star stuff

five

"Scared, Junie?" Jasper asks, smirking deviously as his sister. In the bright sun, his hair turns to the color of spun gold. Golden boy, they always call him.

Juno crosses her arms over her chest. "I'm not scared! It's just water." She contradicts her words by not taking a step closer to the waiting canoes by the river's edge.

"You can always share my canoe, June," says Sagan, smiling at her.

Heat rushes to Juno's cheeks like it always does when Sagan talks to her. A freshman in high school, he always seems taller, his voice deeper every time he talks to her. It's really not fair that he gets to grow while she's stuck at his shoulder. 

Jasper makes an outraged noise. "And leave me behind? What am I to you?"

"A sacrifice that nobody will regret, so not really a sacrifice I suppose."

Juno giggles at that. When she looks away, Sagan gives her a glance of adoration. She doesn't see it, but Jasper does and he makes a gagging motion. They are in high school after all--an interest in girls is considered uncool.

Jasper makes an exaggerated sigh. "Look, if you don't make up your mind soon, they're going to notice that we're gone."

Juno, cocking her head, considering this. She weighs the risk of getting caught by her parents sneaking away to the risk of being left out by her brother and Sagan. Ultimately, the latter wins.

It was never really a hard decision anyway.

"Fine," she huffs. "But I'm going with Sagan."

Sagan ruffles her hair and she slaps him lightly. "Sure, June."

"Ew! Get a boat, you two," Jasper calls and almost falls over laughing at his own joke. By the time the laughter fades from his lips, he realizes that the other two have already clambered into a canoe and he is at risk of being left behind.

But he knows that they would never do that anyway. They are, after all, a team that not even death could separate.

After an afternoon of rowing until their arms are sore, the three of them find themselves sitting on the dock with their feet hanging over the pier. Juno is sandwiched between the other two but she doesn't mind.

"That was fun. We should do it again sometime," Juno says, letting the tips of her toes brush against the ebbing waves.

Jasper scrunches his face in confusion. "What would be the point of that? Why would we do that again when we could do something completely new and exciting that we've never done before?"

"Because we know that this is fun."

Sagan's eyes glitter with mirth as he watches the siblings banter. "Sure we should do it again. I'd love to see Jasper fall into the water again."

Jasper frowns, but Juno eyes lighten up in that magical way and she asks, "Really?"

"Of course."

"But you know what we haven't done?" Sagan and Juno exchange a knowing glance because they know that that glint in Jasper's eye can only mean one thing. A great idea.

Juno is the one to answer. "What?"

"Jump from a pier into a lake."

There's a moment of silence before Juno asks, "But won't our clothes get wet?"

"But that's the fun of it, my little sister! Think about it, the feeling of plummeting before the water takes you in a big hug and--"

Sagan interrupts him. "I think she gets it."