Pluto&Mars

Familiar || Ep. 2

10 years later. . .

"Mars! We're moving! Pack your stuff" was a common phrase his mom would say. Trying to stay in the same area as the rest of the mafia meant that he'd have to revisit some schools eventually, but he definitely wasn't expecting to hear a familiar name again.

"You're going to Silver Ridge High School, Mars. You've most definitely gone there before, so you'll have to keep it on the down low."

"I can do that. Silver Ridge sounds familiar. Where is that?"

"About 25 minutes from here."

"Huh. Can we stay until graduation?"

His mom only looked at him in response before they got there on that Thursday morning. She dropped him off at the school to fend for himself like she always did, then scurried away with his father to unload the truck.

Mars shifted the bookbag on his left shoulder before walking into the vast building. He found his way to the office eventually, where he was given a schedule, a school issued chromebook, and a map of the building. While wandering the halls to test his locker combo and finding his classroom, he spotted some posters showing off different clubs and sports. The walls were made of some kind of cheap looking material painted gray to match the paneled, darker flooring. It was really a boring building, but the mascot was kind of cool. A friendly looking robot with oceanic eyes and antennas that doubled for eyebrows really made his day.

When he finally made it to his class, now on second period, he had to introduce himself. During this moment, he scans the room for any possible leeches that could harm him or his family, but he notices someone sorta familiar.

His speech is delayed a few moments as he makes eye contact with the broad man. His eyes go to the ground, and for the first time in forever, his speech becomes noticeably shy.

"I'm. . .Mars and I'm eighteen years old. I have a. . .stay-at-home mom and a father who is a. . .traveling engineer for a car company. . .Tord."

The story that he'd practiced a billion times and performed twice that became shaky and kinda unbelievable, which would not be in his favor.

A man raised his hand high, and the teacher called on him: "Yes, Pluto?"

"He can sit next to me."

Mars' eyes followed the sound to see the so-called "Pluto" who had, indeed, been the man he'd recognized. The one person he'd made friends with. He'd see the one person he'd thought he'd never see again. His legs seemed to move on their own as sound drowned out all around him, and he sat in his newly assigned seat. His heartbeat was in his throat, and he could feel his palms start to sweat. What would he say? Does he even recognize him? Mars' brain pulled these kinds of questions for what felt like hours until someone broke him from the spell.

"Mars. You're him, aren't you?"

He turned to look at the accuser, face flushing just slightly when he saw him up close. The nerves were really kicking him. He'd never felt like that in his life, but he'd also never had any other friends. That alone made Pluto special. In fact, Pluto was the only person Mars associated with the word "special" for a reason. He never cared about anyone else the same way.

He snapped out of his brain when he noticed Pluto's eyebrows were furrowed at him, searching for an answer to his question.

"You're Pluto, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Mars?"

"Yeah. . ."

"So the planets collide again," Pluto smirked.

"I guess so," Mars chuckled, "What have you been up to the last decade?"

"School, baseball, and parties. Speaking of parties, actually, I've got one tomorrow night if you want to come."

"Yeah, right, the only thing my mom would let me leave the house for is--wait. Did you say baseball?" He mumbled most of the way through those words until his realization of the only good loophole he's ever thought of.

"Yeah, Baseball. It's my life. Are you interested?"

"I've never played, but my mom has always wanted me to."

"If you're saying it's a good excuse, I can make it more believable."

Mars just looked at him: "Can you get me on the team?"

"You know it."
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Thanks for reading episode 2 of Pluto&Mars!

JustAJ, out!