Red Sky

Chapter 4 - John

Lunch was delicious; they gave us a grilled cheese sandwich and apple juice. The juice tasted like it was made from real apples and not the synthetic cheap ones my mom bought from the store. Apples were really rare and expensive, I’ve had real ones only once in my life. Will and I talked to Leo and Allen during lunch, though Leo did most of the talking. Allen was a very quiet boy; he just watched us talk and ate his food in silence. All the other children were talking and laughing like it was lunch time at school. It was as if they’d forgotten that just hours earlier they had to say goodbye to their loved ones and come to this strange place. One table over I could hear a group of girls laughing, they all seemed to be the same age. I recognized one of them as Jessica, a girl from my class. Jessica was one of the most popular girls in school; it was so surreal to see her here. She was the first person from my old life that I saw; I couldn’t help but feel a little homesick. Even though Jessica barely knew who I was despite the fact that we’ve been in the same class since pre-school, I felt a connection with her because we came from the same place. It almost made me want to go and talk to her but instead I listened in on their conversation. Apparently, they were talking about some other girl who just walked by them. They laughed at her and called her Borla in a teasing tone. As it turns out, Borla is Jessica’s roommate and they didn’t get along quite well. I wondered who this Borla was and why the other girls made fun of her. Before I could listen to the rest of their conversation, Will’s voice brought my thoughts back to my own table and the sandwich plate before me.

“I wonder if they will give us guns in the training.” Will said as he gulped his apple juice.

“Don’t be silly Will, we’re kids, and grown-ups barely trust us with butter knives let alone guns?” I replied as I took a big bite out of my sandwich.

“Then why did they want kids to help fight?”  Leo said matter of factly, while Allen nodded in agreement.

“Well, umm… I haven’t figured that out yet.” I was stumped; I honestly had no idea why they would want children to defend the human kind from the aliens.

“What do you think Allen?” Will turned to Allen who had finished his sandwich and was intently following our discussion. Our attention towards him caught him off guard and he nearly dropped his juice.

“Err… I don’t know.” Allen shrugged, trying to regain his composure.

“Hey, when do you guys think we’ll get to see Mars?” Leo quickly asked.

“Never, I tell ya.” An unfamiliar girl’s voice called out. There was a girl standing at the foot of our table where the four of us were sitting. She had long brown unruly hair tied in a thick loose braid that hung behind her back. Her bright green eyes were hidden behind a pair of thick glasses and her mouth moved very quickly as she chewed gum. It was the same girl that those girls were making fun of, the one they called Borla.

 “The name’s Darla.” She said as she reached out a hand to no one in particular. I, not wanting to be rude accepted it.

“Nice to meet you Dar- “Just then Darla took the hand I gave her and placed her gum in it and then returned my now contaminated hand.

“Ugh...Okay… thanks for that.” I reluctantly took my hand back as Will and Leo snickered quietly. Allen silently handed me a napkin, I graciously took it.

“Wahaha…Well, nice to meet you too.” Darla said as she reached into her pants pocket and got another stick of gum. “Gosh, I can’t believe you fell for that.”

“Well Darla, why do you say we’ll never go to Mars?” Will asked, completely ignoring me as I desperately rubbed my hand against the corner of the table in an attempt to get the gum off but to no avail.