Colliding Skies

by Debbie Zaken

  “How was it different? Because we were older than her by a year or two?”

  “No. Because we were from the same planet! The same species. They’re different from us. In more ways than we think.”

  She let out a heavy sigh. “We need to keep an eye on her. We can’t push her away. Think about it. These aliens are beautiful, alluring creatures. Forbid her to see him and we make him just that more appealing.”

  “I can’t believe I’m letting you talk me into this. That arrogant kid, Taylor, would’ve been a hell of a lot better. As much as he got on my nerves.” It was his turn to sigh heavily. “I have to go. Let’s finish talking about this when I get home. I still want to have a word with Abigail, and her brother.”

  ***

  IT WAS A relief to be in the car with Chase. The apprehension on Mom’s face and the dead silence in the kitchen had turned my bowl of cereal into a bowl of cement.

  “Jeez, Skye. You never get in trouble, but when you do, you do it royally. I’ve never seen Mom and Dad this mad before—not at you, anyway,” Chase said as we pulled into his school.

  “Yeah, I messed up pretty bad. Just, do me a favor and learn from my mistakes.”

  “Already have. Lesson number one: When lying about your whereabouts, make sure you have cell phone coverage.”

  I laughed a little. Trust my smart-aleck brother to find the humor in any situation. “It’s kind of nice not being the one in trouble, isn’t it?”

  “For a change. But don’t worry. I won’t let it get to my head.” Then the goofy grin on his face disappeared. “So, are you and Taylor over?”

  “Pretty much.”

  His shoulders slumped. “That sucks. I liked hanging out with him.”

  “Yeah, he liked hanging out with you, too.”

  “You think we could still hang out once in a while? You know…him and me?”

  The hopeful look on his face tugged at my heart. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

  “Yeah, I get it,” he mumbled. “That alien dude you’re dating now wouldn’t like it too much.”

  I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “How do you know about that?”

  “I overheard Mom and Dad talking. They weren’t too happy about the whole thing.”

  Good to know I wasn’t the only snoop in the house. “Yeah, no kidding.”

  “You know, Skye, the aliens are kind of creepy.”

  “They’re not creepy, they’re just different.”

  He looked at me as if I’d just grown another head.

  “At least, Ethan isn’t. I think you’ll like him when you meet him. But listen, Chase, you can’t tell anyone about this. Not a soul. Okay?”

  “Yeah, fine.” He shrugged and got out of the car.

  I pulled into my school. Walking down the corridors that morning to my locker, I spotted two girls from Emily’s art class, Jennifer and Chelsea, and gave them a little wave. They smiled awkwardly and turned away. Something about the way they whispered to each other caught my attention.

  Weird... If I didn’t know better, I’d swear they were talking about me.

  I brushed it off and kept walking. But the more people I passed, the more I was beginning to think they were staring at me. I could hear the low murmur as I walked by.

  It struck me as odd. Taylor and I breaking up hadn’t caused much of a commotion last week. I had a popular best friend, but I had never really been gossip-worthy. And Taylor, though well liked, was kind of a loner by choice. He always seemed too mature, too sophisticated for high school. But that just increased his coolness factor—that and the fact that he was pretty darn hot. Julia was probably only one of tons of girls in school with their eye on him.

  Relief flowed through me when I saw Emily waiting for me by my locker.

  She gave me a huge grin. “Whoa, Skye. You look great. Must be all that alien love.”

  “Emily!” I couldn’t help but hide my peeking smile, forgetting all about the awkward stares. The mere mention of Ethan put a smile on my face.

  “Hold it there now.” She raised a palm to my face. “Someone here broke the girl code. I mean, what the heck? How could you hold out on me like that?”

  My face scrunched in remorse. “I know. I’m the worst. I’m really sorry, Em. Trust me, I was bursting inside. It was just all too crazy to explain. Forgive me, please.” I crushed my palms together in a pleading gesture.

  Her lips puckered, twitching as she tortured me with her silence. Then a brilliant smile swept across her lips. “You so know you’re forgiven.” She laid an arm over my shoulders. “Now tell me everything!”

