Once An Alien

by Robin Martin

  Glancing over at Harry, I saw I wasn’t the only one who noticed. There was a look in his eyes that I’d only seen once or twice before, and both times it had been directed at me. Now it was for Lou. It was what I wanted, and I was glad. Harry would always be my friend, and I wanted him to be happy, but there was a teensy part of me that felt sad he was over his crush on me.

  Then I felt Rion’s arm around me, and I looked up at him and smiled. If we were good, then nothing else mattered.

  ‘Hey, Lou,’ I said, ‘that new top’s cute.’

  ‘Thanks. Mum went a bit nuts over how much of my savings I’d spent, but it was worth it. She’ll get over it, and at least I have some things that don’t make me look twelve.’

  ‘You certainly don’t look twelve,’ Harry said.

  The pink spread over Lou’s cheeks.

  ‘So, what’s this movie we’re going to see again?’ I asked.

  ‘The new sci fi movie,’ Harry said. ‘I’ve read the reviews and —,’

  ‘Noo,’ Lou and I said together.

  ‘You’re going to spoil it if you tell us what they said,’ I added.

  ‘I’m not going to spoil it. I was just going to say—’

  Lou stopped him by leaning across the table and putting her hand across his mouth.

  ‘Not one word,’ she warned him.

  His green eyes looked surprised but not unhappy or anything. Far from it. He took her hand down and held it for a few seconds. I could almost see that electricity buzz between them.

  ‘Look, here comes Kerri,’ Rion said.

  ‘I didn’t think she was coming,’ I said as I watched Kerri, her red bob swinging, look around to find us. I raised a reluctant hand to wave at her. Of course, we’d invited her. She was our friend and we didn’t want her to feel left out, but she always said she had to study, so I had thought Lou and Harry would have some time alone together. Kerri saw us, and then she turned around as if she were waiting for someone.

  ‘And Pandora,’ Rion said in a dead voice.

  Sure enough, Pandora came from around the corner, long dark hair tumbling over her shoulders, skin-tight leather jeans, knee-high boots, and a sleeveless white crop top that rode above her navel. A few heads turned in her direction.

  What she was doing here? We were, to put it bluntly, the nerds at school. No one wanted to hang out with us much, and we weren’t the envy of anyone. That label was reserved for Jas’s group, which was where Pandora had been hanging out lately. What was she up to?

  They moved to our table, and Kerri sat next to Rion, while Pandora sat next to Harry.

  ‘Hi guys,’ Pandora said. ‘Thought I’d join you. You don’t mind, do you?’ A totally rhetorical question. I got the feeling she couldn’t care less if we minded or not.

  ‘No, of course not,’ Harry said, in his usual friendly manner. Sometimes I wished he wasn’t quite so nice.

  I looked over at Lou and saw the disappointment in her eyes. I hoped she and Harry would still have that vibe they had a few minutes ago, despite the extra company.

  ‘I didn’t think you were coming. Didn’t you say you had some work to catch up on?’ Lou said. Kerri was always freaking out that her marks wouldn’t be straight As. Now that she’d got that C in English, we’d all thought she wouldn’t go anywhere for the rest of year twelve.

  ‘I did it this morning. Pandora helped me with the new English assignment, and she was just awesome,’ Kerri said, her eyes shining. ‘I think I really understand what Ms D said by empathy now.’

  I wasn’t totally convinced by that, but I said nothing.

  ‘When I mentioned you were all going to the movies, Pandora said we should join you,’ Kerri added.

  ‘Watching a movie is a great way to analyse character and motives,’ Pandora said. ‘Fun too.’ She smiled at Harry.

  ‘We’d better get a move on. It’s about to start,’ I said.

  ‘Oh, no need to rush. There’s going to be at least twenty minutes of ads. My host nearly always rocked up half an hour late and he hardly ever missed the beginning of a movie,’ Pandora said.

  Rion looked at her sharply.

  ‘What?’ Lou said, looking puzzled.

  ‘She means her host family when she was living in France,’ Rion said quickly.

  Pandora had told us one of the reasons she spoke French so well was that she lived there for a while. So it wasn’t a hard stretch to believe she’d stayed with a host family there. It was quick thinking on Rion’s part.

