Cevic

Chapter 23

Our clothes are soaked and you don't know where to go

So drop your chin and take yourself back home

And roll out your maps and papers

Find out your hiding places again

The only problem that I got with the club

 

-Love Club-

 

“You two are going to come back some time during a school break, right?” Jackson asked for the literally fifth time, and for the fifth time, I had to lie with a yes and a broken heart.

  Most likely, I could never come back. There was no reason for a present king’s half brother to travel back and forth from Cevic to Earth. Once again we took turns to hug, and watched one another go.

  Jackson and Lisa got into an SUV of a size that suited Jackson’s burly frame, and after a million kisses from Lisa and another promise to come back to Jackson, the SUV skid off the school parking lot, leaving behind a trail of smoke.

  After a brusque “Goodbye you two” without even sparing the ‘you two’ a glance, Payton hopped into a blood-red convertible sports car her collegian boyfriend drove, and the car drove off noisily, emitting belching sounds and a copious amount of smoke.

  Sasha exchanged sincere goodbyes with Rezia and I one more time before getting into a hot pink Mini Cooper whose half of front window was covered with bumper stickers and wheels as impeccably kept as her blond curls.

 “Be good to your sister, have crazy fun, and marry late” was typical Sasha’s weird yet realistic life advice before she stepped into her Mini Cooper with her signature killer heels and drove off at breakneck speed as if someone was chasing her.

 “I really loved watching that alien invasion movie with you, honestly,” said Isha, her voice dropped to a whisper, close enough for me to count the light freckles on her neck and smell the familiar rose scent. “Even though it was an awful movie, I loved the date.”

  Dazed by the sweeping scent, I smiled slightly. “So did I.”

I kissed her on the cheek, and she returned the friendly gesture, before disappearing in her blue Toyota.

 “That leaves us,” said James, inhaling heavily, and turned to us with a half-smile.

 “I really didn’t even imagine I would miss those crazy and weird teenagers,” murmured Rezia, staring into a distant place with squinted eyes.

 “Will you miss me?” asked James teasingly, his shy smile pulled into a smirk.

 Rezia’s cheeks flushed crimson. She smiled wistfully. “I’ll miss you the most.”

I waved dismissively, and scrunched up my nose like I’d smelled something bad. “Go ahead. Do whatever stuff you did in Ms. McAllen’s class.”

  As soon as the last syllable fell from my lips, Rezia pulled her arms around James’ neck, tiptoeing, and he cupped her face, kissing her with passion I rarely saw in the people of my planet.

  Feeling like I was trespassing, I moved away a few steps, and looked up at the grey building that I had been learning all the headache-inducing human subjects at for the past few weeks, shivering in the cold.

  Snow crunched beneath my boots but most of it had melted into the concrete as soon as it landed. The biting cold wind had toned down a little, although I was still not fully acclimated to the fact that the weather was not always perfect like it was in Cevic.