Over the Moon (21 page)

The scene changed to a typical desert setting on Earth. This
was the ugly, boring, barren wilderness found near Roswell, not the
fascinating, multicolored desert of southern Utah. They must have
thought they had landed on the planet Hell. I could just make out
the ship as it was covered by dirt, sagebrush, and tumbleweeds for
camouflage. There were children playing in the sand nearby. I recognized Adam, and there was a pretty, petite, blonde girl with him.
Andrew told me she was Evelyn. There were some younger children
there also. He pointed out Jillian, Matthew, Luke, Hannah, and
himself. They were being watched by a lovely woman who looked
like Evelyn. This was her mother, who was killed in the car crash
with Andrew's parents.

That short clip was followed by a trip to Kangaroo Island in
Flinders Chase National Park, which is somewhere off the southern coast of Australia. Australia was almost as alien and foreign to
me as the video shots that were taken on Helam. Andrew, Hannah,
and Jillian appeared to be around ten years old. They were watching
koala bears in the blue and manna gum trees of their natural habitat.
Then they were pretending to be afraid of the extremely tame and friendly kangaroos and wallabies. There was a fun shot of Andrew
pointing to an echidna, which is a spiny anteater, while grinning
widely for the camera. He had a beautifully photogenic smile, even
as a child. In the end, they were swimming with seals and sea lions
while fairy penguins and a platypus watched from the shore. They
looked like happy, well adjusted, nearly normal children.

There was another video clip that showed all the children,
including Matthew and Luke, and their parents playing in the
ocean and on a beach at Bryan Bay, a resort town on New South
Wales's northern coast, which is somewhere north of Sydney. They
were building intricate sandcastles. Later, it showed the tide washing their artistry and architecture away.

The last scene was of a teenage Andrew looking divine in a
tuxedo with a very appealing, tall, strawberry blonde girl in a lacy
pink formal gown. He was pinning a corsage of pink carnations on
her bodice. She reached up and kissed his cheek. He blushed. She
hugged him and kissed his lips lightly this time, saying something
about how cute he was when he was embarrassed. She was right.
He looked adorable. The camera then moved to show Hannah and
Matthew smiling, also formally attired. They waved and then kissed
each other for the camera. It ended with the four of them walking
outside and getting into a long, white limousine with dark, opaque
windows. The blonde beauty was hanging all over Andrew as if
he was covered with superglue, or maybe she was attached to him
with Velcro. He seemed to be enjoying the attention, although I did
notice he appeared to be trying to keep his hands, arms, and lips to
himself. I felt a sudden painful pang of jealousy. I tried to suppress it.
I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about this scene I had just
witnessed. A boy as amazing as Andrew had to have a past. I knew
girls had probably been throwing themselves at him since he hit
puberty, whenever that was. With the gravitational pull he exhibited, he had to be surrounded by eager, pubescent female satellites.
I couldn't be the first girl in his life. I'd settle for being the last. It
still hurt to have it thrown at me like this. I would have rather been
spared from viewing this intimate memory.

I felt Andrew's hand squeeze mine tighter. The lights came on.
Andrew threw a disapproving glance at Hannah. She glared back at
him icily. There was an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air. No
one dared to utter a word.

"We'll be back in a while." Andrew finally broke the silence,
speaking to the rest of the family. "We're going to take a walk outside
and get some fresh air." He led me out the door to the backyard.

When we were alone, I asked, "Who was the girl?"

"That was Sonya Parker. I told you about her. This was Hannah's
ploy to make trouble between us. I'm so sorry you had to see that.
I was only pretending to enjoy myself. It was a girl's choice dance
and very much like your date with Jordan, and although I had been
dating her, I had already realized she wasn't the girl for me. That was
the last date we had."

"I believe you." I tried to sound convincing. I was feeling more
than a little insecure after seeing his gorgeous goddess of an exgirlfriend draped all over him and securely attached to his body like
white on rice.

"No, you don't." He was reading my insecurity. "How can you
doubt my feelings for you?" he demanded, looking unhappy and
aggravated by my apparent lack of trust.

"She's so perfect, and I am so not," I said without looking at
him.

"You only see her exterior. Inside, she is not even close to
attractive. She's manipulative, possessive, and selfish. She is the
supreme queen of all that is superficial." He pulled my chin up so
he could look into my eyes. I backed away, still unconvinced that
there was really nothing to fear from the flirtatious phantom from
his former life.

"She appeared to think highly of you." I closed my eyes and saw
her kiss him on the cheek and then on the lips. Jealousy really is an
ugly emotion. I was feeling ugly and jealous, and I hated feeling
either of those things.

"She liked the idea of me being her escort. I was just a prop,
nothing more. It was all show without substance. She is more con cerned with how things appear to the world than how they really are.
She's also an excellent actress."

"Are you sure?" I wasn't at all sure.

"I saw inside her head. It's a dark, dismal, and dull place. The
only thing Sonya cares about is Sonya. If I hurt her in any way,
it was just her pride that suffered. She didn't genuinely care about
me. I will talk to Hannah about this. You have to understand that
Sonya has a unique talent for getting people to do what she wants.
Right now, she has my sister doing her bidding. This will not happen again." He held me for a moment, lifting my chin so I had to
face him. I was forced to look into those electrifying, turquoise eyes
of his. He kissed me with some severe and deep intensity until I
didn't care about Sonya anymore. How did he do that to me? Had he
taken classes in mind control? He definitely was a master at removing unwanted thoughts from my brain. The jealousy and the ugliness had been pushed right out of my head. I couldn't even remember what she looked like. If he kept this up, I would probably forget
her name.

