Interstellar Academy

08: New

Finally the semester was over, and they'd gone home. The group had done rather well on their exams, to the surprise of Nova, Helena and Ruse especially. Nova was more than convinced she would be celebrating Christmas early- in her room, locked away for failing school so miserably. She'd done above average work, including some extra credit she had to do in order to stay up-to-speed with the other students; the Roger fiasco had majorly distracted her and put her behind.

After a month long holiday break, they students flooded back, almost anxiously. The freshmen were ready to get their first year over with. Jim, Ruse and Stav still shared rooms, as did Nova, Helena and Charlotte. Over the break, Lena and Charlie had fought and were currently arguing over who got the single bed.

The other four watched helplessly as the girls argued over their lunch break.

"H-Hey. Why don't we move into a bigger room? We could separate the bunk beds and everyone would have a single bed?" Nova tried.

"NO!" they snapped, causing the girl to flinch. They continued on with their fight.

"Maybe we should move," Jim suggested quietly. The other three nodded in agreement and inched away from the screaming teenagers toward another empty table.

"Are you excited to be starting a new semester, Nova?" asked Stav.

Nova was shocked at the fact the robot was referring to her at all; last semester they hadn't said much to each other, except some occasional jibes. She nodded her head, her mouth stuffed with salad. When her throat was cleared she continued. "I'm excited to just get this year over with. I'm so tired of school. We don't have as much of it on Solara."

"Well, how long do you have school?"

"Until we're fourteen. Then we spend the rest of our adulthood plotting wars like our parents." Nova shrugged, picking at the large green leaves she suddenly found less appetizing.

"I'm glad you're not like that," said the robot, smiling sheepishly at her. Nova returned the smile ten-fold then continued eating.

Jim couldn't help but stare at the way Stav looked at Nova, or the way Nova glanced at Stav.

They couldn't be…

I mean, that was ridiculous, those two. But really…

Jim looked over at Ruse, who was observing the same thing.

Back at the boys dorms' basketball court, Jim and Ruse were playing a rousing game of hoops while Stav continued to study his astrology.

"Hey, so, did something happen over break?" Ruse finally inquired, wiping the sweat from his green forehead.

Stav glanced daringly at Jim before answering. "Well… almost." The robot kept his glance upward. "Look, don't get the wrong idea. It's just, I went to visit Solara with some family; apparently, Nova's parents think it's wise to make an alliance with our robot planet. It was all business so me and Nova snuck away." Jim stood defensively, Stav noticed, but said nothing. "Nothing happened. Honest, nothing at all. But I'm not gonna lie to you and say there wasn't a… click."

Jim tossed the ball at Stav's head, though it was useless; the robot's hand-eye coordination was unbeatable. "Sure that wasn't your head?"

"Oh, ha ha," said Stav, rolling his eyes and tossing the ball violently back. "Look, I don't think anything would happen. All she talked about all break was you. But when she wasn't talking about her beloved Jim Hawkins, she was just…" Stav grimaced, trying to find the best way to describe how this girl made him feel. "It's weird. I didn't know I was capable of this. But then I was just spending so much time with her, I dunno." He pressed a hand to his face. "I know how you feel about her, Jim. How you're in love with her, and the fact she's definitely in love with you. But I donno, I think she's just lonely."

Jim raised a daring eyebrow, urging Stav to continue.
"She said something about your 'spot' and how special just being there meant to her. And now she can't bring herself to visit it because of all the memories. And so she was talking to me about moving on, and as the holiday went on… well, I brought up moving on… with me…"

Jim's mouth hung open. Shaking his head angrily, he said, "You know you're a ROBOT right? Like, if anything happened, it'd be cold and weird and-"

"This was brought up!" Stav interrupted hotly. Trying to regain his composure, he stood up and took a ball off the rack, shooting it nonchalantly- yet perfectly- into the hoop. "I told her that as long as we cared about each other, that it wouldn't matter, and she wouldn't notice. She agreed with me. But before we could keep talking about it, negotiations were over and off I was brought back to my planet."

