Reaching the Stars

“What do you think you’re doing, Kay?” Kay looked up and was greeted with a bucket full of cold water to the face. “Gah-! What was that for, Quinn!” Blinking, Kay attempted to stand up. She was only half way when she lost her footing and stumbled onto Quinn. The two of them toppled over together onto the damp grass. Kay rolled straight off him, but it was enough to make Quinn blush. “Oh great, now I’m all wet.” he complained, managing a neutral tone.

“You’re the one who spilt water on me in the first place. Besides, I’m more wet than you are so don’t complain.” Kay sat up and studied the dark orange rays of light dappling through the trees and onto the gentle, flowing river. “It’s already evening.” she muttered. “Too fast.”

“Well if you weren’t daydreaming like always, you would have noticed.” Quintin sighed. “Come on. We need to get home before our parents wonder if we’ve run away together.”  Kay drew in a quick breath. “I guess you’re right.”  she muttered. “But you’re wrong about one thing.”

“And what is that?”

“We would never have run away together.”

“What makes you so sure?  Anything’s possible.”

“Yeah, but you would never have made it a quarter-way there.”

Quinn’s face transformed into a smirk.  “Prove it.”

Kay grinned. “I’ll race ya!"

“Oh, you are so going down!”

Nothing was said after that, for they were already racing through the trees, each one gleaming with sweat and a smile. 

A light, serene snow dusted the windowsill outside. Christmas was coming. Kay opened her curtains. She gazed at the window of the house opposite and to the starry night sky surrounding it.  There seemed to be so many stars...too many, in fact. Funnily enough, a shining pair of purple stars seemed to stare at her, exactly eye level with her own.  They dimmed and lit back up.  It was at that exact moment that Kay realised that stars couldn’t be purple.  But if they weren’t stars...Kay nearly fell over backwards. Suddenly a face came into view, as her neighbour’s lights switched on.  There, stood a boy. She studied him curiously, taking in his slightly ruffled jet black hair; his ash mauve eyes; his porcelain-like pale skin. The light shining above him shadowed his face, impossible for Kay to make out his expression. The boy’s shadowed stare intrigued her, but she was already hooked by his slender fingers, his slim body figure...

“What are you doing?”. She was so deep in thought she didn’t notice the boy get out a scrap book and scribble down his message. Quinn was right - she was too busy daydreaming most of the time.  Kay watched cautiously as the boy scribbled down a second message for her. “Can I have your number?” Kay was left gaping, but composed herself and quickly leaped at her notebook she left lying on top of her bedside table so fast, she tripped and fell sideways, banging her head on the wall. Rubbing her throbbing head, she looked back to see if the boy was still there. “Ouch. I was only joking, you know.” he wrote. Scowling, she snatched her pen and scrawled onto the paper, “Yeah, as if you haven’t hit your head like that before.”. “No, actually, I haven’t.” His handwriting was cursive and neat. “I didn’t think it was physically possible to be that clumsy.” Blushing, she turned to a new page and sat down.

“Aren’t you polite!  How kind of you.“

“*yawn* That was shallow. No other way of putting it.”

“Hey! Should you really be calling a complete stranger shallow? I could be a junior black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do for all you know.”

“Wouldn’t make a difference to me. I’m a senior black belt. But I guess you have a point. I’m Josh. I just moved in here. Nice ta meet you, junior black belt.”

Kay huffed indignantly and shut her curtains fast, in one full swing. She counted to ten, and slid her curtains slightly open, just enough for Josh to see her message, that is, if he was still there. “I’m Kay Scarlette. Nice to meet you too. 0450 234 831.”