Stars of the Sky

The bell rang, finally signaling the end of class. I picked up my navy blue bag from the back of the chair with one swift movement, places the straps on my shoulders then quickly ran out of the class room. School was never the best moments of the day for me. The faster I can get out, the better I’ll be.

            As I rounded the corner of the hallway, I felt a hand on the back of my shoulder. With my guess of who it might be made I turned around to see who I thought it was. Penny. The loud red head of the school that is also my best friend.

She had her usual childish, crooked smile on as she hopped slightly out of the energy she had. I never did understand how a little body could contain so much liveliness within it. When I was fully turned to her, she leaned closer and practically bellowed, “Where you going Sam?!”

“Out of here,” I mumbled as I tapped my ears to get the ringing out of my ears. Penny’s smile immediately melted away from her blush pink lips. Her large emerald eyes somehow grew twice their size as she looked up at me. “I...I thought you…you were going to go with me to the hill to look at the constellations tonight?” Penny whispered gloomily as she started her habit of scratching her arm.

“I am Pen,” I specified as I removed her hand from her arm. Her usual smile returned as she seized ahold of my lower left arm and began to drag me to her car. Once I was pushed into the passenger seat, I heaved myself upright and pulled the strap of the seatbelt across my torso. Penny soon hopped into the diver seat giddily and unrelentingly put the key into the ignition.

I clutched the bag to my Panic! At The Disco shirt as I spun to my best friend beside me. I smiled to see her so excited for an actual reason and not just because she could.  “What’s the hurry? We have till it becomes dark out?”

“To get ready, of course!” This of all things Penny has done has made me confused. I lifted my eyebrow as I watched her park the car in a parking lot of a shop downtown, “Get ready? Why on Earth do we have to get ready to see constellations?” She didn’t answer my questions until she stepped out of the buggy and opened my door. For a boy I’m treated too much like a princess. As she grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the store she listed, “Here’s your checklist for a rare attraction: Summer night, late, stars, and a pal.”

When the red head said those words her attention immediately went to a hanger of shirts. I finally got a chance to look around the shop to see what this place was.

The entire place was filled with incents, tarot cards, and zodiac objects. I picked up a pack of cards while remembering the time Penny explained to me how I was the Hermit.  I always knew she was a fan of all of this stuff but never knew that she went to this stock hold all the time.

Hearing metal scrape against metal, I turned to see my friend close the curtain to the changing stall. I shrugged guessing she was trying on a dress or something and turned to a mirror that was next to the stalls.

My shaggy black hair was messed up and scrambled from all the pushing and pulling Penny as put me through with in the last hour or so. Not to mention that my shirt did not blend in with this place at all. As the scrapping happened again, she walked out into my view. “The Ophiuchus?” I read the scribbles of words on the shirt that had a constellation in the background.

“Yeah, it only comes out in the evenings in summer and luckily for us we have those requirements,” her green eyes sparkled as she bounced on the balls of her energetic feet. “Not to mention, yours truly has found a perfect place to see it where not a lot of people will be!” I playfully rolled my eyes at her and was met with a small slug in the arm. I grabbed a shirt that was my size and we paid for the rest of the items Penny grabbed then walked right back out to the small car.

I wasn’t sure where we were driving but I knew it must be far way for we’ve been in the car for a while and the sky was becoming dark. “Sam, why were you in such a rush to leave school?” The question caught be off guard for a moment from such a long silence and that she never really asked that much even though that’s what I’ve done every day. “You know, just the normal things: people, homework, exams, teachers. The usual,” she eyed me strangely before turning her gazed back to the road. 

“You’ve never been a good liar Sam, and that’ll never change.” She didn’t push the notion any further but I knew she wouldn’t let it go anytime soon.

The buggy then pulled up beside a hill and the red head climbed out from the car to the back seat to grab a camera and a few bottles before hiking up the hill. I trudged after her up until my eyes stopped onto the tree at the top that my friend was sitting under. “I must admit that this is a good a place,” I sat beside her as she read from the book in her lap.

“Yep,” Penny grumbled into her book. I sighed knowing she was upset and looked up at the sky. Seeing some stars aligned in a snake like pattern, I tapped her arm and pointed up. She smiled and plopped the book into the grass and grabbed the camera.

After an hour the sky was completely dark and the stars shinned brighter and I had a tired Penny laying on my shoulder. A soft mutter came from the small figure beside, “I’m sorry being rude earlier.”

“It’s okay, maybe someday I’ll tell you.” Looking at my watch I see that it’s nine at night. I pick her up and carry her down the hill and placed her into the passenger seat and drove us both home.

“This was a fun night, Penny. Thank you,” I whispered as I patted her head while heading down the dark road.