Starcrossed (8 page)

He stopped and turned me toward him so he could look into my eyes. “I know, M. I trust you completely—with my life and my heart.” I could tell beyond doubt that he meant it. “It’s
his
motives I don’t trust. His and Allister’s. So . . . be careful, okay?”

“Okay. But they can’t possibly change the way I feel, so their motives don’t really matter, do they? I mean, I promise not to lead him on or anything.”

Now he laughed. “That’s
not
something I was worried about.”

I was relieved to see him smiling again. “What, you don’t think I can flirt with the best of them?” I joked.

He threw an arm around my shoulders and gave me a delicious squeeze. “You don’t have to, believe me. You’re already completely irresistible.”

“To you, maybe. But thanks. And ditto.”
 

During class, while filling in my water cycle chart, I occasionally focused my attention on Rigel behind me, gauging his emotions. Except for occasional spurts of irritation with Trina—his lab partner—he mostly stayed upbeat, though toward the end of class a darker edge crept back in.

“Want to grab something we can eat in the courtyard?” I suggested on the way to lunch.

As usual, Rigel saw right through me. “I’m fine, M.” He gave me a smile to prove it. “Besides, it’s drizzling and about forty degrees. But I appreciate the offer.”

“Think you can get away tonight after dinner, then?” I asked as we got into the lunch line.
 

But he shook his head. “Dad, Grandfather and Allister have me helping them with a project. They say it’s to get a young person’s input, but I think it’s really to keep me home at night. How about this afternoon?”

“It’s a date,” I promised, already tingling at the thought of some uninterrupted alone time with Rigel.

We sat down with our lunches and a moment later I saw Molly heading for our table. But she’d barely left the lunch line when Trina intercepted her. “Hey, Molly, you don’t have to sit with the losers anymore. You can sit with us now.” She gestured toward the cheerleaders’ table.
 

Though no one else at our table could possibly hear the exchange, Rigel and I both could. We glanced at each other, waiting to see what Molly would say.

“Thanks, Trina, but I like M and her friends. They’re really nice.”

I could see Trina’s lip curl from halfway across the room. “Nice? Trust me, you don’t know Marsha like I do. I’ll admit Rigel Stuart is easy on the eyes, even if he is a total player. But the others—?” She rolled her eyes. “Come on over if you change your mind.”

Molly walked away from her without replying. “Hey, M,” she greeted me when joined us. “Do you think you can come over again soon?”

I wished she’d waited to ask when Rigel wasn’t right there—not that I’d have hidden it from him, of course. But I wanted to preserve his good mood and I could feel it souring the moment she spoke.
 

Still, I nodded. “Probably. My aunt seems to be fine with it.”

“Great! I was afraid you might have gotten in trouble after staying so late last night.”

Honestly, was she
trying
to get me in trouble with Rigel? There was nothing calculating in her expression. but now Bri and Deb were interested.

“So what are you guys up to?” Bri asked, a little tinge of jealousy in her voice. Which was totally uncool, considering how much more time she’d been spending with Deb than me lately—and it wasn’t
all
my fault.

“I’m just helping Molly and Sean get caught up in History—not that they need a lot of help.” I smiled at Molly and she smiled back.

“It was my mom’s idea,” she explained to Bri, who was still frowning a little. “But M’s being a really good sport about it.”

“So, Molly, are you joining the cheerleading squad?” Deb said to change the subject. Deb hated anything like conflict.
 

Molly nodded. “I thought it might be fun to cheer at Sean’s games. You guys will come, won’t you?”

“Are you kidding?” Bri was instantly distracted. “I never miss a game. I especially won’t now. Let’s all go to the scrimmage against Alexandria week after next! Show our support.”
 

She spent the rest of lunch talking basketball and I was surprised that Molly seemed to know as much about it as she did. Rigel made an occasional comment, too, but I stayed quiet, not wanting to display my ignorance. I was just happy Rigel was relatively cheerful again, despite the frequent mentions of Sean’s name. I hoped that meant I’d successfully reassured him.

It was still drizzling when I got off the bus that afternoon. I worried it might keep Rigel from coming over but less than half an hour later he showed up wearing a rain poncho that covered most of his bike as well as his body.

