him. I sadly had to turn it off, but just played it on my stereo as I grabbed my clothes and towel and left my room. I don’t have a shower in my room, unlike my parents.

                When I finished my morning routine and walked downstairs, I saw the team and my parents and BB King sitting in the living room. Oh. My. God. BB KING IS IN MY LIVING ROOM!!! HOLY HANNAH! I wanted to squeal and scream in pure happiness. I practically shoved Tony out of the way, sitting on the edge of the couch, Riley sitting in the chair.

                “Would you mind playing something?” He asked

                “Of course not!” I replied happily. Hell, this was SO worth missing school for as I started to play, my guitar plugged into the small amp by my feet as I played one of his solos. We played together as we finished as he laughed.

                “You’re pretty good!” He complimented as I flushed

                “Thank you!”

                “Can you sing?” He asked as I slowly nodded

                “Sing anything or blues?” I asked

                “Anything” Was his reply

                “Did you wanna hear something?” I asked

                “Please”

                With that, I walked over to the piano and started playing and singing. Nobody has ever heard me sing before. I guess that’s one of the good things about my parents being gone so much—I get to sing freely without them hearing me. When Riley requested that I sing, I was kind of nervous. I just pretended that nobody was here. When I finished, everybody was just staring at me.

                The bus ride to school was always the same: In the morning, kids were quiet or hushed whispers came, people sitting with their friends, listening to music. I’m sitting with Rebekka “Becki” Coulson. She’s the same age as me, British, and has brown hair. Her dad and mine are close; she was the last stop on the way to school as she smiled at me.

                “Ello” She greeted

                “Hey. Sup?” I asked

                “Not a lot. You?” She asked

                “Same. Off to school for 8 hours and then back to an empty house” I shrugged.

                “Don’t you get lonely?” She asked

                “Sometimes. You play piano?” I asked as she smiled and nodded.

                “What do you play?” I asked

                “Mostly classical. You?”

                “Same, but when nobody is around, I play some Disney songs…Except for yesterday”

                “Wha’ happened yesterday?” She asked

                “I sang in front of my idol, BB King”

                Her eyes widened

                “Ohmigod!”

                “My feelings exactly. Who’s your idol?” I asked

                “Adele. I’d love to meet her”

                I had to smile.

                “I’ve met her. My aunt Sam is a singer and she got backstage passes”

                “Sam…The lead singer of LoLiTa?” She asked

                “Yup!”

                “I love her! I have every album she came out with!” She stated enthusiastically.

                “Then you’re going to LOVE our extended family”

                I went on to explain about everything I was allowed to tell—never mentioning about the weres or any of the supernatural, or Asgard, the Tesseract, etc. The bus reached the school as everybody got off. She showed me her schedule and I told her we have all the same classes.

                “Y’don’t wear uniforms?” She asked, accent thick as she shut her locker.

                “Not in public school. At Redwood Academy you do” I explained

                “Interesting” She stated

                “What?” I asked

                “E’vrybodies in groups” she observed

                “Mhm. Apparently, social status is a huge thing”

                “No matt’a where y’live” she finished.

                So we went off to class, lunch finally arriving a few hours later. Sitting at a table, I had a chicken patty while she had pizza.

                “What are you doing after school?” I asked aftger swallowing my bite.

                “Unpacking and comic books. I need to find the newest issue of TMNT”

                “I own it”

                “No bloody way!” She exclaimed as I grinned.

                “Way. It’s amazing”

                And that, my friends, was the beginning of a beautiful and long lasting friendship.

                The rest of the day seemed to fly by. I got off the bus and walked up to the house. To my surprise, I saw my parents getting out of the car, gathering groceries.

                “Hey” I greeted, helping.

                “Did you already make dinner?” My mom asked as I shook my head.

                “Was gonna make gumbo.” I told her because I knew gumbo was my dad’s favorite.

                “How was school?” She asked I started to put away the groceries

                “Fine. Took a test in math, got my science test back”

                “Oh yeah? What’d you get?” My dad asked, sipping his coffee.

                “An A”

                “Good”

                I have all A’s right now.

                “Go practice piano” my father said as I nodded.

                So I practiced for a few hours, practicing classical, my father sitting in his recliner, reading the paper and drinking his coffee.

                Becki and Phil came over a half hour later, Becki reading the newest TMNT comic book. I also gave her the address to the comic book shop. They left as I made dinner. After dinner, I did my homework, changed and got into my bed, falling asleep.