STELLA

"Since Quinn isn't coming maybe we could go Homecoming shopping," Nova suggested. I didn't want to go to Homecoming but Nova wasn't really giving me a choice. Something about it being a necessary high school experience. I figured if I had to go I might as well look nice.

"Fine," I groaned.

"Great. There's this store I've been wanting to check out. They have some really cute stuff." I rolled my eyes, not nearly as excited as Nova was to look at dresses.

Nova was the fashionista. Half of her time was spent at the mall. She had a different pair of glasses for every color of the rainbow, all in the shape of a rectangle, to match her outfit. I thought it looked ridiculous to have bright pink glasses but Nova says there is an accessory and should be treated as such.

When we got to the dress store she spotted a red dress 15 feet away and went for it.

"Wouldn't this match my red glasses perfectly?" She squealed. I loved Nova but when she went into fashion mode I knew the clothes were her best friend and I was only a close second.

She quickly realized she wasn't going to get an actual answer from me and decided she didn't trust my judgment enough anyway.

After looking around a bit longer she found a couple more dresses but ended up going back to the red. As she was looking around she came across a dress in a blue that matched my eyes. It was flattering and there wasn't anything that made it stand out too much which made me like it even more.

Quinn is going to love that dress I heard her say, but when I looked up to see her face she wasn't waiting for a response.

I gave her one anyway, "It doesn't matter what Quinn thinks of it." Nova always thought we'd be a great couple but neither of us had ever even considered the idea for more than a second.

"You're right. It doesn't," she said a little confused but her attention quickly shifted from my response to a cute pair of shoes.

***

A couple of hours later Nova had literally shopped until she dropped. I basically had to carry her to the bus from the mall.

When I got home my foster dad was asleep on the reclining chair with the remote in his hand. Venus City news was playing on the TV. The room smelled of alcohol and body odor. He probably hadn't gotten up out of that chair in over 24 hours except to use the bathroom and get food from the kitchen.

Jason liked to search all news stations for information on supers. He loved them as much as I didn't. In fact, he didn't do much of anything else.

A recap of Cobalt's earlier fight with the clawed girl was being covered when I took the remote from Jason's hand. I planned on watching New Girl either until Jason woke up or until I would go to bed, whichever came first.

Most nights I tried to stay at Nova's to avoid having any contact with Jason, but tonight she and her mom were cleaning up Top Off after the clawed girl smashed through its window. I offered to help but Nova's mom insisted it was her shop and she and Nova could handle it.

After watching Tv for what must have been at least an hour I noticed Jason started to stir and I figured I had better get out of the living room before I had to make actual conversation with him. I switched the TV back to VCN and headed up the stairs to my room.

I barely had time to open my bedroom door when my phone started to ring. By the Ke$ha song playing, I knew it was Nova who was calling. I didn't even get a chance to say "Hello" before she started talking.

"Stell, Justin just asked me to Homecoming!" Nova had been crushing on Justin for a couple of years now since he moved here from London. It was hard to tell but I always had a  feeling he liked her too. I reacted with the same level of excitement as Nova and asked her all about it, ready to allow her to relive every second of it.

"He came to Top Off with a broom. He said 'I'll help you clean up but I'm going to need a favor from you.' Then he asked me to go to homecoming with him..." I could hear her excitement level plummet with the last few words.

"What is it?"

"Now your not going to have anyone to go with." She was right. I had already bought a dress and rearranged my nonexistent social life for that Saturday.

"Don't worry about me. I'll find someone to go with. Hopefully, Quinn isn't going with anyone yet."

"Thank you! You're amazing," she paused for a moment as if someone was talking to her, "Ok mom says I've gotta go. We still need to finish cleaning up Top Off."
"Bye"
"Bye," she said and we hung up.

I immediately called Quinn once I was off the phone with Nova. After a couple of rings, he answered, "Hey Stell."

"Hey, Justin just asked Nova to homecoming."

"That's awesome. She's been obsessing over him forever. "

"I know, but now I need someone to go with and I was wondering if you were going with anyone yet."

"I actually wasn't planning on going at all-homework and all, but I if you need me so I don't mind," he said.
"Quinn you're a lifesaver!"
"So I've been told," he said.
"Thanks so much."
"No problem." And with that, we hung up.

