Interstellar Academy

23: Truth

"Apparently, she's been to the Rosado Galaxy," Ruse said, mouth full of food.

"Will you chew and swallow before speaking, please?" Charlotte scolded her brother, turning away embarrassingly.

"I am a man, sis; get used to it." He munched on his food obnoxiously, his mouth uncomfortably close to her ear. She shoved her brother away playfully.

"She couldn't have gone recently," Nova said, raising an eyebrow. "Not with all the thefts and the fact the authorities shut the place out to outsiders."

"That's what I told Jim. Then when we talked about it later, he'd forgotten all about it. How weird is that?"

Jim didn't forget anything. He was a prodigy for a reason, the boy had the memory of an elephant. Any little detail, no matter how miniscule, he would commit it to memory.

This unnerved the sunmaid.

Nova had abided by Leslie's wishes and avoided Jim this past semester so far. Initially, the girl was hurt by the idea, but she'd started to notice how carefree Jim looks. He didn't appear as stressed as he did before.

But this newfound information puzzled her, for reasons unknown.

If anything suspicious or wrong was going on, though, Nova felt confident Jim would discover it and nip it in the bud.

She ran several laps in physical education with five-pound weights in her hand before using ten out of the last twenty minutes of class for a walking rest. Jim ran up beside her, also breathless, with that boyish smile that still set her heart ablaze.

Being separated for so long also helped her heal, though it was her fault he'd felt pushed away. The time apart mended the little broken pieces that she'd formed for herself, and she picked them up slowly but surely. Though, when he stood next to her like this, she would end up dropping a few small shards.

"Hey!" He pat her on the back. "How are you?"

Casual, awkward conversation. It wasn't like they'd known each other for almost two years or anything.

"Fine, actually. And yourself?"

"Perfect, believe it or not." He stretched his arms into the air and twisted his torso to cool down his body.

"I'm glad to hear it. You don't look so stressed."

"Well… I don't feel stressed, but my head hasn't been doing too well."

She cocked her head to the side. "Oh?"

"Yeah. It's been doing this awful pounding thing for a couple months. At first, it was on and off, but now it's almost consistent."

"Have you seen the infirmary? Maybe it's something other than school."

Jim contemplated that a second. "Yeah, I think I know what it is. Can I talk to you about something?"

Nova really didn't want to, but those puppy dog eyes practically forced her to sit down in the bleachers. "What's up?"

"It's about Leslie. I think… I think she's lying to me about something."

Nova bit her lip, her eyebrows lowering on her forehead. "Well, Jim. Everyone lies. Is it that big of a deal or…"

"She said she went to the Rosado Galaxy during this past summer. But that didn't seem right because they'd shut it down." He rubbed his temples and talked slowly, as if this conversation was just coming to his memory. "But then she changed what she'd said; she'd gone the summer before. I don't know, it just bothers me."

"Have you talked to HER about this?" Nova really wished he would.

"I try, but when I start out confident, I end up forgetting what we're talking about. It's like, I look at her, and suddenly my brain goes blank. I can't think around her."

The sunmaid really didn't want to have THIS conversation. "Maybe you could write it down and give it to her? If it's written down, you're not looking at her, and if she reads it, she can't look at you to distract you."

"I've thought about that, but I'm too forward. You know me."

Nova nodded, sighing. "I don't know what to tell you. It is rather, odd, though, not gonna lie."

"Hey, Nova!" Leslie appeared out of no where, it seemed, and approached the two of them. As she drew closer, she slowed her pace and eyed them both, as if trying to uncover their conversation just by looking at them.

Nova felt exposed under her gaze.

"Hi, Leslie," Nova said meekly, waving.

"Are you almost done? If so, let's go back to the dorm; it's study break period for us both, right?"

"Yeah, let me change, I guess." Nova said a soft good-bye to Jim before rushing away.

Leslie took the other girl's original spot, moving close to her boyfriend. "Hey there, cowboy."

"Hey. Did you class dismiss early?"

"Yeah, actually! So I decided to come and visit my favorite human." She linked arms with him and forced him to his feet. "Then join my good friend Nova at the dorm."

"Sounds like a plan." He huffed, his eyes focused on the sky above. He just had to blurt it out, and keep his eyes elsewhere. "Hey, Leslie, look. I think we need to talk-"

"Oh, guess what!" she interrupted, and went into a ramble about something irrelevant, throwing him off.

