"Welcome to the first meeting of the Bishop Astronomers' Club for Kindred Spirits; BACKS, for short."

Root was standing at the end of the table, looking around the circular booth. She'd put an ad online for a MeetUp of like-minded scientists. Only four people responded so after a couple weeks, she'd set a date and picked the Kingsville Arcade and Roller Rink as the location. That had been Sameen's idea.

John and Lionel had come along for moral support and because Sameen had given then 10 bucks. Root wasn't supposed to know that, but it was fine. The more bodies the better.

She looked at the man next to them. To everyone's surprise, Mr. Finch, their math teacher had answered the ad. Apparently, he was into science as well. Root didn't know who the next two people were, but they seemed to be a middle-aged married couple. The wife was wearing a shirt with the HAM Radio symbol on it, so they couldn't be too bad.

Root's eyes landed on the last member of their group, her face dropping into a scowl. Tomas had answered her ad. Root highly doubted he was actually interested in science because his eyes kept drifting across the arcade to where Sameen was playing Mortal Kombat and pretending she didn't care.

Root slammed her stack of papers onto the table, making Tomas jump and look at her. "These are your reading lists. The first order of business for BACKS to make sure we are all on the same page. Literally."

Root took a packet from the stack and then passed the stack to Lionel.

"Any questions?"

"Yes, Miss Groves," Harold said, peering at his packet. "What-"

"Call me Root. We're all equals at this table." Root interrupted.

"Ok…" Harold said, squinting up at her. "Miss Groves, I was under the assumption that this was a group for discussing alien interventions in our society."

"Well, Harold," Root said pointedly, hearing Sameen snort from behind her, "it is a group for that, but it's also a group for actively trying to reach out to aliens and make contact."

"Wait," Tomas said, flipping through his packet, "We're alien hunters?"

Root clenched her jaw and turned to glare at him. "We are scientists with an interest in astronomy and the extra-terrestrial. If you aren't interested, no one is going to stop you from leaving, Thomas."

"It's To-MAS, actually," he corrected her, glancing at Sameen once again.

Root stared at him, wondering if she could get away with a solid punch to the jaw. It would impress Sameen and get this douchebag out of her. With a sigh, she decided against it and turned away to address the group.

"Any other questions?"

"So, let me get this straight," Lionel furrowed his brow, "We're going to build radios, read books, and talk to aliens?"

"Yes," Root said, rolling her eyes. All of this was on the first page of their packets. She could forgive Lionel because he was only 12 and not 14 like her. Everyone else needed to step up. "That's what I said."

"Cool." Lionel folded his packet up and tucked it into his jacket pocket. "Could we explore haunted buildings, too? Ghost and Aliens kinda go together, right? I watched that show, that Ghost Adventures. They use radios."

Root sighed, but she was pleased at his enthusiasm. "I suppose we could put it to a vote. For now, though, let's stick with astronomy, please."

She looked at the couple, who were intently reading their packets. At least they understood the seriousness of the operation. Root clapped her hands together.

"Alright, that concludes our first meeting. Make sure to put your numbers and emails down on the sign-in sheet so I can message you about our next meeting."

She watched Tomas slip out of the booth and cross the arcade to talk to Sameen and turned away. She smiled at John and Lionel as they slid out of the booth.

"Thanks for coming, guys. I know Sameen paid you, but I still appreciate it."

John shrugged. "We would have come anyway."

"Yeah," Lionel added, grinning, "we just took the cash because why not, you know?"

Root laughed and waved them off. She and Sameen had plans to see a movie, so the boys were on their own for the night. She couldn't help, but glance over her shoulder again.

Sameen was leaning against the game, her back to the console. Tomas casually leaned toward her, looking cooler than Root ever could. He said something and laughed. Root couldn't see if Sameen laughed back, but she had her arms crossed. That was a good sign.

"Root?" a voice asked.

Root turned to see the couple standing in front of her, packets in their hands. The woman held her hand out for Root to shake.

"Alicia. It's nice to meet you," the woman smiled. She nodded to her husband. "This is Denton, my fellow space enthusiast. We were glad to see your posting. There aren't many people around here who are interest in this sort of thing."

"I know," Root groaned, "it's hard to find anyone in Bishop to talk to."

"Well, consider us your confidants!" Denton joked. "We're about as curious as they come and we've already read a couple of books on this list. Can't wait to read more!"

They waved at Root and turned away. Root looked around for Mr. Finch, but he must have slipped away without her knowing. Root secretly hoped he wouldn't come to the next meeting; he seemed like a real downer.

She sighed and picked up the rest of the packets from the table. She'd have to go over to Sameen and Tomas eventually. Tomas wasn't that bad of a guy. He could be a douche, but he'd never been purposefully mean to Root. However, he was a junior and had a cool leather jacket and Sameen thought he was cute.

Root turned to look at them. "Sameen?" she called.

Sameen looked at her and started towards her, leaving Tomas hanging in the middle of his sentence. She stopped next to Root.

