"Whoever said I wanted to start over?" Laine muttered as he navigated the dusty streets of Thorunn towards Ethaba High. The sun–nicknamed Sól if he remembered the in-flight guide correctly–had just risen, casting the town in hazy sepia tones. "Everything was fine until this stupid move."
At least it was going to be, but with how quickly they'd fled Earth, Laine hadn't had time to settle his debts. He'd never be able to show his face out West again.
It still stung, the way his parents had bundled him into the car when he'd gotten home from school one day, driving for hours and refusing to answer questions about where they were going until the Nevada Interstellar Spaceport had loomed into view. By then it had been too late to make good on his threats about jumping out, and they'd packed all his belongings into the back of the car anyway.
He wouldn't be surprised to learn that Gordon had actually engineered that plan, since his parents' usual method of attack was to try talking first. Mom he could stand to hear out for a few minutes, but Dad had a way of going on that got under Laine's skin, nagging and digging at him 'til he had to blast the music on his clip at max volume and bang up the stairs to his room. The door never quite shut anymore, not after he'd slammed it one too many times, cracking the supporting plaster and dislodging the hinges. That had been a real shame. But at least he'd had a door.
Ethaba High emerged from Thorunn's orange-rust haze, gleaming white. Despite only being a little past eight o'clock, the iron gated grounds were quiet. He'd ended up late on his first day after all, disappointing himself, Mom, his new teachers. But if he was already going to be in trouble, and everyone else was already occupied with class, why shouldn't he take advantage of the stillness and scope out the place and especially whatever passed for a computer lab. It never hurt to know how to get into school records.
So it was that Laine stepped foot into his homeroom class a full thirty minutes late on his first day.
"I got lost," he said in response to the raised eyebrow of the teacher, who then welcomed him to Ethaba High before presenting Laine to the rest of the class. He pointed Laine to his seat, and with a muttered "thanks," Laine made his way over and slid behind his new desk. The chair's hard plastic dug uncomfortably into his legs, a testament to where the money in Ethaba wasn't going.
The teacher–a Mister Kim, going by the name neatly written on the board under the word "homeroom" continued to ramble on and Laine's classmates were creepily hushed. It was first period, for goodness' sake! A little rowdiness was expected. Good thing really, that he'd come in late. He didn't know how he'd have survived a whole forty minutes of mind-numbing quietude his first day in.
The bell rang, and Mister Kim gathered his things and left, upon which chaos erupted. The sudden change baffled Laine, but he began to pack his things, ready to move to his next class.
"Yo, where'ya off to?" The kid on his right was sandy-haired, with gapped teeth that a round or two of braces could surely fix.
"Next class?"
The teen shook his head. "Nah, we don't do things the traditional American way. Principal Kim set up the classrooms how he remembered from when he was a kid, and it's worked pretty well, so the board allows it. You've gotta stick here'til the next teacher comes in."
"All day?"
The teen nodded.
"We're here in this room all day?" Laine stressed the last two words, brows scrunching together as he failed to hold back his disapproval. One at a time, he took his things back out of his bag and placed them with slow, sullen movements on his desk. He'd hoped to run into Andy at some point, but he wasn't in the class. A class Laine was stuck in until school let out. With a very chatty neighbour between periods.
"Yup! We got math next, in about ten minutes. Name's Dustin, by the way."
"Laine." He shook the proffered hand. "Case you didn't catch it earlier." When he'd been introduced by Principal Kim. The long, searching look the man had given him now made a lot of sense. No way he was going home without being written up. Mom was going to be so disappointed. "Why was our principal teaching homeroom anyway? Normal teacher out sick?"
Dustin chuckled and leant back,propping his feet up on his desk. He unwrapped a lollipop he'd pulled out of his bag and pointed it at Laine.
"It was a special day today."
"Which I kinda messed up by being late, huh?"
"You got it!" Dustin popped the sucker into his mouth and dug in his bag for another, which he offered to Laine. "But y'couldn't help it if you were 'lost,'" he said, with a wink, "so I wouldn't worry about getting in trouble or nothing. Long as you're on time tomorrow."
