Starstruck

Chapter 13a: Stress-energy tensor (part 1)

"Didn't I warn you about your infatuation with that quarterback?" she began. "It's past eleven-thirty. A boy doesn't bring a girl home that late if he respects her."

I pointed out that his parents were driving, not Rigel, but of course she already knew that. And it didn't matter.

"You should have tried harder to patch up your little spat with Brianna. There are too many ways a girl can get into trouble these days," she continued, at which point I pretty much tuned her out.

As her tirade went on, I started to feel a weird sense of disorientation. Barely an hour ago, I'd learned that I was a very important person--royalty!--to a whole civilization, and here I was being chastised like a child by a woman who wasn't even related to me. The thought made me stand a little taller, helped me distance myself even more from the hurtful things my aunt was saying.

I didn't try to defend myself. After all, I had basically lied to her, even if she didn't know it, so I wasn't exactly blameless. Instead, I told myself that nobly enduring my suffering would only make me stronger. And that maybe I would need that strength in the days, the years, to come, if everything the Stuarts had told me was true.

With no protests from me to fuel her, Aunt Theresa ran out of steam more quickly than usual. "Just go to bed," she finished. "And see you make wiser decisions in the future."

I nodded--regally, like the wronged princess I was--and headed to my room without another word.

For the next two hours I lay awake, thinking over every single thing the Stuarts had told me that day-and all the things they hadn't. It seemed like I'd barely scratched the surface of all there was to know about Mars and about myself, but they'd promised to tell me more once Rigel's grandfather got here. I just hoped Aunt Theresa wouldn't forbid me to see Rigel outside of school, or anything.

The thought first panicked me, then made me giggle. Just as I had while she'd been scolding me earlier, I reminded myself that I was heir to a throne. I didn't have to answer to her whims anymore. At least, not if I could break a lifetime of habit.

I expected to have wild dreams, but when I finally did fall asleep, I never dreamed at all.

The next morning, though, I did wonder if I'd dreamed everything from the day before when Aunt Theresa rousted me out of bed early so I could get the lawn mowed before it rained.

I snarfed down a bowl of cereal and headed outside, finding it harder and harder to believe yesterday's revelations could have been real. But if it hadn't happened, if it had just been an extra-realistic dream, I didn't have any alternate memories of the day--so it probably had. Probably. I wouldn't feel completely sure until I talked to Rigel again.

As I restarted the mower for the fifth time--it was old, and the rain earlier this week had made the grass thicker than usual--I wondered when the glamorous part of being a princess would kick in. An hour later, slogging to taekwondo in the rain, I decided it couldn't be soon enough.

I made a real effort to focus in class this time, remembering that I might need to be strong someday. Paying attention made a surprising difference. Some of my kicks were better than even the black belts' and I had the best session of sparring I'd ever achieved, keeping my older, red belt opponent on the defensive the whole time. Again, Master Parker made a point of complimenting me after class, and I couldn't help feeling like I deserved it.

On the way home I rehearsed in my head what I was going to say to Bri when I called her. She'd way overreacted, of course, but I would be magnanimous and apologize anyway. I had been neglecting my friends ever since, well, Rigel. And they'd been really supportive, what with the makeover, and making up excuses to leave us alone at lunchtime. I was being a bad friend.