  The morning flew by with Emily eager to hear every detail about Ethan, and I filled her in—with only minor changes, keeping the dreams, hallucinations and Ethan’s stalking to myself. It also distracted me while I waited to hear from Ethan.

  I’d woken up to a note from him asking me to check my email and laughed when I saw one in my inbox from an “ET”.

  The saint has agreed. Will contact again after speaking to your father. Yours, ET.

  I’d replied letting him know about my parent’s conversation that morning. His response came in within seconds.

  Operation Parent Green Light looking more favorable. Still yours, E. PS, all emails will automatically delete.

  At lunchtime, as Emily and I made our way to our usual table in the cafeteria I couldn’t help but feel like all eyes in the room were on us. Or really, on me. Anytime I caught someone’s stare, they would immediately lower their eyes.

  “Okay, this is going to sound crazy,” I said to Emily, “but why do I get the feeling people are staring at us?”

  She took a bite of her sandwich and gave a quick look around. Sure enough, a group of junior girls at the table next to us dropped their gaze when they caught her staring.

  Emily scowled. “Julia has been telling the whole school about you cheating on Taylor.”

  “What? I didn’t cheat on Taylor.” Not in reality, anyway.

  “I know that. I’m just telling you what she’s been saying. All it takes is for one big, resentful blabbermouth like her to spread a rumor.” She looked around the room. “Where is Taylor anyway?”

  “Absent.” Lucas laid his tray on the table and took a seat next to Emily.

  “Oh?” I picked at my salad, hoping he couldn’t hear the hint of guilt in my voice.

  “Yeah. I think he skipped school, but he’s not answering his phone.”

  “Maybe he’s still mad at you, Lucas. You know, because of yesterday.” Emily swallowed down that poor excuse with her Coke.

  “Yeah, I don’t think that’s it. He’s probably just…” Lucas shot me a disapproving glance and I dropped my gaze. “…laying low.”

  “He’s fine.” Emily placed her hand over mine in reassurance.

  But what if he wasn’t? He didn’t look fine yesterday when I ran out of his house. If he wasn’t in school and he wasn’t answering his phone. An alarm went off in my head. He knew how to lie, how to make black tea look like liquor. I dismissed the thoughts. Taylor wouldn’t do anything so stupid, certainly not anything to ruin what he’d worked so hard for.

  “Seriously? She thinks she’s just gonna walk in here like that?” Emily blustered.

  I followed her angry glare to the doors of the lunchroom where Julia, Andrea and Josh had just walked in. They scanned the room for an empty table and made their way to the back.

  “I don’t know what she’s on if she thinks she has a chance in hell with Taylor,” Emily jeered loudly enough to catch the attention of the tables around us. “Sneaky, backstabbing bi—”

  “Em, babe. Keep it down,” Lucas broke in. “You don’t want to make a scene.” He bit down on his Sloppy Joe, like he wanted to chew someone’s head off, probably hers.

  “I have nothing against Josh and Andrea, but that lying shrew needs to know who she’s messing with. Look around, Lucas. Did you notice how people are staring at us?”

  “Well, what did you think was
going to happen when people found out Skye cheated on Taylor with an alien?” he hissed.

  My heart banged around in my chest. “People know about Ethan? And I didn’t cheat on Taylor.”

  I could see by the not-so-subtle roll of his eyes that Lucas didn’t quite believe that. “Yeah, well, that’s what everyone’s been talking about all day.”

  “Oh, crap.” I slapped my forehead. “But the only ones who knew were Emily, Taylor, you and-”

  “Julia.” Emily finished the sentence for me. “Of course it was her. Neither of us told anyone and Taylor’s not even here.”

  “I can’t believe this.”

  “Believe it,” Lucas replied. “The rumor’s spreading like social media herpes.”

  I sunk in my chair and buried my face in my hands. “How was I ever supposed to keep this a secret? By the end of the day everyone in school will know. Everyone in Mclean will know! Ethan was upset when I told him my parents knew. He’s going to totally lose it when he hears about this.”

