"This is bullshit…" Nastya looked down at her phone, checking her schedule for the day, swiping up through the list of her classes. "Why would they schedule the freshman orientation for lunchtime? We barely have forty-five minutes to eat!"
Nikolai flipped his hair back with an exaggerated eyeroll, and after a dramatic pause, retorted
"It is always about food with you, isn't it. How do you never gain weight, with the amount you eat?"
Nastya glared at him from her vantage point right below his chin. "It's the fact that I preface most of my meals with soup. It is appalling that most people in this country eat it sporadically, but that goop they dare call soup? Oversalted, formless mush."
Her brother barely held in his laughter, the stress visibly melting away as she spent a few more minutes on this rant on purpose. He had been quiet and sullen for half of the day, pretending not to notice the burning gazes of the school body, intrigued by the well-dressed pair speaking in a foreign language. Occasionally, he would pause and stare intently into the crowd before continuing, and Nastya's heart bled seeing him so paranoid again.
Now his eyes were shining with mirth at the nonsensical conversation, and Nastya mentally patted herself on a job well done. They stopped by what the locals called the cafeteria, and this time, Nastya gawped in horror at the food on display. The least deadly thing on the menu was the salad and the fruits. Whatever 'soup of the day' was, she wasn't going to risk it.
"I am asking Anita to pack us lunch from now on," she said while scraping the salad dressing from her lettuce
"No objections here," Nikolai replied while spooning some beige paste from a plastic bowl. He tentatively smelled it and had a brief taste. "I think this is… potato? I honestly can't tell. Tastes like filler."
"Then stop eating it!"
"And waste food? Anita would have a heart attack."
"She would call the Health Department and shut this down in minutes."
After a disappointing meal, the two of them began wandering over to their next classroom, both lost in thought. Nastya followed her brother on autopilot, ruminating over her dream again. It wasn't the first time she had seen that tree in the clearing, but it was the first time that she made it there in one piece. Many of her nightmares consisted of a chase through the woods, the mountains, the snowy plains, all culminating in the darkness consuming her as she woke up with a jolt. In some of those dreams, the yew would appear in the distance, the same gnarly branches intertwined in a crown. The meaning escaped her, but she would start digging as soon as she had some free time.
They stopped in a crowd of people when she finally returned to reality. After looking around for a hot minute, she scowled at Nikolai.
"Are we seriously doing the orientation?"
"Come on, Nastya. It could be fun. You should know about the school layout, and maybe even find a quiet place for a smoke. You look like you need one."
"You think that Boy Scout…" she gestured at a young man with dishevelled brown hair and a handsome grin on his face, animatedly gathering the crowd of freshmen around. "...would know where the smoke spot is? I have a better idea."
As the group began to slowly trudge towards the staircase, she veered off into the girls' bathroom, shooting a wink at her exasperated brother. It was surprisingly empty, and she headed for the furthest mirror to freshen up. The humidity of this region made her hair frizz, and her usually neat braid began to look unkempt. In the middle of fixing this crisis, a pair of girls dressed in cheerleader uniforms walked into the bathroom, laughing and chatting loudly. It took them a few seconds to notice her, and when they did, they instinctively quieted down. Nastya knew her aura was intimidating and simply continued her activities. The girls occupied the mirrors next to her and began to gossip.
"Have you seen her today? Crazy!" a curly-haired, tall, slender girl said incredulously as she was reapplying her lip gloss.
"I know, right?! If I were her, I would drop out of school rather than come back after all that," replied the curvy redhead who was tugging her miniskirt down to the best of her ability.
"So, do you know what actually happened? I heard someone say she stole a car."
"Don't be stupid, Becca. Why would her stealing a car make such a fuss with the police? It had to be something way more serious. Like she put someone in a hospital. She seems like the type."
Nastya, now done making herself look drop-dead gorgeous, rummaged through her purse and pulled out her pack of Davidoffs. She heard gasps from the two girls next to her and turned nonchalantly towards them.
