Chapters 10-13

Chapter Eleven
Time

Flix watched happily as Ksenia went to sit with the French girl instead of Daniel. So the rumors he’d heard had been true. They had finally broken up. It would be better if he knew for certain that she was the one to dump him, but Flix was pretty sure she had. He hoped that their coffee date wasn’t just an excuse to dump Daniel.
* * *
Flix sighed and sat down at the empty table. He had sat alone every day since Daniel started dating Ksenia, and even though it had been a month since they had broken up, he still had no friends. He started unpacking his small lunch when he heard footsteps coming over to the table. He looked up to see none other than Ksenia.
“Do you want to sit with me today?” she asked, smiling warmly.
“S-s-sure I guess.” Flix stammered in response. He stood up and placed his lunch back into the brown paper bag. He followed Ksenia to a large picnic table right outside the cafeteria. Flix wondered why he hadn’t thought of sitting outside all those miserable lonely days. The warm breeze made him feel better immediately, even though it smelled of smog.
“I love being outside too.” Ksenia said smiling.
“I didn’t say anything.” Flix responded in confusion. Ksenia’s face fell instantly. “But my mom back in Maine says it’s easy to tell what I’m thinking!” Flix said quickly, seeing his mistake.
“Yeah.”
“Ksenia! You brought us a friend!” The French girl yelled. She got up and walked over to Flix and Ksenia. She was much shorter than they were, but she seemed to tower above as she looked Flix over.
“Je m’appelle Celeste. Et toi?” She finally asked him. Flix stared at her in confusion, and frantically turned to Ksenia who was laughing.
“It’s French! You’re so stupid sometimes!” Ksenia laughed. Flix grinned in response.
“Well at least I don’t stand in the middle of Starbucks lecturing a C.D. on John Lennon’s taste in music!” Ksenia laughed harder and punched Flix’s arm. They sat down at the picnic table together. Flix had never had more fun at lunch. So he wouldn’t ruin the mood, he ignored Celeste’s questioning gaze that returned to him every time he interacted with Ksenia.
* * *
When Flix returned home from school, Lauren was gone. When he asked Stud, he just grunted “She said she was sick of me. Just like all the other ones.” Flix sighed at the response and wandered up to his room. There he found on his pillow an envelope from Lauren.
“I’m going back to Maine?” he asked Stud when he came back from his room, holding a plane ticket in his hand.
“Eh. She said that you wanted to go home, but you couldn’t so you had to visit.” Then he turned and glared at him. “You’ll go and after its okay, then you’re moving back. It sucks having you around. It’s ruining my image.” Flix stifled a laugh and went off to pack. The plane left that Friday.

Chapter Twelve
Little Birdie

Hey! Your boyfriend is leaving Friday for Maine. If he likes it, he’s moving back. L
Ksenia looked up as Celeste handed a note to her from the next desk. They were in Government class, one of Ksenia’s only classes without Flix.
He’s leaving on Friday? I hope he likes it better here with us. I don’t want him to move.
Ksenia wrote quickly and shoved the torn piece of paper to Celeste.
Oh really… I think someone has a crush on a certain someone! HA! Have you asked him out since that Daniel Starbucks thingy? You should.
Ksenia sighed as she read Celeste’s note. Like always, Celeste had jumped to conclusions. Ksenia couldn’t let her assumption be right though. She really was getting too close to him, and he knew too much.
I don’t like him, okay? I just think he would like it better here because
Ksenia read what she had written and realized how pathetic it sounded. She grimaced and erased it quickly, before Celeste could see it.
I don’t like him that way. He’s just a friend. I wouldn’t want you to move either, and he’s the same way. I think Mrs. Brooks is looking. We should probably stop.
She passed the note over to Celeste and waited for her response.
Eh, I still think you do. And of course you wouldn’t want me to move, what would you ever do without me??? J Yeah, we should stop. If Brooks yells at me again, I’m in detention for good. BYE!
Ksenia glanced over at Celeste. It looked like she was trying to stifle a laugh. Ksenia sighed and looked back at the chalk board.
* * *
When Ksenia walked over to the picnic table for lunch, she saw Celeste whispering to Flix. That couldn’t be a good sign.
“Hey guys! What are you talking about?” She asked, resisting the urge to start screaming at Celeste.
“Um, nothing really, you know I’m going to Maine this weekend right?” Flix stammered quickly.
“Yeah, a little birdie named Celeste told me.” Ksenia replied and tried to glare at Celeste but ended up grinning. She sat down in her normal place between Flix and Celeste and dumped a small lunch out of her brown paper sack.
“Yuck.” She murmured quietly to herself, and started nibbling on a stalk of celery.

