Stars Above: A Lunar Chronicles Collection (The Lunar Chronicles) (15 page)

Of course, the look didn’t last long.

Carswell took a few steps back as Jules’s hand flexed into a fist. “What a coincidence,” he said. “I was just coming to look for Kate. So glad you found her for me.” He raised his eyebrows at Kate, then quirked his head back down the hallway. “Come on.”

She swiped at the first tear that started down her cheek. Wrapping her arms around her waist, she dodged around the boys to come stand beside him, but Carswell hadn’t taken two steps away before Jules grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him back around.

“What, is she your girlfriend now or something?” he said, nostrils flaring with, if Carswell hadn’t known better, a hint of jealousy.

Which just blasted figured. Mocking and bullying a girl
would
be the way that Jules attempted to show affection. It somehow seemed to fit with that completely messed-up head of his.

Carswell stifled a sigh. Maybe he could start an after-school Flirting 101 class. There were a lot of people in this school who could really use the help.

What could he charge for that? he wondered.

“Right now,” he said, drawing his attention back to the numbskull in front of him and placing a hand on Kate’s arm, “she’s the girl that I’m escorting back to class. Feel free to spread whatever rumors you want from that.”

“Yeah? How about the rumor that I gave you a black eye because you wouldn’t mind your own business?”

“I’m honestly not sure people are going to buy that one, given that—”

The fist collided with Carswell’s eye faster than he’d have thought possible, sending him reeling back against the row of lockers with a resounding clang.

The world tilted and blurred and he thought Kate may have screamed and something clattered on the ground—her portscreen, falling from his own hand—but all he could think was,
Spades and aces and stars, that hurt.

He’d never been punched before. He’d always assumed it would be easy to bounce back from, but now he had the instinctive desire to curl up into a ball and cover his head with both arms and play dead until they all went away.

“Carswell!” yelled Kate, seconds before Rob grabbed him by the elbow and yanked him away from the lockers, and then Jules’s fist was in his stomach and he’d probably broken a rib and Carswell was on his knees and Ryan was kicking him and all his senses were made up of pain and grunts and Kate’s shrieks and he really would have thought that he’d have lasted a lot longer than this, but …

A gruff voice bulleted through the haze of fists and feet and Carswell was left blessedly alone, curled up on the school’s tiled floor. He tasted blood in his mouth. His entire body was throbbing.

As his senses began to register his surroundings again, he realized that Vice Principal Chambers had broken up the fight, but Carswell was too woozy to make sense of his angry words.

“Carswell?” said a sweet, soft, horrified voice.

His left eye was already swelling shut, but he peeled open the right to see that Kate was now crouched over him. Her fingers were hovering just off his shoulder, like she was afraid to touch him.

He tried to smile, but felt it probably looked more like a grimace. “Hey, Kate.”

Her eyes were filled with sympathy, her face still flushed, but she wasn’t crying anymore, and Carswell liked to think he’d put an end to that, at least.

“Are you all right? Can you stand?”

Bracing himself, he sat up, which was a start. Kate helped a little, although she still seemed hesitant.

“Ow,” he muttered. His entire abdomen was throbbing and bruised. He wondered if they’d broken a rib after all.

Aces, how embarrassing. He would be investing in some good martial arts simulators after this. Or maybe boxing. He’d never be on the losing side of a fistfight again if he could help it, outnumbered or not.

“Are you all right, Mr. Thorne?” said Mr. Chambers.

Squinting upward, Carswell saw that they’d been joined by two of the tech professors, who were standing with their arms folded over Jules and his friends. Everyone was scowling. Rob even looked a tiny bit guilty, or maybe he just hated that they’d been caught.

“I’m grand,” said Carswell. “Thank you for asking, Mr. Chambers.” Then he flinched and rubbed at the spot on his side where the jolt of pain had originated from.

Mr. Chambers sighed heavily. “You know that all fighting is against school policy, Mr. Thorne. I’m afraid this calls for a one-week suspension. For all four of you.”