"SERIOUSLY?" Jim shouted. "You know I'm in love with this girl! I've been in love with her for almost a year! A YEAR! There's a year of history and secret-revealing and touching and kissing and everything else that you don't have a chance against!"

"As long as Roger is in the picture," Stav challenged, whirling around on his metallic heels, "there's not a darn thing you can do about it! If she moves on, you should be happy about it! You should be happy she doesn't feel pressured to date one or the other, that she actually has a choice!" Stav sighed then, holding his head. "She was under that demon's control for so long, the concept obviously escapes her. Now she may or may not have a choice out of the ones she'd been given. You should be happy!"

"How am I supposed to be happy if the girl I'm head over heels in love with is possibly falling for you! How am I supposed to at all enjoy that idea!"

"I don't know, Jim, you just do BECAUSE you love her!"

The argument ended abruptly. Jim stayed the night in a tech buddy's room for a few days, which turned into a few weeks, which turned into a couple months.

The semester half over by now, the gang had split up. Nova and Stav were, in fact, getting along quite nicely, at the surprise of some and behest of others. They weren't making anything public, however, which had to be a sign in itself.

Helena had gone off to another planet for one whole semester to study geography. She wanted so badly to study maps of the ship; after hearing about Jim's adventures with a certain treasure map, it piqued her interest and she needed to know more. Charlotte was busy with swim team, to everyone's surprise, but they met at each of her meets to cheer her on. Charlotte seemed to be the only thing linking the group together.

Late one night, Nova had stayed in the library to brush on her geometry. She felt she was slacking in the angles department and had asked for a tutor to help her. When the tutor was yawning over her work, Nova had given the poor man permission to leave, thanking him for his time and patience. He'd helped her tremendously, but she wanted to know more. There was so much to learn.

Stav snuck up behind her, startling her, but she smiled at him anyway.

"Hey! Glad to see you're still working hard," Stav joked, winking a bright blue eye at her.

"Ah, yes. I am struggling in geometrics, and had asked a tutor to assist me. It helped, but I'd kept him late." She sighed. "There's just so much I have questions on."

"How about I help you?" Stav scooted his chair closer to hers, their knees touching. He cleared his throat, pretending to ignore the contact. "Where are you stuck on?"

"So far, area. The different formulas confuse me."

"Alright, let's start with a triangle and work ourselves up."

So Stav and Nova spent another going over formula after formula, practice problem after practice problem, until Nova's brain couldn't take anymore knowledge. She shut her geometry book abruptly and lay her head on it, as if she were ready to sleep upon it. Covering her mouth, she gave a roaring yawn, which Stav responded to.

"I guess it's about time we head on to bed." He escorted her to her dorm, but stopped her just at the door. She turned to him, confused. "Look, I have to bring something up with you. And I want you to be one hundred percent honest with me, OK?"

Nova nodded, a single eyebrow raised.

"We've been talking for awhile. And I know that…that I'm a robot, so things are… weird and everything… but I was wondering if…" He looked into her green eyes, noticing his message registering in her orbs.

"Uh… Stav, I-"

"I don't want an answer right now- I know I said to be honest, but think on it. Please?"

Nova bit her lip, then nodded. "OK. I'll think on it. Give me until Friday." With that, she snuck into her room, her heart pounding.

She loved Jim. That was the biggest problem. If Roger finally left them alone, she would go back to Jim in a heartbeat- if he took her back. If she dated Stav, as much as they'd been connecting, she would inevitably hurt him. She would have to bring that up with him.

Nova really thought about what had happened between the two of them for their feelings to grow like this. It was definitely an intellectual thing. Though Stav was attractive, and Nova was said to be attractive herself, the main thing that brought them together was intelligence, and a way to communicate thoroughly with their brain. It made their relationship more interesting.

But then there was Jim.

Jim was exciting. Loving. Frustrating. Loathsome. Always hiding behind something. Always up to no good. Always putting others before him. He was a mix of things that drove Nova absolutely insane.

And they were all the reasons why she loved him.