  Pandora shrugged. ‘Yeah, whatever.’

  ‘Still, we probably should get going if we want to get snacks or anything,’ Lou said.

  As we headed towards the escalator leading up to the cinema, Pandora managed to position herself next to Harry, leaving Lou and Kerri to walk together.

  ‘Hey, Harry, I’m looking for a good gym to join. Zoe tells me you work out all the time. Where do you go?’ She linked her arm though his. And, before he had time to answer, she said, ‘Why don’t you take me there and show me around?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Mr Politeness. ‘When do you want to go? It doesn’t have a pool or anything like that, but the fees aren’t too expensive.’

  I looked up at Rion in exasperation. ‘We’ve got to do something,’ I whispered.

  ‘What do you mean?’ he looked at me blankly. ‘I can’t control where she goes. If I could, she wouldn’t be here.’

  I remembered I hadn’t told him about my plan for Lou and Harry.

  So, it was up to me. I left Rion’s side and walked up to Harry and Pandora, just before they were about to get on the escalator. ‘Hey, Pandora.’ As she turned back, I managed to grab her arm and pull her towards me, smiling at her in what I hoped was a pals-y sort of way. ‘Go on, Harry, I just wanted a quick word with Pan here.’

  Tilting her head to one side, she looked at me with narrowed her eyes. ‘Yeah?’

  I had no idea what to say. All I knew was I wanted to separate her from Harry. I had to think fast. So, I said the first thing that came into my head. ‘That’s really cool you were helping Kerri.’

  She shrugged and said, ‘No biggie,’ and was about to move off.

  ‘Maybe you could help me too. I didn’t do so well in that English assignment either.’

  ‘I heard you were pretty good in English. Didn’t think you’d need any help.’

  ‘I’d hardly call a C in English pretty good.’

  ‘You’ll be fine. After all, it isn’t a D, and it doesn’t strike me that you have any trouble with understanding motivation at all.’ Her tone was a little sarky, and I realised she knew exactly what I was trying to do.

  I was about to level with her and ask her to give Harry and Lou a chance, when Rion moved up to us and touched my sleeve. ‘Hey, we should catch up with the others.’

  ‘Good idea, and if you need help with English, you should ask Rion. After all, he is your boyfriend, isn’t he?’ Pandora said and, flicking her hair over her shoulder, turned her back and headed for the escalator.

  ‘What was that all about?’ Rion asked as we followed.

  ‘Nothing,’ I said in a totally unconvincing way.

  ‘Don’t try to tangle with her, Zoe. She’s unpredictable and probably not someone you should trust.’

  ‘You mean because she’s an alien? Or because she’s gone rogue?’

  ‘Both.’

  ‘I think I can handle it. Besides, you’re an alien, Rion, and you materialised without permission. Yet, we’re together, so what does that say?’

  He sighed and put an arm around me as we got off the escalator and moved into the foyer of the cinema. I could see Harry and the others were headed towards the ticket counter. ‘I probably wasn’t the greatest either when I first materialised into human form, but I wasn’t quite so… rebellious. Besides, I’m not an alien anymore. I choose to be human.’

  It struck me again what a sacrifice that must have been for him to give up his alien identity and his ties to his people. And part of the reaso
n, I knew, was so that he could be with me. I gave him a hug. ‘Let’s not talk about it anymore. I don’t think Pandora is interested in being friends with me now, which is fine. Come on, let’s join the others.’

  When we went inside the cinema, without seeming to lift a finger, Pandora managed to sit next to Harry. Lou was on the other side of him, next to me, so I had to hope for the best. Kerri was sitting on the other side of Pandora.

  ‘Sorry, Lou, I didn’t know she was coming,’ I whispered.

  Lou shrugged, but she didn’t look happy.

  The movie was totally lame too, and I couldn’t help but notice that Pandora was giving her comments through the whole thing, mainly to Harry. Apparently, she didn’t realise people were supposed to be quiet when they were at the movies.

  Afterwards, as we were walking out, she said, ‘Let’s all go for a drink somewhere.’

  ‘There’s a coffee shop just outside,’ Lou said.

