Page 92 of Bound By Stars

She whips back toward me, her face bright until she remembers she’s angry with me and forces a frown. “No.”

“I promise to be very descriptive.”

She turns completely around, grabbing the sleeve of my sweater and pulling me back into the row.

We both look back to Calypso and the woman in the white lab coat, still deep in conversation.

Asha leans in to whisper through tight lips, “I have been nothing but welcoming and nice to you since day one, well two, but that’s only because I didn’t meet you on day one, but I would have been just as nice on day one. You can be mad at Jupiter or his parents or whatever, but I did nothing but be your friend.” She pokes me in the chest with her index finger. It might as well be a punch in the face the way she furrows her brow and crosses her arms like she’s waiting for return fire.

“I know. I’m sorry, Ash.”

“Oh.” She releases her arms to her sides, and her face lights up. “Well, then, tell me about what happened after dinner with you and Jupiter. Every detail!”

Cold shoulder to friends in one apology. Who knew it would be that easy?

“Class, move in closer. Please give Dr. Abara your full attention.” Calypso waves us inward.

“I want all the promised details after class,” Asha whispers, widening her eyes before she moves into the center of the room.

I nod, regretting the lure. Maybe Hale will try to drown someone in one of the ponds and Asha will forget.

Dr. Abara climbs a three-step ladder by one of the pools, standing tall on the top with her hands on her lower back. Without it, the top of her head barely reaches Hale’s shoulder. Like we’re little kids at story time, she insists we all sit on the floor and swivels her head as she explains how the fish in the water fertilize the plants and the plants filter the water as it’s cycled through the room.

Next to me, Asha is busy examining her glittery pink nails.

Calypso stands at the end of a row, nodding enthusiastically with the lecture.

Jupiter shifts his eyes to me the second I let myself look at him. His face is neutral, not pleading or angry. He doesn’t flinch or look away or lower his head. There’s something about the open way he’s staring back at me like he might as well be standing in the middle of the room, arms splayed, heart and all his other vital organs exposed, unprotected.

My chest tightens. I stare at the floor. I can’t fall for it again. He helped his parents rip me off. So much power in two worlds, and they had to take this from me. A nobody Earther with nothing in the universe but a stellar bot design. All I have to hold on to is the knowledge that my design was great enough to steal, which is about as useful as fighting a multi-trillion-dollar corporation for compensation.

“If you will stand and follow, I will lead you through a tour before you exit. Do not touch anything. This is a fragile and closely monitored ecosystem that feeds all of us on the ship. Show it the respect it deserves.” Aggressively adjusting her thick-rimmed glasses, Dr. Abara steps off the ladder and I can only see her arm waving above the heads of the other standing students.

I offer Asha a hand, pulling her off the floor.

Jupiter passes slowly, following the crowd with his eyes cast down, avoiding looking at me again.

As he’s swallowed by the herd, Asha sighs loudly. “You’re being an idiot. He’s clearly in love with you, and you’re wasting time.”

“He’s engaged, Asha. He’s engaged and he didn’t tell me. And his family…” His family ripped off my bot design. It’s not the place or time to get into it. “We should have never…” Never what? Never kissed? Never spent time together? Met? My heart sinks at the thought.

“It’s a betrothal. It’s a business deal, not love.”

I shake my head. “Call it a business deal or a relationship, being engaged means something where I come from. Speaking of, there’s also the whole ‘me being from Earth’ thing.”

“Like that matters.” Asha reaches out to brush a leaf with her finger, glances at Dr. Abara ahead of us, and pulls her hand back. “My dad was born on Earth. Mars isn’t a closed society. They just act like it. The population on the planet is like a quarter of Earth’s. I did tell you how my parents met, right? My mom was on her Earth Experience Mission. She and her best friend met a couple of Earther boys, and—”

“Wait, your dad? You mean, Captain Nazari is an Earther?”

“Yes. Well, not really. He’s an Elysian now, but hewasan Earther. I know I’ve told you this story before. When we were touring the ship.”

Now that she mentions it, I vaguely recall the long-winded story. I just never fully absorbed it.

I smile apologetically. I guess I could stand to become a better listener.

We loop around the end of the long row, along a wall of potato plants, the leaves sprouting under lamps, while the roots hang under the shelves touching the stream in the long trough below.

Asha grabs my hand, yanking my arm. “What if I tell Jupe to meet you somewhere before dinner?”

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