Pedestrian |✓

|14| s p r i t e

"Why do you like stars?" I curiously asked as I lay on the green grass, near him with my bag in between us. I watched the shimmering bright dots flicker in different colors above us, before looking at my side to see the light reflecting on his hazel eyes.

"What's there not to like about them?" He said, throwing me a glance before looking back at the stars in admiration.

Following his gaze, a soft sigh escaped my lips as I racked up my brain for a suitable reason for someone, not to like stars. "Well... They're unreachable. You can stare at them all night but you can never reach out and touch them," I chuckled lightly, my eyes flickering over his that are watching me intently, "Even if you stand on you tippy-toes. At least the moon is more accessible, Neil Armstrong made it to the moon."

Shaking his head, he released a light chuckle and folded his arms under his head. "Well that makes stars even more amazing."

I furrowed my eyebrows, turning my head to the side to look at him in bewilderment. "And why is that?"

"Because, you get to appreciate something you can never reach. It makes the admiration more genuine. You can't have something in return but you're good with just looking at it from afar, it's loving something wholeheartedly with all the flaws and negatives. Look at the moon, it acts so mighty up there but the truth is, humans can reach the moon. Heck, it's even easier to draw as a kid. Stars are better, because even if there are a lot of other stars out there...the night sky would never be complete without one of them because each star makes up a constellation, something so small...when put together looks so...magical, something that you would never see unless you focus, unless you tried really hard," he mumbled tenderly, eyes still fixed on the night skies.

Wow. He sure has some depth.

"You know? You're a teenage boy with a mature man's principles," I told him, awestruck as I shook my head in amusement, laughing a little.

Austin sniggered, pushing himself up by abruptly using the back of his hands and grinning widely at me. "Of course, only me can use cool puns," he arrogantly said, pointing his thumb to his puffed out chest.

"What? The Snickers pun?" I asked, sorting at his antics, "I can do better than that."

"You think so?"

Laughing lightly, I shook my head and threw him a haughty smirk. "Oh trust me, I know so."

A silly grin made its way to my lips as the memories of last night came rushing back to me in a sweet bliss. I shook my head frantically and tried to concentrate on the words that are hastily leaving Mr. Jacobs lips as he continued to blabber on the essence of the World Wars; that only he seems to understand basing on the look of my classmates who are all slouching back in their seats and are floating in their own magical world.

A light poke touched my mid-back, starling me off my wandering thoughts. Making sure that Mr. Jacobs isn't looking, I cautiously turned to face the person who poked me. "Zoe?"