The Girl From Mars

by Brenda Hiatt

  But I’m not buying it. “You were just being friendly! Since when is that a crime? Her speech tonight was all about making friends with the locals, then she slaps you down for trying to do just that.”

  “No,” Dad insists. “This was rather different. Don’t argue with your mother,” he says when I open my mouth to continue my rant. “And don’t you dare repeat any of what you just said to the Sovereign, if you see her at school. You may not agree with everything she’s done, but I won’t have you prejudicing her against our family further.”

  “Then you think she’s—?” Mum begins anxiously

  Dad quickly soothes her. “No. She didn’t seem at all angry. But we do need to be more cautious and think before we act. You girls, too.”

  Biting back the retort I want to make, I look away and spot Sean O’Gara crossing the parking lot with his parents—and watching me. He catches my eye and smiles again. Again I notice, irrelevantly, how good looking he is.

  But this time I don’t smile back.

  17

  Rebound

  Sean

  I’m not particularly surprised when Kira doesn’t return my smile as we’re leaving NuAgra. What her parents did was seriously uncool, from what I overheard between them and M, so she’s probably embarrassed. Tomorrow at school I’ll make sure to let Kira know nobody blames her for it.

  I turn back to my parents as we cross the parking lot, ignoring M and Rigel up ahead. Holding hands. “So, Mum, how come you didn’t mention one of the new Echtran students is Kira Morain?”

  “What? Why?” My mother sounds genuinely baffled.

  “Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know, since you don’t follow caidpel, but she was kind of a big deal in Nuath, a star player on the Ag team,” I explain. “Made the winning shot that got them into the playoffs this year.”

  Molly glances at me in surprise. “Oh, is she the one you were talking about, when you were all upset she was leaving the team to come to Earth?”

  “I didn’t make the connection either,” Dad says. “I suppose that means you’ll have something to talk with her about at school, eh? You probably know the game nearly as well as she does.”

  I shrug. “I wouldn’t say that. Besides, it’s not like I can bring up caidpel when any Duchas are around. But yeah, I hope I’ll get a chance to talk to her.” Tomorrow, if possible. And not just about caidpel.

  M rejoins us then and I let the topic drop.

  * * *

  I take the bus the next morning instead of riding with Pete, since Molly mentioned Kira might be on it…but she’s not. I wait till M is talking with her friends Bri and Deb to comment about it to Molly.

  “Her dad probably drove her and her sister to school again,” she says with a shrug. “She didn’t actually say she’d be on the bus today, just that she lives at Diamond View Terrace, which is one of our stops.”

  My disappointment only lasts until we reach the school, where I see her, her sister, and another girl getting out of a car at the curb at almost the same moment I get off the bus. I angle their way but wait until the two younger girls stop to talk to some other freshmen to catch up with Kira.

  “Hey. Ready for day two?”

  Her initial frown quickly resolves into a smile, though, like yesterday, I get the feeling it’s a little forced. “I don’t have much choice, do I?”

  “Guess not,” I admit. “I take it coming here wasn’t exactly your idea?”

  “That’s putting it mildly.” Her smile becomes even more brittle.

  No one’s close enough to hear, so I say, “Yeah, the timing was pretty bad, right before the playoffs and all. Guess you heard the Ags lost in the second round?”

  “Yeah. I heard. Not saying they’d have won if I’d been there, but—”

  “Hey, Kira, hey Sean.” Alan Dempsey appears out of nowhere and sort of wedges himself in between us. “Are you guys talking caidpel? Every time I bring it up, Kira shuts me down.” He shoots me a slightly irritated glance.

  Is that how things are? Alan and Kira?

  “I didn’t bring it up,” she practically snaps at him. “Not exactly the safest topic here anyway, is it?”

  She’s right. There are enough other students around now to make any Martian references risky. We talk about last night’s Physics homework instead until we reach the classroom. Kira and Alan go to their lab table and I go to mine, wondering if I imagined that slightly smug look on Alan’s face as we separated.