***

"Stello!" Jason called from downstairs. He's always called me that, and I'm pretty sure he thinks it's my actual name.

I got out of bed and headed for the kitchen, not bothering to answer him until I got there.

"What?" I asked with a hint of irritation in my voice.

"I need you to get some stuff on your way home." He handed me a list of groceries, clearly just as unhappy to have to speak to me. He wore his usual decade old T-shirt covered in stains and gym shorts. To put it simply, Nova would have a panic attack if he saw his closet.

"Are you too busy watching 'Dancing with the Supers' to go to the store?" He didn't have a job. He has all the time in the world. Jason was just too lazy to get off the couch and go out into the real world because that would also require him to shower.

Jason rolled his eyes and I shoved the list into my bag. I glanced at the clock on the microwave. 7:45.

I was late. I was so late.

The bus was driving off as I ran out onto the sidewalk. The next bus wouldn't come for another half hour. I'd be way too late by then. My only option was to call Nova and see if she could give me a ride.

Nova had gotten her driver's license not too long ago and, though she had offered to give me a ride before, I refused to be in her passenger's seat, mostly because I valued my life. But I was dead anyway if I was late to Mrs. Destine's class so I had no choice.

Only a few minutes after I called her, Nova was there to pick me up in her mom's work van. A large Top Off logo was printed on the side and the inside had an overwhelming coffee smell. Surprisingly, we both made it to school alive and with enough time to make it to homeroom.

I flopped down into the seat next to Quinn.

"Cutting it pretty close, aren't you?" I rolled my eyes at his comment on my punctuality.

"Are you still coming to Top Off after school?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know you've just been-" blowing me and Nova off and canceling on all of our plans was what I wanted to say. I should have said you've just been so busy lately, but Mrs. Destine decided the middle of my sentence was a good time to start class and chemistry was not a class I could afford to divvy up my attention in.

"Forget it," I said, shutting off my unfinished statement.

***

After school Nova drove me to Top Off. I was beginning to trust her driving a bit more. She was never going to take me on a road trip, but I figured we would survive the six miles to her mom's coffee shop.

She went in first. I stood outside the shop for a moment, admiring the sign just above the door. There wasn't anything too special about it. Just a cartoon mug with steam coming up from the top and a cartoon pot pouring more of the brown liquid into the mug. The warm tones and the welcoming atmosphere of the outside of the little shop made me feel this responsibility to take a mental picture, as if I didn't already have one, so when I was back at Jason's locked in my bedroom I could get out my sketchbook, my soft graphite pencil, and capture that place on paper.

"You coming?" Nova asked from the door

Having reentered reality I answered "Yeah," and went inside.

It seemed that today was the day for unexpected events: Jason being awake before noon, missing my bus, Nova not killing us on the way to school, and Quinn actually showing up to Venus City's favorite coffee shop just as he said he would.

Nova and I slid into the booth we had claimed a few years ago. Three butt sized dents had been worn into the bright red cushions long ago.

Quinn was already there, sipping a hot chocolate (he doesn't like coffee) and scrolling through social media. Across the room, Mrs. Lalit, Nova's mom, was setting the channel on the TV to VCN.

Christy Stewart was back, describing a robbery that almost took place at the City bank. Of course, Cobalt just had to come and save the day, locking the robbers in a civilian's truck. The poor owner probably had to take the bus today.

"One of these criminals was a super. He could shoot flames from his hands. Just look at this photo taken after his fight with what witnesses are calling The Flamethrower." A picture of Cobalt with a large burnt hole in his suit flashed onscreen.

'I've got to get my aunt to fix that' someone said. I looked around but no one seemed to have said anything; they were all too engrossed in what Christy had to say.

At that moment, Mrs. Lalit brought our coffees to the booth. Nova and I thanked her and began consuming that heavenly caffeine.

Quinn, Nova, and I talked for hours and hours until Nova's mom started closing up. In those hours I could forget that Quinn was spending less and less time with us. I could forget that in two years Nova would be moving away to India with her mom; that I only had two years left with my best friend. I could forget that my mom didn't like the idea of having responsibilities, and decided she didn't want to take care of me. I could forget all of that because right then it was just Nova, Quinn, me, and our special place.