  “Wait. He doesn’t want anyone knowing? Why?” Emily’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  I thought about how to best explain Ethan’s reasons for keeping us on the down low. After what I’d told her this morning, Emily was back to being Celeian number one fangirl. I didn’t want her now jumping on the alien-haters bandwagon.

  “It’s only for the time being. Of course we can’t keep it a secret forever. Ethan just wants them to get used to the idea first.”

  “Them? The aliens, you mean. They think it’s weird, too?” Curiosity crossed Lucas’ face.

  Emily elbowed him in the ribs.

  “What?” He protested, rubbing his torso. “Come on, Em! It’s a little weird.”

  I sighed and decided to ignore him. I was going to have to get used to that sort of reaction. “He just needs some time. And so do I. My parents still need to come around to the idea of this inter-species dating thing, too.”

  That sounded reasonable enough. No need to bring up all this Magistrate stuff or the Celeians not being in touch with their emotional side.

  “Well, maybe we can do some damage control. I mean, the whole thing is pretty unbelievable. Skye dating one of those ridiculously beautiful Celeians?”

  I cast a hurt glance at Emily. I knew I couldn’t compare to those model-perfect Celeian females, but there was no need for her to point it out.

  “That’s not what I meant,” she said. “But in this case, Skye, truth is stranger than fiction. As far as rumors go, this one is pretty out there. I say we use that to our advantage. If you act like it’s the craziest thing you’ve ever heard, everyone will just disregard it. Cheating on Taylor should be gossip enough.”

  “I didn’t cheat on him.” How many times was I going to have to repeat that?

  “I know,” she exclaimed in exaggerated annoyance. “But if you want to divert attention from the fact that you’re dating an alien, then you need to give the people something juicy to talk about. That’s why we’re going to start a counter rumor.”

  “A counter rumor?” Lucas asked.

  “Yes. We’ll say it’s some hot college guy you met and that you’re seeing him now. You gotta admit, that’s waaay more believable than the truth.”

  “And just let people think I cheated on Taylor? With this college guy?” I gazed at her, half-amazed, half-scared of my crafty best friend. I hated the idea of people questioning my integrity, my character. But if it kept Ethan out of the spotlight, it might be worth it.

  “Exactly,” she said, a self-satisfied smile on her face as if she’d just invented the next smartphone.

  Lucas stared at her wide-eyed. “You are diabolical, my little catinha!”

  “Such a perfect plan, it’s almost criminal.” Her green eyes twinkled with mischief.

  And just like Emily had predicted, by the end of the day, everyone was talking about the gorgeous college guy I’d cheated on Taylor with. Not having ever been the subject of gossip before, I had no idea what a cruel experience it could be. All day I had to put up with surprised looks, not so discreet whispers, and some prying and rather insulting comments.

  “Cheer up.” Emily put her arm around my shoulder as we walked to the school parking lot. “The rumor will blow over in a few days. But at least you don’t have to worry about people talking about you and Mr. Intergalactic Hottie. Speaking of which…”

  I followed Emily’s gaze and saw the black Tesla in the parking lot. My heart sped up.

  “I’ll call you later,” I mumbled.

  “Um…and with what phone exactly?” I heard her yell back, but I was already walking to the car.

  The passenger door opened and I got in. Ethan gave me a mesmerizing smile. Inside the car, I let the minty currents he gave off seep into my lungs. My head fogged. “What are you doing here?” I asked. “I thought you wanted us to lay low.”

  He kept the engine running, although we didn’t pull out of the parking lot. “I wanted to tell you in person. We talked to your father. It went… not terrible.”

  “Really?” I found that hard to imagine.

  “Well, there was some cursing. It turns out your father is not only a brilliant scientist, he is also well-versed in profanity. But I think he understands now that my feelings for you are genuine. And he is starting to consider your mother’s suggestion, thanks to Naomi. He would have never believed me had she not been there. Like I said, he may not fully trust me, but he trusts her.”

  “So you really think they’re going to let me see you?”

  “Let us hope so. We will find out soon enough. I am sure they are waiting for you at home.”

  I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. “Okay, I can do this.”

