"Pass it to me!" Skye cried out as Jane raced on Jeffrey's heels. Jeffrey zig zagged in between the tress of Point Mouette, not hesitating to quickly kick it over to Skye. In the corner of her eye, Skye could see Jane sprinting to her net, protecting her goal.
It was another two against one game, with Jeffrey playing defense and goalie and Skye reigning as mid fielder. Jane was on her a own, playing as many positions as she could juggle.
Eyes narrowing, Skye dashed for the ball, aiming and executing a clean goal into the net. Jane slowed behind her, heaving for air.
"What's the score?" She gasped as Jeffrey came up behind Skye. They high fived. Another victorious win of Friday Sunset Soccer was tallied mentally onto the list. Their sixth win for the summer.
"7-2, won fair and square," Skye said, and Jane slapped a palm to her forehead.
"There's always next week," Jeffrey added, taking a swig of the plastic water bottle he shared with Skye. She stole it out of his mouth mid drink, unscrewing the cap and waterfoutaining her share into her mouth before giving it back to him with a grin.
The goal of Friday Sunset Soccer was to finish when the sun started to set. That way, the trio could eat dinner, then practice the piano, write, do math, or whatever they wanted to do with their evening.
"I'm going to go inside, the mosquitoes are killing me," Jane exclaimed, not hesitating to slap her right arm, where another mosquito sat on her arm. Small and big dots alike were displayed all over her body, her long legs red. She did what she said she would, the back door clicking behind her.
"I'm going to stargaze. Jeffrey, want to join me?" Skye asked, already heading down the rocky coastline to her new telescope. She had gotten it for her birthday, and she had been out on the beach almost every night to observe the stars and the planets.
Jeffrey shrugged, figured that his piano practicing could wait. He would never miss an opportunity to hang out with Skye alone.
Jeffrey wasn't really sure about how to act around Skye anymore. He liked her, he knew that for sure, but it was hard to express his feelings when Skye was always telling him new stories during the school year on how she rejected yet another boy. He wondered, if all of them failed, how could he possibly succeed? So for now, he waited until the time was right. Though when was that time and when would it come? Jeffrey could never tell, although he was always on his feet, anticipating and preparing for when the time came.
They ran down to the beach, shoving each other down to Jeffrey's father, Alec's, dock where the Bernadette was resting from the day trip they took the other day with Aunt Claire, Iantha, and Mr. Penderwick. On the edge was Skye's treasured telescope, with some papers of constellations neatly laminated and clipped onto the side.
"Here, come! The sky is really clear tonight," Skye hastily set up the telescope, tilting it upwards to the cloudless night. Jeffrey neatly sat down on the edge of the dock, his feet dangling, tickling the semi shallow water below.
"So, what do you know about constellations?" Skye questioned, and Jeffrey gulped. They had been learning about this in Science but it was summer... He didn't think he would need to know.
"Well," he started slowly, biting his tongue, focusing, "I know only one constellation, and I'm sure you know it too." Skye jumped up and down in excitement and Jeffrey couldn't help but smile.
"At least that's better than Jane and Rosalind. Tell me, which one? Is it Cetus? Or maybe it's Grus, that's one's really nice..." She realized she was rambling and her eyes flickered back to him.
"Sorry, back to you," No please, keep rambling, I seriously can't compare my astronomical skills to yours... "Which one were you thinking of?" She sat next to him, expectantly waiting. The crickets quieted and the moon glowed down on them, leaning in for his response.
"The only one I know is Orion," Skye nodded, and he knew this was his chance. He could finally explain how he felt!
"You see, Orion was a hunter. And Orion loved this goddess, Artemis. They were best friends, and they did everything together, especially hunting. That was their favorite thing to do, just like how we do soccer together. Artemis, without knowing, uh..." The end wasn't very promising. But that should have done the trick. He was Orion, and she was Artemis.
"What?" Skye pestered, struggling to sit up. Her elbow touched something cold, followed by a splash. She looked to her left, then to her right, but the telescope seemed nowhere to be found.
"Oh my gosh! My telescope!" She looked into the murky depths, her piercing blue eyes welling up with tears, the story forgotten. Oh dang, what am I going to do? Panicking, he instinctively did what he thought was best, and quickest.
Feeling cold water splash over him, he had no time to shiver as he stretched his arms out in front of him, sand spilling over his palms.
It's here, it's here, I know it.
The whole ocean was cold, and he had no idea how he was going to find it. He couldn't see anything, and whenever he opened his eyes, the salt made them sting. Jeffrey was going blind, and his chances were becoming slimmer and slimmer by the second.
His lungs protested for air, and he reached down into the grains of sand one more time.
Reaching around a cylinder, bubbles escaped his mouth in happiness. The telescope!
Breaking the surface, waves lapped his chin and he grinned at her.
"The telescope! You did it!" He hauled the dripping telescope up, and she helped him up, squeezing his soggy frame.
Jeffrey sighed, figuring she would never need to know the tragic end of Orion's story. Never know that that Artemis killed him by accident, only knowing after he died that he truly loved him.

And that's the first installment of In Five Years Time! I'm not really happy about how TPiS ended, and there are many gaps in the novel that I felt needed to be put in. If you have any criticism or comments please review! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this wonderful adventure with me!

-Smoke