Transform Plate Boundaries Book Two

Prologue:

11th grade: Year 2019:

Yitian sat alone in the corner of the science lab, finishing her calculus homework and testing powders at the same time. (Safety violation! Kids, don't do this!) Just as she was finishing, she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Need some help with that?" asked James softly.

"Haha, no — I'm not stupid," she responded, looking up. "Come, sit down with me." She patted the floor next to her.

James quickly sat next to her and pulled out his calculator. "Yitian, did you know that you can input parabolas into the graph?"

"Um..." Of course she already knew how, but still she lied anyways, "no... can you show me how?" and scooted closer to him.

James blushed fiercely and let her lean her head on his shoulder as he inputted the equation.

A few minutes later, he finished and whispered, "You see how this parabola keeps going upwards and doesn't stop? It has a certain starting point when y=4, and keeps advancing upwards —both sides of it. I want that to be our relationship. You can be the right side, and I'll be the left. Our... affections... will just keep growing and growing and growing. I... I hope that shows you how much I... How much... How far my love for you goes on. It will never stop, just as I will never stop loving you."

Yitian took her head off of James's shoulder and nodded, her eyes filling with tears. She held up her own calculator, with the same parabola on her screen as she smiled and stared into his eyes. "James, I've known you for five years, and... I think I love you too."

After a few moments of comfortable silence passed between them, James spoke up. "So... w-will you go out with me, Yitian?" asked James. He looked down at the floor, trying not to make eye contact.

"Of course," answered Yitian with a smile. "Finally you asked. Where are we going?"

"Um... I don't know... to the George Observatory to go stargazing... I guess," answered James.

"Sounds fun!"

"All right, I'll pick you up on Friday evening, 5:00 pm? It's quite a long drive."

"Sure!"

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Friday evening:

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" asked James as he and Yitian sat on the grass, looking at the stars in the sky.

Yitian nodded and leaned her head on James's shoulder. "Just like... our love. So beautiful. The stars seem so small, delicate, and weak, as if one gust of wind could smother them forever, but in reality, they're strong and bright. They'll burn on for billions of years, and will keep on burning for billions more. I want our love to burn strong and bright, and last forever."

"If we are going to truly last forever," whispered James, "take this." He pressed a small, heart-shaped flash drive into Yitian's palm. "If we are ever separated... plug this into a computer. Any computer. And I'll know you're with me, or at least... in heart."

"We'll never be separated," said Yitian, trying to stay confident. "But this is so pretty. Thank you. I will keep it forever." She smiled.

"I have a feeling that one day, you'll need this," James replied.

At that moment, Yitian didn't know how wrong she could be and how right James was.

"Look at those two stars," said James, pointing into the sky at two stars that were so close, they seemed to be touching. "They seem so close, yet they are actually... well, possibly light years apart from each other. I guess that's... sort of like us right now."

"Those two stars are not supposed to exist!" Yitian thought, almost panicking. "Something is wrong. I'll figure out what it is later. But I will find out. Should I tell James about this? Nah... not now... I don't want to worry him. So I'll find out by myself." Trying to stay calm, she asked, "What do you mean? We're not far apart right now... I mean... we used to be far apart... but now, we're really close, right?"

James shook his head. "There's only one way to close that gap."

James's head turned towards her, his shining eyes staring straight into Yitian's beautiful, sparkling ones. A connection seemed to form between them like lightning, binding them together. James slowly inched closer to her, then...

His lips melted into hers as they kissed for the first time. Yitian gently kissed him back. After a few seconds, they retracted, each blushing just as hard as the other.

Yitian looked away from James, staring up into the stars. "I... I really, really like you." she whispered.

"I think I like you too," James whispered back, closing his eyes.

Yitian reached for his hand, and he took hers. And they stayed like that for the rest of the evening. Little did they know, the lightning that bonded them together could very well tear them apart.