Every Soul a Star: Chapter 6

I had to explain to the group that the retina at the back of your eye doesn't have any pain receptors. That means you won't feel the damage that's being done until it's too late. As soon as I said the words “you can go blind” people rushed up to get their glasses-making materials.

Comets and asteroids are one thing (well, two!), but an exoplanet? I never even dreamed of it! And we're going to chart it for a real astronomer, all the way in Hawaii! Jack said Mr. Silver told him the guy works at an observatory on the top of a volcano that's, like, the highest spot in the world.

Melanie and I lift the cover and hold it up while Kenny and Jack unscrew the computer component.

The rain pounds against the walls of the shed and rivulets of water stream down the one window.

Kenny kneels down to assess the damage. The thick plastic binder is splattered with mud, but the pages inside are only wet around the outside edges.

Jack takes a breath and nods in grim acceptance. "Well, no matter what we do, I'm NOT painting my nails!"

When we were younger, Ryan's grandfather and mine used to compete to see who could tell us the scariest ghost stories. A pang goes through me. I hope Grandpa knows how much I wish he were here.

"Hungry and scared, these kids were so far away, no one would ever hear them scream. They kept their ears out for any noises outside, especially the rattling of a hook on the door. They tried to stay awake, but one by one they succumbed to sleep. But they had forgotten something."

It wasn't raining like this when I left. I had no idea the path or the hillside would be so treacherous. I actually had my flip-flops on at first and turned back around for sneakers.

No one says anything for a few minutes as the rain continues to pelt down on the roof.

Kenny says, "I don't know, it sort of makes sense. Like if I go in there on the first day and try out for the math team, then I'll be known as this math wiz, and no one in the entomology club will take me seriously."
"The what club?" I ask.
"Entomology," he repeats. "The study of bugs."

"Okay, so let's say there are no bug clubs at your school," Melanie says with a lot more patience than I could have mustered. "Then you can start one. That's the great thing about living in a big town. You can do so many things..."

Her skin is brighter already, less ashen. I'm surprised to find that I'm wishing it could have been me who made Ally feel better.

The sliver of moonlight coming from the open door casts strange shadows on his face.

The air is thick and soupy, and I can tell the lull in the storm is just that, a lull.

This enormous rock controls so much of what happens on our planet. The tides, for one, and indirectly, the weather. I'm struck by the perfect way the universe fits together, like a big elaborate watch that keeps perfect time.

“I won't," I promise, watching Stella daintily cut her pancakes. I've eaten with Stella before. She usually eats like a truck driver.

I look up to see one of the t-shirt guys sauntering through the door.

She must have seen me eyeing the bag because she holds it out and says, “Would you like your sandwich now, by any chance?"
“Sure," I say as nonchalantly as possible. “Might as well save you the trouble of bringing it up later."

The next thing I know, I've tripped over something and am sprawled on the ground.

"Should I take notes?" Kenny asks, poised to reach into his backpack.

Then he asks Ally for the coordinates of the star we're assigned to monitor. She reads it from the logbook and he types it in.
"Right ascension of twenty hours. Declination of forty degrees, eighteen minutes, twenty-three seconds."

"It has to keep the star in the frame. The Earth is spinning so it has to keep compensating."

"Well," she says, "not to get too technical, but Earth, which is rotating on its axis at a thousand miles per hour, goes around the sun at 66,000 miles per hour. And then our entire solar system is hurtling toward the Summer Triangle at 45,000 miles per hour."

After another half hour of reading the numbers off the tiny screen, I'm getting delirious. I turn the position over to Ally, who later drags Bree up there to take her place.