In a time and a place far, far away, planets and galaxies and constellations were assigned to babies at birth. Because of this, there were schools dedicated to helping individuals chosen to understand their responsibilities and powers. This story is about two such teens. Let us begin.
Idalia was undoubtedly the prettiest girl in the school. Her skin was always clear. Her hair was always soft and glossy. As a person she was always warm and smiling and happy. When she walked through the cramped hallways of the school, light seemed to radiate off of her dark, smooth skin, and she just seemed to make the world a bit of a brighter place. Representing the sun was no easy job, but she made it look like a piece of cake. Delicious cake. Basically everyone liked her. It was hard not to. And Mona was helplessly in love with her.
Introducing Mona, the quiet kid. Dark circles under her eyes, earbuds in the corridor, sat alone at lunchtimes. Not a troublemaker, just never really spoke up much. She had dark hair and freckles and doodles all over her arms, but she never showed them to anyone. Well, sometimes Eden, her only friend. Eden represented Earth, and because of that they were often ill. So most days, Mona was alone. She hated being an assigned one, but there wasn't like there was anything she could do about it. She thought about this often. She thought about life often. She didn't like it much.
Often, she was teased for having the 'wrong name' or the 'wrong appearance'. Another thing to note was that Mona was mute. Selectively mute, and she used sign language to talk. People mostly thought she was deaf, but she didn't care. She hadn't spoken a word since her childhood trauma. This only added to the 'teasing'.
Marsox, the school bully, decided that Mona would be his target for this school term. He seemed to enjoy it, his red eyes gleaming with delight whenever he saw an individual suffer because of his doing. Fortunately for Mona, he kept the abuse to verbal... Most of the time. The worst part was that he was daring Idalia. She was too kind, too pure to see his awful actions. Mona was confused (and frustrated) as to why Idalia chose a dick like him when there was much better choice out there (ahem clearly Mona ahem). She encountered him at her locker that day.
"Hey, Luna!" each time he started off pretending to be friendly. But you could never trust him. It was easier that way because if he was caught, he seemed innocent. Marsox was smart, and that was the worst thing about him. "Oh, wait.. That's not your name, is it? Oops! Sorry Mona." he snickered and turned to his buddies.
"Who calls their kid that these days?" Mona nervously backed away and tried to essape, but the halls were packed. Marsox did not like this, and grabbed the back of her bag and pulled her towards him, slamming her into the metal lockers. She winced and gasped at the sudden pain but kept a straight face. She wouldn't let him win. She could feel the panic stirring in her gut.
"You trying to walk away, huh? Don't think you can run away that easy, little moon." he hissed in her ear. "You're worthless, you pathetic little wimp. You can't even talk. Speak to me. SPEAK TO ME!" he shouted now, and Mona fought to hold back tears. The panic now rose to her chest, waiting to spill and wreck everything, but she held it in and took deep breaths and tried to desperately calm down.
A voice came through the crowds, high and shrill and sounding pissed as hell. Idalia swooped in to save Mona, horror and anger etched onto her face. Mona felt herself collapse against the lockers in defeat and exhaustion.
"Marsox, what in cosmos' name are you doing? Why the hell would you.. We're having serious words about this. Leave her alone right now, we need to talk!"
She was still shouting at him when walking down the corridor, and then glanced over her shoulder to see Mona and her eyes widened. Pushing away Marsox, she ran to Mona and put her hands on her shoulders.
"Did he hurt you?! Oh cosmos, did he hurt you? Are you alright?" Mona nodded feebly and blushed. Idalia's face was so close to hers, and her hands so warm...
"I'll talk to you later and make sure he apologises. I'm so sorry about him, ugh... Wait! Here's my address, come round on Saturday at 6 and we can talk about it. Again, I'm so sorry. Good luck in lessons!" she gave Mona a slip of paper and a quick hug, and then she was gone. Mona hadn't even processed what had happened, and when she had she almost broke her silence to scream. For the rest of the day she smiled.
When she got home she flopped down on her bed and pushed her face into a pillow and smiled and smiled. Idalia spoke to her. Idalia hugged her! She was going to Idalia's house. It was basically a date. Oh cosmos, she was going on a date with Idalia. This was the greatest day of her life, even if it was prompted by bullying.
Bullying.... Marsox. Idalia's boyfriend. Idalia had a boyfriend. Idalia didn't like girls. Idalia would forgive Marsox, and it would be awkward and awful and awful. No. Mona couldn't think this way about Idalia. She needed to stop these stupid thoughts. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and tried to push all thoughts out of her brain. Then when she opened her eyes, she was somewhere else.
Pitch black. No, not completely dark - tiny stars faded into the light and twinkled around Mona. She didn't know where she was, but she felt... Safe. Calm. Warm.
Then Idalia appeared in front of her. Mona stumbled, opened her mouth to speak even though no words would come out, but Idalia shook her head and moved forwards. She touched Mona lightly on the shoulder, where she had grasped her before in school, and suddenly a long, blue-white ballgown flowed from her shoulders to her ankles. Mona gasped soundlessly. It was beautiful.
Idalia now wore a bright yellow dress, adorned with orange lace and sunflower patterns. Her hair was neatly braided and her eyes shone. She looked stunning.
She placed her hands on Mona's hips and gently swung her in a circle. Two steps forward, one step back. They were dancing and it was a sight to see. The dresses nestled against one another, silk on cotton, and rustled and swooshed and span. Mona waltzed gently with Idalia to invisible music in a starry sky, standing on nothing and feeling like everything. She was so happy. Idalia began to lean in and they stopped danced, grew closer and closer, lips about to touch...
Mona woke up.
She felt tears prick her eyes and wiped her face with her sleeve. Dragging herself into the bathroom groggily, she stared at her reflection. No beautiful ballgown. No sparkling eyes and smiles. Just Mona. Dull, boring, Mona. With stars on her eyes. With stars on her eyes?
Where her tears had been, silver stars streaked her cheeks and dropoed off her chin only to defy gravity and float around her head. Tiny pools of light, all filled with her love for Idalia. A love that could never be.
She may not have had any success with her feelings towards a certain bright female, but now she had a time. A place. Saturday at 6:00. It may not have been much, but it was a start.
Walking back into her bedroom, she sat on her bed and looked at the stars on her ceiling. Glow in the dark plastic ones from when she was a child. She smiled. Now she had her own stars.
~The end~
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