“Nice!” I said, grinning at his attire when I opened the door.

He shrugged, grinning back. “It’s not a force field, but it gets the job done. You want to go for a walk? I brought an umbrella—a real one.”
 

“Let me grab my coat.” No neighbors were out in their yards on a day like this, but I wouldn’t put it past Mrs. Crabtree to be spying out her window.
 

A minute later we were walking toward Diamond hand in hand, Rigel holding the big black umbrella over both of us. Very romantic, in spite of the puddles. But then, pretty much everything was romantic when I was with Rigel.

“It sucks there’s no place we can be alone without getting rained on,” I commented after a moment.

“Yeah. Maybe after Allister and Grandfather leave you can come to my house again.”

Aunt Theresa had made it clear that neither Rigel nor I were allowed in each other’s houses without supervision. She’d even mentioned it to his parents after church a few weeks ago, so they now felt obligated to play by her rules. Fortunately, Rigel’s dad worked out of their house about half the time, since he did a lot of his computer consulting over the internet. Rigel’s mom was an OB/Gyn, so she was gone a lot during the day.
 

“We can go to the arboretum,” I suggested. “It ought to be deserted.”
 

He nodded and we headed that way.
 

“So what’s this project you’re working on?” I asked as we walked.

“Allister and Grandfather are writing up guidelines for new
Echtrans
on how to blend in without drawing attention. I mean, there have always been generally understood dos and don’ts, but with more coming in and others leaving the compounds, they want something standardized. Something bipartisan, I guess you could say.”

“So where do you come in on this?” It sounded very governmental and official to me. I tried to ignore the fact that I really should be learning about this stuff myself.

“They want to include stuff for kids—all ages. Used to be, folks with young kids almost always stayed in one of the Martian compounds or villages until they were older but now, not so much. I’m supposed to come up with ideas for that part.” He didn’t sound happy about it.

“But you think it’s really to keep you home? Away from me?” I could definitely see Allister doing that, but Shim? He’d seemed to like me, and even approve of us as a couple.

The arboretum was as empty as I’d predicted, so we went in and wandered slowly along the wet gravel path. It had been pretty when the roses were in bloom and the trees still had leaves a month ago, but now it was drab and gray in the cold drizzle.

“Maybe I’m wrong about that.” He shrugged. “Anyway, it can’t last forever—though starting next week, after my birthday, I’ll have Driver’s Ed most evenings for a while. But hey, we’re together now, right?”
 

I smiled up at him, my heart beating faster. “We are. And I think we should make the most of that.”

He lowered his lips to mine and for a while nothing else in the world—nothing else in the universe—mattered. Kissing Rigel always felt so right, so perfect. So intense. I sometimes worried I’d get used to this, that each kiss couldn’t go on being better than the last one indefinitely. But so far, that worry hadn’t materialized. Not even close.

After a blissful half hour or so, Rigel noticed I was shivering, even though I hadn’t noticed myself.
 

“Come on,” he said. “We need to get you warmed up.”
 

We walked down the block to Dream Cream for hot chocolate, then it was time for me to get home, since it was my night to make dinner. Cold rain and all, I wished the afternoon didn’t have to end.

On my front porch, Rigel gave me one last kiss, then handed me the umbrella. “Here, you keep this. You can take it with you next time you go to the O’Garas’ house.”

“Subtle,” I said, giving him a grin and another quick kiss. “But I’ll bring it.”
 

I watched him ride off, still smiling, savoring the glow of our time together. But then I looked up at the darkening sky and sighed. Winter was nearly here, which meant fewer and fewer afternoons like this one. Aunt Theresa’s rules, Allister’s visits, new evening commitments, the worsening weather—sometimes it seemed like the world was conspiring to keep Rigel and me apart.

But that was silly. Soon Allister would leave again and everything would go back to normal. Why shouldn’t it?

Nuath
(NOO-ath):
the underground human colony on Mars

“I feel like I understand the American perspective a lot better now,” Molly said several nights later, when we finally finished going everything we’d covered so far in U.S. History.
 