" You want some?" she asked, offering up an open pack.
"Oh, my god! Put that away! You can't smoke in here!" The tall one, Becca, nervously looked at the door and back.
Nastya raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "The only place in this school with no cameras, no? And the smoke detector is far enough from the window."
That did not have the desired effect. She sighed and put the pack away, disappointed. She snapped her purse shut and flipped her immaculate braid back as she leveled the two ladies with her piercing gaze.
"Where can I smoke then? I'm sure resourceful people like you would know," she said with an air of undeniable authority that most of the time got her exactly what she wanted. And on a silver tray to boot. The two girls looked at each other, puzzled. They leveled her with a curious gaze, probably assessing everything from her shoes to the branded bag. When they were finished, the redhead smiled pleasantly and tapped her lips
"Well… I heard some of the teachers sneak into the equipment shed behind the football field. You could try there?"
"Thank you." Nastya smiled pleasantly back and headed for the door.
"Hold on!"
She turned and saw a proffered hand. "I am Emma Carter. This is Becca Saul. You're the new foreign student, right?"
"With the handsome brother!" Becca chimed in, causing Emma to wince.
Nastya sighed and crossed her hands, looking straight at the girl in front of her.
"Obviously."
A few seconds of awkward silence, waiting for someone to cave.
"Well, nice to meet you. Love the coat. Is it…"
"Real? Yes."
"Wow!" she could see the glint of envy and curiosity flash in Emma's eyes before she extended that wayward hand again.
"I know it's a weird question, and you probably get it all the time…"
"You want to touch and see how it feels?" Nastya finished the sentence, knowing exactly how to navigate this kind of conversation from years of experience. People usually wanted to either touch it to see how soft it is or throw paint at it. She had a hunch when she met these two that they would fall into the former category and that she could use it to her advantage.
Emma and Becca cooed over the mink coat for a while before stepping away. Emma, now completely won over, pulled out a flyer from her bag.
"So… I am throwing a back-to-school party this Saturday, and I think it would be a great place to meet some new friends! Come check it out, if you're free?"
An invitation to what seemed to be a senior's party on the first day of school, and she didn't even have to give her name. Nastya smirked to herself, as the simple and easy rules of navigating the social hierarchy of this school clicked into place once again, and she neatly folded the invitation before putting it in her purse.
"I'll check my schedule. Bye," she turned around to find this mysterious smoke shed.
"...And bring your brother, ok?"
"Becca! Are you serious!"
Nastya emerged into the corridor, internally sighing at the immaturity of high school. Everyone her age wanted approval from their peers and confirmation of their status, whether that was their level of coolness, their humour, attractiveness or overall popularity. The ones that were desperate for affirmation were relegated to the bottom, while those who rejected it were cast out of the system entirely. It was the ones that commanded it be given, as if it was their divine right, the only undeniable truth being their superiority, that truly ruled any social hierarchy from high school to government.
Speaking of divine right to demand attention, her brother was standing at the end of the corridor, shirt dishevelled and no longer artistically rumpled, with a crowd of students just dispersing from whatever was going on a few minutes ago. Short glances were thrown their way, and shy whispers caused her to stride with purpose towards Nikolai and tug at his sleeve.
"Are you ok? What happened here?" She asked in Russian, an easy way to have a private conversation in the crowd of monolingual locals. "You look like you were manhandled."
Nikolai did not reply at first, staring somewhere above the roiling sea of heads, but a few insistent tugs pulled his attention back to Nastya. "Erm… nothing serious. My existence once again threatened a jock's masculinity," he tried to jest, but his sister was having none of it.
"I step away for fifteen minutes, and you immediately get into a fight!" she hissed under her breath while fixing his collar. "Don't antagonise them. You know that by just being here you are shattering their gender norms, don't go poking the bear…" she tugged on the sleeves to straighten her work "Lest he pokes you back."
Nikolai raised a brow. "Was that supposed to be an innuendo, or a happy accident?"
