My Star In The Sky

Chapter 3

My eyes slowly slid open and I wondered why it was so bright in my room. And then I gained consciousness and saw my older brother Owen, flashing a light over me. Owen gets all the girls and I can understand that. He has short, light brown curly hair and light green eyes, and is the captain of the football and baseball teams. I wish to be him.

"What are you doing?" I sit up and rub my eyes. "Dad has been calling you for the past 10 minutes. He's taking us to the football game." God. I don't like football. I may sound ignorant and childish when I say this, It's just a bunch of guys tackling each other. I never really understood it.

I'd already told them not to buy me a ticket, but my dad says it's the biggest game of the season. Playoffs. I groan and lay down.

"I'm not going," I say.
"Oh yes you are," says my dad when he walks in.
"You can't just say home all day. And your mom is going to get her nails done." He pulls the covers off my head.
"We'll be in the car. Be ready in 5 minutes," he says.

10 minutes later, I'm in the car. My dad blasts folk music and sings along to The Weavers. They're a very old band and I love them because my dad loves them. He's an old soul. He loves classic movies and music just like me and I love him so much.

Owen is of course in the front seat on his phone. He's probably texting his girlfriend. They've actually been going out since they were juniors and now they're seniors which is impressive to me. You may think my brother is a man whore and does nothing but sleep with girls, but really he's a lover boy and deep down, I want to be like them.

After the football game, we go out to eat. They let me choose the restaurant and I wanted to go eat Thai food. During the game, there were a ton of people and I started to get self conscious. That happens all of the time whenever I'm around a large crowd. I talked to Imani about it and she says, "You may feel that way, but really... no one's looking at you. It's all in your head."

I love imani. She makes me feel better about everything. I don't know what I'd do without her.

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When I got home, I finished reading "First love" by Ivan Turgenev. It's a love story between a boy and a girl. I read it last winter and I loved it so much. It's crazy how every time I read a new book, it becomes my favorite until I read another one. But this book will always be a favorite and I can really relate to the protagonist. He's quiet, fragile, and an outcast. Just like I am.

That night, Imani and I went to an art museum with our moms. We love to see history paintings of women and places we've never seen before. Sometimes I think that I have a connection to those people and it scares me how there were people just like us hundreds of years ago.

I wore my brown vintage shorts and dark green sweater. I decided to take my camera so we can take pictures together. I call my camera "Rain" because the day I bought it, it was raining. The halls were a little dim, and the walls were a dark brown color. Soft music plays in the background.

"Alright," says her mom. "We'll let you guys roam around and do your thing and when you're hungry, there's a little cafe around here y'all can go to." Me and imani both look at each other.
"Behave," my dad mom saus, and then they both walk off down the hall.

We both skip down the hall, holding hands while laughing. Her giggles warms my heart and makes me happy.

We stopped at a painting of the Dora Maar. The woman is sitting on a chair, leaning over. "Her face looks weird," says Imani. I chuckle. "Yeah, that's the point." She gives me a smile. "What do you think it means?"
I stare at it for a second.
"Well... I don't know. Maybe it's a real person though who knows," I say. "Or maybe it can be a symbol of physiological imbalance. Since her face is a little.... Imbalanced?"
Imani tilts her head.
"Hm. Can be."

We continue walking down the hall, looking at other paintings when a beautiful song comes on. It sounds like pianos and violins. I stop and she turns around once she notices. "What?"
"The song."
"And what about it?"
"I don't know. It just sounds lovely," I say.
Imani snorts. "You're so weird."
"Come on," she gestures.
"Wait. Come here for a second."
She walks up to me and stops. We stand there awkwardly before I grab her hand and kiss it. She giggles. "What are you doing?"

I don't answer her and instead, I put my hands on her waist and guide her closer to me. She doesn't say anything. I stare at her eyes without losing contact. Imani laid her hands gently on my shoulders and we began to slow dance. Right there. In the middle of the hall.

She shyly looks down.
"People are looking at us."
"Let them."

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Later that night, Imani came over. We ended up not going to that cafe, and instead just made a pizza. She never brought up what had happened at the museum, and I didn't expect her to because we do things like that all the time.

Sometimes I don't know how she feels about this. Sometimes I don't know if we're friends or if I'm her boyfriend. That's the part I'm confused about. But to be honest, I'm fine with either. As long as we're together.

We fell asleep on my bed, and the next morning my mom made us Pancakes and eggs. She makes the best breakfast.

I love Imani I'm the morning. She's calm, and quiet. Let's just say she's not like that most of the time. After breakfast, we brush our teeth. Imani has her own toothbrush for her because she sleeps over a lot and forgets to bring hers.

"I should head home and change," she says when we're done.
I nod.
"See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
She gives me a weird smile. The kind of smile that she does all the time when she's hiding something from me. I just don't know what it is.