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

“It takes me a long time to lose my temper, but once lost I could not find it with a dog.”—Mark Twain—

Homecoming was still a week away. Of course Jennifer and Kevin would be going together to this event, leaving others to an uncertain future. The on-campus voting for king and queen was going on in full force, as if the decision was not just deciding who the most popular seniors on campus were, but who would save the world from…whatever. Many friends encouraged their favorites to run for queen and princess. And par the course, the halls were plastered with their banners. Michelle Clay’s clique was supporting her. Stacey Price and Jennifer McCabe spent much of their free time handing out pins and ribbons that said Vote for Michelle Clay, though Joy Henderson stood by watching and laughing. So was Brian, her brother. Just about every ‘popular’ girl was up for the competition, like Miss America.

Of course, the girls around school were more into Homecoming than the boys anyway, though the boys kept wondering what lucky guy would get to escort the pick of the girls. Many secretly wished to be chosen themselves. Funnily enough, when the boys found out that Zormna was not running for junior homecoming princess they clamored up to her in protest.

“You would be a shoe-in!” several declared.

“Every guy would vote for you,” another group said.

And they were probably right.

But Zormna replied as if the entire thing was ridiculous, “Not interested.”

“Why not!” so many of them retorted that week.

“Because,” she regularly replied, “It is shallow and objectifies women. It is a flesh fair and an excuse to get a girl in a revealing dress. No thank you.”

But this only made the majority of the girls angrier with her.

Though, a number of the girls secretly grinned, agreeing.

As the days went on (and they did go on whether the students wanted them to or not), Sam appeared to be trailing Zormna more often. It wasn’t like his usual flirting. He actually seemed nervous. When Zormna stopped by her locker, he waited as if he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. In Chemistry he bumped into her on purpose so he could say something, but it didn’t come out. And after school he watched her on the bleachers practicing with the cheer team for the half-time performance. He looked uncomfortable and anxious.

“What’s up?” Adam asked him when he reached the stadium steps.

Sam shrugged. He didn’t say anything for a while, though he finally asked Adam, “Is Zormna going to Homecoming with Jeff?”

Adam pulled back with suspicious surprise. “Not that I’ve heard. I don’t think Zormna is intending to go to Homecoming all. I hear she hates dresses.”

“What about that cheer outfit,” Sam murmured. “Or that barmaid’s outfit.”

Shrugging, Adam replied, “Uniform mentality. And she wears those biker shorts with them always.”

“But she loves dancing,” Sam replied, reminding him of the culture fair.

Adam nodded. “So I’ve heard.”

Sam stared across the lawn.

Both boys could see Jeff at the fence. He had walked over to the stadium and called to Zormna like he was checking in on her. She irritably responded back, though they could not hear her words. Jeff started to laugh then walked away with his friends to their car.

“He teases her a lot,” Sam murmured.

Adam nodded. “It’s probably because he likes her.”

Sam looked at him. “But he says he doesn’t.”

Smiling at him, Adam shrugged. “All the same. Zormna is his type. Totally. Even Brian sees it. Jeff may not still be over his last girlfriend, and though Zormna may have broken his nose to make him hate her for a good while—Zormna is his type.” Adam then laughed. “The question is—is he Zormna’s type? I overheard them say that Zormna is attracted to older men. She crushed on a commanding officer who was apparently ten years older than her.”

Sam glanced down at the gathering cheerleaders. They were now listening to Michelle go into one of her tirades.

“Do you think she’ll go to Homecoming with me?” Sam asked.

Adam shrugged. “Probably. She tends to break her own rules for you. I think she likes you a little.”

Sam’s bemused expression curled into a grin. “You think?”

Adam nodded.

*

“So, uh, I was wondering, would you go to Homecoming with me?” Sam leaned against the locker the next morning right before English, blushing.

Zormna’s face flushed while she stared at him in honest surprise. “I…uh….” Words failed her.

“We…we could, uh, double date with Jeff, or maybe Jennifer and Kevin, if you want.”

Words still failed her. He looked so vulnerable, it took her off-guard. Was this guy really serious? Swallowing, Zormna tried to clear her head. Should she go? After all, this guy was possibly an undercover FBI agent—she was nearly sure of it anyway. Would it be wise to go alone with him to a school dance, pretending she didn’t know? The idea of the dance itself made her cringe. She knew what the thing meant. She had to get a dress, again. And she had to put up with a male drooling over her. Still, she wondered, if it might do some good for her and Jeff’s cause if she played along.

“Yes,” she said, now looking at him straight.

A dazed grin spread across Sam’s face. He nodded.

“But let us definitely make it a double date,” she added.

Sam nodded, satisfied and pleased. He nearly took her hand as they walked to class, but she conveniently held her books with both hands to relieve herself of that customary cultural dating obligation. She wasn’t quite ready to play it that far.

They entered class and took their usual seats. Sam smiled like a dope as they sat down. Zormna tried to avoid his gaze, feeling more embarrassed by the second. She noticed Jeff was sitting in his usual seat, peering into his book. He didn’t notice she was there at first. But after a few habitual glances her way, he noticed that she was unusually red and blushing.