  Ethan’s lips curled into a smile. His knuckles grazed my cheek. “You will be fine. And remember, regardless of what happens, I will be waiting for you below your window tonight.”

  ***

  WHEN CHASE AND I got home my parents were waiting for me in the family room.

  “Skye, sit down,” Mom ordered. “Chase, go to your room and get started on your homework.”

  He shot me a glad I’m not you look and disappeared upstairs.

  I sat across from my parents. The optimism I’d felt bubbling up before burst under their somber faces. I swallowed my nerves, my tongue gliding over the roof of my mouth.

  “Ethan spoke with me today,” Dad finally said.

  My eyes jumped from one to the other. Unsure of which way this was going, I decided to play dumb. “Oh?’

  The skeptical look on Dad’s face told me he didn’t buy it. “Skye, we’re not trying to be difficult. We only want what’s best for you.”

  “I know, Dad.” My gaze sank to my knees, along with my heart. This was not going to end well.

  “This is far from normal, and your safety is our biggest concern.”

  “I know that, too.”

  “We have always trusted you.”

  I bit my lip. Ethan had overestimated Naomi’s influence. And if Dad refused to change his mind, regardless of what Mom thought, they would stick together.

  “You’re at the age when what we want for you carries less weight than what you want for yourself,” he went on. “You’re almost an adult and while we can guide you, there are some decisions that are only yours to make—even if, in our eyes, they might not always be ideal.”

  At that, my head snapped to attention. I looked at him in confusion. It sounded like he was saying yes, but the frustration and hesitancy on his face said something else.

  “Then you trust me enough to let me see Ethan?”

  He shifted his gaze to Mom, who gave him an encouraging nod, and continued.

  “We’re willing to keep an open mind. We will allow you to see Ethan, but there are certain rules that you’ll need to follow.”

  “Rules?”

  “For starters, you’re still very much grounded. We haven’t forgotten about your little disappearing act yesterday.” Mom frowned, her lips a taut line. �
�You’re only to go to school and back.”

  “Okay.” That was a good start. I didn’t expect them to let me completely off the hook.

  “Second,” Dad picked up from there. “You’re only allowed to see him here, in the house— and only when one of us is home. And since you now have a curfew, he’ll need to leave by then.”

  “To be exact,” Mom chimed in, “your visitation rights will be limited from five to eight o’clock.”

  My gaze shifted between my parents. For all their arguing this morning, they now presented one unified front.

  “Okay,” I replied. “And on the weekends?”

  Their faces sharpened.

  “No dates. No going anywhere.” Dad clenched his jaw.

  Mom shot me a look of warning. “Need I remind you that you are grounded? Your weekends are to be spent at home until further notice. The limited visitation rights we’re allowing you are more than generous. Once we decide that you’ve served your time, then we’ll discuss the terms of your conditional release.”

  What’s with all the legal lingo? She sounds like a cop on some TV show.

  “Is everything clear?”

  I grinded my lips together, debating if it was prudent to ask a question or not. “Umm…Well, there is one thing…”

  “What is it?”

  “When do my visitation rights kick in? Is it immediately or is there a waiting period?” I could play the legal card, too. I had to have some rights.

  They exchanged hesitant glances, working out a silent answer. And then Mom went all TV cop show again.

  “Visitation privileges are subject to good behavior and will begin after completing seventy two hours of your house arrest. You have two more days to go. Any more questions?” She raised an eyebrow.

  “Can I get my phone back?” I hoped I wasn’t pushing my luck.

  She cast Dad an uncertain look. He sighed, stepped out of the room and came back with my cell phone in his hand.

  “You’re on probation with this. Any more lying or sneaking out and consider it confiscated permanently.”

  With my phone back in my possession, I went upstairs and remained in the safety of my room for most of the day. When night finally came, I lay anxiously in bed, pretending to be asleep while waiting for midnight to roll around. I wanted to see Ethan. I needed to see him. Like a physical ache that wouldn’t go away until it was fulfilled. But I was also terrified. If I got caught sneaking out, my parents would never allow me to see Ethan again, and I might find myself actually locked up in a cell.