  ‘Coffee?’ Pandora looked scornful. ‘We can do better than that surely?’

  ‘Well, you can also get milkshakes,’ Lou added.

  ‘Milkshakes. What are we, children?’ She shook her head, sending her long, luxurious locks flying.

  ‘Technically, yes. That’s exactly what we are,’ Rion said, giving her a warning look. She rolled her eyes.

  ‘There’s a really cool American-style snack bar upstairs where all the new cafes are. It’s even got a jukebox. Zoe and I have been there a couple of times,’ Lou suggested.

  ‘That sounds like fun,’ Harry said. ‘Why don’t we give it a go?’

  ‘I should probably go home and read over my chemistry notes. We’ve got a test coming up,’ Kerri said, but her tone was reluctant.

  ‘Come on, Kerri. It won’t hurt you to have a break,’ I said. I may not have wanted her to come at first, and certainly not with Pandora, but now she was here I realised she was my friend too and sometimes needed support.

  ‘You’ll probably study better if you do. Think of it as a brain break,’ Harry said.

  ‘Do you think?’ Kerri looked at us.

  ‘I believe it’s been scientifically proven that breaks at regular intervals improves the ability of the brain to retain information,’ said my alien—I still called him that, even though he insisted he wasn’t.

  ‘Okay then, let’s go,’ Kerri said as if she were about to set out on a dangerous mission, like a trip to a Survivor set or something.

  The Saturday crowds were heavy in the mall, and we had to almost push our way through them. Rion and I got separated from everyone. By the time we reached the cafe, the others had already found a booth. I noticed Pandora had managed to sit next to Harry, while Lou and Kerri were on the other side. I sighed inwardly. Pandora was almost as hard to deal with as Jas. Who was I kidding? She was much harder, and far more unpredictable.

  The place was buzzing. The lime green booths and the seats at the chrome bar were all filled. We’d been lucky to get a place to sit. An old-fashioned jukebox was in the corner with real vinyl records, and an old Elvis Presley song was playing.

  ‘It’s just like a set from Happy Days,’ Rion said, looking happy.

  ‘Don’t tell me you’re still watching that,’ I said. When Rion first materialised as a human, his favourite TV shows were Happy Days and Star Trek. I tried to tell him that Happy Days was set in the dark ages—like the 1950s—and had no resemblance to the way people were today. But, of course, he ignored me.

  ‘Every time I watch it, I learn something new.’

  I just shook my head. ‘Trouble is it was new over fifty years ago. Never mind, let’s join the others.’

  I had to squeeze in next to Lou, while Rion sat on the other side next to Pandora. She gave him a bright smile. ‘This is cosy, isn’t it?’

  A waitress with a pink dress and apron, looking like an extra in a movie, came over to take our order. After she left, I turned to Lou. ‘This is cool. I’m glad you suggested it. It has a different vibe at night.’

  ‘Yeah. When we were here last week, I thought it might be a good place for us all to go.’

  ‘I’m going to try out that jukebox,’ Pandora said.

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ Rion said. ‘I wonder if they have the Happy Days’ theme song?’

  As he and Pandora headed for the jukebox at the other end of the diner, I watched them. They looked so well matched, tall, dark haired and gorgeous—perfect in every way. Were all the people on his planet so beautiful? And a small voice inside me asked, what did he see in me?

  He and Pandora seemed to get into a heavy conversation at the jukebox. I wondered what it was about. I could go over there, but I wouldn’t. Our relationship rested on trust and the freedom to make our own decisions. I wasn’t going to act like a clingy, insecure girlfriend, no matter what I felt like inside.

  They must have selected a record, because suddenly a song exploded into the cafe and everybody, totally everybody, started to listen. I didn’t know a lot about music from the fifties, but it was a time when Gran had been young and occasionally she had played some of her vinyl for me—which I thought had been way cool. This one sounded familiar, and I realised it was ‘Jailhouse Rock’ by Elvis. Without even thinking about it, I was tapping my feet. I looked over at Harry, who was beginning to click his fingers in time to the music. We weren’t the only ones caught up in the beat. Looking around, I saw heads nodding and fingers drumming on tables. Then, Pandora started to dance to the music in the space near the jukebox. It looked like the jive, and like everything else she did, she was doing it extremely well. Our eyes were drawn to her as if she were a magnet and we were helpless little metal objects.