The next teacher entered before Laine could answer, and Dustin scooted his chair back into place, a second lollipop joining the first, sticks bitten off so as to not alert the scattered looking woman who seemed more suited to teaching English. She made Laine stand to identify himself, but other than that nothing exciting happened, and his other classes followed suit.
--
"What kinda meat is this?" Laine asked, prodding at the dark, thick cut slab as he sat in the cafeteria with Dustin, trying to work up the appetite to try the strange new foods Thorunn had to offer.
"Anlo," Dustin replied through a mouthful of what looked like mashed potatoes. If mashed potatoes oozed russet red on the inside. They probably weren't potatoes at all–good thing he hadn't picked them up on his way through the lunch line. "It's pretty good."
"I don't remember anlo featuring on the in-flight guide?" Laine cut off the smallest bit and tasted it. It was slightly smoky, a little beefy, and quite salty. There was also a sweetness to the flavour, and it wasn't bad, all things considered.
"Rumour has it the lost colony tamed quite a few, but when the lokians got them, the anlo vanished as well. We've only recently rediscovered them out on the plains of the Cerado." Dustin gesticulated widely with his fork. "Think rhinoceros, but with longer legs, better eyesight, and three horns triceratops-like. Here, let me access your clip, and I'll send you our school's Thorunn handbook. It's way more up to date than anything you could have downloaded on the flight over."
"How long is the handbook? Can I listen to it?"
Dustin stared at Laine, half-chewed meat falling from his open mouth. "You don't read?" he whispered. "Reading is the most amazing thing in the world. Listening to a piece of literature, even one as dry as the school handbook, isn't the same."
Before Laine could respond, Dustin went off about the importance of reading to Laine, who had never been more glad to be called back to class after lunch.
The day ground on, but after his last period, Laine was presented with the exciting choice of picking a club. Dustin informed him in no uncertain terms that opting-in was mandatory, and he was captain of the chess club, the "best club in Ethaba High" according to him. Laine promptly picked the most opposite extracurricular he could find on the list, though he didn't say as much when Dustin pestered him about his choice of lacrosse.
"It's a popular sport back on Earth. Plus, given I'm part Native American and all, it'll make Mom happy I picked something with Native roots."
"This is where we split then. Gym's that way, and I gotta sweep and set up before our members arrive."
Dustin trundled off into an empty classroom and started tidying it. Laine watched for a moment, scoffing at his classmate's enthusiasm for orderliness.
The gym was just down the hall, and Laine easily navigated to the locker room, where a uniform and lacrosse stick were thrust at him by none other than Andy.
"Jacques mentioned the new kid had signed up fer lacrosse, an' I knew it had to be you–looking forward to seeing how you play with the team."
"I take it you're team captain?" Andy was already in full gear, grinning at Laine from behind his blue and silver helmet, thickly gloved hands twirling his stick in a non-stop blur.
"Aye, had to fight an' claw my way into the position, but it means all the more to me 'cause of that. An' the guys respect me since I earned it fair and square." There was a challenge in those words that Laine took a step back from, finding a bench to sit at to strap on his boots.
"Don't think I'm competing for your title anytime soon," he said. "I can barely stand as it is. Hoping this club'll help."
Andy nodded and banged his stick twice against his chest. "I'm living proof of that, moved here at ten an' could hardly walk down the street without having to rest every few metres–Yoon Ah says I looked like a newborn fawn 'til I took up lacrosse."
"Yoon Ah?"
A bright grin broke out on Andy's face. "Principal Kim's daughter. My girl. We've been friends ever since I tripped over my own two feet on the way home when we were kids, an' last year we made it official. We're taking it slow, but we have something real."
One of Andy's teammates, a black teen with a thick French accent, passed by and clipped Andy on the shoulder. "Don't let 'im talk your ear off about 'is chérie–we'll never get on the field!"
"Ah, Jacques, you'll be the same when Mariola accepts your Fall Formal proposal, just you wait!"
Jacques grinned and pushed Andy towards the door, Laine following after, still fumbling to lace up his uniform. The green of the lacrosse field was a welcome contrast to the stuffy, sweaty air of the locker room. Various boys were spread out across the space, doing pushups or throwing small rubber balls back and forth in lazy arcs. Laine counted twelve teens including himself.