“Wait—no!” said Kate. Then, to Carswell’s surprise, she laced their fingers together. He blinked at their hands, then up at her profile, and doubted she even realized she was doing it. “Carswell was defending me. They’d taken my portscreen and wouldn’t give it back. It’s not his fault!”

The vice principal was shaking his head, and though Carswell could tell he felt bad about the decision, he also had an expression that suggested there was nothing he could do about it. “School rules, Miss Fallow.”

“But that isn’t fair. He didn’t do anything wrong!”

“It’s a no-tolerance policy. I’m sorry, but we can’t make exceptions.” Mr. Chambers glanced back at the other boys. “Mr. Keller, Mr. Doughty, Mr. Mancuso—you can follow me to my office so we can comm your parents. Miss Fallow, why don’t you assist Mr. Thorne to see the med-droid.” He attempted sympathy when he met Carswell’s one-eyed gaze again. “We’ll comm your parents later.”

Chin falling to his chest, Carswell cursed under his breath. This was also against school policy, but Mr. Chambers blessedly ignored it.

“Miss Fallow, I’ll alert your teacher to forgive your absence for this period.”

“Thank you, Mr. Chambers,” she murmured, full of resignation.

As Jules and his friends were escorted away, Carswell allowed himself to lean against Kate and push himself onto his wobbly legs, with another handful of curses and groans.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered as he draped an arm around her shoulders and she began escorting him toward the med-droid office.

“Not your fault,” he said through his teeth. Although, now that he had the strenuous effort of walking to focus on, the pain almost seemed to be dulling. Almost. “You get your portscreen?”

“Yes. Thank you. And I got your bag.” Then she huffed angrily. “I can’t believe they’re suspending you. It isn’t fair.”

He tried to shrug, but it came out as a more general flopping of his free arm. “I was already grounded for mid-July break. A suspension can’t make it that much worse.”

“Grounded? For what?”

His gaze flickered to her, and he couldn’t avoid a wry smile, even though it pinched his throbbing cheekbone. “Poor math grade.”

She flushed. “Oh.”

Carswell pressed a hand against his ribs, finding that by applying a slight amount of pressure he could relieve some of the jarring as they walked. “Yep, I’m grounded until I bring my score back up. Of course, that’s not going to happen now that I can’t even go to class.” He tried to laugh as if it didn’t bother him, but quickly realized what a bad idea that was, and the sound turned into something of a pained cough. “Oh well. Just more time to catch up on my Joel Kimbrough reading, I guess.”

She tried to giggle, maybe to make him feel better, but it didn’t sound any more authentic than his laugh had.

“When you’re done,” she said, “I’m sure you could write an amazing paper that explores the parallels between the dangers of space travel as compared to navigating school hallways and social status and … and…”

“And parents.”

Her laugh was less forced this time. “And parents, of course.”

“I suspect that Martians have pretty much always symbolized parents in those books.”

“They must, being that they’re so … otherworldly.”

“And terrifying.”

This time, her laugh wasn’t forced at all, and it gave Carswell a warm, tender feeling somewhere under all the bruising. He wished he could have laughed with her without it causing a flash of pain in his skull.

“Think Professor Gosnel would give me extra credit?”

“I’m sure she would,” said Kate. But then her sympathy was back. “It wouldn’t help with your math grade, though.”

“True. If only studying algebra formulas was half as much fun as corny space adventures.”

“If only.” Pursing her lips, Kate glanced up at him through her cascade of hair. Then she took in a deep breath. “I’ll let you copy my math homework.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Until … until your grade is up. And when we come back from break, I can help you study, if you still want me to.”

“Thank you.” He smiled, and he didn’t even have to fake his gratitude, though the relief came with that peculiar undercurrent of shame again. He knew that she felt guilty, that she felt as though she owed him something. He knew he was taking advantage of those feelings.

But he didn’t argue, and he didn’t reject her offer. Because in the back of his head, he was already counting up the hours this would save him, the money he could earn with that time. He was already moving past Kate and her portscreen and her gentle laugh and the lingering pain from his first fistfight.

Already, he was moving on to the next goal, the next dream, the next obstacle. Carswell grinned, just to the point where it started to hurt, and rubbed a thumb over his tie tack.

