Username: Abraxis
Name: Laika
Gender: Female
Story:
I wriggled my toes, enjoying the feel of the warm sand between them, digging my feet deeper into the dry, yellow-white sand, I tilted back my head. It was such a beautiful August afternoon. Nothing bad could ever happen on a day like today. And what made it even better was the fact that I could share it - something rare and special in itself, as I knew only too well. I turned to the boy next to me, my face about to split wide open from the smile on it.
‘Can I kiss you?’
My smile faded. I stared at my best friend. ‘Pardon?’
‘Can I kiss you?’
‘What on earth for?’
‘Just to see what it's like,’ Comet replied.
Yeuk! I mean, Yeuk!!! I wrinkled up my nose, I couldn't help it!
‘Do you really want to?’ I asked.
Comet shrugged ‘Yeah, I do.’
‘Oh alright then.’ I wrinkled up my nose again at the prospect. ‘But make it fast!’
Comet turned to kneel beside me. I turned my head up towards his, watching with growing curiosity to see what he’d do next. I tilted my head to the left. So did he. I tilted my head to the right. Comet did the same. He was moving his head like he was my reflection or something. I put my hands on Comet’s face to keep it still and dead center.
‘D’you want me to tilt my head to the left or the right?’
I asked, impatiently.
‘Er… which way do girls usually tilt their heads when they’re being kissed?’ asked Comet.
‘Does it matter? Besides, how should I know?’ I frowned. ‘Have I ever kissed a boy before?’
‘Tilt your head to the left then.’
‘My left or your left?’
‘Er… your left.’
I did as asked. ‘Hurry up, before I get a crick in my neck.’
Comet moved his face toward my own, I kept my lips tight together, I kept my eyes wide open as I watched Comet’s face ,move towards mine. Comets golden eyes were open too. And then his lips were touching mine. How funny! I’d expected Comet’s lips to be hard, dry and scaly like a lizard’s skin. But they weren’t. They were soft. Comet closed his eyes, after a moment, I did the same.
‘That’s enough’
Comet looked at me with the strangest look on his face.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘Nothing.’
‘What are you thinking?’ I asked.
‘About you and me.’
‘What about us?’
Comet turned to look out over the sea. ‘Sometimes I wish there was just you and me and no-one else in the whole world.’
‘We’d drive each other crazy, wouldn’t we?’ I teased. At first i thought Comet wasn’t going to answer.
‘Laika, d’you ever dream about… escaping?’
‘I do….’
‘Where would you go?’
‘That's just the point,’ Comet said with a sudden bitterness. ‘This place is like the whole world and the whole world is like this place. So where could i go?’
‘This place isn’t so bad, is it? I asked, gently.
‘Depends on your point of view,’ Comet replied. ‘You're on the inside, Laika. I'm not.’
I couldn't think of an answer to that, so i didn't reply.
‘Wherever you went, i'd go with you,’ I decided.
‘Though you'd soon get bored with me.’
Comet sighed. A long, heartfelt sigh which immediately made me feel like id failed some test I hadn't even known I was taking.
‘We’d better get on with it,’ he said at last. ‘What’s the lesson for today, teacher?’,
‘Comet, you've already passed the entrance exam. Why do we still have to do this?’
‘I don't want to give them a reason to kick me out.’
‘You haven't even started school yet and already you're talking about getting kicked out?’ I was puzzled ‘You've got nothing to worry about, your in now, the school accepted you.’
‘Being in and being accepted are two different things.’
Comet shrugged. ‘Besides, I want to learn as much as I can so I don't look like a complete dunce.’
I sat up suddenly. ‘I've just had a thought, maybe you'll be in my class. Oh, I do hope so,’ I said eagerly. ‘Wouldnt that be great?’
‘You think so?’
I tried and failed, I think to keep the hurt out of my voice. ‘Don’t you?’
Comet looked at me and smiled. ‘You shouldn't answer a question with a question,’ he teased.
‘Why not?,’ I forced myself to smile back.
Taking me by surprise. Comet pushed me over onto the sand. Indignant, I scrambled up to kneel in front of him.
‘D’you mind?’ I huffed.
‘No. Not at all.’ Comet smirked.
We looked at each other and burst out laughing. I stopped laughing first
‘Comet, wouldn't…. Wouldn't you like to be in my class…?’
Comet couldn't meet my eyes. ‘It's a bit… humiliating for us noughts to be stuck in the baby class.’
‘What d’you mean? I'm not a baby.’ I jumped to my feet, scowling down at him.
‘Jeez, Laika, i'm fifteen, for heaven's sake! In six months time i'll be sixteen and they're still sticking me in with twelve and thirteen year olds. How would you like to be in a class with kids at least a year younger than you?’
Comet asked.
‘I…..well……’ I sat back down.
‘Exactly’
‘I'm turning fourteen in three weeks.’ I said, unwilling to let it drop.
‘That's not the point, and you know it.’
‘But the school explained why. You're all at least a year behind and….’
;And whose fault is that?’ Comet said with erupting bitterness. ‘Until a few years ago we were only allowed to be educated up to the age of fourteen - and in noughts only schools at that, which don't have a quarter of the money or resources that your schools have.’
I had no answer.
‘Sorry. I didn't mean to bite your head off.’
‘You didn't.’ I said. ‘Are any of your friends from your old school going to join you at Heathercrofts?’
‘No. None of them got in.’ Comet replied. ‘I wouldn't have got in either if you hadn't helped me.’
He made it sound like an accusation. I wanted to say sorry and I had no idea why.
Comet sighed. ‘Come on, wed better get to work…’
‘OK’.’ I turned and dug into my bag for my school books. ‘What d’you want to do first? Maths or History?’
‘Maths. I like maths.’
‘You should get into Maths. It's the universal language.’ Comet said.
‘Says who?’
‘Says anyone with any sense. Look at how many different languages are spoken on our planet. The only thing that doesn't change, no matter what the language, is Maths, and it's probably the same on other planets too.’
‘Pardon?’
‘That's probably how well talk to aliens from other planets when they get here or when we get to them. Well use maths.’
I stared at Comet. Sometimes when I talked to him, the seventeen months between us seemed to stretch to seventy years. ‘Are…. are you winding me up?’
Comets smile was no answer.
‘Stop it! Your giving me a headache.’ I frowned. ‘Can we just get on with Maths in my book and forget about chatting with aliens for a while?’
‘OK,’ Comet said at last. ‘But Laika, you should think above and beyond just us. You should free your mind and think about other cultures and other planets an oh, I don't know, just think about the future.’
‘I've got plenty of time to think about the future when i'm tons older and don't have much future left, thank you very much. And my mind is quite free enough.’
‘Is it?’ Comet asked slowly. ‘There's more to life than just us noughts and you crosses.’
My stomach jerked. Comets words hurt ‘Don't say that…..’
‘Don't say what?’
‘Us noughts and you crosses.’ I shook my head. ‘It makes it sound like…. Like you're in one place and i'm in another, with a huge, great wall between us.’
Comet looked across the sea. ‘Maybe we are in different places…..’
Extra:
Boop
