AN/... Hi. This is my first Fanfiction and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, so please bear with me and enjoy.
Chapter 1 - The Blue Dot
Grace POV - I strolled towards the stall that I was meant to be in charge of. It was the Summer Fare at Del-Moncarlo Grammar School for Exceptional Young Women and each year group was asked to organise and man stall for the day. I was in my third year at Del-Moncarlo Grammar School, after being accepted, in 2008, for my 'over average' result in my Mathematics Exam. As I made my way to the 'Jelly and Ice-Cream Stall', on the far side of the school field, I caught sight of my best friend, Tamara, or Tammy, as she like to be called. Tammy's golden hair fell, smoothly and perfectly, to her shoulders in gentle waves, like a beautiful sheet of silk. I had always been jealous of Tammy's appearance, because it seemed so effortless, and I wished that my hair would be as natural and as flawless as Tammy's was. My hazel eyes met Tammy's sapphire blue one's, and we silently communicated, saying hello and telling each other to meet at the Third-Year's Stall. This was a connection we had always had. We could have whole conversations with each other during class and nobody ever knew. This was definitely an advantage if we were confused or didn't understand anything, because we could then tell the other that we'll explain it after class or tell the other that we didn't get it either.
"Hi," I said, when we met at the stall.
"Hi, what's up?" Tammy said to me. It was not actually a serious question, just a way of greeting.
"Nothing much," I replied. "What about you. You seem kind of panicked. Do you need to be somewhere or something?" She seemed to want to be somewhere else, or need to be somewhere else. It wasn't like her to be so vacant.
"I'm sorry, Grace. I can't help you out with the stall. I need to meet someone. About...something," Tammy told me awkwardly, as if she was holding something back.
"Who?" I asked in a suspicious, yet interested voice.
"Well... Christian Lenning asked my out!" Tammy practically squealed the last part at me.
"That's great!" I said half-heartedly, but she probably didn't realise because she was so absorbed in her thoughts of Christian. "Go and see Christian. Have fun. And don't let him treat you badly, because he'll have me to deal with." The truth was, I liked Christian as well. I wished it was me that he had asked out. However, I was still happy for Tammy. I decided to forget about the whole 'Christian' thing as Tammy walked away. For the next two hours, I was swamped with customers.
When I finally got a break from people constantly thrusting money at me (which was a lot worse than it sounds) I went to sit under one of the biggest trees at the back of the school field. It was a hot summer's day, which was very unusual considering the unpredictable English weather, and I lay down on the grass and looked up through the trees. The sun shining through the branches was like lots of little spotlights settling their gaze on me, their brightness contrasting with the expanse of blue that spread out endlessly above the world, keeping a watchful eye on the happenings on the planet that it protected. Suddenly, a little blue dot appeared in the sky. I thought it was just a bird or an aeroplane at first, but it didn't move, and it seemed too far away to be a helicopter. As I watched it, I wondered what it was. Then I blinked, and it was gone, just as suddenly as it had appeared. What could it have possibly been?
It was there that Tammy found me, lying on the grass, wondering what the blue dot was. She didn't seem to notice my absence of general intelligence, as she chattered on to me about how Christian had told her that they could be friends but nothing more. It was at this moment that I realised how bitterly insignificant our lives actually were. What does it matter is a boy likes us or not? We're going to keep living whatever the outcome. We shouldn't worry about stupid things like boys or hair or makeup or whether we're fat or not. If someone doesn't like us just the way we are then they are not the kind of person we should be friends with, or even in love with. When I made this point to Tammy, she just looked at me like had grown long ears and a fluffy tail.
"What's wrong, Grace? Where did that come from?" she asked, obviously concerned.
"I don't know," I replied, careful not to make myself sound even more insane than she already thought I was. "I was just thinking about life and the bigger picture. If we don't get the boy of our dreams, then he obviously wasn't the one and we won't remember who he was in 10 years time." I watched Tammy's face as her expression changed from thoughtful and confused to admiration.
"I never realised you thought like that. I agree with you, to be honest. It's just fun to obsess over boys, and pretend that you're the prettiest, most attractive girl in the universe sometimes." Tammy sounded a bit sad when she said this, as if she wished, in that moment more than any other, that her fantasies were a reality. Unfortunately they were not, and never would be.
I lay in bed that night, thinking of our conversation and of the blue dot in the sky. Could it have been aliens, or a UFO? What was it? Finally, I decided to Google 'blue light it the sky' to see what came up, and if I was the only one who saw it. I got out my hot pink laptop from on top of my desk, and sat down on my old, worn, wooden bunk bed. Immediately results came up such as 'strange blue light over Arctic Sky 9th Dec 2009' and 'Mystery as spiral blue light display hovers above Norway'. There was nothing that was even remotely like the little blue dot that I had seen and yet I was sure it wasn't anything that would ordinarily be seen in the sky. Someone must have seen something. I tried again, this time searching 'blue dot in the sky' and, once again, none of the results even slightly resembling the dot I had seen. I must have been the only one to notice anything. But why? Why me? What was so special about me? I was just a 14-year-old, teenage girl. I was normal. Why would someone want me to see the dot? And why now?