The Mars Project by Julie Steimle (i can read with my eyes shut TXT) 📕

Zormna back away at his unusual move. “O! then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; They pray grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”

“Ew,” Zormna said, backing up. With one eye on the book, she shoved Jeff’s face back across the aisle with her hand. “Saints do not move, though grant for prayer’s sake.”

The rest of the class watched, erupting in little laughs at the play before them.

Jeff leaned over, though not as close this time, and lifted his eyebrows as if he was flirting. “Then move not, while my partner’s effect I take. Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purg’d.”

He stopped.

The teacher sat back, amused also at what he saw, considering carefully. “Then you kiss her.”

Jeff laughed, thumbing toward his reading partner. “I’m not kissing her.”

The class busted into thunderous laughter, including Zormna who sat back with relief.

Pointing to Zormna, their teacher sighed. “Continue.”

She glanced at Jeff as she commenced. “Then have my lips the sin that they have took.”

Jeff shook his head and wiggled a finger as if he was still playing. “Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg’d! give me my sin again.”

Zormna tried to stop a laugh and hardly caught on to the next line. This time she blushed. “You kiss by the book.”

Jeff looked up at her, his teasing smile falling.

The girl who had the Nurse started to read her part, but the meaning of the words slowly vanished as he watched Zormna stare into her book to hide her red face.

“What is her mother?” escaped his lips as practice, and he waited to read his next line. But Zormna’s bowed head and blushed cheeks remained in his eye. He felt his heart thump harder in his chest.

“Is she a Capulet?” he found himself reading. These lines woke him from his stupor and he continued. “O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.”

A boy in the far corner read Benvolio. “Away, be gone; the sport is at the best.”

Jeff nodded, nearly agreeing. “Ay, so I fear; the more is my unrest.”

The boy that had been reading Capulet’s part had to be nudged by his neighbor.

“Oh, um… Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone…”

Zormna wondered why she had blushed. She wasn’t the type to get wrapped up in such flighty romantic thoughts. Joy and Jennifer and all the girl friends she had made at Pennington tended to think like that. But up until now, she had thought all boys were nuisances. True, she did once have a crush on her former commanding officer who had been ten years older than she was, but Alea Arden had been exceptional. And he was a man, not a boy. Boys were ridiculous. Men…well, that was different. Besides…romance? It had all seemed so silly. So why did that verse make her blush?

“Zormna? Are you following?” Mr. Humphries, prompted her again.

She looked up and then popped her eyes back to her page, avoiding any look towards Jeff.

“Come hither, nurse. What is yond gentleman?” She slipped a glance at Jeff and saw that he was also peeking at her.

He quickly looked back to his book.

“The son and heir of old Tiberio,” the girl who read the nurse’s part said.

“What’s he that now is going out of door?” Zormna continued, this time not letting herself get distracted.

“Marry, that, I think he be young Petruchio,” the other girl read.

Zormna followed, “What’s he, that follows there that would not dance?”

“I know not,” the girl promptly replied.

“Go ask his name. —if he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding-bed.” Zormna swallowed at the thought.

The other girl followed along. “His name is Romeo, and a Montague; the only son of your great enemy.”

Zormna looked up and swallowed again. “My only love sprung from my only hate!” She paused and frowned. “Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, that I must love a loathed enemy.”

She sighed and pushed the book back. Zormna glanced at Jeff. He was looking at her again. Only this time he did not look away. She nodded and let out a sigh.

“What’s this, what’s this?” the other girl continued with the same vigor.

Zormna sighed again and nodded sadly as she spoke. “A rime I learn’d even now of one I danc’d withal.”

“Anon, anon! —Come, let’s away; the strangers are all gone.” The girl finished the lines with a satisfied grin.

The teacher gazed down at them with a similar grin.

“That was really moving,” Mr. Humphries said, gazing at Zormna and Jeff with an appreciative nod. “It seems I have picked my leads well after all.”

*

Zormna sighed as she scooped her book off of the desk to shove back into her bag. Their English teacher had made them write another paper, this time about their first love. It took her a lot longer to write this one. She could hardly make up anything that she felt satisfied with. Jeff, however, probably rattled off a fine tale about a girlfriend he had at his last school, wholly made up from what Zormna had guessed. He was just finishing it up when the bell rang.

They all gathered their things and exited the room.

When Zormna, Sam, and Adam arrived to the History classroom they saw their teacher folding out an ancient paper bulletin board and clipping it to the top part of the chalkboard. It ran longer than the board and curled on the ends, but even they could see under the bent paper that it announced last year’s cultural fair.

Slipping into her seat, Zormna leaned forward and whispered to Jennifer McLenna and Jessica. “What is she doing?”

Jennifer shrugged. Jessica scratched her head, looking bewildered. They still were not looking at each other though.

“She’s starting early on the fair is my guess,” Stacey said, now sitting in a seat close by.

Michelle had also moved but she still wasn’t talking to Zormna. At cheer practice the other day she spoke to Joy, ignoring Zormna altogether.

“Do you have a partner yet?” Tammy asked, leaning near. She had also followed them from English.

Jessica silently shot her a look, then stared at Zormna, wondering how the ‘Irish blonde’ became so popular.

Zormna looked around and found that Tammy Davis had taken Sam’s seat. “I was probably going to do it with Sam over there,” she said, looking over Tammy’s head at the guy who looked a little exasperated at the girl.

