Crossing Jupiter (#Wattys2015)

Chapter Five

Han's waiting on my doorstep when I arrive.

I raise my eyebrows. "How did you get my address? I don't recall giving it to you."

"Well, if I recall, you said that you lived next to Bay. There's only one house next to him, so I figured it was yours. Is that wrong to assume?"

"Not wrong. Just a bit stalker-like if you ask me."

She smiles. "True, but those are the best kind of stalkers."

We enter my abode and head straight for the kitchen. Four hours without food? That's going to leave two girls starving. And one guy.
Jasper is seen devouring a bowl of cereal, leaving his dignity thrown out the window.

Hans pauses for a few seconds. "You guys are siblings?"

"Sometimes we like to pretend that we're not, and despite all my prayers, he's still my brother." I say.

Jasper wipes off his cereal moustache. "Its not like I don't wish you're my sister. You can be pretty intimidating at times."

"It must be nice having siblings. All I have is a cat that hates me." Hans murmurs.

Jasper grins. "I like cats."

I ignore Jasper. "How is it a surprise that we're siblings?"

"It's really not that surprising, but you guys are in such different environments when you're at school. For example, this morning. I saw Jasper with the popular group. All the girls swoon over him, but he didn't take any notice to it because he was more focused on figuring out who they really are, which is pretty smart for someone who's popular. Meanwhile, you were nowhere to be seen. My guess is that you were in a classroom, doing schoolwork and avoiding the stereotypical crowds."

She's pretty good at this. "I was in the Journalism room, brainstorming ideas for the school paper. The teacher who runs it is actually very sweet, and said I can hang out there in the mornings."

Hans smiles. "My point exactly. You two are in two totally different situations, so I'm surprised that there's no tension between you guys when you reach home."

"We like to keep our school life as school." Jasper says.

I smile at Jasper. It's nice to have someone that has power in school, who you can talk to out of school. I end the conversation by dragging Hannah upstairs.

-

"Your room is huge!" Hans exclaims.

I smile. "I think it's just the fact that everything is bare. Once I begin hanging posters and pictures, it won't be all that big."

We lounge on the bed and swing our feet on the edge. "So what was this grand idea you had earlier?" Hans asks.

"It wasn't much of an idea. I was thinking that maybe we could find a way to set you and Bay up. Yes, I know he's all I've been discussing, and I get that it's annoying, but I think this could work. From what I've seen, you two balance each-other out."

She mutters. "There once was a time where we were going to do it. We were going to date, possibly move in and get married if it worked out in the future.
But our parents would've never allowed it. He's this amazing guy who's traveled around the world to different continents with his parents. I'm this American girl who knows nothing about sports or let alone another country. It's just not meant to be. Fate never wanted this to happen."

I raise an eyebrow. "But fate never intended to meet me. Watch, I'll set this entire thing up without your parents knowing. Heck, I've never even met your parents. If things go south, just blame it on me. I am the new girl, after all."

Hans wraps her finger around a loose strand of string. Her orange hair sticks out into wild pieces, like carrots on Easter Sunday. "What do you suppose we do?"

"Well, we can always improvise."

"Improvisation? Don't get me wrong but, I don't think an improv class will help this situation any."

I catch glance at one of my journals. "What about creative writing? It might not do us any good, but it can give us something to do while we think of a plan. We don't have to write anything down, though. We can just vocalize our situations. An idea is bound to rise from it!"

Hans props herself up on her elbows. "Alright, I'm in. What are we talking about?"

"It can be anything, anything at all. Here, I'll make a prompt for you, and you'll make one for me. Write a letter to that one person you still think about."

She reminisces for a few seconds. "Dear Fred,
Despite all that's happened, I still think about you. Why? I don't know. I just know that I liked you. Loved you, even. I'll never forget how we stayed up late at night, talking for hours on end. My heart skipped a beat when you asked me to visit you someday. You might not know this, but I asked my parents. And do you know what they said? They said someday.

And I was stupid enough to think that someday, you'd still be there.

Be there for me, for everyone. We'd be best friends forever."

Her voice breaks. "But we weren't. One day, you just got up and left. I thought you died, considering your past. But no, you were fine. You just cast me away into the shadows, and locked me away. I never broke free from those chains.

Despite you being 3,000 miles away, I was still entangled by your mess. You never knew how much you hurt me. And when you came back, I pushed you away, until I forgave you. Then you locked me away again.
I'll never forget those things you did to me. I was broken, like a shattered glass. But, every now and then, I do think of you." She smiles, "I think of your smile, and how it lit up the world. I think of your laugh, and all the fun times we shared. You cross my mind everyday. And I wish on old stars, that maybe, one day, we can be together.

Friends forever, yeah?
-Hannah."

Hans stares at the ceiling for a few seconds before whispering. "I want you to about what you believe. Not your beliefs, but what you believe the would should be like. Write about your dreams for society."

I tap my fingers on the nightstand. "I believe in equality. For everyone.

I believe that gender shouldn't matter. Sexuality and race shouldn't matter. Nothing needs to matter when it comes to those things, because in the end, we're all humans. We all consist of the same functioning body parts. We all bleed blood. We're all the same on the inside. Our exteriors should define who we are.

I believe in a better world. I want all the stereotypes to disappear, and I want to make sure that we all treat each-other as equals. Don't judge people because they're younger than you. I absolutely hate when people are like, "You're younger than me, so you have to be stupider. You're just a kid, what do you know?"

Like they're are so many bright kids in this world. So many prodigies that are just waiting for their shining moment.
But adults don't allow them it, because they're scared. No one likes change, but in this case, we need it.

I believe in a better world.
I believe that there's more to life than just living."

We just lay there for who knows how long. Words grow heavier the longer they hang. And we let them. Sometimes the best kinds of friendships are the ones where you can sit in silence for hours without it ever becoming awkward.

This is the fastest someone's ever opened up to me. Normally, it takes weeks or even months for me to trust them. But Han's gives off that radiance that speaks to you. Her personality tells you that you can trust her, even if you barely know her. She's an open book; all her answers are hidden within the pages.

Jasper shuffles around downstairs as he attempts to play Just Dance. I swear he's as bad as it sounds, but he's determined to be flawless by prom. Mom bets that it can happen, while Dad and I are betting no way.
I close my eyes.

Only time will tell.