Interstellar

Chapter 13

[Polaris' POV]

The weekend went by in a flash—a lot faster than I wanted it to, actually. Ashtynn and I were taking our oh-so familiar walk to school.

I realize that I've been walking ahead of the small girl. I turn my head slightly, glancing to look at her. She's walking unusually slow, as if her brain was struggling to tell each foot to take the next step. She has her eyes glued to her phone, not paying attention to the world around. I grow a little concerned.

I smile a bit and poke her cheek. "What's up with you?"

She flinches, but turns toward me. "O-oh, nothing. I'm fine."

"I've hung with you too long to know when you're okay or not."

She sighs. "Yeah."

I place my hand on her head. "So, do you want to tell me what's on your mind?"

Ashtynn shrugs, turning back to her phone. "We've only got a month left, Polaris. And I really don't wanna spend all this time going to school and doing homework."

I look away, scratching the back of my neck with my other hand. I've been on Earth for almost nine months, but I still don't know anything fun to do in this town. I usually just do whatever Ashtynn does.

Then an idea pops into my head. I widen my eyes, whipping my head back at Ashtynn. "It's been warmer than usual. Does this town do anything fun?"

Ashtynn places her hand on her chin, thinking. Then her eyes light up and she turns her head towards me, smiling. "Oh! There are a couple things!"

I nod, beckoning for her to continue. Her smile widens.

"The adults in this one neighborhood a couple streets done leave for an entire weekend. So the teens have this insane block party! That's on the 27th. Ohohoh, and then there's the Town Day parade from May 11th to the 13th."

The small girl begins to bounce up and down, giggling and skipping past me. I can't help but smile at her giddy attitude. "Is there anything else, Ashtynn?"

"oh, yeahyeahyeah! There's the town fair that comes for a couple days after the parade. It's on May—"

Ashtynn paused, stopping in her tracks. I hastily walked to her side. I couldn't see her expression, for her head was lowered down to the sidewalk. I opened my mouth to speak, but she started before I could.

"It's on M-May 18th."

I frown, turning my gaze to the sidewalk as well. May 18th is the next new moon. The next new moon is when I go back to space.

Sliding my hand around her waist, I pull Ashtynn to my side and continue to walk. I always try my best to make Ashtynn feel better about me going away. But most of the time, I don't think it's working.

Instead of reassuring her with my words, like I always do, I stay silent, letting our physical contact do all the talking. I don't think she minds, though. It seems like she prefers this more.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

[Ashtynn's POV]

The cafeteria is cacophony of screaming and chatter, each table had a huddle of students raising their voices, all trying to be louder than the other. To describe the food here was like describing the shade of a graphite pencil. It really doesn't matter what you order—even if it looks good on the over-hanging menu, you'll get the same dark grey meal on a grey tray with a grey taste; if grey had a taste. I learned that the hard way, unfortunately. I ordered a pizza that looked somewhat appetizing. But that first bite was so crumby and stale, that there was no way to forget it. 

We usually sit at a table with Heidi and couple of my other friends. So when I got to the table and I didn't find Polaris behind me, I immediately turned towards the lunch line.

And there he was.

I hastily speed-walk towards the star boy and immediately pull him out of the line of angsty  teenagers. Once we got back to the table, I whipped my head towards him, staring daggers.

"Polaris, what the hell were you doing over there?"

The boy fidgets with his fingers, looking off to the side. "I forg..."

His voice faded out, not finishing his sentence. I tug on the sleeve of his shirt. "Finish."

He averted his eyes once again as his cheeks flushed. "I f-forgot my lunch on the table this morning."

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Polaris, you could've just said so! We share snacks all the time; this isn't much different."

We sit down at the table and open my brown paper bag. I pull out two spicy fish wraps, handing the wrap with less sriracha mayonnaise to Polaris. He tilts his head a bit when I hand it to him, but takes a bite nonetheless. I don't understand why he's still skeptical; this isn't the first time he's had this particular meal.

And then it all came coming back to him. His smile was one of growing happiness, like a flower blooming in the spring. I could see the sparkle deep in his aqua-green eyes and joy spread out into every part of his face. I shook my head as he continued to eagerly munch on the wrap. I looked up from mine to see Heidi smirking at me. I scowl at her, shaking my head and taking a bite of my lunch. She returns my scowl by sticking her tongue out and touching her fingers together to make a heart. I rolled my eyes and looked away, focusing my attention on the energetic star boy.