Every Soul A Star Part 10

"You were gone and back in practically no time. I've never seen anyone run so fast. You're a hero and don't you forget it."

I shake my head. What was the use in arguing? I've screwed up many times before. I know how it feels. But right then, sitting in that Sun Garden with shadows of light all around me, I make a decision. I'm not going to screw up again. Those days are gone. This is a new place, and I can be a new person here. I have to be. People are relying on me. I get to my feet and walk into the sun dial. "Show me where I stand."

ALLY.

5.

"Let her go," Bree's mom tells me, her hand on my arm. "She doesn't like people questioning her too much."

I don't say anything, but I think there's such a thing as questioning too little. Bree had said she and her parents don't really talk.

Her mom continues, "Bree might be a little self-centered, but she has a tender heart. When Melanie has one of her nightmares, Bree is the one who comforts her and brings her back to bed so she won't hurt herself. She's done that since she was four years old."

I don't know what to say. After an awkward minute, she pats me on the back and heads back to her table. I grab my notebook and join the rest of my own family, who are sitting with the boy and his parents now. He's drinking some juice and looks a little worn out, but okay. My mom apologizes for not putting out a sign that said the cookies had peanuts in them, and promises to fix that for the next meal.

Hayley, the boy's mom, says it wasn't my mom's fault, it was her fault for not being more cautious and prepared. She says her husband, David, thought she had the medicine, and she thought he did. They go back and forth many times on whose fault it was or wasn't, until they both start laughing. But the little boy's mom is still sort of crying.

"Pete, have you seen Jack?" David asks suddenly.

"Jack?" my dad repeats.

Pete says, "My friend Jack. The one who saved me."

I realize he must mean the guy who ran up with the first-aid kit. We all look around but don't see him.

"If you're okay now," Mom says to Pete and his parents, "we have a family meeting that's long overdue."

"Can I come?" Pete asks. "Kenny is my friend too. He's going to show me how to find gold!"

"Believe me, Pete," I say, "you don't want to be there for this meeting."

Kenny shoots me a questioning look. We promise to play with him tomorrow and Pete reluctantly lets us go. Almost everyone has finished eating now, and the clean-up crew is starting to empty the large bins of trash. Just having a clean-up crew is taking some getting used to. Not that I'm complaining.

We follow our parents to the other side of the pavilion, near where Bree and I had sat. My parents choose a table that isn't covered by the roof since sound tends to echo under there. They waste no time in telling Kenny that we're leaving the Moon Shadow after the eclipse. His eyes open wide and he fumbles for my hand.

"We'll rent a house at first," Dad explains, "a few towns away from where I grew up. Then we'll look for a house that we all like, in a town with a good school system."

Mom gives Kenny the same reasons for the move that she told me-we need to expand our horizons. We need to be around other kids our age. I stop listening. Kenny grips my hand tighter and tighter but still hasn't said anything.

"Kenny," Mom says, her voice soft and almost pleading, "you haven't met the Holdens yet, but I'm sure both of you will help them make the adjustment. Their youngest daughter, Melanie, will be taking over most of your duties, and Bree will be taking over your sister's."

The image of Bree smoothing out dirt in her high-heel sandals and pink tank top pops into my brain, and I stifle a laugh.

Kenny turns to me and says, "We can't leave here, Ally. This is our home. I don't want to go to Civilization. It's scary out there."

"I know, Kenny. I don't want to go either."

I want to tell him about my plans with Bree, but it'll have to wait till our parents are out of earshot.

Mom and Dad rattle off all the things about the move that will be positive. We'll make lots of friends, will get to do all this cultural stuff like go to museums and libraries and zoos. When we simply sit there, expressionless, they throw in movie theaters and bowling alleys and arcades.

Kenny twitches almost imperceptibly at the mention of arcades, and Mom pounces on it. "There will be so many opportunities for you guys to pursue your interests now. You won't be limited to what we can offer you here."

Kenny turns to me again and says, "Ask them if there will be labyrinths there."

"Probably not," Dad says. "But you can ask us directly, you know."

To me, Kenny says, "Please tell them I'm not talking to them until they change their minds."

"Kenny says he's not talk -"

Dad puts up his hand to stop me. "Yeah, we got it, Ally, thanks." He looks at Mom and they both stand up. "We can talk about this again when you're both acting more civilized."

Without looking back, they head off to the kitchen. When they're out of sight I say, "Bree and I have a plan, Kenny. We're going to make our parents change their minds. Don't worry, okay?" Kenny moves closer to me on the bench, and we sit like that for a long time. His breathing is shallow. We watch the first stars come out, and my eyes sting with tears.

"I'm scared," he whispers.

I squeeze his hand. "Me too."

The next morning I jump out of bed, eager to set the plan into action. I'm not sure what cabin Bree and Melanie were a.s.signed to, so that's the first order of business. When I get out to the hall I'm surprised to see Kenny already dressed, sneakers on and everything.

"I want to help," he says.

I think for a minute. "Okay, go grab your bug book. Bree's mother is afraid of bugs."

He turns toward his room, then suggests, "I can get some real bugs too."

"Okay, grab your sketchbook and some bugs, and we'll meet out in front of the office in ten minutes. Don't let Mom or Dad see you."

He runs off, and I quickly use the bathroom and throw on whatever clothes are on the top of the drawer. I grab a roll as I run through the kitchen and into the office. Mom is at her desk, on the phone. Without meeting her eyes, I scan the wall chart until I find the Holdens' cabins. Not surprisingly, Mom a.s.signed them the nicest ones. They're set a little apart from the others, and have bathrooms and showers inside them.

As I'm waiting, Mr. Flynn strolls over on his morning walk. I haven't had a chance to talk to him since he and Ryan arrived.