"Listen up, Ospreys! This here's Laine, our newest member." The rest of the team waved at Laine as Andy threw an arm around his shoulders. "Get started running drills while I show newbie here the basics; we'll jump into a scrimmage soon as he's trained up."
Andy pulled Jacques and Laine off to the side, and began demonstrating his movements as he talked, gesturing for Laine to imitate him.
"First lesson, always keep your stick, called a crosse, rotating–like that, good. No matter what, keep it moving. That constant swinging back an' forth is important 'cause once you catch the ball"–Andy tossed the ball sitting in his net into the air, caught it again and weaved his stick around, up, down, and sideways–"the centripetal force that's generated'll keep the ball in your stick's net when you're running around. That's called cradling.
"Second, keep your hands spaced apart when catching, but shift them down an' close the gap when throwing, like this." Andy flicked his ball to Jacques, who snagged it neatly out of the air and returned it just as swiftly. "Third, think of the crosse as an extension of your arm. Got it?"
Laine nodded and went through the range of techniques Andy had explained. After a few dropped passes he started to get the hang of it, and Andy declared him ready to play, assuring him he'd pick up the rules along the way.
Loud whoops burst forth from the team when their captain announced the start of the scrimmage, and a multitude of crosses thrust into the air with a ferocity that made Laine's pulse jump in excitement. He had half a mind to smear the eyeblack on his face until it emulated war paint.
The game was quick but intense,lasting no more than half an hour, with breaks at ten-minute intervals for water and lytorade, but Laine could barely move his legs at the end of practice, never mind lifting the lacrosse stick high enough to throw the ball.
"My lungs!" he wheezed,hanging onto Andy for support, "They're on fire."
"Eh, might've overdone it a touch, but you're decent fer a beginner."
Andy launched into a long list of things Laine had either done right or could stand to improve on, concluding his lecture by clapping Laine on his injured back–he'd been hit a lot during the game–and saying, "While the equipment does belong to Ethaba High, y'can borrow it so long as you fill out a release form an' hand it in to Principal Kim."
"I'm to practice outside of school hours?"
Laine grimaced a little. Lacrosse club had sounded causal enough, but Andy and the others played like they were doing battle. Laine wasn't sure he'd survive another few days of it, let alone the rest of the school year. Apparently they ran the seasons concurrent to the school year, so he only had a few months to prepare for the most important game of the season. Andy saw his questioning expression and poked him hard in the cheek.
"Don't you dare quit. You owe me fer that ride to town the other day."
And there was the crux of the matter. Backing out now wouldn't do his reputation any favours, so Laine offered Andy his best grin.
"Aye, captain."
"That's the spirit!" Andy whooped and thumped Laine across the chest, which hurt, before steering him back to the locker room. The place bustled with teens high-fiving and ribbing each other about their plays and passes, many a mock wrestling match breaking out as they stripped off their gear and freshened up. Different members of the team stopped to welcome Laine to the Ospreys as he tugged off his cleats and shoulder pads.
Once he had most everything stowed away in his new locker, Laine hit the showers, the warm water soothing his aching muscles, though it did little to reduce the bruising–he'd have to ask Mom for some sports paste to smear on the afflicted areas. Before that though he had to visit the principal's office so he could sign out his stick and a couple balls and get practising.
____________________
"What's our kid doing now?" Jack asked upon arriving home and catching sight of Laine tossing a ball up and down in Gordon's back yard. Alanna gave the soup on the stove another stir while adding in some herbs and spices.
"He went and joined the lacrosse team at Ethaba High. Came home all bruised up but wanting to run drills straight away. Apparently he did all of his homework at school, which excuses him being out there for hours." Alanna couldn't quite help the exasperation that slipped into her voice.
Jack pressed a quick kiss to her lips before tugging off his tie. His aching feet were probably glad to be off the floor as he sank into one of Gordon's tall wooden chairs.
"As long as he's doing well–heck, long as he's actively interested in going to school, he could take up painting for all I care."
