In The Orbit (Part I)

9. Karma

Karma finally told her boyfriend about her two-year trip to the satellites. He sat in her lap and cried for an hour straight. Karma shed a few tears too, but only because she didn't want her boyfriend to think she wasn't sad. Which wasn't true. Karma was heartbroken. But she only cried when she was truly deeply upset, about deep real issues.

Truth be told, a tiny bit of Karma knew that it was good for her to get away from her boyfriend for a while. As fun as it is to sneak out every night to her "real home" as she calls it, the apartment that her boyfriend's parents rent out, she knows it's not good for her. She knows that her parents or siblings are bound to find out soon, and she needs more sleep than she is getting. But Karma can't fall asleep without being curled up around her boyfriend. That isn't totally true. There are some nights where she can't sneak out, and she has to sleep alone. She eventually falls asleep, but it's a lot harder.

Tonight is one of those nights. Karma spoons her duvet, and gazes out of the window. One of the satellites is in front of the moon. It is shaped like a bean and if the moon was the size of a plate, the satellite is about the size of a bean too. She feels a little flutter of excitement. What is it going to be like up there?

A bit of guilt comes upon her when she thinks about her boyfriend. What if he were in her shoes right now? She would be devastated. Then again, Karma thinks, it's probably a good thing she's leaving. She is not sad enough about leaving to stay.

Karma dreams about her old friends. Chelsea is the main one. Chelsea cocks a pink eyebrow at Karma in the dream and says, "Come back. Boyfriends come and go, but friends are forever." Karma gets angry. She picks Chelsea up and throws her across the room. Chelsea stands up and flips her pink hair. She picks up Karma's boyfriend with one hand and repeatedly punches him in the gut with the other.

"NO!" Karma screams. Her other old friends showed up and started taunting Karma.

"You left us for him?"

"Wow what a loser. You AND him."

"Come back to us," whispers Chelsea. "We miss you." And she starts crying pink tears.

Karma wakes up really confused. Did Chelsea want her back?

Reality comes rushing back and she realizes how much she wants to be off of the planet. She doesn't want to see the sneering faces of her old friends every day when she and her boyfriend walk by. She doesn't want to remember what it was like before her boyfriend. She doesn't want to think about how she completely ditched her friends and completely committed all of her time to him.

Most of all, she doesn't want to continue keeping all of these secrets from her parents all the time. Every time she sees them, she feels guilty. And she hates it.

She sits up in bed. It is 5:30 in the morning. She doesn't have to go to school today. She thinks about what she can do. She knows she won't be able to fall back asleep. She could go to her boyfriend's place. But that would have to be later. She didn't want to see him yet anyway. Sometimes they get tired of each other and they have to spend time alone so they don't fight. Today is one of those days. Or maybe it's the lingering of the dream.

Anyway, Karma feels the need to do something. She thinks about Chelsea. What will Chelsea think when she sees Karma on the news for going on this satellite mission?

Karma wants to call Chelsea up and just talk to her. She remembers when they used to just sit and talk for hours. Karma used to tell her everything. She misses it a bit, but she knows that her old friends are too angry to talk to her. Especially Chelsea. She hurt Chelsea most when she ditched everyone.

Karma clears these thoughts out of her head and matches downstairs. She goes into the kitchen and decides that she will make breakfast for everyone. She is leaving soon, after all. Might as well get some family time.