Interstellar Academy

03: Halfway

The first half of their first semester went by pretty quickly. Nova focused more on academics and Jim more on technology, so they didn't see much of each other. Midterms had come and gone, people had come and gone- thankfully their group stayed in tact- and Nova's sixteenth birthday was coming up.

Jim was unsure what to do for his girlfriend- he was still trying to get over the shock of having a girlfriend, not to mention that she's a beautiful, legendary sunmaid.

Nova had trusted their friends enough to trust them with that information. They were shocked- and unbelieving at first- but had become accustomed to the idea, and were quite excited about it. Charlotte and Ruse had so many questions to ask, which at first made the sunmaid uncomfortable, but she'd warmed up to them and began answering them enthusiastically.

Jim also took this as an opportunity to really get to know his girlfriend.

Still, he had no ideas on what to get her.

Morph usually stayed at home, not because Jim forced him to, but because he preferred the alone time. Whenever the boys were in their room, they were all loud and obnoxious, blasting music and video games, arguing over their courses on who was right and who was right and who was smart and who was dumb. Morph liked the idea of no noise.

Now they were on a week long fall break, and the team thought it would be a waste to leave and come right back- it took a week to get home anyway.

"If I had my map," Jim muttered to her one day, the sun blazing down on them. They protected them under some foliage.

Nova lay her head on Jim's shoulder. "I'm glad you don't have that map. You'd be out treasure hunting all the time; I'd never see you…" She bit her lip, embarrassed by her selfishness.

"Oh, BLECH. Come on, there are PEOPLE," Helena complained, rolling her fiery eyes, flipping her platinum blond hair from her shoulders.

"S-Sorry," Nova said, jolting upward.

"Stop," Jim said. His voice sounded serious, but his expression showed he was anything but.

"I'm goin' swimmin'," said Stav.

The group stared at him curiously.

"I was built to withstand water; don't worry, I've been doing it for years."

"It's true. He was even swim champion two years running," Ruse chipped in, standing up to join his friend. Charlotte and Helena stood up too.

"Yes, let's leave the love birds alone. Maybe Jim can push some sixteenth b-day ideas out of this girl." Charlotte winked at Nova, who blushed in response, before running into the water.

When they were officially alone, no one paying attention to them, Jim grabbed hold of Nova's cheek and turned her to face him. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, at first softly, then more ferociously. It didn't last long; Nova pulled away to get air.

He chuckled, pressing his forehead against hers. "Sorry. I forget about that whole 'breathing' thing when I'm with you."

She nodded in agreement, unable to speak.

"But, honestly, what do you wanna do for your birthday?"

"Be alone," she blurted, swallowing air and keeping her gaze low. "Really, truly alone. With you." She sighed then, laying against the towel he'd brought. "I love our friends, but they're…."

"Crowdy? Pushy? Annoying?" Jim finished for her. She pressed a hand to his lips playfully.

"Don't be mean, Jim Hawkins."

"But you were thinking it, don't play dumb." He lay next to her, staring up through the trees at the bright blue sky. "But I could probably arrange that. But your friends wanna spend time with you too." He leaned on one elbow to look directly into her eyes. "What do you guys usually do, on your planet?"

"On Solara, we didn't have time to celebrate birthdays… We are at war constantly. Our king, my father, he… he never liked celebrating such petty things, not when the country was in peril…" She pressed her palms against her face, embarrassed of the tears trying to brim her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm ruing our day."

He took a hand from her face and kissed it, laying it down on her chest so he could look at her again. "No, you're not. These things I like to know-"

Then it hit him.

"You said the king of Solara is… your dad?" His eyes widened. "Oh, my…"

"I-I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how!" She sat up, her head spinning as she did. "Ow…" she shook the nausea running through her stomach away. "Fitting into casual conversation seemed easiest."

"You're a princess… of an entire planet… and you thought being casual was the best way to reveal that information?" He rolled his eyes at her reasoning, turning away from her.

"How would you have done it? Honestly, Jim, think about it…" She was biting her lip to hold back tears. She knew the news would upset him, but not this much.

He sighed and stole a kiss before playfully glaring at her. "Look, you can't keep secrets like that from me, OK? No more secrets."

She nodded enthusiastically, leaning up to kiss him tenderly.

"You guys kiss each other one more time, I'm going to blast you both into the next galaxy," Helena threatened.

"Enough water?" Nova teased, her fingers playing with Jim's.

"It's a bit too breezy." Charlotte kneeled in front of her roommate. "Hey, but I have an idea for your birthday: A Luau!"

Nova raised an eyebrow. "But that's an ancient Earth thing. Do you know how to hold one?"

"Oh yes!" Charlotte's eyes shone. "Please, I'll set it up, invite our friends and classmates. It'll be a big thing!"

"I-I don't want you going through trouble-" Nova began, but Charlotte placed a finger to her lips.

"Listen, Nova Finn, you have no say, understood? You're going to have this party, you're going to have fun, you're more than likely going to steal disgusting kisses from your boyfriend, and you're going to like it, whether you want to or not."

"Well," Nova said with a falsely disappointed sigh, "how could I possibly argue with that logic?"

"That's what I thought!" Charlotte and the others collected their things and left, leaving Jim and Nova alone once more.

"Charlotte's pushy, but I like that about her. That 'never-say-no-but-super-nice-attitude' is going to make her a good captain."

Jim gazed down at his girlfriend, really staring at her. Taking in her dark brown freckles that danced from cheek to cheek, how her cheeks consistently stayed pink, how pieces of her hair stuck out of its braid, which he knew consistently frustrated her. She caught him looking at her and stared back, a pale pink smile in his direction. Her eyes were so bright, sparkling, especially when looking at him, like she expected fascinating, beautiful things from him.

So much hope.

"I-" He wanted to say it, then shook his head. "Uh, I gotta plan your birthday."

"But, you heard Charlotte; she has-"

"No, I mean, my present. To you."

Her cheeks reddened even more. "OH! OK. If you want." She stared at the water a little longer then stood up, brushing sand off her legs and shorts. "Let's head back. I'm starving." She extended her hand to him, which he didn't hesitate to grab.

And they headed back to campus.