The Moon Dwellers

“Why didn’t you tell me last night when you realized?” I ask.

“I don’t know. I should have. We’d just met and I usually talk to Cole about stuff before I do anything. He’s my best friend. Has been for a long time.”

I’m not mad at her. She was in a tough position, not knowing how I would react when she told me, and yet she told me anyway. She could’ve just kept it to herself, told me to go stuff it when I eavesdropped on her, but she didn’t. She did the right thing. She’s not like her parents.

“What about the other stuff?” I ask, not wanting to specifically mention Tristan’s name.

“You mean about Tristan?” Tawni says, understanding immediately what I mean.

I nod, feeling my face flush slightly.

Tawni says, “We should include Cole in the conversation.”

My heart sinks. Cole. For a moment I’ve forgotten about him. He looked so angry at me. I’ve just met the guy, so I shouldn’t care what he thinks about me, but to my surprise, I do. Probably because of what he did for me yesterday during the riot. Or perhaps because he is Tawni’s best friend, and she seems like a good person, so that must mean he is, too. Or it might just be because I actually like him. Certainly his sarcasm works well with me.

“Will he still be pissed off at me?” I ask, frowning.

Tawni laughs. “Don’t worry about him. Sometimes he has a bit of a temper, but he makes up for it by forgiving and forgetting faster than anyone I know.” Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Tawni rises, offering her hand to help me up. I take it.

I allow myself to be pulled down the hall. Already some of the juveniles are leaving the cafeteria, looking unsatisfied by their breakfasts, heading outside for another long, boring day spent lounging in the yard.

When we enter the crowded eatery, I notice Cole right away, sitting alone in the corner. Thankfully, he is facing away from us, so he doesn’t stare at us as we approach. When Tawni slides onto the bench across from him and he sees her tearstained face, he nearly knocks over the table as he leaps to his feet.

“What happened? Are you okay?” he says. His eyes flit back and forth between Tawni and me, one minute showing concern for his friend and the other angry and glaring, like how he’d looked at the janitor’s closet before.

“I’m fine. Please calm down, Cole,” Tawni says, reaching across the table to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. At first his body stiffens at her touch, but then he relaxes and melts back into his seat. For a second I am jealous of the kind of relationship they have. It is a true friendship in every sense of the word. I’ve never had that kind of friendship—probably never will. There isn’t room for it in my world.

I tense up, waiting for the next spout of anger from Cole. It doesn’t come.

“I’m sorry,” Cole says.

Never would I have expected those to be his next words. To be honest, I don’t understand why he should speak them.

“What for?” I say.

The corners of Cole’s mouth turn up slightly, a complete one-eighty from his tense expression a moment earlier. The steely twinkle I saw in his eyes the day before is back. “For my temper,” he says. “Tawni tries to help me with it, but it usually gets the better of me. Sneaking around and spying on us wasn’t right, but my reaction was even worse. I should’ve let you explain.”

“Thanks,” I say. Tawni’s crying coupled with Cole’s quick forgiveness makes me feel even worse about what I’ve done. But at least I haven’t lost my new friends—at least not yet. I’m sure I will do something else to screw it up soon enough though. “And I’m sorry for eavesdropping. I won’t do it again.”

Cole dismisses me with a wave of his hand. “Even,” he says. The way he says it makes me believe my transgression is like a distant memory to him, soon to be forgotten entirely. Tawni wasn’t kidding about him.

“Can I get you something to eat?” she says.

I nod, sliding out of the booth to let her past. “Anything not green, not slimy, and not still moving,” I say wryly.

Cole chuckles. “Good luck with that,” he says.

Tawni marches off, her hands fisted and her head firm, as if she’s on a mission. Meeting my criteria will be a mission, I think.

When Tawni is gone, Cole says, “How are you feeling?”

“Feeling?” I say absently, trying to decide how to respond. In truth, I have no idea how I am feeling. In the last twenty-four hours a lot has changed in my life. Two new friends, my strange eye contact with the President’s son, my dad being alive: it is all too much to take in, to process. I mean, I am happy—no, make that extremely happy, ecstatic, over the moon—that my dad might be okay, but it feels weird, too. For one thing I don’t know anything about my mom’s whereabouts. Also, for the last six months I’ve been trying to come to terms with the possibility that my parents are dead, executed as a traitors. Now there’s hope that at least one of them is alive…I du

I almost shout at myself aloud. Thankfully, I keep it inside, opting to scream in my mind: No, no, no! You’re better than that, better than a quitter! Dad would be ashamed by such thoughts! I know then what I have to do: rescue my father and find out whether my mother is still alive. Oh, and also take a detour to find my sister, too, if I have time. Should be easy, simple, no problemo! Or impossible. It is definitely one or the other.

I still haven’t answered Cole’s question. I’m not sure how long it has been since he asked it, but probably awhile, because he is looking at me strangely, like I have poo on my face or something. While I’ve been battling with myself in the comfort of my own head, I can only guess at what weird facial expressions I was making.

“I’m guessing you’re not sure how you feel?” Cole says.

Bingo! Give the guy a prize. I am impressed by Cole’s recognition of my feelings without me having said a single word. Maybe he is a mind reader. I hope not. With my muddled thoughts, having a mind reader around will be far too embarrassing.

“Yeah, I’m a bit confused right now.”

“But I bet you want to go rescue your dad,” Cole says.

Crap! He IS a mind reader! Or possibly just very perceptive. I am hoping for the latter. “Yeah, and my sister and mom, too, while I’m at it. Should be easy,” I say.

“Especially with us around,” Cole says.

“What should be easy?” Tawni says, returning with two plates of gunk that are meant to be food. To her credit, the gunk on my plate isn’t green, slimy, or moving. But it is brownish and gooey. I take a bite, swallowing quickly before my taste buds have much of a chance to linger on the flavor.

“Rescuing Adele’s family,” Cole says. “It shouldn’t be a problem. Only small hurdles to get over, like escaping from the Pen, crossing hundreds of miles of cave networks while avoiding detection by Enforcers, breaking into at least one maximum security prison, and then breaking back out. Piece of cake.”

I groan. “I was trying to be positive,” I say. “In any case, I’m doing it alone, so it’s not your problem.”

“Wrong,” Cole says.

“Right,” I retort.

“Look, whether you like it or not, we’re going to help you,” Cole says.

I stare directly into his strong eyes, trying to get him to back down. About three seconds later I look away. What am I thinking trying to beat Mr. Power Eyes in a staring competition—I can’t even beat myself in the mirror.

I remember the argument that Cole and Tawni were having when I was listening in the closet. “But I thought you were against me because of Tristan.”