Chapter Thirteen
Home

“Oh honey! You’re finally here! Oh look at you, you’ve grown so much, you’re so handsome! Everyone is so excited to see you, especially Darrell! How was the plane ride, did you get sick? Oh I’ve missed you so much honey!” Flix was greeted by his very excited mother in the airport. She hugged him tight as soon as he walked into baggage claim.
“Hi Mom, I missed you too.” He said to her, embarrassed. His mother, Julia, was about five feet tall and had long, curly, dark brown hair. Her olive toned skin was clear of any blemishes. Flix had always known that her beauty was the reason Stud had married her and created him. Flix hugged his mother and started walking with her to the parking lot, shivering in the cold as he left the warm airport.
“How was your trip honey? Darrell just has been impossible since you left. He attacks every dog he sees and whines all night. I just can’t make him behave. You’ll help though, won’t you?” She beamed proudly at Flix. Flix couldn’t wait to see Darrell, his dog. He couldn’t wait to see everything and everyone in his old home town, but he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that he would rather be back at home in L.A. He was torn between two homes. He shook his head and listened to Julia.
“Hey Darrell, come here boy! I’m back!” Flix called as he walked into the house. He was assailed by familiar scent of blackberries. His mother worked in a store that sold and canned berries, and she often took her work home with her. At that moment Darrell came trotting into the living room. Darrell was a big and shaggy black lab, and he walked with a limp. He had been hit by a car the first year Flix owned him. Darrell was an old dog; Flix had had him since he was eight years old. Flix got down on his knees and scratched him behind the ears, laughing as Darrell licked his cheek.
“Honey, do you want to take him for a walk? I’ve got to get started on dinner anyway. Here, catch!” Julia threw him Darrell’s leash and a parka. Flix grinned and said goodbye, then walked out the door, talking to Darrell all the way.

Hello...
it has been a very long time since i posted but it's been a long time. um.... changes on the book.... not much really. i got a lot written which i'll upload soon. i got a youtube account :D a very cool music video of mine is there. GO WATCH IT! the link is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEPuHrkZ5U4
comment on it to be nice please.
-samanthadinkly

Thoughts on Chapters 8-10

I love those chapters. :) It turns out that Narooma really is in Australia, did you know that? It was so much fun to write Ksenia arguing, because to pick out the answers someone LEAST wants to hear and yell it back in front of the entire school would be AWESOME! There's not much really.... I used an online French translator to get Celeste's Frenchness in, and I love the name Celeste, so that's why she was created. Now that Daniel and Ksenia are broken up though, maybe Flix will make his move. :)
cya later,
Samanthadinkly :)

Chapters 8-10

Oh my god, I'm so sorry I took so long! To make up for it, here are EXTRA CHAPTERS! Also, I'm opening a poll on whether I should post the stuff I got rid of, like the bloopers. Anyhoo, here are some of the more interesting chapters- Voila!

Chapter Eight
Talk

Ksenia found it hard to concentrate on the fact that Flix had seen her play list and the title while she was talking to him. He was so easy to be around, and he made her forget all of her troubles. She found herself leaning across the table as he told her stories of his hideous father. She laughed as he told her things that his old dog would do for food, including following Flix out of the car to a fast food restaurant without him realizing it until the cashier told him pets were not allowed. She felt a pang of despair when it was time for her to leave; Hypate and Patamon would realize something was going on if she was not back at the apartment fairly soon. Then, once more, Flix caught her off guard.
“Is Daniel gonna, you know, mind that we went here together?” Flix asked nervously.
“He, um- I think- no?” Ksenia really hadn’t thought about her “boyfriend.” She had not thought to check to see if this little “date” was considered average for people already in a relationship, or not. “He, uh, might mind but I’ll talk to him about it. I promise not to let him yell at you about this. It’s was all my idea anyways. Do you expect him to be mad?” Flix looked away. Ksenia read what was behind his troubled chocolate eyes and found that he did expect Daniel to be mad, very mad. She cringed as she realized that indeed, it was abnormal to take someone who you barely knew out to coffee because they asked if you were all right, especially if you were dating the most popular guy in the grade. Ksenia felt an urge to comfort Flix, he seemed so upset. Then, Ksenia saw something she never had before. What?! How did I not realize this before? Ksenia thought, shocked, All the staring, being so nice, that’s why he was so nervous about Daniel. Everyone but me realized already. What do I do? Ignore him, pretend I don’t know, or, do I like him back?
“I’ve got to go Flix. It’s been so nice getting to know you more. See you in school tomorrow.” Ksenia murmured softly. After Flix said goodbye, Ksenia walked out of the café as quickly as possible, then started running home.
As soon as Ksenia was home in the safety of her apartment, she let out a scream. This was another thing that set Ksenia apart from humans. When residents of Narooma screamed, their fears were shown to all connected. Ksenia clamped her mouth shut immediately when she remembered this, but she still had a haunting feeling that Flix, wherever he was, had seen Naroomian terrorists standing over his limp, dead body.
She ran to her bedroom and closed her eyes, awaking eternally grateful that she had not dreamed, knowing that it would have been a nightmare.


