greatexpectations | but my soul is just a whisper trapped inside a tornado

She wanted to fit in. It was so ridiculously dumb. Kamala never needed to before her life went crazy. Sure, she wanted people to like her. It was never a huge priority. She'd been content enough with what she had and the fantasies that swum around that silly head of hers.

Abu died... No, he was killed. People said he had it coming. They called him a traitor; a terrorist. People treated her differently. Not bad or good really. They just kept her at arm's length like she had some kind of disease they didn't want to catch. No new friends or easy acquaintances. It bothered her even when it shouldn't. Anyone who believed her Abu was any of those things wasn't worth her time. It got lonely after a while. She's only human.

Kamala thought maybe, just maybe, if she compromised herself a little things would go back to normal. She'd been just fooling herself. Even after sneaking out to the party, they still treated her different. It was almost like compromising herself gave them permission to say every nasty thing they ever thought of about her way of life under the pretense of being honest. The cheap alcohol helps like that. The jabs about her curfew and diet sting, but their take on how much it must suck to be her father's daughter when she's obviously not like him at all are too much to bear.

Kamala leaves the crowd in disgust with them, but mostly herself. She wanted approval of people who couldn't make it any more clear how much they looked down on her. What was she thinking?

While Kamala goes through that teen angst, she's blissfully unaware her bff Bruno has already called her mother and brother to effectively tattle. What else could he do after losing Kamala at a party she definitely wasn't allowed to be at? Maybe Yusuf wouldn't listen in on a call from the troubled kid they once took in. It might be something with Bruno's family he's in no position to help with. His wife frantically calling other people immediately after raises red flags. He listens in on Muneeba frantically trying to figure out if Kamala is heading to Nakia's since her calls to Kamala aren't going through.

It's worrying but, not a life or death emergency. He doesn't need to send Frank to look for Kamala. She'll go home. He knows his daughter. Things quickly get more complicated. The news breaks in with a special report and Yusuf's heart drops as he listens. Even if they're not saying where this is taking place or even really what's happening, he knows as a parent that something is very wrong. He knows Kamala is involved in whatever they're not saying. Residents reporting a crash, a sudden fog.....

That's when Pete gets the call from Muneeba in a panic. Kamala is missing. Something crashed into the river and released some kind of gas into the neighborhood her daughter is wandering around in. He needs to find her before Aamir stops praying long enough to notice what's going on.

It isn't an easy task. The mist has made it hard to see more than a few feet in front of you. There are drunk teenagers screaming and running through the streets.....and something straight out of a horror flick on the sidewalk. A strange blue pod shaped like an egg is sitting at five feet tall in the middle of the sidewalk. If that isn't disturbing enough, the outline of a person can be seen inside. Even if the features are hard to make out, that bright yellow lightening bolt on Kamala's jacket still sticks out in the sludge.

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Kamala glances over at him with wonder. What a scary look! It's effective since she has that lamb at light speed. She practically inhales the first bite. The teenager has enough manners to offer up some kind of compliment between bites. "Good thing you only use your scary looks for good." She comments sweetly. "I'll go grab us a booth."

Her comment startles a dry laugh up the back of his throat, giving a little shrug in thanks to the man behind the counter once he has his lamb in hand. He's honestly pretty pumped to see if Kam can eat all of those sandwiches, maybe he'll time her. After a minute, he remembers himself, pulling out his burner phone to T9 a reassurance back to Yusuf before the guy gets any insane ideas of coming out into the open. It's hard to placate a supergenius without any specifics, but he does his best and by the time he's done their food is ready.

Frank slams a tray down with their meal and hands her a coke he grabbed out of the cooler before cracking open his own. "Alright, let's see it. I vouched for you." He gestures for her to dig in first while taking a sip.

She is ready to jump Pete for the food with zero regrets. Kamala holds it back long enough to take the soda and offer sincere thanks. "Thank you for the food!" Then it's all bets off. She downs half the soda in one go before moving onto the sandwiches. It's a little like watching a professional eater minus the water breaks. Kamala goes at it like she hasn't eaten in a week.

The only pause she'll take is to drink some more coke and move onto the next sandwich.

He drinks his soda and leans back, transfixed by the scene before him. She definitely hadn't been exaggerating about how hungry she was.

