Starcrossed

Chapter 7a: Bailerealta (part 1)

Chapter 7 (part 1)

Bailerealta (bay-luh-ree-AL-tuh): an all-Martian village on the west coast of Ireland

I was antsy during my next few classes, anxious for lunchtime so I could hear the rest of Rigel's theory about the O'Garas. But when we got to the cafeteria, Molly was already sitting at our usual table along with Bri, Deb, and a few guys from the football team. At least Sean wasn't there. I could see him at another table with most of the basketball team.

I paused for a second before Molly saw me, then decided I might as well give her the benefit of the doubt—for now. She'd seemed nice enough so far.

"Hey, Molly," I greeted her cheerfully. Then, to Bri and Deb, "Thanks for inviting her to sit with us, guys." I sat down next to her, across from my friends, and Rigel sat on my other side.

"She was just starting to tell us about Ireland," Deb said. "Doesn't she have the coolest accent?"

Molly laughed. "I told them it's nothing special—this is how everyone sounds in Ireland." Her accent was noticeably stronger than it had been yesterday.

"I guess you'd know," I said, amused. Could I put on accents that easily if I tried? "It's special to us, since we've never met anyone from Ireland before."

Molly echoed my amusement with a glance, and I felt a little glow of pleasure at sharing a secret with her. Of course, I'd been sharing the same secret with Rigel since learning the truth in September, but somehow it was different with a girlfriend.

Prompted by questions from everyone at the table, Molly talked about the tiny village of Bailerealta, things like always having to wait for sheep to cross the road, and being in a school so small that two or three whole grades shared a room and teacher.

I was at least as interested as the others but the stuff I really wanted to know, like whether everybody in the village used Martian technology and how often new people arrived there from Mars, were things I couldn't exactly ask about at lunch.

Twenty minutes later, just as we were gathering up our trays, Trina approached our table—something she almost never did. Even when she flirted with Rigel, she didn't do it here.

"Hi, Molly—it's Molly, right?"

Molly nodded.

"I'm Trina Squires and I wanted to officially welcome you to Jewel."

Bri and I rolled our eyes at each other. So Trina was the "official" voice of the whole town now? We weren't being subtle, but she ignored us.

"I also wanted to say you should totally try out for cheerleading before basketball season starts. You look like you'd be perfect, and you could cheer for your brother. Have you ever done any cheerleading?"

"Um, no." Molly was looking more confused than flattered by Trina's attention.

"Any gymnastics?" Trina prodded.

"A little, when I was younger."

Trina beamed at her. "Perfect! Come by the gym after school and I can introduce you to the squad." Without giving Molly a chance to reply, she gave her a last smile that pointedly did not include anyone else at the table and sashayed off to join her friends, who were waiting by the door.

Molly turned to me, still looking confused. "I don't really have to go, do I?"

"Of course not," Bri answered before I could. "Trina only thinks she's the queen of the school."

"But she can make things sticky for you if you piss her off," I felt obliged to admit. "Believe me, I know."

"Don't do anything you don't want to, though," Deb said. I thought she looked just a little bit envious.

"Maybe I can stop by and make up a good excuse why I can't try out?" Molly suggested. "I don't want to make any enemies my very first week." She sent a quick look Rigel's way—or maybe I imagined it.

As we all headed to History together, I managed to hang back a little with Rigel. "You were really quiet at lunch," I said. "What's going on?"

"Still not sure," he muttered. "How about I walk you to your Taekwondo class today so we can talk?"

"Sounds good." We were way overdue for some alone time—plus I was dying to know what he really thought about the O'Garas.

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