Sean
“Did you see any of the new kids registering yesterday?” Pete Griffin asks as we get out of his truck in the school parking lot. Everyone at school is curious about them, though not for the same reasons I am.
“Not yet. You?”
“Nope, but Matt said one of the girls is a real looker. Hard to believe we’re getting eight at one time—getting three last year was a huge deal.”
Last year—when Rigel, then Molly and I, started attending Jewel High.
“Should be interesting.” I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to having so many more Echtrans here or dreading it. Guess I won’t know till I meet them.
The warning bell for first period has already rung before I feel my first twinge of brath—that vibe we all feel when another Martian is nearby. A second later I see a boy with dark blond hair, younger than me, heading my way.
“Hey, you’re new, aren’t you?” I smile and stick out my hand. “I’m Sean, Sean O’Gara.”
The boy swallows visibly, his eyes going wide. “Er…hi. Grady Quinlan.” He belatedly shakes my hand. “I just met your…I mean the, um—” He glances nervously over his shoulder, where I see M’s and Rigel’s retreating backs.
Mindful of all the other people—Duchas—around, I cut him off before he says anything dumb. “Yeah, it’s a friendly school. I imagine lots of people will be introducing themselves today.”
Swallowing again, he nods. “I won’t— I mean I’ll try—”
“You’ll be fine,” I quickly assure him. “Just be yourself.”
At his worried frown, I add, “Just try to think before you speak, okay?”
“O-okay. I will. Thanks. Um… See ya!” Still looking way more nervous than a new Duchas student ought to, he scampers off.
Sighing, I shake my head. M told us these kids got extra coaching before coming here. Maybe not enough?
When I reach Physics, I glance around the classroom before joining Paul Jackson at our lab table. No new Echtrans here yet, though yesterday the teacher said we’d be getting a couple.
“I was wondering, Sean, are you and Missy Gillespie like, a thing now?” Paul asks as I stuff my backpack under the lab table.
I shrug. “Not really. We just went out the once.”
Missy was voted Homecoming Queen and I was King, so it made sense to go to the dance with her. Especially since M and Rigel got back together, taking my preferred option off the table. And because I promised M I’d try to move on. Missy is pretty for a Duchas girl but I don’t see anything happening there.
“So…you’d be okay with it if I asked her out? Not that she’ll probably—”
“Sure, go for it.”
I barely notice what I’m saying because right at that moment the two new students walk in—a blond guy nearly as tall as I am and a gorgeous girl with dark auburn hair. Weirdly, they both look a little familiar. I swear the girl looks almost like— Nah, must be a coincidence. M would have mentioned it if—
“Ah, you must be Alan and Kira.” The teacher confirms my startled guess. “Welcome to Jewel High. You can share that lab table if you’d like, or I can pair you each with an existing student who can help you catch up.”
Nearly every guy and girl in the classroom looks suddenly hopeful until Alan says, “We’ll share. Thanks.”
The two of them move to an empty table near the back of the room. I try not to stare but I’m privately geeking out over Kira Morain, the big caidpel star, joining my Physics class. I figured she was already out of school, but up close she looks younger than on the Nuathan sports feeds—and a lot more gorgeous. I didn’t know the elite coed league even took players less than eighteen years old! She must’ve been even better than I realized, to be accepted so young.
“Whoa,” Paul whispers as she slides into her seat without making eye contact with anyone. “Maybe you can have Missy after all.”
I stifle a snort. “Fickle, much?” I whisper back, forcing a grin. The idea of Paul asking out Kira Morain somehow bothers me more than the thought of him with Missy. Because she’s Echtran, of course. It could risk him finding out more than he should.
Grinning back, he just shrugs.
I’m too distracted to pay much attention in class, but I’m by no means the only one. Nor, I discover when the bell rings, am I the only one eager to introduce myself. Both newcomers are surrounded before they can get to their feet.
Not surprisingly, the guys seem more interested in meeting Kira, while the girls are practically shouldering each other out of the way to say hi to Alan. I wait until people are leaving for next period before stepping forward myself.
“Hey, welcome to Jewel, both of you.” I’m determined not to only pay attention to Kira, like most of the other guys did. “Let me know if I can, y’know, answer any questions or help out while you get used to the place.”
They both clearly catch the added meaning behind my words but only Alan seems appreciative.
“Hey, thanks, man. You probably don’t— Er, we’ll talk later, okay?”
I nod. I still haven’t placed where I’ve seen him before, but it sounds like he remembers me, too. Maybe one of those village visits in Nuath, when I was still accompanying M everywhere?
“Yeah, thanks,” Kira echoes without enthusiasm. Then, with barely a glance at me, she gathers up her books and heads for the door.
To cover my disappointment, I turn back to Alan. “So, um, you know where you’re going next?”
He pulls out a sheet of paper and glances at it. “AP Calculus. Next hallway over?”
“Yeah, I’m in there, too. I’ll show you.”
As we walk, we’re careful to limit our conversation to things like his first impressions of Jewel—nothing anyone overhearing us would find suspicious. Unlike that younger kid I met earlier, Alan seems well-prepared, even makes offhand comments about upstate New York, where he supposedly lived before moving here.
We reach the classroom and find another newcomer already there. Lucas, a junior, seems only slightly startled when I introduce myself.
“Hey, nice to meet you. I’ll have to introduce you to my brother, Liam, when we get a chance. He’s all about sports. I know he’ll want to talk basketball with you.”
Which suddenly reminds me where I know Alan from. “Hey, did you play any, um, basketball when you were younger?”
“I did, actually.” His knowing look says I’m right. “Though it’s been a few years.”
At least four—before my family had to flee Nuath, at the start of the previous launch window. I grin to let him know I remember now, too. “You should try out for our Jewel team next month. They always need good players. And it’s fun.”
“I’ll, ah, think about it.”
I go to my desk satisfied I’m doing my part to make the new Echtrans feel welcome. Grady and Alan, anyway. With luck, I’ll get another chance with Kira Morain…as well as all the others.
Turns out Kira’s also in my AP Lit class. Like in Physics, all the boys and some of the girls are eager to meet her. She again seems a little stand-offish, saying barely enough to avoid being outright rude, so at least it’s not just me she doesn’t want to talk to.
Maybe, as big a deal as she was back in Nuath, she’s used to keeping people at a distance? Hope she can get over that. No one here knows she’s a star, so they might assume she’s just stuck up.
After class, I try again to talk to her.
“So, what do you think of Jewel so far?” A totally innocuous question. I want to ask about her caidpel career and how she feels about giving it up, but can’t very well do that here.
“It’s…okay.” Her voice is lower than M’s, but pleasant. “I haven’t seen much of it yet.”
“I’d be happy to show you around sometime, if you want.”
She quirks an eyebrow and I immediately feel like an idiot. Back on Mars, even in Dun Cloch, people probably cornered her all the time to talk caidpel and gush. I don’t want her to think I’m just another starstruck fan. Even if I am.
“Or not.” I shrug, like I don’t care either way. “Up to you.”
For another long moment she just looks at me, her expression unreadable. I notice, irrelevantly, what interesting eyes she has, brown with flecks of gold, like little sparks. Never noticed that on the feeds.
She finally gives me a slight smile, though it seems to cost her an effort. “Sure. That’d be great.”
Then she’s gone, leaving me to wonder what she’s really like under that frosty exterior. Hope I get to find out.