"Good to know I can take your word for stuff from now on." Frank lifts an eyebrow and unwraps his sandwich, figuring he can take his time here.

It isn't until she hits the third sandwich that Kamala finally slows down. She's finally feeling better. It's like she can properly breathe again. Kam might have relaxed then and there if not for that comment. "Duh! I always tell you the truth, Pete." The teen states like it's obvious. It isn't even really that she lies to her friends or family. He's just easier to talk to about all the stuff she buries deep. That's all.

Frank's gaze softens a little at that, though he quickly tears his eyes away to focus on his food, taking that first most satisfying bite. It's been a while since he's eaten anything but ramen noodles and the occasional pizza so this is a welcome change, and the company isn't bad either.

"You can, you know," he says suddenly with his mouth full. He had always been bad at this stuff, but if she trusts him shouldn't he help? Even when he knows what he should be doing is distancing himself as much as possible. "I'm good at secrets." Too good, sometimes.

That gets Kamala to slow her chewing for a minute. He really means that. It's weird how much that means to her... right? Kamala can never be sure. Grief is a weird thing when your father dies a hero to you, but a terrorist to others. "You know you're really cool for a guy who hits cars with his face." Somehow that's a sincere compliment coming from Kamala.

She rinses her food down with some coke and adds, "Thanks for coming to look for me. I really needed a friend." She resumes stuffing her face. It is embarrassing to admit the grown man your Ammi hit with a car is a being better friend than your supposed best friend. Sometimes you need to screw up without getting told on and yelled at. Kamala didn't need his help knowing she was being an idiot. It was obvious ten minutes in.

He takes another bite and immediately regrets it when she makes him laugh, and then he's halfway choking on his sandwich. "It runs in the family, trying to kill me." Frank pounds on his chest with a fist to try and stop coughing, taking a measured sip of his soda a second later.

"What happened at the party, Kam?" he asks once he's sobered, leaning back against the booth. "Before all the... fog."

Kamala cracks a smile at his joke. She's reasonably sure he won't choke to death. They can laugh about it! Her expression hardens at the question. That should say it all. Despite everything, she's generally a pretty positive kid. She's not one to go stony all the sudden. "Dumb stuff." She starts unhelpfully. It doesn't take long for Kamala to start opening up if only because she does trust Pete. "They thought because I went to their stupid party that I was admitting they were basically right about everything." She sets down what little is left of her sandwich and looks down at the table. She doesn't want to see his face when she recounts the whole thing. Obviously a middle-aged man has no idea what dumb high school kids say to each other when they're drunk.

"That my religious beliefs are backwards, I smell like curry, making sure I remember everyone thinks Abu is a terrorist and they're low-key happy he's dead, and obviously Aamir keeps me locked in the house all day because Muslims are super oppressive and medieval. Did I mention that one before? Because Zoe was really set on that. Bruno threw a fit about me being unsafe at the party and just made everything worse." Her voice cracks a little, but she keeps going. Kamala needs to get this off her chest to someone who isn't a hallucination.

"I wanted to think Zoe just said dumb things sometimes, but Nakia was right. All it took was one gross drink for her to spill out every awful thought she ever had about me without the pretense of being concerned. I was stupid for wanting anything to do with them. They're all like her. She just has the guts to say all that stuff out loud."

Frank knows her well enough by now to just wait her out. It doesn't take long for him to be proven right. He gives an extra few seconds pass to make sure she's said everything she wants to say before lacing his fingers on the table and leaning towards her, food forgotten for now.

"Look, Kam... I don't have all the answers, I know you're smart enough to know that. But I do know you can't waste your time on people who don't understand you, or at least try. Not everyone is like Zoe, just... most." He's smiling by the end of it, hoping she will be too.

Kamala nods. He makes a lot of sense as usual. She already learned this lesson the hard way tonight. "Yeah, I know. My hallucination of Captain Marvel already covered that one." Even so it's good to be validated by an adult she trusts.

Kamala quickly smiles, feeling more at ease. Zoe sucks, but hey at least she isn't dead. "Hey, at least I got gyros out of it and an awesome story we can never talk about with anyone else." With that, she'll go back to finishing this sandwich off.

but my soul is just a whisper trapped inside a tornado

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