Children of the Stars

Chapter Two

The rest of the plane ride passed without much incident. I found out that Kaylin lived a street over from me, and that Jasmine was supposed to go to my school. When I asked her why she never did, her eyes became guarded and she gave the vague response of "Life happened."

When we finally landed in Juneau, our bus was running a bit late. Mr. Pratt said we had half an hour to ourselves to buy a snack from the airport's cafeteria or many restaurants and relieve ourselves as we wouldn't be stopping for three hours. Once off the plane, Maria—who had slept most of the plane ride—immediately walked away towards the washroom. Kaylin, who had spent the last three hours of the trip chatting up some of the louder people on plane, made her way to the McDonalds with a boy and two other girls. As people began to spread out, I cast a sidelong glance at Jasmine who was still standing beside me.

"You want to get something to eat?" I asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders and motioned me to lead on. "Sure."

We wandered away from the baggage area, where all our bags were thrown in a big pile while we waited for the bus, and began to look for food. It didn't take us long to find a quaint cafe near one of the gates for incoming planes where I bought myself a chocolate bar and a bottle of Snapple's. Jasmine only bought a water.

The two of us sat in comfortable silence at the edge of the cafe and watched as a large jet plane landed outside. As the passengers made their way inside, I saw that most of them were all close to the same age as us. Jasmine leaned across the table and murmured, "I bet they are the second plane headed to HUNT."

"There are more planes?"

"Yeah. I heard Mr. Pratt talking to the seniors. Sounds like there are at least two other planes of HUNT students."

One of the people, a round faced girl with long brown hair, tilted her head as she passed close by and turned to look at us. I nodded to her and averted my gaze from her piercing, pale blue-grey eyes. She smiled a bit and continued on her way. Jasmine chuckled.

"Did she scare you?"

"No!" I snapped indignantly. "Her eyes were unsettling is all."

"Yeah, okay," Jasmine laughed. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Whatever. Come on, let's go."

For the next ten minutes, Jasmine and I weaved our way through the steadily growing airport traffic, exploring the different areas before we headed to the washroom. We found Maria leaning up against the wall, trying not to draw attention to herself. As Jasmine ducked inside the washroom, I leaned next to the dark haired girl who was watching me warily.

"Know anyone here?" I asked her as a way to break the ice.

"If you mean here as in the airport, no I don't," she muttered. "If you mean at HUNT, then yes. My older cousin's been going here for three years."

"What did they get you for?" I asked.

Maria shrugged. "Not high enough grades and the words 'trouble focusing' on my report card. My dad nearly had a fit, but luckily my cousin found out and he got me in. What about you?"

"They call me a runner."

Maria grunted her acknowledgement and we lapsed into silence once more. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable and started picking at my cuticles when Jasmine emerged. I sighed with relief and slipped into the room to use the toilet. When I emerged once more, the three of us decided to make our way back to the baggage area. As we got closer, Maria tilted her head to the side.