I thought my life had ended. I felt like the entire universe had imploded. How was I going to return to school? How was I going to face anyone now that they knew I was a liar? Every decision I made during high school felt monumental. Every mistake I made was the end of everything.
As I sat through my last class, having lived on a spaceship where I’d been forced to make life-altering decisions, where the choices I’d made had led to my actual death, I realized how small and inconsequential high school was. There was a bigger world beyond high school, and an even larger universe beyond the world. That lie I had told and the other mistakes I had made, none of them mattered beyond my high school walls, and I was beginning to doubt that they had mattered much there, either.
At the end of last period, DJ and I waited in the quad for Jenny so that we could plan our next move. Jenny arrived a few minutes later, dragging behind her a tall, handsome, freckle-faced boy in a letterman jacket and very tight jeans.
“Meet Ty,” she said. “He plays football.”
Ty was nearly a head taller than Jenny. He waved at us and flashed a charming, easy smile. “What’s up? You must be Noa and DJ.” He spoke with a lazy, lackadaisical style in a voice that sounded like an ocean wave.
I pointed at myself. “Noa.”
“DJ.”
“Cool,” Ty said. He was too pretty to be real. His eyes shone like smoky quartz, his skin was ivory and smooth, and he had the broad shoulders and narrow waist of a doll. Next to him, I felt like a troll. Like my face was covered in pustules on the verge of bursting and my mouth was filled with foul, green, crooked teeth.
I wondered if DJ was feeling as suddenly inadequate as I was. If so, he didn’t show it. “What now?” DJ asked. “We’ve got some time to kill before the dance, right?”
Jenny said, “Ty’s going to show us where we can get clothes. We can’t show up looking like this. Apparently, it’s where everyone goes shopping.”
“Yeah,” Ty said. “The Underground.”
The Underground, as it turned out, was both the name of the place and a literal description. As in the mall was literally underneath the school. I stood at the top of a long escalator and looked down.
“It’s a mall,” I said.
Ty was grinning and, of course, he had a perfect smile full of straight white teeth. “Awesome, huh?”
I rolled my eyes but kept my face turned so that only DJ could see. “Yeah. Totally.”
Jenny and Ty got onto the escalator, and DJ took my hand and pulled me on behind them. From the top, I could see everything. We were in a pastel-and-neon underground mall with a huge fountain in the center and fake palm trees lining the promenade. The stores had names like “Dankworth & Fernsby,” “Eternally Eighteen,” “Munch,” and “Illicit Syzygy.” The most surprising part was that it was crowded with teenagers. The entire school must have been there.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been to a mall. And I certainly never went there to hang out. That was something my mom had done when she’d been sixteen, which I knew because I’d seen the pictures. Her permed hair held back from her face with something she called a scrunchie. She and her friends trying to look disaffected and cool, crowded at a table in the food court. The Underground was a paradox. A futuristic anachronism. But I was willing to overlook that if I could find something decent to wear that also fit well.
DJ was characteristically quiet as he took the scene in, but I wondered what was going through his mind.
When we reached the bottom, Jenny pulled Ty off the escalator and said, “I don’t know what F and G is, but those dresses in the window are gorgeous. I’m going in.”
Before Jenny could drag Ty away, DJ said, “Why don’t I go with you? That way Ty won’t see your dress until the dance.”
Jenny’s eyes lit up. “Perfect! I love that idea!”
“I don’t know…” I wasn’t keen on being left alone with Ty, but DJ was wearing a determined look that made me suspect he was actually suggesting that I spend time with Ty to pump him for information.
Ty motioned toward the other end of the mall. “We can check out Chainsaw. They have killer suits.”
DJ kissed my cheek and whispered, “Be careful.” And I wanted to shout at him that sending me off with a stranger had been his idea, but he and Jenny took off, and I was lured away by the promise of shopping for suits.
Insert montage of me trying on every article of clothing in the entire store. With a name like Chainsaw, I had expected generic, bland clothes for men who still thought colors were gendered, but I was quickly proven wrong. The store presented me with such a vast array of choices, any of which could be quickly tailored by a Sales Associate to fit, that I nearly broke into tears. Sales Associates were exactly like Teachers, but their job seemed to be making sure I found the perfect outfit for the dance.
“What do you think of this?” I walked out of the fitting room wearing an iridescent tux, with a banded collar, that made actual whooshing sounds when I spun around.
“Dope,” Ty said. He wasn’t my ideal shopping partner. He responded to everything with one-word replies that were either “dope,” “rad,” or “meh.” Ty’s lack of verbal skills was probably the main reason Jenny liked him. If I hadn’t been occupied trying to find a suit that would melt DJ’s knees, I would have been bored. He certainly didn’t seem to know anything about the space school.
I held out my arms and turned to get a better view of the back. The shiny suit definitely made a statement, but I wasn’t sure if I liked what it was saying. “I should try the blue one on again.”
I was in the fitting room, hanging the shirt I’d just taken off on its hanger, when Ty opened the door and ducked inside. The tiny space was barely large enough for me, and Ty had to press against me to fit.
“Whoa,” I said. “You’re cute, but I’m with DJ.” I paused. “I think.” It wasn’t a conversation we’d had. We’d made out, and we’d gone on dates, but we hadn’t exactly defined our relationship.
Ty clamped his hand over my mouth. “Jenny told me you arrived here in a shuttle.” His voice was barely loud enough for me to hear, but his tone was razor-sharp. Gone was the dopey, goofy jock Jenny had introduced us to, and I didn’t know how to react. A familiar dread seized me, and I froze. “You have to take me with you when you leave.”
I refused to be intimidated by him. Sure, Ty could have folded me into a neat square and tucked me into his back pocket, but that didn’t mean I had to give up. I pried his hand off my mouth. “Why would we do that?”
“There’s no time to explain,” he said. “Just promise you’ll take me.”
“I’m not promising anything until you tell me why.”
Ty clenched his jaw. “Because you need me. You’ll never escape without my help.”
A Sales Associate knocked three times on the door. “Fitting rooms are designed for single occupancy.”
I reached past Ty to open the door, but he grabbed my arm. He mouthed, Please. His palms were damp, and there was genuine fear in his eyes.
This wasn’t a decision I wanted to make alone. DJ would have known what to do, but I didn’t. What would be the repercussions of allowing Ty to come with us? What would happen if I said no? Would Jenny want Ty living on Qriosity? This was a decision that the three of us should have made together, as a crew. But there was no time.