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Chapter 3
It is foggy to me even after trying desperately to remember where I slept that night. The next thing I remember is standing in front of the school on a bench. Behind me, I heard strange vehicles that made loud noises, but I paid them no attention. My mind was focused on the vegetation in front of me. I closed my eyes and focused my mind on my breathing. The scents of the planet surrounded me, and noises seemed to soften as I slipped into a deep meditation. I could hear my husband pleading for me.
'I am here,' I thought. 'Earth. This strange planet. I am here.' A hand lay onto my shoulder. I recognized the aura. "Hello, Father," I said softly. I jumped as he sat down heavily by my side.
"It's me, Julianne," Luke said. My solemn face turned back to the flowers.
"Hello, Luke, then." Suddenly, the warmth of his breath reached my ear. My eyes widened.
"Is something wrong?" I stood up.
"You just remind me of someone," I said. Suddenly, I saw a familiar posture. I turned to look, but only saw a group of boys walking by. Luke's hand slipped into mine.
"You're acting really strange. You know that?" he said.
"Sorry," I said.
"Please smile, Julianne."
"Luke!" a voice yelled. His hand slipped out of mine.
"Please," he repeated before turning away. "Yo, Valerie!" he yelled.
"I'm here, too. I'm here, too!" another voice said.
"I see. I see," Luke laughed. I heard the sound of hugging behind me and turned. A girl with long dark brown hair a bit shorter than mine peeked out of her hug from Luke.
"Is that your new girlfriend, Luke?" she asked.
"Adrienne!" Luke said, his cheeks reddening.
"Now there's a good question," a curly haired girl said.
"She's not!" Luke insisted.
"What is a girlfriend, Luke?" I asked. The three stood silently a minute before Luke began laughing a bit.
"We have a lot to teach you, Julianne."
"Julianne?" Valerie asked.
"That's an interesting name," Adrienne added. Thus began my first day at a 'school'.
This concept of school, where hundreds of children came together to learn, was so foreign to me. On Jinuiaa, my whole training had been personal, with my judgementor teaching me all I needed to know. In addition, humans stressed the importance of "friendship", showing compassion towards each other. I was taught to be polite, but to never show emotion to anyone besides family. In this school, they taught of things such as language, which I found strange because on Jinuiaa, almost all children can speak perfect Jinuiaac by the age of 12. There was also a history class, however it seemed to be less challenging than any of the history taught on Jinuiaa, which I attribute to the fact that Jinuiaac has much more history.
What interested me most about this gathering for children was some of the people that I met there. There were many people who reminded me of those I knew on Jinuiaa. Children named Darth, Kiara, Curly, Minnie, Benjamin, and Juli looked so much like D4Qnarth, K2Prara, C2Prly, M2Prie, B4Qnjamin, and J2Pr, respectively. However, the most amazing comparison did not come to me until my last class of the day.
I was feeling relieved by the last class. I had felt nervous most of the day, meeting so many people without my husband. I walked into the last class, tired from the day. I quickly moved to an empty seat. I looked down into my hands. Suddenly I felt eyes looking at me. I looked around to see a familiar group of boys, laughing about something. My eyes locked onto one boys, and I felt tears come into my eyes as I realized that he had to be my husband. He pulled his light brown hair behind his ears a moment, before it fell back over his deep emerald eyes.
"D4Qnrian," I said softly. I read his mind and found that he did not know me. I quickly removed my gaze from his, my mind not able to remove itself from his thoughts. I wanted to run to him and tell him how much I wanted to touch him. I wanted to tell him I had missed him. But each time I looked up to do so, I saw him sitting two seats to my right, glancing at me, no earring on his left ear with his sign on it. Yet my mind still wandered to him, even after Adrienne and Valerie came into the class. Soon, class started and everyone introduced themselves to me; his name turned out to be Darian Livsak. Tears formed in my eyes, and I asked to go to the restroom. Adrienne and Valerie soon followed me. They tried their best to calm me down, but I had turned off my neslap-x and was crying for my family in my native language. Adrienne and Valerie, having no understanding of what was going on, just hugged me. They held me so tight. No one had ever held me quite like that before.
"Why are you holding me like this?" I asked once I had calmed down enough to notice and had turned back on my translator.
"Because we care about you," said Valerie.
"We know there is something very special about you, and we love you for it," added Adrienne.
I realized that once again I had felt something: sadness, and disappointment. I wished I could go home. I could not control these feelings, and it was making me crazy. I needed my meditation. The bell rang a few minutes after I calmed down. When Valerie, Adrienne, and I left the restroom, there he was. Waiting. Darian Livsak. Leaning against the wall with a half worried, half-teasing expression on his face. Valerie explained to Darian that I was okay.
"May I walk you to your locker?" he asked. There was a strange feeling in him. I could feel it.
"I have no objections to that," I said, smiling. He looked exactly like D4Qnrian. I felt as if I was melting. As he walked beside me, his hand slipped into mine. I looked at him. I did not know what to do.
As I opened my locker I asked him, "Why are you doing this?"
"I wanted to make sure you are okay," he replied.
"I am." I smiled.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You remind me of someone I knew once."
"Really?"
"Yes." I lowered my head, trying not to cry. "I cared for him very much." I looked up into his green eyes. He smiled. "What is that look on your face?"
"Nothing." He paused a moment. "I was wondering," he started to say. I looked over from my locker.
"Yes?" I asked.