"Ready?" she asked, grabbing the last few French fries Lionel had left on his plate.

"If you are," Root replied, glancing over Sameen's shoulder at Tomas, who was staring at Sameen's back, confused.

"Yeah," Sameen said, heading for the door. "I need more Wonder Woman."

"Again?" Root asked, laughing and following her. "We've seen it like four times." She held her hands up defensively when Sameen glared at her. "I'm not complaining! You keep buying and I'll keep watching. Hey, do you think you could help me get arms like that?"

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Root angled her phone camera for a better view. They were on the bus back to Bishop and the light was starting to fade. Sameen had said that Root's hair was coming in really dark and now Root was trying to look at her roots to confirm.

"I don't see it," Root whined, "Are they really that dark?"

"Yeah," Sameen said, biting off the last of her popsicle. "Not like mine, but brown."

Root dropped her phone into her lap and sighed. "I guess I'm going to be a brunette when I grow up."

Sameen shrugged. "Puberty sucks."

"I can hear Hersch's dumb voice now. 'Root's got roots!' Ugh." Root scowled.

"Where does Root come from?" Sameen asked, chewing on the end of the popsicle stick. Her white teeth left tiny bite marks on the wood.

Root looked at her, head tilted. "Are you being philosophical?"

"Ugh, no," Sameen made a face. "I mean, the nickname."

"Oh."

Root thought about Hanna and how they had been so close before she'd moved away. Hanna had been Root's first real friend and the only one who still talked to her in 8th grade. Root had made the mistake of confiding in someone about her interest in aliens and they'd told the whole school. Kids were still calling her ET.

Hanna had hung out with her, though. She'd liked computers almost as much as Root did and she was the one who had given Root her nickname. They'd been fighting because Hanna caught Root snooping through her school files and she'd called her a "Wannabe Root Admin." It must have sounded cooler in Hanna's head because Root had just started laughing.

Root missed Hanna sometimes. When she'd first moved away, they'd texted constantly and would Skype almost every night. Now, only three months later, they hardly talked. Hanna had made new friends over the summer and Root had her mother to deal with, so they'd drifted apart.

"Root?" Sameen's voice pulled her back to the present.

Root smiled and looked at her. "Sorry, I got distracted. Um, in computers, Root is the person with the most power. The one who can access every file in the system."

Sameen snorted. "Makes sense. You are both bossy and nosy."

"Hey!" Root laughed, punching Sameen's arm. "That's rude."

"Is there a word for rude people?" Sameen snapped her popsicle stick in half and shoved it into her pocket.

"Um…" Root pretended to think, "I think so. It's pronounced "Suh-MEAN."

"Wow. That's clever. Nerd."

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Root leaned back on her hands and lazily kicked her feet in the water. They had spent the rest of the afternoon swimming at Sameen's house. They had to go to sleep soon, tomorrow was Monday, but for now, they were just hanging out, staring at the stars through the screen walls.

"Do you want to get married?" Sameen asked from across the pool.

"Why, Sameen," Root joked, pressing a hand to her heart, "I thought you'd never ask."

She couldn't really see Sameen's face in the dark, but she felt the eyeroll across the distance.

"Idiot." Sameen lifted her legs out of the water, shaking them dry. "In the future."

Root lolled her head back, thinking her answer through. "Well, I suppose I do. I don't know; when I think about the future, it's me and my best friend and a dog in a cool apartment in New York. Or Chicago. Or Washington DC. Some big city with a lot of action."

She heard Sameen's legs splash into the water again and lifted her head.

"I've always wanted a dog," Sameen said quietly.

"Yeah? You've never had one?"

"Never," Sameen sighed. "We moved around too much to keep a pet."

"Really?" Sameen never talked about her life before Mrs. Reese adopted her. "Why?"

Sameen sighed, the pool in front of her splashing lightly. "My dad was in the military, so we always went with him wherever he was stationed."

"And your mother?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok," Root said, letting it go. "That's fine."

They sat in silence for a while. Root wondered what Sameen was like before her parents died. Was she more relaxed? Or was this just what Sameen was like? Root smiled, trying to imagine Sameen excited on Christmas morning. She couldn't, the only image forming was a grumpy five year old ripping open boxes with incredible strength.

"What?" Sameen asked when Root giggled.

"Nothing, just thinking," Root said. "Do you want to get married?"

"I don't know. It's what you're supposed to do, right?"

"Sameen, don't limit yourself! You could do anything you want."

She was quiet for a moment. "Maybe not, then. I can't imagine being with someone forever."

Root shrugged. "I think it could be nice."

"You could just annoy someone into loving you."

"Is it working?"

"Gross," Sameen said, standing and shaking her legs off. "Come on, let's go shower and sleep."

"Sure, we need to go over our Halloween designs anyway."

Sameen opened the door to the house, holding it for Root. In the light, Root could see her rolling her eyes.

"Halloween's weeks away."

"I know!" Root slipped her feet into the bunny slippers Sameen had bought her. "We're almost out of time!"