Aliens Are Real: Part 2 (7 page)

Alex, Tasha and Abigail giggled and walked between
them
.
Alex called, “Bye Ja-a-a-
smine
!” in a sexy voice over her shoulder.
Jasmine
fought, with every bit of determination in
her
self,
to
hold
back the blush
overwhelming her
but
she
lost the battle.
She felt her body heat up and her cheeks burn
as she stood
.

She braved a peak up at Mark and he smiled.
He held out his hand in front of him, gesturing for her to go first. S
he
turned and walked toward
the
next class.

In the hallway Mark
said,
“So, it’s almost Thanksgiving.
What does your family do?”

His
question surprised
Jasmine
.
She
had
forgot
ten
that Thanksgiving was coming.
In
their
house,
the
joy of the
season
w
as
always oversh
adowed by the sorrow of losing M
om close to the holiday.
For the last few years all
she
could remem
ber were microwave dinners and D
ad camped out in front of the television watching football.

Jasmine
pushed
away
the sting of thinking about
her
mom being
gone
and answered as truthfully as possible.
“We don’t usually do anything for Thanksgiving.”

Mark was shocked.
“Really?
Our place is always a mad
house of people
and chaos with kids everywhere.
”

Jasmine’s
Thanksgivings used to be that way as well.
She
remembered the holidays fi
l
led with people, music, laughter and fun.
They
would go to M
om’s parents’ house where
Jasmine and
her
cousins
would play and run all day.
On the drive home
she
would fall asleep and D
ad would carry
her
up to
her
bed.
Or if her dad was stationed too far away, several families from base would arrange a pot-luck. Just like the dinners at her grandparent
s’ house, the event always over
flowed with people, laughter and fun.

She pulled her
self back to the moment.
“That sounds like a lot of fun.
I
’m glad your family celebrates the holiday.”

“Yeah.
I
am
,
too.”
He was quiet for a minute so
she
glanced at him.
He looked thoughtful.

They
near
ed
the locker room.
“Well,
I
better hurry and get dressed
for Dance Class
.
See you later?”

“Sure.
See ya!
”
Mark replied
with a charming
smirk
before continuing
toward
his next class
.

Jasmine’s knees melted at the sight of his dimple.
She leaned against the door as her knees grew weak.
It opened under the pressure of her weight
and she minced steps backward
into the locker room with a goofy smile on her face.
If her feet touched
the ground as she walked
to
the cubby
wherein she kept
her dance clothes, she was unaware.

Jasmine
withdrew to
her
thoughts during dance.
She
should have been paying better attention since the teacher was explaining what
they
were doing after the break
but Thanksgiving wouldn’t leave
her
mind.
It was only a few days away and it didn’t seem right that
she
would not be doing anything for the holiday.

Her m
om used to be the leader of the holiday celebrations.
Without her,
Thanksgiving and Christmas
were flat, dull and empty.
Now that
she
was growing up, maybe it was time for
her
to don her
mom’s
proverbial shoes and make the holidays a little brighter again.
S
he
could honor her
mom’s
memory instead of hiding from it all the time.
Her d
ad might not be interested in celebrating but
she
could take
her
fate and happiness into
her
own hands.

R
esolved,
she
returned focus to dance class ..
. just as the teac
he
r blew her whistle and told the class
to hit the showers.

Jasmine
headed to
Family Development
and thought about what
she
could do to celebrate Thanksgiving.
She
felt
certain
she
couldn’t tackle a turkey yet.
That was a little above
her
level
in cooking.
Maybe
she
could have Yumi over.
She and
Yumi
could make turkey sandwiches
,
and watch a movie
,
or just talk.

Jasmine
sat in
her
seat and felt centered enough to talk to Honorio.

She
turned to face him and
she
even smiled.
“Good after
noon Honorio.
”

“Good afternoon
,
Jasmine
.
”

She
put
her
books on the desk in a neat pile.
As s
he
sat up straight and waited intently for t
he teacher to begin his lesson,
s
he
could feel him looking at
her
.
A glance out of the corner of her eye verified
it
.

She turned to acknowledge his stare.
“Yes?”

“We need to discuss your father’s request
.
”

Her
anxiety over Thanksgiving completely overshadowed
her
dad wanting Ho
norio over for dinner.
What
a nightmare
!
Things were finally starting to bud with Mark and
she
had to pretend to
be dating someone else again. S
he
decided
to figure out how to simplify
her
life.
Juggling a budding relationship with Mark with developing a friendship with Yumi
,
and lying to
her
father about dating a guy who was actually a blue ball of light was simply exhausting!

“Okay.
What’s up?”

“We all discussed it at great length.
We feel that
I
should accept
his
request
.
”

Jasmine was horrified, angered, and confused, but tried to contain it.
“Why?”

“Mostly because Yumi feels it would help us fit in as a group.
It is normal for adolescents to pair up and spend time together.
I
have been ordered to take copious notes on the interactions with your father
for Yumi’s research
.”

Jasmine
rolled
her
eyes.
She
was now a scientific experiment.
Just perfect.

“You know,
I
don’t want to be your
little lab rat
.
I
also don’t want to pretend to be your girlfriend.
Can
we
please break up this pretend relationship
,
soon?”

His face looked genuinely surprised.
“Why does it bother you to have your cover be
a pairing with me
?”

“Because it’s not a real relationship.
I
want
my dad to meet Mark
.
I
can’t bring Mark over while dad thinks you and
I are an item!”

“Who is Mark?”

“He’s a boy from my
Drama Class.
” She felt
a
goofy smile
spreading across her face
.

He seemed annoyed or mad.
“You can’t start a relationsh
ip with a local adolescent male.
”

She looked at
him sternly
.
“Excuse
me
?
Why can’t
I
?”
Jasmine
felt a
slow, furious burn start in her stomach.
How dare
d
he to tell her
what she could, or couldn’t do?

After a short pause, H
onorio
leaned in and whispered
,
“You need to focus on the mission.
You can’t afford to have distractions.
You are
already untrained
,
and
a liability.
If you aren’t focused, you might make a mistake and endanger
us all.
”

Jasmine leaned towards him as well, the cloying scent of him momentarily distracting her.
“First, the mission is over, remember?
”
she whispered.
She held up one finger, then
put up a second.
“
Second,
I
won’t say anything to Mark
about you
guys
if that’s what you are worried about.
It’s not like he would believe
me
if
I
did say something
,
anyways.
”
She raised another finger. H
er face flushed as she
strained to contain
her rage.
“
Third, you are not
my
dad.
You don’t get to tell
me
what
I
can and can’t do or who
I
can or can’t see
.

She sat back in her chair and tried to slow her breathing.
She had promised herself that she wouldn’t let his impertinence irritate her any more.

Honorio
watched her
for a minute then leaned toward
her.
“We have an ongoing mission.
We have to learn as much as possible about humans so
we
can work with your kind in peace.
Learning more about you
,
specifically,
is part of
that mission according to Yumi.
”
He paused again, then leaned a little closer.
“Should I let Yumi know that
you no longer wish to help us?”

Jasmine shot him a dirty
look.
“No.” She c
rossed her arms in front of herself with disgust and looked away angrily.

“If you want to help, we need to pretend to be datin
g so I can gather data for Yumi.
”

Jasmine rankled at his condescending tone.
“Fine.
Did Yumi decide when you should come over?”

Unfortunately, Yumi was Jasmine’s Achilles heel.