The Dark Side of Space

Chapter 8

A/N: Hey all, thanks for reading! The story's been featured on the homepage in the "Undiscovered Stories" section. So exciting! Hope you enjoy!

______________________

 "So, tell me how much you miss me." I lie in my bed and hold my phone up to my face. Finally getting to speak to Raya makes me feel like Christmas has come early. We've been playing phone tag for most of the week. When he has free time, I'm in a lesson, or doing research, or out with the others. Finally, I get to see his face. He looks the exact same, just a lot more tan from working on cars.

"You know I miss you a lot," I promise Ray. "I wish you were here with me."

Ray raises his eyebrows. "I wish I was with you too, Grace. Looks like a nice bed."

I roll my eyes at him. "I don't mean in the hotel. I mean here, in Florida- you know I went to the waterpark the other day?" Adam suggested we all go, and I didn't need to be asked twice. NASA paid for it, so there was no reason not to go. I had a blast.

"The waterpark?" Ray repeats, like he doesn't know what else to say. "That sounds like fun."

I nod. "It was really fun. I think I have a sunburn on my back, though."

"How are the other kids?" he asked.

"You're not going to believe this," I start.

"Believe what?"

"They're all... like me. No rich white kids, no trust fund babies. Everyone's really cool. We get along good."

Ray's look of surprise doesn't look intentional. "That's crazy," he agrees. "You'd think at least one of them would buy their way in."

I shake my head. "Everyone had a chance and they really chose fairly. I told you I could do it."

Ray's quiet. He looks away for a second. "I never said you couldn't." Yeah, he never said it, but he definitely made me feel like it. I don't want to get hung up on that, though. We haven't had a real conversation since I left Texas and I don't want to spend it arguing.

"So what's going on over there?" I know he doesn't have as much to report, but I don't want him to think I don't care.

"You know, same old, same old. Parking cars, fixing cars- oh, and apparently Claudia's having another baby." Ray has so many nieces and nephews he probably can't count them all.

"Again?" I ask. His sister had a baby last year, too.

Ray laughs and nods. "I know. They're basically gonna be twins."

Ray and I smile at each other for a long while. I don't know what else to say to him. I don't want to rub my trip in his face when he's at home living his regular life. Even though I'm having a great time and making friends, it's not the same as being home with him in my neighborhood where I feel comfortable and know everyone and everything. It's funny, I wanted to leave and now that I have, I miss home more than anything.

***

I'm glad I thought to pack a sweater with me. The auditorium inside the training center is freezing. Joseph, Adam, and Naomi and I take up a tiny portion of what looks like a hundred seats in the room. We stare at pictures of the moon on a projector as a woman lectures us about the history of the moon. It feels like one of my early college lectures the morning after a big football game. No one shows up. I didn't think part of my preparation for the Lunar Voyage would involve sitting in a lecture hall and pretending to take notes. Joseph doesn't even have the courtesy to pretend. He's nodding off right next to me.