2 Shooting Stars

Meanwhile, down on the planet, two girls looked towards the same stars aboard a wooden platform nailed to an eastern hemlock. Around them, similar platforms were constructed on white cedars, slash pines, and cottonwood. The canopy of these trees mostly obscured the sky, but it didn't stop them from trying to make out the constellations.

It was cold for late June in Alabama. That was because this small town resided around a lake, one which only heated up in July. But that was an advantage, as for the rest of stress (and school) filled August they could delight in adventures down by the shore.

"I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up, and I feel like everyone else does," ranted one girl. She had brown skin and eyes as dark as the sky. "Everyone expects things from me, and I'm not sure if I can live up to them."

The other girl wound a strand of her own blazing red hair around her finger. "I know how it feels, Adah. Everyone expects the quiet, theater kid to be weird, so it puts me in a loop."

"Great expectations," Adah sighed. "Isn't that a book title?"

"It is," affirmed the other girl, who was named Miriam. She was the classic image of an Irish girl, though her family had immigrated to the United States a century earlier.

Adah sighed and rolled over, wincing as the harsh wood scratched her face. "When will the meteor shower start again?" She grumbled.

Miriam checked her watch. "Fifteen minutes, but with celestial occurrences such as this sometimes you can be wrong."

"When it happens, it better be better than that eclipse we were forced to watch. I didn't gain anything out of that, besides maybe some fault in my eyes," Adah said.

"You know what we can do to pass the time?" Miriam asked.

"What?" Replied the other girl.

"Read scary stories."

"Isn't that a little bit out of your comfort zone?" Adah teased.

"Maybe," Miriam said, lying down beside her. "But you're my comfort."

Adah smiled at her, and then sat up. A concerned look suddenly overtook her face. "What are we going to do?"

"About what?" The redhead replied.

"Us. We've only got a month less in summer before we go back to school. I don't think we'll be particularly accepted when we're there. I'm scared for us - I'm scared for you. You've never been put on the spot before, and I know you'd hate that."

"Adah, we may live in the south, but that doesn't mean that everyone is homophobic. Your parents are two women married and no one seems to have much of an issue," Miriam replied.

'You haven't seen the glances we get. The fear in somes' eyes and how much I want to tell them they're misguided and we're not what everyone thinks we are." Adah sighed.

Miriam blinked. "I never really thought of that."

"Well, maybe you should've," Adah hissed, before looking away.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," she immediately apologized.

"No, I'm sorry for not understanding. I didn't see your perspective."

"Sorry if I was a tiny bit stuck up too. Guess I'm just a dumb cheerleader," Adah joked.

Miriam smiled. "And I'm just a socially awkward theater kid."

"Look, a star!" Exclaimed Miriam. Gazing at its blazing path both were suddenly certain that this was much better than any eclipse.

"Are they supposed to be that close?" Adah asked, squinting.

"I don't know," Miriam said. "I didn't actually do that much research."

"It seems like its getting bigger," Adah gulped.

Miriam watched as it seemed to tear through the inky darkness. Strangely enough, there were bits of flame opposite to the tail. She dug her fingers into Adah's arm, who didn't seem to mind.

"I don't know much about what happens when they crash to earth, but it's going to make an impact! We need to get inside!" Miriam yelped.

"Too late for that," Adah muttered in the last seconds before it crashed.

The impact made the trees rumble, and the snap was as loud as breaking a bone. There was no true explosion of sorts, and seconds later, a single plume of smoke rose into the sky.

It took a minute for Miriam to regain her breath. "Oh my god," the redhead trembled.

Adah grinned and cracked her knuckles. "That was awesome! We should check it out."

"Not right now, it's too late out. And Asher could help us," Miriam said. Adah frowned at the mention of her nerdy brother, but she knew her girlfriend was right.

"Fine, tomorrow, but if the FBI or something picks it up I'll be very disappointed," Adah said.

Both of them slid down the trunk of the tree and walked home alone. They both lived close to each other, close enough that every day they and their friends met at the Tree Camp. But if they were caught sneaking in to meet each other, even Adah's parents would be disapproving. They didn't exactly like High School Romance.

Miriam made sure to be quiet as she snuck back into her parent's property. The farm stretched for a mile and their home was splat in the middle. During the fall, her parents would give Halloween hayrides while she and her younger brother manned the petting zoo. Low-paid teens would help with the other tasks, such as the haunted farmhouse and the corn maze.

As she passed the chicken barn, she heard the click of a flashlight. For a moment, she was blinded before blinking and realizing that it was…

"Matthew?" She groggily asked. He must've seen me on the security cameras, she realized. Matthew had always had a hero complex, and the security cameras had only enhanced it. At almost all hours of the day, he sat by the monitor, mouse in one hand, and I-pad in the other.

'What are you doing out here?" Demanded her little brother, hoisting his weighted bb-gun up in one hand and almost dropping the flashlight.

"I could say the same to you. But I'm just taking a walk," Miriam lied.

The twelve-year-old let out a huff. "Very unlikely!"

"You know, if I told mom and dad you were out here, you'd get in much more trouble then I would," she stated.

Matthew blinked, and in his tiny acorn of a brain, he realized she was right. She was much older than him, so she was more likely to skirt the blame.

"Fiiiine," he groaned, putting his bb pistol back into his waistband. "But there will be consequences next time!"

"Alright, little tyrant. Don't stay up too late," Miriam sighed and then walked away to go to sleep herself.

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