Ad Astra

Square One

I heard the creak of the rope as I started to swing, back and forth. Back and forth. I couldn't help but feel calm, totally relaxed, nothing in the world could bother me now. I was swinging on a tree, but looking down I could see what I thought were stars, and they drew me in. One simple leap, I was falling through space. Star after star, galaxy after galaxy, it never seemed to end.

The silence was suddenly interrupted by a sudden beep, beep, beep. My alarm clock. I slowly lifted my head up and slammed my hand over the top of it. I sat there debating whether I wanted to go back to sleep and be yelled at later on by my mother, or just suck it up and go eat breakfast. I went with the second option, as I didn't feel like dealing with the wrath of my mother today. I slowly shuffled downstairs with a blanket wrapped around me, pouring myself a bowl of cereal and consuming it at a turtle pace. I couldn't help but pull out my phone that I had dragged down with me. I opened Twitter and went to today's moments. The most liked moment? Who would have thought, scientists found a new star named TRAPPIST-1, which had three planets of which are in "Goldilocks" orbits, meaning they could have conditions right for life. Fascinating... I thought as I sat with my blanket wrapped around me. I looked at the clock.

"Oh, shit," I muttered as I flung myself up. Only 15 minutes before I had to leave for school. I put my bowl in the sink and ran up the stairs. Quickly getting dressed before running into the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair and apply some makeup. I couldn't help but think about TRAPPIST-1 and the exoplanets orbiting around it. Considering they could potentially sustain life, it just prompts the question, are we alone? Is this really it? Floating through space on a little blue ball called Earth? It would be a waste of space, to be the only ones in our Milky Way galaxy, which is about 100,000 light-years long. Hell, it would be a waste of space if we were the only ones in our universe. Which scientists suspect is constantly expanding.

I grabbed my bag and started walking out to my car. It was still dark outside, to the point where I could still see stars. I could see Venus and Mars as I stopped to observe my surroundings. I was in awe, every time I looked up I could see constellations and clusters, even if I couldn't see much due to light pollution. Continuing to walk, I flung open my door and hopped into my car. Turning on the ignition, I realized I was starting to regret not getting more than 2 hours of sleep. YouTube draws people in, you know. Turning on my radio, I made the 15-minute drive to school. Parking and grabbing my bag out of the back, I reluctantly walked in.

"Vee!" I heard a voice yell from behind me before I felt arms fling around my shoulders from the back.

I pushed her arms off my shoulders and spun around on my heel. "Jesus Christ, Celeste! You scared me! What did I say about doing that?!"

She laughed. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Come on, lighten up sunshine! It's been 2 weeks since we've seen each other! I thought I wouldn't be here for the last day." I forgot Celeste would be back for the last day. I had no plans for summer break, I guess I'd just stay up and browse the Internet until early in the morning. She began walking down the glass hallway to the main building. I rubbed the back of my neck. Even if I did tend to overreact a bit at points, it was called for. I'm not in the mood to screw around at 6:30 in the morning. I started to walk after her, as she started to pick up her pace.

"How was Hawaii?" I asked.

"It was awesome! Did you get the project for Mr. Trimmer done? I've got mine on my flash drive if only I could find it." Celeste asked as she dug through her bag looking for her flash drive.

"Um.. yeah. I did." I said as I knew she'd probably make fun of me once I told her what it was about. "I did a podcast on space exploration."

Celeste stopped rummaging through her bag and turned to face me. "You're the textbook definition of a nerd. Guess you wanted that good final grade."

I rolled my eyes and kept walking. "Nerds are cool."

Walking beside me, she lightly punched my arm. "You know, I found a guy who I want you to meet."

Sipping my already cold coffee, I looked at her. "I already told you I'm not interested in a relationship right now."

Celeste's jaw dropped. "Is that what you really think of me? Gosh, I can't even believe you." She laughed. "No, but in all seriousness, I just think you two would hit it off as friends. He's fascinated with astronomy, and you're fascinated with.... um, stars?"

Looking back down, I pondered in my mind what she just said. "I'm not entirely sure what I'm interested in myself. If you promise that you're not trying to set me up on a date, I'll meet him."

A wide smile appeared Celeste's face. "Great, how does this weekend sound?"

"Well, let's see," I pulled out my phone to look at my calendar. "Looks like I have absolutely nothing planned." Smiling, I put my phone back in my pocket.

"Awesome! I'll talk to him and get things sorted out."

"Uh, what's his name?"

"Aries." 

There was a short pause before I responded. "You're shitting me."

"Nope!"

I looked at one of the clocks in the hallway. "Shoot me his number. I'll see you later, I've gotta get to my first period."

"Final day, make it count!" Celeste waved and walked down the hall adjacent to mine. I sighed and walked to my first period. My class hadn't started yet, I just wanted some time to listen to music. I got a text from Celeste as I was turning on my music.

Hey! Here's Aries' number. Don't text him yet! I'll give him yours! ;)

Let's hope for the best.