  And wondering why I care either way. So what if they’re together? It’s not like I’m over M enough yet to be interested in anyone else.

  Still, when I get to AP Lit—my only class before lunch that Alan isn’t in—I can’t resist taking advantage of the brief lull before class starts to try talking to Kira again.

  “So, are you going to the game tonight?”

  She blinks at me. “Game?”

  “The football game,” I clarify, trying not to grin at her confusion. “Almost everybody goes. You should come. I can introduce you to some of my basketball teammates.”

  I usually sit with them at the games, partly to avoid watching M ogling Rigel from the stands while he plays.

  “I’ll, um, ask my parents. Maybe I’ll see you there.” Again with that smile that doesn’t quite reach her gold-flecked brown eyes. Like she feels obligated to be nice to me, because of who I am. Before I can think of a discreet way to say that’s not necessary, she turns away to go to her desk.

  Just as well. What would I have said? Hey, you don’t have to be nice to me if you don’t want to.

  Sometimes being “important” sucks. Especially since I don’t feel the least bit important these days.

  At lunch I keep losing the thread of the conversation between Pete, Andy and a couple other basketball players, my eyes straying to the table where all the new Echtran students are sitting together again. I notice how often Alan talks to Kira, and the looks he sometimes gives her when she’s not looking back. Clearly, whether they’re a couple or not, he’d like them to be. All the more reason I should back off.

  Still, I can’t help hoping she comes to the game tonight…and not with Alan.

  18

  Sparring match

  “Hey, Kira, I meant to ask you earlier,” Alan says just before we separate for our work-study shifts at NuAgra that afternoon, “are you going to the football game tonight?”

  I should, since it might be a chance to start winning Sean’s trust, but going with Alan is likely to have the opposite effect. Despite the way I consistently discouraged him all summer, Alan persists in behaving like he has some kind of claim on me. His jealousy could screw up my mission.

  “Not sure yet,” I reply. Truthfully, since technically I haven’t asked my parents yet. “If I do, I’ll probably go with my sister and her friends, to keep them out of trouble. That Jana always seems to be looking for ways to push the limits.”

  He laughs. “Yeah, I remember. Maybe I’ll see you there, then.” I’ve told him to back off enough times by now that he knows better than to push.

  I join Mum at her work station but don’t mention tonight’s game while we’re still at NuAgra for fear she might say something in front of Alan about it. When we get back to our apartment that evening, Adina brings up the subject before I can.

  “Jana wants to know if I can go to the football game with her tonight. Can I? Her dad says he’ll drive us there and pick us up after.”

  Mum frowns. “He won’t stay with you? I don’t know, Adina. You’ve barely had time to—”

  “I can go along and keep an eye on them,” I interrupt before she worries herself into saying no. “Most of our classmates from school will be there. It’ll be fine.”

  My mother’s frown disappears. “In that case, it sounds like a good way to immerse yourselves in the local culture, as the Sovereign has advised us to do.”

  “Maybe we should all go,” Dad suggests. “I’ve seen a professional football game or two on television, but—” He breaks off at
the sudden tension on Mum’s face. “Or, um, maybe it would be better to let just the girls go this time, so they can make friends without us hovering. We can always go to a game later in the season.”

  She relaxes—and so do I. Mum would definitely make a big deal out of it if she saw me sitting with Sean, as I’m hoping to. “I’m sorry, Aidan. Last night’s crowd wasn’t so bad, but a sporting event is likely to be so…loud.”

  “I know, dear. It’s fine.”

  A little over an hour later, Adina, Jana and I climb out of Mr. Blair’s sporty red car near the entrance to the football stadium.

  “You don’t have to sit with us, do you?” Jana asks as we join the crowd going through the gates.

  I suspect she’s worried I’ll discourage them from flirting with all the Duchas boys. “No, but I’ll still be watching, so behave yourselves, okay?”

  They both nod eagerly and hurry off to find the friends they’ve already made at school. I watch them for a moment, marveling at how much more easily they seem to be fitting in than I am. Not that I really want to.