However, he wasn't going to be deterred.

He stopped in his tracks to glare down at her. "Leslie, why do you keep interrupting me? I'm trying to talk with you and you won't listen; I'm starting to get frustrated."

Leslie's lip quivered, but he wouldn't give in. She was still trying to distract him.

"What are you hiding from me?"

"Hey, Leslie, I'm rea-" Nova noticed their little moment, and turned to walk away. "Sorry!"

"N-no, Nova, I'm coming." Leslie threw his hand from her, as if disgusted. "You know, I think it's pretty messed up that you would question me."

"Not really, I think it's completely reasonable, considering you keep avoiding everything I say."

"Whatever." She flipped her short red hair and caught up with Nova. The sunmaid glanced back at her friend, confused, but was tugged forward, unable to go back and check on Jim.

That girl hid something important from him, and he felt hellbent on discovering what it could be.

They spent a week and a half not speaking to each other, Jim delving into finding out more about Leslie, Nova secretly helping him. She'd convinced Charlotte, Stav and Ruse rather easily to join in. They tried to find data of some sort, any remnant of info that would assist them in their search, but nothing came up.

"It's like she appeared out of no where," Charlotte said, tossing a piece of paper angrily to the ground.

"There has to be something…" Stav and Nova were searching through the same pile, then simultaneously pulled out a shred of torn, browned paper. Stav gasped. "Uh… guys?"

"I can't believe it…"

The other three stood behind them, reading over their shoulders.

"Leslie… worked at the same place Helena did…"

The pieces fit together.

Jim growled, turning on his heel. "I can't believe it. I should have KNOWN."

Nova stood beside him and laid a hand to his shoulder. "No one could have suspected, Jim."

He looked at his best friend with so much hurt and sadness her heart broke all over again. So much for picking up the pieces.

"We gotta call her out," Charlotte said, rushing to the door.

"And what good would that do?" Stav held her back, his grip on her arm gentle but firm.

"It would make me feel better."

"We don't even know if this article is right. I mean, all its describing is a girl with bright hair and bright eyes. Of course they took Helena in; she matches those descriptions."

"But so does LESLIE. It's rare to find light-haired people in the Rosado galaxy. She must have rushed off before being caught."

"Why would she frame Helena?" Ruse asked, his mind now elsewhere.

"To pull us apart, no doubt. Like she successfully did with you two." Charlotte gestured between Nova and Jim, whose faces blushed at being put on the spot. "I mean, you guys don't go a day without speaking to each other. This girl comes along and now you never do? Really?" Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"She told me it'd be best," Nova confessed, facing Jim. "She said you were distracted by me, and you wanted to succeed, but couldn't if I was around."

"That's not even true, I never said that!" Though he was yelling in Nova's direction, she knew it wasn't intended for her, but for his girlfriend.

Or ex-girlfriend.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Ruse said, opening the door from the backroom of the library and heading out. "It's hers. Now let's pay her a little visit."

"We need more solid evidence," Nova called out.

Stav agreed hurriedly, pulling his friend back in and slamming the door. "She's right, we've got nothing on her."

"AND WHY DOES SHE CARE?" Charlotte ripped through the papers, trying to find just one more inkling of evidence.

They thought a moment, the only sound coming from a grumbling Charlotte. Then Jim said, "Who wants more than anything to see us torn apart?"

Nova didn't have anyone in mind, until her brain come up with a horrid, tanned face with grotesque horns protruding from its white hair. "Roger." She pressed a hand to her mouth. "Oh, Goddess, I thought he'd been expelled."

"I haven't seen him around. Maybe he has. Maybe he hasn't. But I doubt he's off the campus," Ruse said through his teeth.

"When is Helena's trial?" Nova asked, the clock ticking extra loud now.

"A week from tomorrow."

"Then we gotta work fast," Jim said. "If we can prove Helena isn't the culprit, we can save her from going to jail. And it looks like we got all the proof we need."

They searched aimlessly on databases, on search engines, on anything that would provide solid proof that Helena was in fact innocent.

A/N: I'm going to edit this chapter later; I don't really feel like it, plus I have to leave in twenty minutes but wanted to post it. Anyway, sorry for my bad grammar; I'm having a horrible case of writer's block and forcing myself to form pretty much random sentences in the hopes they make sense. Like I said, I'll be editing this and the previous chapter.