"How's Mrs. Flynn?" I ask.

He smiles that easy smile of his and says, "She's doing pretty well. She's sure sorry to miss the eclipse, I can tell you that."

"I'm sure." I don't have the nerve to ask which story is the true one, the bridge tournament, or her failing health.

"How's the comet hunting going?" he asks, changing the subject for me.

"Good, I guess. Last winter I thought I saw one, but it turned out to be the s.p.a.ce Station."

He nods. "Must be pretty tough now, what with those big robot computers they got searching the sky all the time."

This is news to me. "What robot computers?"

"The ones that look for those near-Earth objects, like comets or asteroids that can collide with the earth. Haven't you heard about them?"

I shake my head. My parents are usually really good at keeping us up to date, always supplementing our homeschool material with current events. They must have left this out on purpose.

"They can find these objects easily," he goes on. "In a few years, most all the new ones will be discovered by them, not by people like us. Your grandpa woulda been mighty disappointed."

He must have noticed my own disappointment because he says, "But don't worry none. You'll find your comet one day, mark my words."

"Thanks, Mr. Flynn."

He tips his imaginary hat at me, and continues on his walk. I watch him go, thinking, how many more dreams can get taken away from me? I'm sure Bree's right and it couldn't be my real career, but who am I if I'm not a comet hunter?

Kenny appears holding a s...o...b..x under one arm and the book under the other. I have to pull myself together. I have to make this plan work. If I only have a few more years to potentially find a comet, I need to be under these dark skies. I quickly grasp my meteorite, then let it drop against my chest. "All set?" I ask.

He nods. "Wanna see?"

"Is anything going to jump out at me?"

"Probably not."

I stand back a bit to be on the safe side. Kenny puts down the book and then slowly lifts the lid. I peer in just far enough to see a lot of squirmy legs.

"Nice job."

"Thanks."

We head out to the Holdens' cabins, only I'm not sure which ones are the parents' and which is Bree's. I hope it doesn't come down to us peering in the window. I've never violated a guest's privacy like that. Ryan's cabin isn't far from here. Maybe I should ask him to help us. I tell Kenny I'll be right back and run over there. No one answers when I knock though. We used to have breakfast together every day. So much has changed this year.

Kenny is tapping his foot impatiently when I re-join him.

"This one must be the parents'," he says, pointing down the lane. "I hear computer noises coming out of it." We tip-toe past it, and I lightly knock on the door of the cabin next door. Bree opens it, wearing MY purple striped pajamas!

She sees me staring and says, "Oh yeah, your mom gave us these last night. Hope you don't mind."

Melanie comes to the door in Kenny's red-white-and-blue pajamas that he got last Fourth of July as a gift from Ryan's grandmother. I feel him tense up when he sees them on her, but he quickly recovers.

"I'm Kenny," he says. "And this is a box of bugs." He holds up the box and Bree jumps back. Melanie peers at it, curious.

"Leave that outside," Bree commands. "Then come in before my parents see you."

The girls go into the bathroom to change and I fill Kenny in on the plans. When they come back out, Bree's hair is gleaming and she has makeup on. Except for when we're in town, I almost never see people in makeup. She looks sort of glamorous, sort of fake, at the same time. It takes me a second to notice they're wearing more of our clothes! It's not that I mind sharing, it's just one more thing of ours that Mom is taking away without asking.

Kenny is staring at Bree, and she winks. "Never seen a girl in makeup before?"

"Ally doesn't wear makeup," he says.

"Well, Ally could stand to wear some." Turning to me she says, "Did you even brush your hair this morning?"

My hand instantly flies up to my head. I almost never think of brushing my hair.

"You don't need to answer," Bree says, tossing me her hairbrush. "It's obvious."

I yank the brush through my hair, wincing as it hits knots. "Why should I brush it?" I ask. "Who cares what my hair looks like?"

Mel and Kenny watch this exchange silently.

"Everyone cares. You're not a kid anymore. There are cute guys here!"

I stop brushing. "There are?"

"That guy, the one I've seen you talking to a few times. Spiky blond hair? Preppy?"

She must mean Ryan. "What about him?"

"Don't you want to look nice for him?"

"Huh?"

She sighs and leans forward, like she's about to address a child. "When a girl likes a boy, she wants to look nice for him. You know that, right?"

I flash back to the morning Ryan arrived. Clothes rumpled from sleeping in them, hair unbrushed, ring of purple popsicle around my mouth. I lay the brush on the floor. No wonder he doesn't think of me as a girl.

"You're not being nice, Bree," Melanie says. "I think Ally's very pretty."

Bree grabs the brush and places it carefully on her dresser top. "I never said she wasn't pretty."

"But I don't like Ryan in that way," I tell her, feeling my cheeks heating up. No one's ever talked about me being pretty before. I never give my appearance any thought. Why would I?

"It doesn't matter," Bree says. "You still want him to want you."

"I do? Why?"

But before Bree can reply, Kenny asks, "Can we get on with it please? I have ch.o.r.es to do."

"On with what?" Melanie asks.

Before Kenny can say more, Bree says, "Kenny volunteered to show you how to pan for gold this morning."

Melanie looks surprised. "He did?"

Bree nods and turns Melanie around to face her. I take that second to whisper to Kenny that Melanie doesn't want to move back, so he'll have to keep her occupied for a while so she doesn't foil our plans.

He gets to his feet. "C'mon, Melanie, I'll show you how to fill the stream with gold nuggets. It's gonna be your job soon anyway."

I don't make a move to get up. My stomach has a knot in it that hurts more than brushing my hair did. How am I going to survive in a real school if I can't even brush my hair? If I can't understand the simple rules of boy/girl relationships? I simply can't go, that's all. I jump to my feet. "Okay, let's get started."