Chapter Nine
Darkness
“Gone, she’s gone. Come back.” Flix mumbled as he slept. In his dream he was in the café. Ksenia was there too, smiling at him the way she had been that afternoon. Then she screamed and ran from him. He followed, trying to comfort her and ran into two tall men. Their skin was pale, but unlike Ksenia, they looked sallow and sick. Their eyes bore into him, half mad, half crazy. They were a dark, almost black, green and were small and thin. The men wore crimson and black robes, but Flix barely realized all of this. On each of their foreheads was an eye staring down at him. Their eyes were bloodshot and burned out of focus, seeing things that weren’t there. Flix screamed, but no one heard him. The one on the left then reached into the pocket of his attire and pulled out a long knife.
He hissed something at Flix in some alien tongue, and thrust the knife into Flix’s chest. Then everything went dark.
Flix awoke screaming. It was just a dream, not real. He told himself repeatedly. He walked into the kitchen, not surprised to find all the dishes piled high in the sink. He glanced over at the clock to see that it was four in the morning. He grabbed a soda from the fridge, deciding that even if he could get back to sleep he would have to wake up soon enough for school. He sat down on the couch and flipped on the television. The Universe was on. That reminded Flix of Ksenia’s CD from before. He walked over to the computer and started it up. Then he carefully typed in Narooma to the search engine.
“New South Wales? In Australia? That can’t be right….” He whispered to himself, not wanting to wake “him” up. Narooma was something else, something more. Flix could tell.

Chapter Ten
Arguing
“You know what? If you were a little less selfish then maybe this would have worked out. Don’t think I don’t see you staring at Ashley!” Ksenia yelled at Daniel. She was having more fun than she had since she came to Earth. Ksenia loved acting… especially improvisation.
“Don’t bring that up! At least I didn’t go out for coffee with Ashley yesterday!” Daniel shouted back, getting red in the face. Ksenia picked out the answer he least wanted to hear and screeched it back at him.
“You spied on me?!” She was fighting a smile as Daniel cringed as heads turned to stare at him. Ksenia started crying. “I thought you were something more.” Daniel looked around frantically. She didn’t need to listen to know what he was thinking as his fellow students looked at him in disgust. He started to say something but Ksenia cut him off, screaming her closing lines. “My mistake! We’re through!” and sobbed as loudly as she could as a girl led her to the bathroom, whispering profanities about Daniel the entire way.
“I can’t believe him. Only someone as brainless as him would do that to you. You’re easily prettier than Ashley.” Ksenia’s new friend Celeste told her. She, like the entire school, had completely fallen for Ksenia’s performance. Though Celeste did not have as kind a mind as Flix, she was a very nice girl. She hadn’t totally fit in since she had been dumped by Daniel the year before. She was a lot shorter than Ksenia. Celeste was maybe 5”1 and her short black hair was chopped up in a razor cut, and had bright highlights of hot pink. Celeste had moved to LA from France in ninth grade Ksenia soon learned as Celeste told her about herself. Celeste had a strong opinion about things Ksenia gathered as Celeste called Daniel every bad word she knew in French and English.
“Bonjour, mon nom est Daniel.” Celeste mocked him. “Je suis un idiot abruti qui pense que de moi-même.” Ksenia laughed as she heard what that meant. “Hi, my name is Daniel. I am a stupid idiot who thinks that of me.” Celeste grinned.
“Why don’t you sit with me today at lunch? I think we have the same lunch period.” She smiled. Ksenia agreed. No longer tied to Daniel, she felt free to be whatever kind of normal she wanted. Not free, she reminded herself, average. You can do whatever you want as long as it’s average.

