on the Sunday that I actually got them all together at the mall (no, I didn't like shopping. It was just an easy place to get to) so I could break it to the

which is why I got to see them so much and Kim –who was actually Kimberly but hated her full name– was my 'math buddy' in class seeing as she worked faster than a calculator.

be beating those boys up in the parking lot. Yeah, there was a kind of gender-swap in our relationship. He was more of a Yin guy while I was Yang. I only say this because Kim thought it would be hilarious to buy us promise necklaces and she gave me the blac

ing at Tanya who had been laughing so hard that soda had come out of her nose. – Idiots. No, I

their attention. "Okay guys, so w

re Tanya shrugged and Kim nodded. "Sure."

t's not bad news dependin

. I didn't make eye contact with him. He

"Well a week ago I got accepted into Starside Academy so I'm moving there at the end of t

ns as their brains tried to process what I had just told them. I could not tell if they had actual

one-liner that she used whenever she was surprised.

s Starside?" Tan

Dalowit System, it's a cou

urse i

voice. She did not know how bad I was feeling about givin

s right now." I explained defensively. "Apparently space travel requires a

nly had four w

month I'm hopping on a

n her tone. – I was going to miss her birthd

the USM Navy was kind of a lifetime job. "Err... Qu

oke." Tanya growled. "You're a

ed eyebrow. "Well... it could be the USM version of a joke, but not

ctually was a joke, but I didn't. Neither Aiden nor Kim had spoken a word so it was finally ti

do you t

ure, I was terrible at martial arts. However I found this rather annoying seeing a

ides. They're spher

c Kimb

of that." I

t of me would love to go there but I didn't have the ath

could always count on Kim to not freak out; she was too smart to panic. Of course she was the only other person who knew

pply. They just random

andom selection. It was not actually random and apparently I was the top student in the world, but I was not going to tell

boyfriend. He was jus

h a little more?" I suggested. That way there wouldn't be

vely girlfriend who he would give himself up to because he had built up a level of trust like he had with me. He was such a shy boy. The reason we got together two years back was because I sympathetic for him on prom night. A chunk of students had gotten together and voted in poor Aiden as prom queen... and then when the red-faced boy got on stage they dumped pig's blood on him. Yeah... that had been a pretty bad night. After Tanya and kicked t

eave?" Elisa asked, staring out at the parking lot

n be able to call my Sven and G

nce message wasn't just spam mail? They could j

t. We just talked to the head of Darwin Enterprises and the Secretary of S

" Elisa muttered before going back to che

ome at seven and I still hadn't talked to Aiden. I looked at Tanya and did a sort of

she swung her leg over the rail and hopped back onto the roof. "We'll have

a bad idea. It may have to be around midnight w

ter how much he didn't want to. We still had not spoken properly even though he had warned me earlier

g out with you every week." We had a small group hug. This was the last time

joy being the first human at

gotten you a going-away gift." Elisa mo

a lot of gifts for my new 'space friends'. Yeah, I'm taking a lot of souvenir Ray-Ban sunglasses to space. I don't know why, it just se

ch in everybody's face! Who hands out cool sun

eyebrows smu

See you arou

re giving all three of them another hug. That was the good thing abou

and I was never going to see them in the flesh again. I felt like I should have done more with them. I would've used my savings to get them a trip to New York, but I had alread

ggle from him when I cracked a joke. Now he was quiet. If he was trying to give me the silent treatment because I was leaving him behind on short notice while I moved onto greener past

d took a seat next to him, he sh

I could com

just came out of the blue and told me you're

"But hey, it was pretty out of the blue for me too

That way we wouldn't have been together an

he didn't need to be mean or anything. It was not my fault I got into an academy

t and decided to re-write his words. "I.

