Page 23 of Made For The Alien Warrior

“And what emotion is that?”

“Lust.”

Twitters broke out.

“It’s true! He always wants to get it on. It’s like I’m walking with a twenty-four-seven call to mate.”

“Pin’s the same way.” Kia smirked.

“Don’t get me started on Lans. That alien is worse than a teenage boy sometimes.”

All this talk about mating was making her chest flutter. Symphony knew she couldn’t allow such thoughts about Tiegan. Especially when they felt so good.

“I’m not trying to mate anyone. Besides, I don’t want any trouble.”

“Trouble?”

“With Leel.”

Sara’s smile drooped. “Oh.”

Emma squirmed awkwardly.

Simone glanced away. “Leel is… she’s been after Tiegan since he rescued her.”

“So I heard,” Symphony mumbled, swirling her alien meal around. “Do you think she hates me?”

Sara sighed. “She’s just hurt. Tiegan is being really caring and tender with you right now. He never acted this way with her. I think she might feel like there’s something wrong with her.”

“There’s nothing wrong with her. From the short amount of time I spent with her today, I thought she was cute and fun.” Flopping back against the table, Symphony murmured, “I’m the one with all the problems.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Symphony went quiet.

Kia rubbed her back. “You mean because of the voice?”

“That adds to it. I just… always felt like an alien on earth,” she whispered. “I had to take medicine to stop the voice. I had to lose my arm at such a young age. I had to live with always being different.”

Simone’s eyes shimmered with tears. “That must have been so tough.”

“People take these things for granted, but I didn’t have that luxury. I struggled just to button my shirt or spread jam on toast. Simple actions that people do in a second would take me an hour.”

All the girls watched her intently. She’d never been this vulnerable, but then, she’d never been mysteriously transported to an alien planet before.

Symphony couldn’t stop the words from pouring out of her mouth. For the first time inyears, she felt like she’d found a group of people who could understand. Who wouldn’t judge her or call her melodramatic for her thoughts.

“I grew up struggling to be as close to ‘normal’ as I could get and I tried. I really did. But nothing ever worked.”

“Does it feel weird having an arm now?” Simone asked hesitantly.

She lifted her nano-tech arm. The brown skin glistened in the low lights. Five fingers. Five fingernails.

Incredible.

“I want to be happy. Because now, I’m up here and I got the arm I’ve always dreamed of.” She hung her head. “But the voice came back.” Swiping away a tear, Symphony admitted, “Once again, it feels like I’ll never be like everyone else.”

“Honey, screw that.” Sara pushed out her lips. “Normal is boring and overrated.”

---