Hope grasped his hand, led him to the side away from the students, and next to the freshly painted navy metal lockers. She typically did that when she wanted to yell at him. Shockingly, she did not scream. She grinned at him and seemed to be pondering what to say. Her hands were warm and moist which meant she was nervous.
He remembered her debacle in Kain's class and asked, "What happened? I can't believe you didn't know most of those answers."
"My mind was distracted."
"On what? This is the only thing you think about."
"Not anymore."
She blushed which usually meant she was hiding something or embarrassed or both. But her not divulging everything was a first. "You tell me everything. Why would you stop now?"
She leaned closer to him and said, "I cannot think, knowing you and Skye are together."
He interrupted her, "When I agreed that we were in this together, I meant it."
"Wait," She placed her index finger over his lips and said, "stop talking."
He did.
She continued to stare into his eyes.
"It's more than that because seeing you two together made me realize how I feel about you. I thought we could put this off until Mars, but Skye has made it clear that we cannot."
"Talk about what?"
"I love you."
"I love you too." He responded immediately.
"That's not what I meant." She paused, glanced at the ground, then looked back at him. "I know why you're with Skye, but why didn't you choose..."
A group of twenty people busted through the entrance near them, chanting, "Hey! No Way! Don't let Mother fade away!" They repeated unceasingly, marching around in a circle, and their angry voices echoed throughout the school. They carried handmade signs: one of them said:
DO NOT ABANDON
MOTHER EARTH
Another sign had a hastily drawn blue and green Earth on it with:
YOUR MOTHER
NEEDS YOU
A man at the front with long black hair under a frayed black baseball cap and an overgrown beard carried a megaphone. He pushed a button on it, and it chirped loudly.
The people stopped chanting.
His voice amplified through the speaker, "The Great Spirit, Mother Earth needs you. You must not abandon her in her hour of need."
A young woman wearing gray sweatpants and a white shirt with Mother Earth spray painted in green was next to him. "You tell 'em, Jimmay." She shouted in a raspy voice.
The intruder placed the microphone next to his mouth and repeated his statement, "The Great Spirit, Mother Earth needs you. You must not abandon her in her hour of need."
"That guy looks familiar," he said to Hope. Yet, he could not determine from where.
"Yeah, he does." Hope took a long look at him and asked, "Is that your uncle?"
Uncle Jimmy? He inspected his face. It was difficult to get a clear view with his hair covering it.
"I don't know. The last time I saw him, he was clean shaven and headed to rehab."
The horde marched toward them, the crazy man shouted, "Cole! There you are," and rushed over.
"Crap."
YOU ARE READING
Our Hope
Teen FictionA young heroine and her best friend fight to fulfill their dreams, to be among the first colonists on Mars, by placing in the top three at her school. This award-winning, Wattpad featured novelworks on multiple levels-both as a thrilling and invent...
