Starstruck

Chapter 21b: Stellar discoveries (part 2)

CHAPTER 21

Stellar discoveries (part 2)

It was all I could do to sit still during my last three classes. I was dying to tell Rigel what I'd heard, but it was way too much to put into a note. Besides, we'd agreed to meet after school today, though we hadn't worked out any of the details.

At the end of History I managed to get close enough to him to brush hands and I tried to catch his eye to get some kind of confirmation that was were still meeting, but though his fingers briefly closed over mine, he didn't quite look at me. We were really getting good at this. Maybe too good, at least for my purposes right now.

But when I opened my locker at the end of the day, there was a scrap of folded paper at the bottom. I snatched it up, not even waiting to make sure no one was watching, almost afraid to hope. It had one word written on it: cornfield.

Yes! It was all I could do not to pump my fist in the air. I threw my homework for the weekend into my backpack, slung it over my shoulder and headed for the side door we'd used before, opposite the stadium.

Rigel was nowhere in sight. I thought I remembered where we'd entered before, give or take a couple of rows, but once I was well within the towering, now-yellowing stalks, I couldn't help feeling a little nervous. It would be fatally easy to get lost in here, with visibility limited to maybe three feet in any direction. The big leaves crackled as I moved through them as quickly as I reasonably could, hoping I hadn't misjudged by more than a couple of rows. If I had, I might miss the clearing completely--and maybe the late bus as well.

I'd been walking, all but blind, for nearly ten minutes and was just starting to feel the first twinges of panic when I heard a whispered, "Over here!"

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, I angled two rows to the right and a moment later reached the clearing. I stepped out under the brilliantly blue early October sky to see Rigel waiting for me on "our" rock. Even with bits of dried corn detritus sprinkled in his dark hair, he looked as gorgeous as I'd ever seen him. He stood as I approached and then we were embracing. Then kissing. I decided talking could wait.

"Y'know," I murmured when I finally could, "I'm glad this stuff is seed corn instead of sweet corn."

He blinked at me. "Huh?"

"Sweet corn would have been cut down by mid-August. This place wouldn't even exist. I'm so glad it does."

Now he laughed. "You really are an Indiana girl, no matter where you were born. But I'm glad, too." He kissed me again, and for another delicious minute I forgot anything else.

Finally, though, the need to tell him what I'd learned outweighed--barely--my need for more kissing. I nudged him back to the rock and we sat there together, still touching from hip to shoulder, his arm around me. I took a deep breath, as much to refocus my thoughts as because I needed the air.

"I heard something today I need to tell you about," I began. "I--we--were definitely right about Smith."

He frowned at me in concern. "So you really were following him when you left the cafeteria in such a hurry? That was way risky. I'd have stopped you except I was afraid that would be even riskier."

"He didn't see me. And you'll be glad you didn't stop me when I tell you what I heard. I could tell he was leaving to make a phone call--he's been, like, obsessive about checking his phone all week--and I wanted to listen in if I could."

Rigel looked appalled. "Oh, man, M! What if he'd--"

"No, just listen. It was obviously a call from his Martian boss." I told him exactly what I'd heard, as close to verbatim as I could remember. "So," I concluded, "not only were we right, but your plan turned out to be a good one, much as I hate to admit it. He's pretty much given up trying to find me here."