More later,
Samanthadinkly :)

Thoughts on Chapters 6 and 7

Ooh la la! A cafe date with an alien anyone? Lol, yeah, this was one of the funner chapters to write. I loved Ksenia's walkman, it really added to her personality I thought. This also gives me an opportunity to make Daniel all evil, like his affair with what's-her-face, Ashley. I actually went to Starbucks, looked around at their C.D. collection, watched college students on their laptops, and a lot of other things to make the feel of their date real. I told you I would get to have my AWESOME music taste added in! Yeah, all those songs are on my iPod. In case you didn't get the connection between them (I highly recommend personal help), they all had to do with space and other planets. Andromeda Domine is a star system, and Third Stone from the Sun is another way to say "Earth." In conclusion, these were a lot of fun to write, and are the beginning of other things to come. More chapters soon,
xoxo,
Samanthadinkly

Chapters 6 and 7

I'M SORRY! I know I said I would get the chapter a couple days ago but I didn't. I'm so sorry! To make it up to you, here's an extra chapter. They're both pretty long. Voila!

Chapter Six
Bells

Ksenia was the first to know when Flix came back to school. After the accident, Flix had become a temporary celebrity at the high school. It turned out that he had taken a picture of his father before the glass had knocked him unconscious. After it was sold to various magazines, Stud McKean was going through court under child abuse. Everyone was whispering about what Flix was going through, and where he would go after the court locked up his father for good. Ksenia found herself disturbed by this news. Why should Flix have to leave for his father’s mistake? She dismissed this thought almost immediately; she should have no interest in this boy. He was human! Patamon would be furious if he knew that she was worried about a foolish human teenager. And yet…. Stop that! Ksenia thought angrily, mentally kicking herself. He’s not average, and he’s in the spotlight right now. If we were to start dating- No! We will not! And so Ksenia’s thoughts continued to spin, all day.
Then, during seventh period, gym, Ksenia was caught off guard. Though he’d been sitting next to her in three of her other classes, in gym, an unnaturally kind thought startled her. Is Ksenia okay? She’s just been staring at the floor all day. I wonder if I should help her. Is she sick? She just seems so sad. I wish I could do something for her. I will. I’ll talk to her after class. This thought came from Flix. Meanwhile, her so-called “boyfriend” was wondering if Ksenia and his new interest, Ashley, thought he was ugly, and if he should dye his hair.
Infuriated, Ksenia sprung to her feet to yell at Daniel when she remembered that none of this information had been spoken aloud. At the moment, she looked as if she was hallucinating. Ksenia sat down quickly and longed for home.
After an aggravating gym class, Ksenia sprinted from the building, pulling out a dated C.D. player from her bag. She had picked this up at a second hand store over the weekend with Hypate, claiming that there was nothing to do when she was home alone. She had searched hundreds of websites for music she actually liked, and had burned herself a C.D. at the music store while the manager wasn’t looking. She loved music from the sixties and eighties. Modern music disgusted her. All the men crooned of sex and drugs, and the women whined of breakups and money. Ksenia preferred old fashioned love songs by far.
She hit the fast forward button a couple of times, to get a random song and Ray Charles’s “Georgia on my Mind” sounded in her ears. Calmed by the sweet harmonies, Ksenia wondered why she had been so angry in her gym class. That was when she heard Flix’s voice from behind her.
“Ksenia! Are you okay? You looked really angry in gym class.” Ksenia grimaced as her fears that someone had seen her outburst were confirmed. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know, I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry.” Ksenia was once again thrown back by his kindness; all in all, he was so much nicer than the other students at this high school. She turned off her C.D. player and stared at him.
“Thank you!” She exclaimed. “That’s so, nice of you! Do you want to keep talking at a café or something? I’m going to miss my subway-”
“Bus.” Flix corrected quietly. “It’s not a subway, it’s a school bus.”
“Oh! I’m sorry, I’m still new at all of this- I mean there weren’t any buses in, um, Russia! Yeah! In Russia. So, do you want to go?”
“Uh, sure! I’ll see you in ten-fifteen minutes, okay? At Starbucks on Thirteenth Street.” Flix laughed then, a joyous sound. The noise echoed like bells around the almost empty parking lot. Ksenia waved and stuffed her headphones into her ears, rapidly hitting fast forward. She ended on a desolate song, “Cry,” also by Ray Charles. How wonderful. Ksenia thought sarcastically. I have a nice plan worked out and I completely ignore it. I’m an idiot. Patamon will be furious. Well, I might as well try and enjoy it. No! I, I wonder if I should get a drink while we’re there…. Is that average? And with that state of mind, Ksenia hopped off her school bus and rushed to the public bus headed to Thirteenth Street.

