Haven's Army

Chapter 4

We boarded the ships. I was on the largest of them, called the Safe Haven. I was stuck with Nathan and Naomi, but also had Laura, Percy (a boy from The Shore), Peter and Andrew from The Gear, Katie (a girl from The Hospital) and a few others.

We learned soon enough that people from The Hearth got seasick, as evident from our two resident Hearthians (Andrew gave all the islanders names when he was bored one day), Christina and Adrian. Katie had to heal a bunch of sore throats and noses from the wind and pulled out many splinters from the wood (Peter's excuse was that they all hadn't built anything in a while besides weapons, so they were a little rusty. Like, Andrew laughed, their gears.)

I mostly spoke with Peter and Andrew when I wasn't working, if that wasn't obvious by all their ridiculous jokes. Despite being the same age and both from The Gear, I had learned to tell them apart easily, mostly by the way they held themselves and spoke.

I noticed them both (mostly Andrew) looking at Katie quite often. One day, I flew over to the boat Kathryn was on, the Warrior. I found her on board and pulled her aside to talk for a while, catch up and such.

"Okay," I said, "I have a few questions, because I'm new at...socialization and things."

"Ask away."

I asked about girlfriends.

"Oh that means as in...well, you know..."

I stared at her. "No, actually, I don't know."

"Okay like...you know...love?"

"Yes...?" Almost a question.

"Well...like that but...when two people in general of...of opposite gender...well not always, but..." She looked like she was struggling to explain.

"Ah." I was still confused but I pretended to understand so she didn't have to try so hard.

Next I asked her about Andrew and Peter watching Katie.

"Oh that? Same thing, but that one is most definitely one-sided."

"Meaning?"

"They think she's beautiful, because they both think the same way, but she doesn't find them attractive in any way."

"Oh. Then why do they still try to please her?"

"Because there's that one sliver of hope that they think she'll like them."

"Like?"

"As in like-like. As in not-quite love."

"Right." I still didn't understand. "And Andrew stares more because...?"

"Peter probably isn't as interested."

"How does that work? They have the same DNA."

"The DNA is always slightly altered, remember?"

"Yes. Sorry."

"No need to apologize. Anything else?"

Finally, I asked about Dennis.

She gasped. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why what is it?" I asked nervously.

"Someone likes Dennis," she said sing-songingly.

"I'm assuming you mean...the 'like' like?" I asked.

"Yup!" she said happily. Then her expression turned darker. "But that's no good. That's no good at all."

I had to think about it. "Oh right. Because Cecilia is supposedly his girlfriend..." Whatever that means, I thought.

"Sorry," Kathryn said, patting my shoulder. "There's really nothing you can do about it."