“Are you sick?” Jeff asked her, leaning over the aisle.

She shook her head.

He gazed at her for a moment then shook his head to himself. After a while he saw her write something on her notebook. She handed it to him.

Sam asked me to homecoming. He wants us to double date. Any suggestions?

His mouth fell open. It took a full five seconds to respond. “You want me to tag along?”

Zormna rolled her eyes and said, “No. Get a date and just come.”

Jeff nodded. “We’ll talk later.”

She took this as the last word on the issue for a while. He’d help.

Joy was watching them. She seemed a little dazed, adding up what she saw. She peeked to Sam.

“Macbeth. Act four, scene two. Becca, you read Lady Mac Duff, and Daniel, you read Ross. Jeff, you read the son’s part,” Mr. Humphries directed and sat in his chair ready to listen.

Becca nodded. “What had he done to make him fly the land?” she read.

Daniel read. “You must have patience, madam.”

*

Later ended up being after school at the fence as Zormna had cheer practice and Jeff was making sure somebody would be walking with Zormna home. Zormna made it brief.

“You should ask Joy to Homecoming.”

Jeff cringed, glancing once to Joy who was secretly watching them from the group of cheerleaders. “That would be complicated. Joy is Brian’s sister.”

“You know Joy has a crush on you,” Zormna said.

“Exactly!” Jeff said. “I don’t want to lead her on.”

“Ugh,” Zormna groaned. “It’s just a date. Not a marriage proposal.”

Peeking over at Joy, Jeff said, “Joy is… She’s a good girl, but…”

“Jafarr, do it for my sake,” Zormna said. “Joy is jealous of the time you and I spend together. Show her that we are just friends. And if that is what you want with her, show her that is all you want right now with anybody—unless you are looking for a girlfriend.”

Pulling back, Jeff made a face at her. “Please. I have no time for girlfriends. And for your information, I have every intention of getting back with my old girlfriend Malay when this is all over.”

Zormna smirked sadly at him. “If she wants you, right?”

He shrugged.

“Well, if you are not going to take Joy, then take somebody who will not assume you want to start a cozy relationship,” she said, turning away from the fence. “Because I’m going to need some backup in case this whole thing goes south.”

Jeff nodded. On that one thing, they agreed.

*

“Ok, the real problem is that we need to pinpoint their exact location,” said Eergvin, who had been going by the name ‘Eric’.

Asdrov, who had been going by ‘Aaron’, replied, “I have a few buildings in the city I guess they are at. But who is going to scout them out?”

Jeff folded his arms, thinking.

“I could send Sara to go,” his Aunt Mary offered.

“Perhaps we’re going about this all wrong,” Alzdar, who had been going by ‘Alex’, said. “Maybe we should use our inside contacts to locate it for us.”

“Do you think we might have someone on the inside that can find their central location?” Eric asked.

Alex nodded. “It is possible that they just can’t contact us now. We could try one.”

“Who do you think I should ask to Homecoming?” Jeff asked out loud.

They all stared at him.

Jeff looked up. “What?”

He saw their blank expressions. 

He explained. “Our school spy has asked Zormna out to Home-coming, and she asked me to double with them. And that means that I need a date. Zormna thinks I should take Joy Henderson, but…I don’t want to get that girl tangled up in our mess.”

They still stared at him.

“What? I was just thinking that maybe now would be a good time to let the FBI know we’re on to them,” he said.

“Haven’t you been listening?” Eric asked.

Jeff looked at him with only a slight pause. “You need to know where the FBI base is? Ask M. I think he’s in the middle of their operation by now. He was supposed to maneuver his way into their group since the last time I spoke with him.”

“Do you know for certain?” Uncle Orren spoke up now. “Have you contacted him already?”

Shrugging, Jeff replied, “Once or twice maybe.”

They all glared at Jeff.

“What did he say?” Uncle Orren asked, pressing.

Sitting up, Jeff said as plainly as possible, “I didn’t want to tell you because it is my duty to deal with protecting Zormna and not yours. However, I found out from M that they have been running a room geared for satellite surveillance, possibly targeting somewhere out in space. They have set up on their building top-of-the-line satellite tech that links with another in space, and he thinks they have been gathering information on our people for some time now. They are preparing to take some kind of action against us, though possibly also against Arras. This is actually a Surface Patrol issue. And, because it is, I thought that possibly Zormna should be taking care of this. But because the project is linked with her and me, I thought it was wise just to take care of it myself.”

Eric shook his head, rising with a huff. “You shouldn’t have kept it to yourself. If you have forgotten, we’re in this together, and we need her alive.”

Uncle Orren nodded, agreeing as he said, “You should have kept us informed, Jafarr.”

Jeff nodded now, understanding their displeasure with him.

“I know. I know,” he said, lifting his hands. “The thing is, I really wanted you to keep working at the rebellion back home. We have to find a balance, and we can’t let Earth life distract us from our goals.”

“What about the FBI though? What are they doing? Since you have such insight on their operations,” Aaron petulantly asked.

Jeff let out a sigh as he replied, “So far, they’re keeping tabs on us to see if we—” pointing to Eric, Aaron and himself, “—are hostile. In my search, I have found one man