Chapter Seven
Café

Flix’s mind was spinning as he called over a taxi cab. When had Ksenia taken such sudden interest in him? Why had she been so angry in gym? What was he supposed to do for twenty minutes, or more, alone with Ksenia? Surely Daniel was going to mind this “date.” Was it even a date? Flix’s head began to throb as the cab pulled up to the Thirteenth Street Starbucks. He paid the driver and walked into the café. Well this is just great. Flix thought. I’m ten minutes early. He walked over to the C.D. display and began flipping through the titles. There was nothing too fantastic in his opinion. Mostly there was a lot of folk music, and one weird mix of Bob Dylan’s favorite songs. Next to him, an extremely pale girl with a familiar shock of ultra white-blonde hair was picking up a C.D. titled “John Lennon’s Jukebox.” No way. Flix thought in disbelief. But there was Ksenia, picking up her ancient Walkman and pulling out a C.D. covered with song names and bands. All of these names were written in a tiny and neat script. There were dozens of names written down. These were just some of them:
Across the Universe- The Beatles
2,000 Light Years from Home- The Rolling Stones
Moonlight- Bob Dylan
Third Stone from the Sun- Jimi Hendrix
Andromeda Domine- Pink Floyd
Standing on the Moon- The Grateful Dead
She must be big on oldies. Flix thought. Then he noticed an eerie connection between all of the songs on her mix. “Narooma,” it was titled. Flix felt chills surge down his spine, and cold rippled through his blood. He had the strangest feeling that he had just uncovered another secret, just like the eye that was repeatedly drawn on Ksenia’s papers. Flix knew this all connected somehow. Then Ksenia turned around, humming, to stare at Flix.
“Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there. Did you just get here?” She asked, startled.
“Yeah, just a couple minutes ago. You?” Flix mumbled, still thinking about her space C.D.
“Yeah, I was just looking at the music. I just love John Lennon, and The Beatles for that matter, but his taste in music is awful! I can’t stand music from the forties or fifties. Chuck Berry? Come on!” This was the most Flix had ever heard Ksenia speak. He was thrown back a minute until something dawned upon him. A familiar ballad weaved its way through his train of thought and he decided it couldn’t hurt to ask Ksenia of one song. It was not like she would know he had seen her play list.
“Have you ever heard ‘What a Wonderful World’ by Louis Armstrong? I would have thought you’d like that one.” Ksenia’s eyes went blank for a moment and a look of pure horror flashed on and off her face. She then suggested in a quiet voice that they should go order and sit down, avoiding Flix’s question.
When they were seated, Flix looked over at Ksenia. It was still so strange to not have to look down at her. Flix wondered if she was anorexic; she was so thin, and always acted as though the concept of food was new to her. She always ate just a tiny portion of a normal girl’s diet at lunch, and never snacked in class. She also cringed whenever someone chewing gum was talking to her. Even now, she played silently with her straw, twirling around the ice cubes in her iced latte; of course she only drank small sips whenever she noticed Flix looking at her. The drink looked untouched.
“So….” Flix volunteered. “How do you like L.A.? It must be so different from Russia.”
“It’s very strange. I have to try so hard to seem normal compared to other students.” Ksenia sighed, a sound so miserable that Flix started cracking up. The expression on Ksenia’s face was that of a child asked to finish a heaping plate of lima beans. Ksenia stared incredulously at him, obviously confused by the laughter.
“Sorry!” Flix snickered. “It was the look on your face that did it. Sorry.” And then Flix started laughing again, this time so hard that he didn’t notice when Ksenia’s eyes went blank before she joined in the laughter.

xoxo,
Samanthadinkly

Thoughts on Chapters 4 and 5

I love Stud. Even if he's evil and always drunk, I truly think he's amazing. I love mean old failed rock stars! So yeah, that's my defense of Stud. I had a lot of fun writing "The Incident" and liked developing characters, like Flix falling into the mystery of Ksenia and also falling completely in love with her. A hint on upcoming chapters, Ksenia had never seen Flix in the house before. It also said that she had been watching the house before, like an experiment. HINT HINT. Lol, but I liked having Patamon being the downer. You always need a grumpy person to yell at. A random fact is that the name Patamon means anger, so I'm letting him live up to it. Actually, Ksenia and her clan all sort of live up to their names. It mentioned that Hypate means superior, and Ksenia means wanderer, while her last name Alla means other. The next few chapters have some interesting events. I also got to incorporate my love of old music. I promise I'll upload them tomorrow!
-Samanthadinkly :D