“You’re a good teacher, M.” Sean grinned at me as he flipped his book closed. “Thanks.”

“I’m glad I could help.” I was almost sorry we were done. I’d enjoyed my visits to their house more than I’d expected to, especially the parts where I learned more about Mars. I was also becoming better friends with Molly . . . and with Sean.

As though he’d read my thoughts, Sean said, “You know, you don’t have to tell your aunt we’re caught up. There must be more
you
want to know, plus there’s still lots of stuff you can tell us about America—and Earth. Stuff that everyone takes for granted.”

My eagerness at learning more Martian stuff battled with wariness, in case Rigel was right about Sean. Even after Rigel and I spent that magical Thursday afternoon together, then another hour Saturday, he was definitely still jealous. I’d even sensed it in church, when the O’Garas showed up and sat with us and the Stuarts—and Sean didn’t even try to sit next to me.
 

“Worth a try,” I said after only the briefest hesitation. “So, what else can you tell me about Mars?”

Sean laughed. “That’s like asking, ‘What else can you tell us about Earth?’ Where would you start?”

“Good point.” I relaxed, laughing along with him. “Let’s see. You’ve already told me some political stuff and your parents gave me a little Nuathan history when I was here Sunday night. But what it was like to actually
live
there? I still can’t quite imagine it.”

 
“You’ll, um, you’d love it there, M.” Sean spoke with conviction. “Of course, things got a little crazy the year before we left, but most of our time growing up was great. I really miss it sometimes.”

Molly nodded eagerly. “Me, too. And he’s right, you’d love it! Everybody’s super friendly. And . . . you never have to hide what you really are.”
 

“That must get old, huh?” Sean asked.

It was cool that he understood. “Sometimes. But . . . what is it
like
there? I mean, the entire colony is underground, right? Isn’t it weird living your whole life in . . . in caves?” How could anyone
miss
that?

They started laughing again. “It’s really not like that at all,” Molly assured me. “Actually, it looks a little like Ireland—we were surprised how much when we moved there last year.”

“But isn’t there a . . . a ceiling?”

“There is,” Sean admitted. “I mean, we all know it’s there, but it’s about a mile up, and disguised to look exactly like the sky on Earth, with clouds, and stars at night and everything.”

“Disguised?”
 

“Holographically,” Sean clarified.
 

I’d seen the omni’s little holographic screen, so I guessed that made sense. “So . . . like being inside a really, really big domed stadium with video screens on the ceiling?”
 

“Maybe, but it doesn’t feel like that,” Molly said. “It just feels like being . . . outside. Where we lived, there’s even grass and sheep and stuff.”

“
Sheep?
” Okay, maybe
not
like a huge cavern or an underground spaceship, which is what I’d been imagining. “You have sheep?”

“Well, not us, personally,” Molly admitted, “but people do.”

“So Nuath isn’t just one big city?”
 

She shook her head, smiling at my confusion. “There are two big towns—well, not so big by Earth standards—plus a couple dozen villages, spread out over nearly a four hundred square miles.”

“Four hundred—!” These new images were completely shattering my preconceptions.
 

“That’s only twenty miles in each direction,” Sean pointed out. “She means area, not diameter. You’re taking Geometry, right?”

His tone was teasing and I gave him a mock glare. “Yeah, okay. But still, twenty miles . . . underground . . .” I shook my head again. “Are there, like, pillars or something, holding up the roof?”

“Antigravity supports,” Sean said. “There are physical supports, too, but not many. They’re not necessary.”

It sounded kind of dangerous to me. “But what if the, uh, power died or something? Wouldn’t the ceiling collapse?”

“It’s worked for almost three thousand years,” Molly pointed out. “Plus there’s a lot of redundancy built in, just to be safe. Really, it’s not something we even think about.”

“Besides,” Sean said, “it seems safer to me than having a sky that goes all the way out into space, where anything could just fall on you.” He gave an almost imperceptible shudder.

I started to laugh, but stopped when I saw he looked embarrassed. “The only thing that’s ever fallen out of the sky here has been rain, sleet and snow. Okay, and sometimes hail.”