"I was wondering if sometime we could maybe," Darian began. He paused again.
"I think he's asking you out, Julianne," Luke said from behind me. I smiled and turned around. I clasped my hands behind me.
"Out where?" I asked.
"On a date," Luke explained. I looked from Luke to Darian and back to Luke. I thought a moment.
"What is that?" I asked. The smirk Luke had been wearing dropped from his face.
"You really aren't from around here, are you?" he said. I shook my head and solemnly lowered it for a moment.
"I miss my home," I said.
"Where did you come here from?" Darian asked. I paused a moment before looking at him, smiling sweetly.
"No place either of you have ever heard of," I said. I closed my locker and bounded over to Luke, grabbing his arm the way I had always grabbed my father's when we went out together. "Luke would you show me some places where I can get some food?" I asked. "I am a little hungry."
"Of course, little lady," Luke said. I looked back at the dumbfounded Darian, suddenly realizing the yearning I had to be near him.
"Will you come, Darian? Please?" I asked. I detached myself from Luke's arm and ran over to Darian, taking his hand and leading him over to Luke. Darian's hand was different than my husband's somehow, but it was so similar that I almost pulled him close to me. We left the school building and entered a dock for some strange vehicles Luke called "cars". Luke led us to a car that he called his and opened the front and back doors on the right side of it. I quickly got in the back. Darian hesitated before getting in the front seat. Luke went around to the other side and got in. I tensed as the car started. I closed my eyes as I thought about how many ways this primitive little machine could break. A hand lay onto my knee. I opened one eye to see Luke turned around, smiling his wonderful smile at me.
"Let me guess. You've never been in a car before," he said. I shook my head. "You must've grown up in cow-town or something!" He suddenly calmed a bit and rubbed my leg fraternally. "Don't worry, Julianne. This thing's pretty safe. We'll be fine." I shrunk into the seat a bit. "I promise. I won't let anything happen to you." I smiled gently.
"I know, Luke," I said. I thought back to the first time I went on a truncis. It was so large. I kept comparing it to the large size that my father looked. I was only twelve years old. My father looked 130 even though he was only 109. My parents almost never looked their age. The main time I remember them looking their age was the day after we learned that R4Qnie, D4Qnrian's father, had died in the Kiquipan War. My father got so sick that he could not keep up whatever mask it was that kept him from looking his age. My mother took care of him for weeks before he started to get better. I would have been there to help her if D4Qnrian's closest acquaintance, K7Qh, had not been confirmed dead a week after R4Qnie. However, back when both were alive and I had just met D4Qnrian a few years earlier, my father promised me he would not let anything happen to me on the truncis that day. He held me close on his lap as we rode. That was one of the few times I was ever afraid.
We drove around for a while, Luke pointing out places to eat, important buildings, and businesses. My eyes kept falling on Darian. His face was solemn, something D4Qnrian rarely expressed in our house. Finally, Luke stopped the car and turned it off. He got out of the car. I unbuckled the "seatbelt" Luke had asked me to wear and leaned forward.
"Are you okay?" I asked softly in his ear. He started. He turned his head to look at me and found his face to be closer to mine than he had anticipated.
"I'm fine," he assured me softly. I almost gave him a comforting kiss, but I stopped myself upon remembering who was in front of me. My door opened, and Luke's hand came into the car.
"I am glad," I whispered before grabbing Luke's hand and using it to pull myself out. Luke leaned down to my ear.
"You should watch out for him," he said.
"Watch out?" I asked.
"You shouldn't trust him," he explained.
"But…why not?"
"He likes to use women."
"Use for what?"
"He doesn't treat women the way he should. That's a rumor I heard, anyway." I smiled, remembering similar warnings from my father.
"He certainly knows how to be nice to a lady, right?" I said, smiling and speaking more of my husband than of his new lookalike. Luke paused.
"You really like him, don't you?" he asked, my cheeks reddening a bit as he said it. Darian's door opened.
"He reminds me of someone I cared for very much," I said, my mind pleading for my husband.
Seeing that I was getting upset, Luke said, "Let's go get something to eat." A hand slipped into mine. I looked up into Darian's worried face. I remembered leaving the restroom and his face being different. It was a more seriously worried expression now; he really meant it this time.
"Are you okay?" he asked gently, stressing the you. My heart sped up.
'As long as you are here,' I thought as I nodded. I looked to his bare left ear. I started and pulled my hand away as I again realized he was not my husband.
"Did I do something wrong?" he asked.
"No, I am sorry," I replied.
"Well, then," Darian started, reaching for my hand. Luke intercepted and led me into the restaurant. We soon got a seat, but Luke grabbed Darian and pulled him away to a distance where he thought I would not be able to hear.
"What do you think you're doing, Darian?" Luke asked.
"She invited me," Darian replied.
"Don't you hurt her, Darian. She really likes you."
"Really now. She seems to be very fond of you." Luke's eyes got larger.
"What? No, that's not right," Luke said, blushing a bit.
"You two seem the perfect couple," Darian continued, smirking.
'D4Qnrian,' I thought. 'Please do not think me unfaithful.'
"That's not how it is, jerk," Luke said. "And don't you go around telling people that."
"Why would I? I'm here because she invited me and I care about her."
"You just met her a little more than an hour ago," Luke protested. "And from what I hear, you just made her cry." Darian looked over to me. I started and looked down into my lap, blushing a bit.
"There's just something about her," Darian said. Luke paused, unable to protest.