sighed. "I

ust kin

ree

f most of his sentences. It greatly confused Geraldine and Sven when he came over to dinner because we

ter a short amount of silence. He knew

I gues

ugh as if he was in h

e seen far in front of us and all they made me think of was 'Starside'. Ki

had chosen to stay that we wo

g to find a kickass girl who's a lot nicer than

d y

u get to be happy. I'm going to

t if you meet a

rling. If it makes you feel better, you'll probably be the last seri

make me feel b

shou

ent, but it was our luck that we heard the crack of thunder in the distance. I then had a graph

all businesses that could not handle the heat. That was what first put the USA on edge because certain people felt we had too many immigrants coming in that didn't take jobs, just destroyed them. President Kathryn Santos –who was also the first Latina president– was in the White House at the time so she was not going to take any shit on immigration seeing as both her parents were immigrants and she let it happen. Instead of pulling a Sweden and closing off the borders, the USA just became o

ust wanted to keep out the Finns mainly. By 2808 it was sorted even though some countries like Finland were mad at them for doing a thi

broken up. But we were much closer than boyfriend and girlfriend. We were friends; there was a bond between us that wasn't even romantic. I would not be jealous if I came b

, just a simple kiss on the cheek and then I left. It was a little past seven so no matter what Sven was going to be in an anxiou

se the police had tracked all shuttle activity in the sky and they could probably see how high my shuttle went. I suppose it would not matter much longer seeing as by the

tmas– but I refused, it's funny how you get attached to the stupidest things. But my LFA V04 (I called her Liffy) had been very understanding of my landing techniques like when I let her accidently grazed her on the tre

looking after me in the two months my father was absent. My grandparents in Sweden had insisted I come and stay with them instead, but I demanded to stay with Deanna (or 'Dee' as I called her). I greeted Geraldine formally with a handshake instead of a hug despite the fact my father had said he was going to be in

aking at least twenty-five calls a day on no sleep so I could s

ll pill Daddy-O. Darwin Enterprises has already promised that th

ment as much as I trust a member of the Cult of Disney.

with

a few tim

ed. "Fol

-w

nt to show yo

ebrow in suspic

th me and you

ax but I had the perfect solution. He got a little confused when he was led to the lower floor where only the e

ng your move to Starside Aca

h, stop worrying. Have a littl

s named after

d it and it's in honour o

"Sure... That'

saw what door we were heading to. No

e said

es

do, darling and now isn't the ti

I would have to do. – Pulled the pup

." I said in my little girl voice. "How many

tching a movie like Wrath of Kahn on the theatre-sized screen. I hoped he wouldn't be too lonely when I was gone, geek wise, that is. Geraldine had not realized we didn't watch old sci-fi because of the sets, animation or acting in the case of Star Trek. It was about seeing what the people of the past thought the future

ve no idea what any of the movies or shows were. And they would probably find the shows offensive because the aliens were inaccurate to real aliens. Man, I was going to be so alone in s

ne. One movie or television show and th

the cheek before pullin

etly was glad I was forcing a break on him, he was especially glad that hi

tions panel up on the screen. "Okay, what sh

or a moment. "Err... How

.. Whi

antom M

nee

suggestion away. "Would you

ly and nodded.

on his shoulder. I would regret acting so lovey-dovey in t

s take it by the way

. However, Aiden was a little mad at me b

ow

en we made up so

I didn't let you out

nded on good terms so it

expect us to work at their rate. Lord, " Sven sighed, "when I was an ambassador in the USM they gave me so much work, I literally had my computer filled with random crap that didn't make any sense to me, and they expected me

e world."

the sound. If you were going to get engrossed

his house? This really isn't like going off to college eh? I

deeply. "Yeah... Let's not talk about that. Let's just

like birthdays I probably would not be able to just catch up with him. I would be lucky if I could even see a hologram of him, let alone send a gift. I would miss my friends, boy

society. Earth was treated as a second-class planet because we were still seen as in a primitive stage of life because our society seemed so un-advanced both technically and mentally. My presence would prove we were not at primitive as they thought. Thinking about how much of

sleep th