Chapter 1

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“Humans are unimportant, insignificant. We haven’t improved this world, if anything, we’ve only propelled it to its demise. We are selfish, greedy, ignorant beings that feel no remorse in shooting a cow as she nurses her calf and then eating it for dinner as we listen to the Sunday news and wonder why global warming is occurring.” Nova stated matter-of-factly.

“Shut up Nova.” Sam rolled his eyes, lying back on the worn couch in his basement.

“If the entire world lived like the average American, we’d need 5 planets to provide enough resources,” she continued, unwavering from Sam’s obvious disinterest.

I laughed. “Now that’s believable.”

 Nova held a candle up to her face as she sat on the carpeted ground, passing her index finger through the flame and watching the light flicker.

“What time is it?” I asked, yawning.

Nova turned around on the couch, searching for the tie-dyed clock on the wall. “2 am.

We had been sitting in Sam’s basement for 4 hours now, alternating between listening to music and discussing the most random tidbits and obscure facts. His basement was a gallimaufry of old furniture from when his hippie parents had lived in the Arizona desert and items they had picked up on the side of the road while road tripping. A record player was propped up against the old brick fireplace, a framed Woodstock poster sat on the mantle, and a bookshelf in the corner held a wide assortment of nature-loving, peace-breeding novels. The whole room was tied together with faded tapestries on the walls.

“Prom’s in exactly a week.” Sam said.

“Prom’s stupid.” Nova rolled her eyes and gathered her tangled blond hair into a ponytail.

“C’mon Nova. You have to go. It’s our junior prom.” I said. While I hated most events having any relation to school, prom was the “high school experience” thing you looked back on when you were 50 and sighed because your seemingly cool hairstyle was now just another thing to roll your eyes about.

Nova paused and looked at me with her grey eyes, pale skin, and superior smirk.

“Then you take me.” Her words hung in the air, slowly sinking into my mind.

 Sam was even surprised at this proposition; he tore his eyes away from the TV to see my reaction.

“Okay. I’ll take you.” I slowly replied, feeling very overwhelmed, slightly eager, and even more confused.

***

To clear up any confusion, this story has no relation to my last story that has a similar title as this one, I just ran out of ideas for titles.

Thank you for reading! Feedback always appreciated :)

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