"Take your pick! I don't care. If I don't get some nicotine in me before calculus, I will commit murder, and the lunch break is almost over. Follow me."
***
The "smoking shed" was almost exactly as Nastya imagined it. A mouldy, semi-submerged building surrounded by weeds and a well-worn path towards the door, with no light except for whatever managed to thread through the dingy basement windows. The door creaked loudly, causing the twins to flinch and look around for passers-by. When the coast was clear, they slipped inside.
Sports equipment covered the majority of the space, with a vaulting horse taking up most of the space in the back among the mats. They made their way through the clutter to the very back of this surprisingly spacious building, and Nastya exclaimed in triumph. She turned to Nikolai, shaking a rusty tin in one hand.
"Found the vintage ashtray!"
They settled down behind the horse and realised that this was a perfectly concealed corner of the shed, with good ventilation coming from the window behind them and a view of the front door. Nastya immediately pulled out her cigarette and lit it up, the place quiet except for her slow and measured inhales and exhales. Nikolai sat in complete serenity by her side, not partaking but simply being there. She felt the warmth she was missing the entire day slowly enter her body through the embers and settle deep inside her chest.
Halfway through her first smoke, she paused, leaned back against the wall and stared at Nikolai. Waiting.
"What?" He replied after a while, squirming under her scrutinizing gaze.
"Don't 'what' me. Start talking"
"... I have nothing to say."
She exhaled with purpose, powerful plumes of smoke directed straight at the back of Nikolai's head.
"Hey! Stop it! My hair is going to stink of smoke!"
"That will be the least of your problems," she retorted, continuing to pierce him with her eyes.
Nikolai squirmed for a few more seconds before acquiescing. "I think… I think I met someone who… doesn't get affected, you know?"
"Seriously!?" Nastya perked up at that, leaning forward. "Are they like you? Is that why?"
"Yes… and no." He replied enigmatically, causing Nastya to give him a light shove.
"Enough with the mysterious attitude! Just tell me as it is, before I stop caring for good," she lied.
Nikolai fiddled with the ends of his glorious silver locks. "He has the same… aura about him? I don't know. But I think it's just natural charisma, rather than… whatever I have." He paused and looked toward the exit. "But he was not affected at all. Everyone else was as usual. I even tried to…"
"Oh, hell no. You didn't use your thing on purpose, did you? We talked about this…"
"I know!" he exclaimed and immediately got shushed. "I know. But I had to be sure. And everyone else in the room was mesmerised and he just… laughed and carried on."
A few more moments of quiet followed that revelation before Nikolai continued. "Then the thing with the jock happened and… I am so SICK of it all, Nast'," he slammed his hand into the horse, a slight indent now visible in the dim light.
"I am sick of people always looking and whispering. I am sick of the constant lies and not knowing if any of the interactions I have with others are genuine!" He was now getting agitated, a pretty flush creeping up his alabaster skin into his cheeks, like winter apples.
After a few erratic breaths, he seemed to calm down. Nastya was almost finished with her cigarette when he turned and looked into her pale grey eyes with an identical pair of his own.
"I think someone is following me again." Nastya froze; any warmth that she obtained seeped out of her immediately and was replaced with a cold bucket of dread.
"They are good. Any time I feel like I'm being watched, they disappear in the crowd. As if they anticipate my movements exactly." He hugged his knees, leaning over them, a Renaissance tragic hero in a languid pose.
"Well, shit." Nastya shrugged and offered the pack to him. She saw him visibly consider it and then turn away.
"Do you want to move schools again?" She asked nonchalantly, knowing on the inside that that was nearly impossible at this point. But she thought he would appreciate the sentiment.
"No," he replied rather quickly. "I am tired of running. And now that I have found someone whom I can actually be friends with?"
"I am not going anywhere." He stated resolutely, and that was that.
Just as Nastya was finished digesting the barrage of bombshells hitting her all at once, the front door creaked once more, and they heard erratic footsteps and voices, blocking their only exit.