  She held out her hand to Rion, pulling him closer to dance with her. I thought he might refuse at first, but no, he started to dance. He was every bit as good as her. I’d only ever seen people jive on old clips on YouTube or movies like Grease. I never realised Rion could dance like that. There wasn’t a lot of space for them to move, but they used every square centimetre of it effectively. Rion swung her out then back into his arms, and she followed his every move. Soon, just about everyone in the small cafe was clapping in time. Even the staff had stopped to watch. Where had they learned to dance like that, these aliens who were once disembodied bubbles of consciousness?

  When the song stopped, the clapping changed into applause and some people whistled, while a guy got up and slapped Rion on the back. A couple of people waved their phones. One called out, ‘Do it again. I didn’t quite get all that.’ I’d lay bets that their dancing had already hit the internet via Instagram and Facebook.

  The next song, “Rockin’ Robin,” was just as addictively catchy, but Rion seemed to remember where he was. Smiling, he shook his head at Pandora, who tried to persuade him to dance again. She shrugged at the people trying to cheer her on and followed him back to our table, where I’m pretty sure the rest of us just sat open mouthed, though I don’t know for sure because I was too busy looking at Rion.

  As he and Pandora slid back into their seats, I said, ‘Where did you learn to dance like that?’

  ‘Yeah, that was awesome,’ Lou said.

  ‘Pandora, you were amazing,’ Harry added, his eyes bright with admiration.

  ‘I picked it up from my host—’

  Rion gave her a sharp look.

  ‘—family. They were very into the fifties.’

  I looked over at Rion. ‘What about you?’

  His face was flushed, and his hair was ruffled in a way that was not totally unattractive. He gave me his crooked smile and said, ‘I told you I’m always learning new things from Happy Days.’

  ‘All I can add to that is, wow,’ I said.

  ‘I can teach you if you want. It’s not that hard,’ he said, reaching over to hold my hand.

  Considering I was almost as poorly coordinated as Lou, I didn’t think that was going to happen, but I didn’t say anything. The waitress came over with a tray of colas and hot chips.

  ‘We didn’t order this,�
� Rion said.

  She smiled. ‘It’s on the house—for your performance. You two were great.’

  And so it went on. A few people came over to our table and some even tried to get them to dance again. Pandora would have been game, but Rion kept shaking his head. I was glad. Seeing Pandora and Rion together only reinforced the feeling that they were well matched. And that didn’t exactly make me feel comfortable—not that I was jealous or anything, although Rion seemed over his earlier annoyance that she had crashed our group outing.

  Pandora divided her attention between Harry and Rion, throwing an occasional comment to Kerri, Lou, and me. She wasn’t bitchy like Jas. She was just this colourful, attractive force that drew everyone to her, while the rest of us in comparison were just a little… colourless.

  ‘Let’s find somewhere we can really dance,’ she said. ‘Jas is having a party. You guys should come.

  That was the last thing I felt like. Besides, we would not be welcome at any party Jas was throwing. ‘I’m a bit tired. I’m going to head home.’ I slid off the seat and stood.

  ‘I’ve been out far too long as it is,’ Kerri said. ‘I think I’m getting a headache. I knew I shouldn’t have had that second cola, all those chemicals and sugar.’ She did look pale. Poor Kerri wasn’t used to so much excitement.

  Lou slid out of the booth. ‘I’d better get home too. It’s getting late, and Mum will wonder where I am.’

  ‘Rion? Harry? Come on, guys, you can’t really be ready to call it quits so soon.’ Pandora spoke in a convincing voice.

  But Rion was already on the other side of me and slid an arm around my waist. ‘I’m going to take Zoe home.’

  That only left Harry. Since Pandora had joined us, he seemed to only have eyes for her. Poor Lou. This afternoon and evening hadn’t turned out like we planned at all.

  But, to my surprise, he said, ‘Thanks, but I should get going too. I’ve got Mum’s car, and I need to get it back. It was certainly a fun day though. We should do it again sometime.’ Whether or not he meant all of us or just Pandora and him wasn’t clear.