  Once I see where they’re sitting, I head along the foot of the stands myself, scanning the people already seated in ranked rows above me. Will Sean remember he suggested I come tonight? On that thought, I spot him several rows up. He sees me at the same time. With a quick word to the boy sitting next to him, he hurries down the bleachers to me.

  “Hey, you looking for a place to sit? We’ve got room.” He sounds eager—and slightly nervous. Sean O’Gara, nervous around me?

  “Thanks. I’d rather not sit with my sister and her friends—too much giggling for my taste.” I nod toward the gaggle of freshman girls in the second row.

  He looks relieved, like he was afraid I’d say no. “Come on up, then.” Grinning now, he leads the way up the stands. “Have you ever watched a football game before?”

  “No, I’ve never watched any, ah, local sports.” Duchas sports, in other words.

  The amused glint in his intensely blue eyes shows he caught my meaning. When we reach his friends, he quickly introduces me to them. They all apparently play basketball—the one Earth sport I am familiar with, as it’s essentially the same as Nuathan chas pell.

  “Let’s sit at the end of the row,” Sean quietly suggests after introductions are over. “That way I can explain the rules and stuff during the game.”

  Remembering how arrogant he was at Sheelah’s that time, I’m a little weirded out by how nice he’s being—even nicer than his father was yesterday. To hide my puzzlement, I turn my attention to the field below and the players now running onto it from the sidelines. They all wear helmets and what looks like a lot of protective padding, especially on their shoulders.

  “This must be an awfully violent sport, huh?” I murmur to Sean.

  He shrugs. “Not much more than caidpel is.” He keeps his voice low, too. “But most of these players aren’t quite as, um, sturdy as we are.”

  That surprises a laugh out of me—my first since arriving in Jewel. “Alan wants to teach the Duchas to play caidpel and put a few teams together here. Next time he mentions it, I’ll remind him how breakable they are.”

  Sean chuckles, too, a low rumble that unaccountably makes my mouth go dry. “They definitely wouldn’t be able to compete at your level.” There’s no mistaking the admiration in his eyes, though it’s only because I’m good at the sport. “I went to your very last game—though of course I didn’t know at the time it would be your last.”

  “Neither did I.”

  My earlier amusement abruptly evaporates at the reminder. I’m tempted to tell him how he and his friends ruined my team’s celebration that night. Instead, I turn away to watch the football game, my mission firmly in mind.

  As the game progresses, Sean explains the basic rules and the various positions to me in an undertone. Unlike caidpel, only one team at a time plays offense while the other defends. Right now the opposing team has the football, but after two more plays they haven’t advanced it far enough, so have to kick—punt—it to Jewel’s team.

  “Rigel Stuart is the Jewel quarterback, right?” I ask as our school’s offense runs onto the field. “Liam mentioned it at lunch yesterday.”

  “Right. The quarterback is the only one who throws the ball, normally, though Rigel also runs it a lot. He’s easily the best player on the team…for obvious reasons.” There’s a slight edge to his tone as he mentions Rigel, but less than I’d expect.

  I watch the Sovereign’s Bodyguard-turned-boyfriend vault clear over two defenders to run the ball toward the opposite goalposts—a spectacular move I’ve never even seen on a caidpel pitch.

  “Obvious is right,” I mutter as Rigel scores. “How does that sort of thing not make the Duchas suspicious?”

  “Yeah, that was a little over-the-top.” Sean is frowning now. “He usually holds back a lot better than that.”

  As the game goes on, Rigel continues to turn every Jewel possession into a quick, explosive scoring drive. Judging by the comments around us, Sean’s right that he doesn’t usually play this well compared to everyone else. By halftime, Jewel is ahead 35-10. The score would be even more lopsided if Jewel’s defense wasn’t so weak.

  “I can’t believe the Sovereign came down so hard on my parents last night but is okay with her boyfriend being this conspicuous!” I hiss to Sean as the crowd cheers the halftime whistle. “What he’s doing is way more inappropriate than an innocent dinner invitation!”