We went back in and played some board games. Hannah complained of a headache and went to her room. We played Sequence
in teams. Andrew and I won twice. They had to make a rule that no
one was allowed to read one another's minds in order for me to have
a sporting chance. Later, we played charades and talked about silly
science fiction movies that had the whole alien thing wrong. Finally,
we broke out Rock Band. I found out my boyfriend truly is a rock
star and I was born to play the drums. Of course, no one would ever
know because Andrew shunned fame, as he had to keep a low profile
to protect his and his family's secret identity. They seemed genuinely
pleased that I now knew their secret, and I felt accepted by all of
them, with the exception of Hannah. I didn't know how to win her
over. She wanted Andrew to be with her friend, Sonya. I worried
that she would keep trying to pry us apart. Did Sonya really have the
ability to manipulate others in some superhuman way? It gave me an
uneasy knot in my stomach.

When he took me home, he kissed me urgently, as if he were
trying again to prove his love for me. He pulled me close and stared
into my eyes, making me breathless and more than a little lightheaded and woozy. I was glad he held me tighter when I started to
wobble on my feet.

"Thank you." He smiled his crooked, dimpled grin that I
couldn't resist.

"For what?" I asked, struggling to catch my breath and keep
from fainting dead away.

"For seeing the truth about the very unpleasant Sonya debacle."

"You know, it's okay if you actually loved her once," I said, "as
long as you don't love her now."

"I have never loved anyone but you!" He kissed me again, and I
honestly forgot her name.

Andrew picked me up for school every day. I no longer had a stalker.
Jordan finally knew I was off limits. I was Andrew Martin's girlfriend, and I was loving every single minute. We were inseparable,
except when he was working at the pharmaceutical lab. My parents
were beginning to be somewhat uncomfortable with the fact that I
had a steady boyfriend who didn't appear to be going away any time
soon. He always got me home on time and was trying hard to earn
their trust. He was also an excellent tutor. He had exemplary patience
with my inability to grasp math in any form without intensive and
laborious practice. I might actually pass precalculus. If I did, I would
be able to add miracle worker to his long list of superpowers.

I did have to face Jordan in geography class on Monday. I had hoped
to ignore that situation, but, of course, he made me confront it.

"I'm really sorry about Saturday, Tiana." He did seem sincerely
apologetic. I considered his penitent gaze. It could be a ruse.

"Are you sorry you attacked me, or are you referring to the
snakebite?" I was trying hard not to tell him exactly what I thought
of him. I might get sent to the principal's office and have to serve
time in detention if I used the words I wanted to say, and I knew
this conversation was being overheard in this very public place. The
students sitting closest around us were all silently pretending to be
studying their notes. They had to be eavesdropping. The others who
were farther away seemed to be studying our faces, trying to read
our lips. The gossip wheels were turning, and I was sure everyone
already knew about my latest narrow escape from death by snakebite and Jordan's narrow escape from Andrew's wrath. I should be
tactful and discreet about this situation. I didn't really want him as
an enemy, but I wanted to be clear about the futility of any future
romantic relationship with him.

"I'm sorry about all of it. Please accept my humble apology. I'm
begging for forgiveness here. Do you want me to get on my knees?"
he asked remorsefully. The students who were sitting close by were
smirking and looking hopeful. I could tell they wanted me to make
him beg. I kind of wanted to see that myself.

"That won't be necessary. I forgive you," I said. Where did that
come from? I wanted to call him terrible names and criticize and
condemn his actions with unmitigated fury. Deep down inside of
me, I guess I realized that wouldn't do any good. He might even
enjoy that reaction. Some foolish, deluded boys might misconstrue
my rage and call it passion. The eavesdroppers looked surprised and
disappointed.

"Can we be friends now?" he pleaded, showing me those sad,
puppy dog eyes that urged me to accept his contrition as genuine.

"We can be friends on two conditions. First, you have to understand that there is no hope for any romantic relationship between us
ever, and second, you must agree never to touch me or wink at me or say anything suggestive to me again." I thought I'd covered everything with that blanket statement. It included basically the same
things that Andrew had already threatened to hunt him down and
exact vengeance if he dared to violate them.

"I don't know if I can do that, but I'll try," he said, still trying to
look duly repentant.

"Then I'll try to be your friend. If you don't meet my conditions,
we have no friendship." I was proud of myself. I think I made my
feelings clearly unambiguous. I also had a room full of witnesses
to our agreement. Maybe we could be friends after all. Maybe pigs
would fly. Perhaps they do on other planets. I couldn't rule that out.
I'd seen stranger things. I had a premonition that I would get to see
all sorts of even crazier stuff in the future.

On Friday night, Andrew and I attended the Hurricane High
football game. Matthew had made the team. He was a wide receiver.
That meant he caught a lot of passes and made a lot of touchdowns,
scoring many points for our Tigers. The opposing team, Cedar
High, didn't stand a chance. It was exciting even though I didn't
know much about football. Matthew was unstoppable. Yeah, he had
an unfair advantage in the strength department, but I wasn't going
to tell.

I waved at Jenna as she led cheers with Alexis and the other
cheerleaders. I could see Jordan sitting on the first row where he could
be close to Alexis. I was glad they were back together. I did notice
Alexis watching Andrew several times during the game. Once when
I caught her staring, she made a face at me and turned away. I guess
I was still on her top ten enemies list. I might even be number one.
Woohoo! Hooray for me. I tried not to think about that too much.
It still made me uncomfortable to have such a formidable enemy. It
especially bothered me that there was nothing I could think of that I
could do to change that so I'd just have to live with it. .