Tammy lifted her head in the air as if to ignore that Sam had been there all that week. “I’m going to do France with Maria Forte and Stephanie Poulsek. We’re making an Eiffel tower shaped tent to go over our table, and we’re serving real French food.”

Jessica rolled her eyes.

Michelle Clay snickered, ignoring Jessica entirely. “What? Are you going to hire a caterer?”

Tammy’s eyes narrowed into angry snake-like slits. But then she abandoned her angry act with a toss of her hair, sticking her nose back into the air. “No. Maria’s father is a real chef, and her mom runs their café downtown in Monroe. I’m sure you’ve heard of it, Petite Blanc?”

“What does that mean?” Zormna asked. She peeked to Jessica who shrugged. Jennifer slumped against her desk feeling unusually crowded.

Michelle laughed again, sneering. “Little white. It means nothing.”

“Well what are you going to do?” Tammy lashed out more cattishly. “Cook hot dogs?”

The head cheerleader rose as if she would claw Tammy’s eyes out.

“The only culture you’ve got is growing in your undershorts, miss cheerleader,” Tammy spat.

Jessica ducked, snorting while pulling Zormna out of the way. They stood back with Jennifer who was now staring at the ceiling. Jennifer and Jessica exchanged a look. Michelle would have pounced on Tammy, but just then their teacher turned around.

“Ah, Michelle. Do you mind getting that green magnet for me? I can’t get off this stool without having this fall,” Miss Bianchi called to her.

Michelle’s angry glare evaporated as she replied, “My pleasure, Miss Bianchi,” and marched forward as if that had been her intent all along.

Sliding back into her seat, Zormna sighed and shook her head.

“Brownnoser,” Jessica muttered at her right.

Jennifer covered her mouth and ‘coughed’.

But Tammy joined in with a sneered.

Yet Michelle delivered a quick dirty look their way, especially for Tammy. Cheerfully helpful, Michelle dutifully handed up what was needed. And Miss Bianchi thanked her when it was finally hung.  

Michelle smugly took her seat.

Their teacher started up her lesson, explaining the poster. It was exactly as they had guessed.

“The cultural fair is in two weeks. Each of you need to get a partner and sign up for a country. I have handpicked a few students to host specific booths, and I have already spoken to them. The rest of you may choose to help them if they’d like, otherwise you can also help with the rest of the fair by signing up for ticketing or helping with getting the entertainment.”

Nearly all of them murmured at this news. But there were a few that seemed a more down at the announcement. Jennifer McLenna was one of them.

Their teacher nodded as she continued, “Now, onto business number two. Colonization. Why did people go to the New World?”

*

“What do you mean she volunteered you?” Zormna asked Jennifer as they walked from the class.

Hanging her head with an agonizing sigh, Jennifer replied, “She said that she wanted an authentic Irish girl to run the Irish booth. Apparently she’s convinced that I’m it.”

Sam laughed. Trailing along, he asked, “Well, what’s the problem?”

Jennifer frowned. “I don’t really know anything about Ireland. My parents have always been so paranoid about stuff like that. They left the ‘Old Country behind for good’, is what they say whenever I bring it up.”

Zormna lifted her eyebrows and nodded. “That’s them.”

“Why didn’t she just ask Zormna?” Jessica asked, heading in that direction. “I mean, come on. She’s the real deal.”

Zormna could feel her face flush.

“You’re really Irish?” Sam asked, looking at her. “I heard rumors, but…I was wondering about your accent.”

Ignoring it, Zormna replied, “Apparently she didn’t think I was a proper Irishman.”

“Irishwoman,” Jessica clarified.

Zormna rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Jennifer shook her head with a scowl at Jessica for butting in. “No. She just knows Todd. He did it last year, and she was mad at him for what he did. ‘Cause, you know, Mom and Dad didn’t help him at all. So he just dug stuff off the Internet and printed it out on a poster, and he played a few Irish tapes he found in the New Age section of Gadson’s Music Store. And he got a few Gaelic words put on a poster. She was furious. So now she is taking it out on me.”

Looking at Zormna’s drawn expression as if she had been weighed down with concrete shoes, Jennifer moaned.

Jessica shook her head as she parted from them to go to class. “Well then, Jenny-poo, you’re just gonna have to suck it up and beg Zormna to help you.”

“You don’t want to do it with us?” Zormna asked, following her a bit.

With a peek at Jennifer’s protesting expression, Jessica shook her head. “Nah. I think I’ll help with the other stuff. I hear that cutie Adam is signing up.”

She winked as she hurried off.

The other three continued on to Sam’s locker where he traded books.

“She told me that if I repeat Todd’s performance, she’ll fail me,” Jennifer muttered once her ex-best friend was gone, setting a hand to her head with a moan. “What am I going to do?”

“Why don’t Zormna and I help you on the project? She’s Irish, and I’ve been to Ireland,” Sam offered as he stuffed a book into his bag, smiling.

Both Zormna and Jennifer looked up at Sam in surprise.

“You’ve been to Ireland?” Jennifer gasped.

Sam nodded proudly.

Zormna cringed with a peek at Jennifer. “That’s great, Sam, for you. But I spent my entire life at military school. I couldn’t tell you anything about the rest of Ireland that doesn’t come out of a textbook.”

His eyebrows lifted up as he held back a laugh.