Starcrossed

Chapter 14a: twilly (part 1)

Chapter 14 (part 1)

twilly: obnoxious person; jerk

When I suggested going over to the O'Garas' again after dinner that night, I expected an argument since Aunt Theresa was usually suspicious if I wanted to do anything on a Friday night. But to my surprise, she agreed immediately.

"I'm glad to see you making the effort to be a good neighbor to the O'Gara children, Marsha," she added. "Lili told me they all appreciate it, as they came here knowing no one."

"Yeah, they're, um, really nice. So you've been talking with Mrs. O'Gara some more?"

Her smile seemed strangely sincere. "Yes, she came by the flower shop last night and we had a nice chat. I encouraged her to join the choir at church and she seems open to the idea."

"Really? That's great. What time do I need to be home tonight?"

"As it's a Friday and it's just around the corner, I suppose you can stay till ten. Tell Lili I said hello."

"I will," I promised, fighting a sense of unreality. It was positively weird for Aunt Theresa to be acting so . . . so nice. If it was Mrs. O'Gara's influence, I couldn't help but appreciate it.

Walking to their house—it was cold tonight, but with no hint of the rain we'd had off and on for over a week—I wondered if Sean would even be there. Surely a guy that popular would have better things to do on a Friday night than hang around home? But when I rang the bell, he was the one who opened the door.

"M! I'm so glad you came," he greeted me, with a smile that looked both relieved and contrite. "I was such a twilly, I mean, such a jerk on Wednesday, I was afraid you wouldn't, even though Molly said— Anyway, I really, really wanted to apologize."

"Really, really?" I echoed with a reluctant smile.

He laughed, looking even more relieved. "Okay, I'm pathetic, I admit it. But I am sorry. Really, really sorry," he added with a grin that showed his perfect teeth. "Molly!" he called up the stairs. "M's here!"

She came clattering down with a smile as big as her brother's. "You came! Yay!" She surprised me with a hug, then surprised me again by jumping back like I'd burned her. "Sorry, sorry! I shouldn't have done that without asking. It's just—"

"No, it's okay," I said. "Don't go all weird and respectful on me. Please? Just let me be M with you guys, like you have so far."

They exchanged uncertain glances, then Sean said, "I guess it's okay when it's just us. But when we're around other Echtrans, don't get upset if we observe the forms, yeah? It'll look bad if we don't."

"Oh. Sure. I don't want to get you guys in trouble. So, um, any chance I can see more pictures of Mars?" I asked to change the subject, and was relieved when they both relaxed.

"I already picked some out." Sean led the way into the living room, pausing to close the curtains.

"Mum and Dad will join us later. They figured you might have questions they can answer better than we can. Here, have a seat." He indicated the sofa, now clear of boxes.

Molly and I sat down together, but then Sean squeezed between us, saying, "It'll work better if the omni is in the middle."

I immediately felt that tingle from him, but since I really did want to see the pictures, I just scootched an inch or two away and tried to ignore it.

Sean kept talking, apparently unaware of the tingle or my slight withdrawal. "Since you've never been to Mars, I thought this might give you a better feel for it than regular pictures. Plus, it's pretty cool."

He punched up the control screen and this time, instead of a little video projection, we were suddenly in the middle of a pinkish stone courtyard dotted with what looked like shiny black picnic tables and at least twenty teenagers milling around. There was sound, too—I could hear people laughing and talking in a language I didn't understand.

I glanced left, right and behind me—sure enough, the scene was three-sixty. The courtyard was surrounded on three sides by a one-story building of the same pinkish stone, opening out on our left to a view of the same green countryside I'd seen in the picture Tuesday night.

"Whoa," I breathed. "Is this, like, a holodeck?"

"A what?"

Feeling like a huge geek, I explained about Star Trek holodecks—I'd been hooked on STNG reruns for the past couple of years. "But I guess you guys wouldn't know about our old TV shows, would you?"

To my surprise, they both nodded. "We do watch some Earth television on Mars. It's even required for Earth Studies class," Molly told me.

"But no, this isn't a holodeck like you described," Sean said then. "It's just images, nothing solid that you can touch. This is—was—our school back on Mars. Our cafeteria, I guess you'd say." I could hear a note of wistfulness—homesickness?—in his voice.

As I watched, two girls and a boy walked toward us. They were all very attractive—of course—and all dressed in similar but not quite identical shimmery, pale blue outfits that fitted them well.

"Uniforms?" I guessed.

"Yeah," Molly replied. "The upperclassmen's are way cooler than what I had to wear. That's Liam, Gwynne and Doranna—good friends of Sean's."

Sure enough, just as she said that, they stopped a few feet away and grinned right at us. One of the girls said something in a pleasant, teasing tone of voice, but the only word I recognized was "Sean."

"Can . . . can you talk to them?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Sean said. "Wish we could—you'd really like them. The hologram's not interactive, just a video loop like the picture you saw before, but on a larger scale. Gwynne was asking why I had to make a recording when she was having a bad hair day."

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