Mission Love

o n e

"So, as you all know the lucky few, 500 to be exact, humans got to come to our planet, Nova. This is because they did not realise the extent of their actions on Earth as they didn't have the right technology to comprehend the impact they were making on Earths environment. This caused billions of people to die and is the biggest event in history to date and is so important for us to understand as we can't do that to our new planet. The NASA Explorers had just discovered this planet and the trip would be risky as it had never been tested but they knew if they didn't launch right then and there they could end up dead left on Earth. This is why..."

And that's when I zoned out to Mr Zanding and started day dreaming. I'd heard the same speech about our history plenty of times, don't get me wrong, I love history but I wish he'd go into more depth about what the people actually went through.

I look over at Daniel in the front row listening intently to the lecture. Now I really can't re focus as Daniel is the cutest sight I've ever seen with his black curly hair and freckled cheeks, not my usual type. I started crushing hard about 2 months ago after working on a school project with him and I haven't been able to stop thinking about him since.

I start plating my platinum blonde hair and get down to the lilac ends when I hear Mr Zanding.

"Jupiter, can you please repeat what I said for the class?" And everyone starts staring at me.

"Ah, sorry sir, I zoned out." I reply, my face reddening by the second.

"That's what I thought, listening please this is very important." He states.

"Now, class, I'm going to split you into groups of 6, the assignment will be on Earth and what you would've done to stop this tragedy from happening and how you would expect Earth to be now if your plan worked. I want you to all use everyone in the groups ideas but you will be graded overall, although if I see anyone slacking off I won't hesitate to change my mind. I have put you into groups myself and the groups are final – no changes – so I expect that there will be no complaints." Mr Zanding explains.

Now I'm worried, I look over at Adelai sitting one row in front of me, she's my closest friend and I really hope we're in the same group.

Mr Zanding starts reading out the groups, "group 1 will be Comet, Alex, Arabella, Starla, Zander and Juliet. Please if you could all go stand over there." Mr Zanding points to the corner of the room by the door.

"Group 2 is Daniel, Adelai,"

my heart skips a beat, I have to be in this group otherwise I'll have no one, and I want to spend time with Daniel.

"Silas, Everleigh, Jupiter and Violet."

I sigh in relief and Adelai turns and smiles at me also happy she has someone too.

We all stand and make our way over to the other side of the room where Mr Zanding had pointed.

"I think we got lucky with our group, we're totally going to get an A." Everleigh says to the group smiling. She's always super bubbly but I think she's right.

I feel bad for group 4 who are now being called out as they have Zeke in their group, he's the most annoying person I know.

Our classes on Nova work a bit differently to on Earth as I've learnt because on Earth they had classes based on age but here on Nova it's solely based on level of intelligence and in Zeke's case he's 21 whereas most of the rest of us are about 17, although the only thing that confuses me is why Violet is in our class because she's basically a genius.

Mr Zanding explains that this project will be worth half our grade so it's really important and we can choose how we present it, he also said to be creative.

The bell rings and our group seems kind of disappointed as we were quite excited to come up with ideas so we decide to meet after schola at my house. Also another interesting thing about Earth is that they called schola school which I find bizarre but I don't understand why they changed the word when they came here to Nova.

Here on Nova we live in a huge dome like pod that pumps oxygen throughout it but only limited amounts so we have to limit how often we exercise. Every Friday we have to go to do yoga and meditation to strengthen our lungs so we can survive on less oxygen as Nova is a lot smaller than Earth and we don't have the resources to make the dome bigger yet.

It's Friday so Adelai and I walk to the yoga room, we walk through the doors and prepare for the change in oxygen levels as they will decrease as soon as we open the second door. This is so they we can strengthen our lungs in case of an emergency with the pods crops or exposure to Nova's outside climate and harsh environment with temperatures also reaching bellow 0 every day.

After our yoga and meditation session we both feel completely relaxed and find we have 10 minutes before everyone's turning up at my house so Adelai and I decide to speed up our pace a bit although my house isn't far from schola. Once I get home I walk to my room. My place is small with one bedroom and the essentials but I was lucky to get a big lounge upstairs the only down side being it's upstairs and I'm super lazy most of the time.

You're probably wondering why it's only a one-bedroom place when most people still live with their parents at the age of 17 but it's only because both of mine are now dead. My Mum destroyed millions of xions (Nova's currency) worth of equipment and technology that was vital to the running of our planet and so she was sent off to Earth where all the prisoners go to die as Earth is no longer habitable. It happened when I was 4 so I can hardly remember anything about her and my dad never liked talking about her either. Dad died in a space ship crash when I was 15 after he had an impact with a comet out in space and I never saw him again.

Adelai and I set up the lounge because we all decided over text that we'd have a sleepover and get to know each other too. I don't really think we'll actually get much work done but it's a cool group of people that I'd never usually hang out with. The room is quite big so we both pull the two-dark charcoal colored couches out to the sides so there's room on the floor for everyone and I get the mattresses, pillows and some blankets out for us all and make it all nice and comfy. In the corner of the room there is a small bathroom and beside it is a mini fridge. It's quite a nice place because I used to money from my other 3-bedroom house that I used to live in with the rest of my family to buy it.

Luna tells me that Daniel, Everleigh and Silas are at the door. Luna is the smart virtual assistant that is linked up to all the houses on Nova, she can detect when someone is standing at the door step and scans their faces to see who they are because everyone here in the pod has a microchip with our personal information on it like our names, birthday, parents and things like that.

Adelai and I walk to the front door and let them in, as I greet them and turn to lead them up to the lounge Violet walks up behind them. I lead them all up and everyone finds a spot on the mattresses, I strategically walk close to Daniel to be next to him and Adelai sits on my left, next to her is Silas then Everleigh and Violet who's on the other side of Daniel.

We all get comfy in the blankets and start playing some music through Lunas speakers. Everleigh suggests we play truth or dare and no one else has a better idea so we do. Everleigh volunteers herself to start and asks Adelai, Adelai chooses truth.

"Have you had your first kiss? If so who was it?" Everleigh asks.

"Yeah, I have, it was Comet when I was 15, not much to say about it, it was just average." Adelai replies.

Silas seems a little deflated after hearing that and it's so obvious that he likes Adelai but she's completely oblivious to it.

"Okay, my turn." Adelai smiles mischievously at me and I know it can't be good.

"Truth or dare, Jupiter?" and I just know she'll ask something about me liking Daniel so the only way out is choosing dare.

"Dare."

Adelai loses her smile for a second but regains an even bigger one widening across her whole face.

"I dare you to kiss Daniel." Adelai says.