  Sean’s frowning again. “Yeah, I don’t know what he’s thinking. M should say something to him. I’ll tell her so, if I see her. She usually sits with her friends around the fifty yard line, but she’s not there right now.”

  “So you agree that Rigel playing like this is worse than what my parents did?”

  “Yeah, but…for different reasons. If people were using her Duchas relatives to get to her, influence her, she had to put a stop to it. You get that, don’t you?”

  I shake my head, angry all over again at the injustice. “That’s not what my parents were doing! They just wanted to be nice. They’d never try to gain some unfair advantage, they’re not like that. I think it was lousy of her to single them out, embarrass them in front of everybody. I thought my mum was going to cry, she was so upset.”

  “It wasn’t just them, I don’t think. It sounded like—”

  “She still could have told them privately. Why did she have to—?”

  “Hey.” Pete, one of the other basketball players, interrupts our whispered conversation. “Either of you want anything from the concession stand? Andy and me are going. Kira?” His smile looks hopeful.

  “No thanks. I’m good.”

  Except I’m not. I’m still pissed, not only at the Sovereign but at Sean for defending her. How can he not see her for what she really is? I’m more determined than ever now to open his eyes, win him to our side. I don’t get a chance for the rest of halftime, though, because his friends all want to talk to me.

  “So, Kira,” says the boy sitting on Sean’s other side, Tom something. “Pete says you lived in New York before moving here? Is Times Square as crazy as I’ve heard?”

  Quickly, I recall the details of my fabricated past. “We were upstate, nowhere near Manhattan. We only went into the city once that I can remember.”

  “Yeah?” The guy next to Tom leans forward. “Did you go to any shows there? My brother went last year, saw two musicals. He said they were awesome.”

  “Um, no. We didn’t go to any shows.”

  They all bombard me with questions then, which I do my best to answer. When Pete and Andy get back with snacks, they join in. It’s a relief when the second half starts and they turn their attention back to the field.

  “Sorry about that,” Sean says in an undertone. “We don’t get new students here very often. They, uh, probably won’t be the only guys hitting on you. Not that I can blame them.” His half-smile reminds me of how Alan looks at me way too often. On Sean it’s not quite as irritating
—maybe because I haven’t told him to back off. Because that wouldn’t advance my mission.

  “Doesn’t look like anyone told Rigel to tone it down,” I comment a moment later. He’s still dominating on the field to an almost absurd degree.

  “Yeah. And I still don’t see M. Wonder why she’s not here?” He looks slightly worried now, though whether because of Rigel or the Sovereign’s absence, I’m not sure.

  We watch the game in silence for several minutes, then Sean clears his throat. “I, um, was wondering if you might want to go out with me and the guys after the game? We usually get something to eat at the Lighthouse Cafe or the burger place on the way back.”

  I don’t see much point since it’s not like I’ll can do any persuading with his buddies around. But…it’s also important to get Sean to trust me. Like me. So he’ll listen when I do get that chance.

  “I’ll, um, have to make sure my sister and her friend find their ride first, but then yeah, I guess so.”

  “Cool.” Like when he invited me to sit with him, what looked like nervousness fades into relief.

  Jewel continues to extend their lead until they’re ahead by more than forty-five points, due entirely to Rigel Stuart’s flagrant superiority. By the fourth quarter they’re no longer stopping the clock between plays, which ends the game quickly.

  The stands erupt in cheers twice as loud as at halftime. Nearly everyone surges to their feet and people start pouring onto the field to congratulate the team, especially Rigel. He barely seems to acknowledge them, though. For a long moment he stands frozen on the sidelines, his brow furrowed, then hurries over to Sean’s sister Molly, who’s still cheering along with the other cheerleaders.

  He whispers urgently to her and her expression changes to one of shocked concern. Giving him a quick nod, she looks up into the stands, then heads directly toward us, fighting her way through the press of people still streaming toward the field.