Alanna picked up her husband's jacket from where he'd flung it on the table, and gave Jack a small look of disapproval as she shook out the creases and folded it neatly. Jack offered her a sheepish smile that promised he'd take better care where he put the offending garment in the future.
"He's always wanted to belong somewhere," she said. "And absent that awful Orquídeas gang, I suppose he figured a sports team was the next best choice." Alanna set the soup to simmer and pulled out the chair next to Jack. "All those nights we spent agonising about whether moving here was our best option or the worst mistake of our lives–seems our decision is already bearing fruit."
"And I've been hearing I'm going to be eligible for a pay increase before Christmas!" Jack grasped both of Alanna's hands in his, pressing a little too hard in his excitement, but Alanna couldn't help but be swept along by his enthusiasm, so the little pinch was easy enough to ignore. "We can get our own place by the new year–you can have your own garden and stop trying to bring Gordon's back to life."
"Yes," Alanna agreed, a soft smile stealing over her face, "how wonderful! I think this truly may be the start of a happy new beginning for all of us."
Laine shattered the moment when he banged into the kitchen, stripping off his sweaty clothes and leaving them in a haphazard pile in front of the curtain leading to his room. Laine kicked off his shoes and was heading in the direction of the shower when Alanna made him go back and stash them in the corridor.
He grumbled as expected, but had been so long practising outside that he had little energy left to put his heart into it, acquiescing quickly. His socks got stuffed into his shoes, and Alanna recoiled once she caught a whiff of their stench. She tapped her clip, adding scent-cancelling spray to the grocery list for the next time she made a trip to the corner mart down the street.
"What's for dinner?" Laine asked once he returned, dark brown hair still damp from his brief shower. He looked around much as he had that morning, his tense shoulders releasing when he noted his uncle wasn't home. Alanna would have to have a word with him. The suspicion Laine held for the man wasn't healthy. Bad enough her son could barely speak two civil sentences to his father–he didn't need to add Gordon to the list.
"Leave some for your uncle," Jack said, eyeing the alarming rate at which Laine consumed the soup Alanna had dished out.
"Gordon ain't here. Why does he get to enjoy Mom's hard work?"
Jack put down his spoon. "You will refer to him as Uncle Gordon."
Alanna pressed her fingers against her eyes. Was it too much to ask for just one family meal without the two men she loved getting into it?
"As long as we're staying here, we will take every opportunity to repay his hospitality." Jack said. "Do I make myself clear?"
Alanna reached across the table and touched Laine's hand lightly, giving him a significant look. He nodded almost imperceptibly at his father, but Jack seemed happy with that small response and continued to eat, even as Laine sullenly drank the rest of his dinner and bounded off downstairs.
"Why can't I get it right?" Jack let his spoon drop into his half-finished bowl. "Why are you the only one out of the two of us he'll give an audience to? It can't still be because of what happened back then, can it?"
"That's the one thing I guarantee will get a door shut in my face if I try to bring it up," Alanna said and rose to clear away the dishes.
"No doors now." Jack inclined his head pointedly towards the curtain Laine had disappeared behind.
"And yet he seems further away than ever." Quiet descended upon the small space once more, underscored by the running water and the slow classical music Alanna had put on earlier that day.
"Ah, well, best be getting to bed myself–we're out on expedition tomorrow–Gordon assures me it'll be perfectly safe, but with the history of this place, I can't help being anxious."
Jack came up behind Alanna, kissing her again. He felt unusually hot against her; hopefully he wasn't working himself too hard at his new job and forgetting to eat.
"If Gordon says it'll be fine, I believe him."
The in-flight guide had been very clear on the fact that nary a lokian had been sighted near Ethaba in the last five years, so Jack really didn't have anything to worry about. He left with one last parting kiss, and Alanna went on with her work. All things considered, Laine's first day couldn't have been better. She didn't even get a note of any sort from the school!
A wave of warmth washed over Alanna and she stumbled, nearly dropping the soapy mug in her hand. The space lag must still be catching up to her; she'd never been so tired after a trip before. After she finished the washing she was joining Jack in bed and hoping she felt better in the morning. Whatever ailed her likely wasn't anything a good night's rest couldn't fix.