For luck.

After Sunshine Passes By

A
t nine years old,
C
rescent
M
oon was the youngest infantry soldier in Luna’s great warrior army. She stood at perfect attention in the front line of her platoon—back straight as a pin and arms locked at her sides. She was proud of her service to the queen. Already she had been hailed for her bravery and even honored with a medal of courage from Commander-General Sybil Mira after the battle of—

“
Crescent.
”

Mistress’s voice interrupted the fantasy, and Cress snapped a fist to her heart in salute. “Yes, Commander—um, I mean, Mistress?”

Some of the older kids snickered down the line and Cress felt her cheeks flame. Though she had pinned her gaze respectfully to the bunk beds against the opposite wall, she tore them away now to look at Mistress Sybil, who stood at the end of the long, narrow dormitory. Her lips were thinned and white.

Cress swallowed hard and lowered her hand. Her body shrank, mimicking the same meek posture the other kids had when they lined up for the monthly blood withdrawals. Of course, she wasn’t really a soldier. She wasn’t even sure what the word
infantry
meant. But that didn’t keep her from fantasizing, from imagining herself somewhere better than here.
Anywhere
but here.

She couldn’t understand why the other shells were so content to accept their stifled existence, why they mocked her for trying to escape, even if the escape was only in her own mind. Yet mock her they did. At least, until they wanted something from her; then they were sweet as syrup.

Sybil’s nostrils flared as she inhaled an impatient breath. “Did you hear what I said, Crescent?”

Cress racked her brain, even though she knew it was useless. Her face grew hotter as she shook her head.

“I was just telling the rest of your peers that we have received evidence that someone recently hacked into the feed of the educational programming intended for Luna’s most promising youth.” Her gray eyes narrowed at Cress. “I was unsurprised to find that the feed had been copied, and was now being broadcast
here
, in the shell dormitories. Can you explain this, Crescent?”

She swallowed and shrank back again, and her shoulder bumped into the boy beside her. “I … um…”

“It was my idea,” said Calista, who stood near the front of the line. Sybil’s piercing eyes shifted to her. “Don’t be mad at Cress. I put her up to it. I just thought …
we
just thought…”

Sybil waited, expressionless, but Calista seemed to have lost her gumption. A silence filled the dormitory, and though the temperature was static, Cress began to shiver.

Finally, Arol spoke. “We thought it could teach us how to read.” He cleared his throat. “I mean, those of us who don’t know how…”

Which was most of them. Cress had managed to download a Beginning Readers app to their shared holograph node a few years ago, and she and a couple others had made it through the entire course before Sybil had found out and blocked it from them. They had tried to teach the others—those who wanted to learn—but without paper or portscreens it was a slow, tedious process.

Most of them wanted to know, though. There was something liberating about it. Something powerful.

She thought Sybil knew that too; otherwise she wouldn’t have been opposed to it.

Sybil began to pace down their line, eyeing each of them in turn, though most of the kids dropped their stares as she passed. She moved like a cat. A proud, spoiled one, who hunted for sport, not survival. The guard who had accompanied her waited by the door, attention pinned on the distant wall, ignoring them all.

“If it was important for you to have the skill of reading,” said Sybil, “do you not think I would have ensured that you were taught? But you are not here to be educated. You are here because we have hopes of
curing
you. You are here to supply us with shell blood so that we might study your deficiencies and, perhaps, someday we will know how to fix you. When that day comes, you will be reintroduced as full citizens of Luna.” Her words turned sharp. “But until that day, you have no place in civilized society, and no purpose beyond the blood that runs through your veins.
Reading
is a privilege that you have not earned.”

She stopped in front of Cress and turned to face her. Cress cowered, though she wished that she hadn’t. There would be no medal of bravery today.

Reading was a privilege she had not earned. Except … she felt that she had. She had learned the language of computers and networks and she had learned the language of letters and sounds and she had done it all on her own. Wasn’t that
earning
it?

It didn’t matter now. Knowledge was something that Sybil could never take away from her.