Orion: A Heroic Novel

by Travis Johnston

  The bell rang as I turned my attention to the doorway and saw the girl Chase was talking about. He was right, she was definitely beautiful—long light brown hair, flawless pale skin, chocolatey brown eyes, and a confident smile that seemed to warm up the room. She wore blue jeans and a light white jacket over a striped shirt.

  Chase glanced back at me with a big smile. “So hot…” he whispered.

  “Cool,” I said, uninterested. Well, mostly uninterested. It was hard not to look at her.

  “Attention class,” Mr. Gerald said from the front of the classroom. “If you haven’t met our new student at school yet, this is Angela Johnson.”

  “Hello,” she said to the class with a perky wave and a smile. A few students waved in return.

  “Tell us a bit about yourself, Angela. Where did you move from?”

  “New York City.” Her voice was crisp and smooth at the same time.

  “Wow. And what brings a New Yorker to the hot state of Arizona?”

  “All the pools.” A few students laughed. “No—my dad’s work.”

  “Great. Nice to meet you, Angela. Please take a seat.” Mr. Gerald gestured to the open desk at the back of the class—the desk beside mine….

  Mr. Gerald began his lesson as Angela slid into her seat. I kept my head down, trying to hide my black eye. She smelled good. Piña colada I think. She unzipped her backpack to get out her notebook.

  Chase glanced back at me while she wasn’t looking. He pointed at my phone and mouthed, “Dude, you should get her number!”

  I shook my head and pointed to my black eye, as if that was all I needed to say, No way, man! I look like Rocky Balboa after he fought Apollo Creed! There’s no way I could flirt with a girl while looking like this! I think he got the message, but he just kept grinning at me.

  “Oh my gosh! What happened to your face?”

  I turned to Angela. She was looking right at my eye. I couldn’t tell if she were about to laugh or about to cry. Chase looked away and snorted while trying to suppress laughter.

  I blushed. “Uh… I… uh—”

  “Does it hurt?” she asked quietly.

  I finally got around to answering her first question. “I got in a fight yesterday.”

  “Really?” she whispered, looking curious. “That must’ve been an ugly fight.” I nodded, unsure of what else to say. I was being a complete dufus, and I thought she would’ve lost interest in me by now, but she kept asking questions. “So, who won?”

  I frowned. “Well… that’s hard to say. How would you define winning a fight?”

  “Hmm…” She bit her lip in a playful way. “Whoever has the biggest black eye afterward.”

  I chuckled. “I guess you’re looking at the winner then.”

  She smiled. Wow, she had quite the smile…. She extended a hand to me. “And what’s the victor’s name?”

  I blinked with my one good eye, realizing she’d asked me a question. “Uh, Michael.” I shook her hand. “And you’re Angela, right?”

  She nodded and shook my hand. “Nice to meet you, Michael.”

  I grinned back, suddenly not feeling depressed anymore. We turned our attention to Mr. Gerald. I noticed Chase peeking back at me, pointing at my phone and mouthing, “Get her number!”

  This time I strongly considered Chase’s advice. I was going to ask for her number! My hands began to sweat and my stomach tied itself in knots.

  “Hey, Angela,” I said. She turned to me and smiled. “So, I was wondering—”

  “Mr. Stone!” Mr. Gerald snapped at me. “Since you apparently already know this material, could you please explain it to the class?”

  My mind went blank. “Umm…” I tried to orient my thoughts back to the lesson. “Explain what?”

  Several students snickered.

  He rolled his eyes and pointed to the white board that had Nuclear Fusion written on it.

  “Right… nuclear fusion. Yeah, so that basically refers to two atoms that collide with each other, joining to form the next element up the periodic table. Two hydrogen atoms can combine to form helium and release a huge amount of energy—the same energy used by our sun and all the stars in the universe. Something like that, right?”

  I heard a few more snickers in front of me. Chase turned and gave me a suspicious look. I blushed.

  Mr. Gerald narrowed his eyes. “You’re lucky to have professional astronomers as parents, Michael. Next class we’ll be talking about organic chemistry. You’re going to have to pay closer attention to explain that one correctly.”

  I nodded sheepishly, doubting that were true, and he resumed teaching.

  Angela shot me another smile, and then turned her attention to the front of the classroom. We remained silent throughout the remainder of class. The bell rang and the classroom went into an uproar as the students rose from their desks, excited to leave their last class of the day. Mr. Gerald reminded us about a homework assignment as we exited the room, but I was sure nobody was listening. Angela was at my side as we walked through the bustling hallway. Chase winked at me as he left. I blushed again, my swollen eye throbbing.

  “So, your parents are astronomers?” Angela asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, scratching the back of my neck. “They both teach astronomy at the University of Arizona. Pretty geeky, huh?”

  “No way! I love astronomy! I have my own telescope and everything! My dad is an astronomer too!”

  “Really?” I didn’t see that coming. She suddenly became ten times cooler. “Well, it makes sense you and your dad moved here,” I said. “Tucson is one of the best stargazing sites in the world. And I bet it’s impossible to see the stars in New York.”

  “That’s true in the city, but the stars are plenty visible throughout the rest of the state.”

  “Oh yeah.” I’d obviously never been to New York. “Then why did your dad move here?

  “My dad is what’s called an archeoastronomer; that means—”

  “He studies the history of astronomical events.” I blushed after I said it.

  Angela looked impressed. “That’s right! Wow, most people have no clue what that means. So all of his research has to do with meteorites. Ancient ones, new ones, and even predicted ones. My dad predicts that when Newel’s Comet gets closer to earth this weekend, there will be a huge meteor shower, and most of it will land in the southwestern states and Mexico. Arizona seemed to be the best place for him to be in the middle of it all.”

  “Cool. And you’re fine with moving all the way out here just for a meteor shower?”

  “Yeah, well…” She thought for a moment. “It’s nothing new. I’ve moved all over the nation with my dad, never living at a place for more than a few years.”

  “Sounds rough.”

  “Yeah, I’m used to it though.”

  I kicked a rock off the sidewalk. “Well, I hope you get to stay here in Arizona for a long while.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

  “I… uh…” All this blushing was giving me a headache. “So, I’ve uh… I’ve got to go to detention now.”

  “Detention? Oh, right. Because of the fight you got in yesterday?”

  “Yep. So, it was nice to meet you, Angela. I hope to see you tomorrow—I mean, I look forward to seeing you next time in class.” I spun on my heels and quickly started walking toward the class where detention was held, feeling so embarrassed.

  “Okay,” she said. “See you later, Michael.”

  After several steps, I stopped and looked back at Angela. She was already walking to the school parking lot. I stood there debating with myself if I were going to do what I was thinking about doing. I finally made up my mind, and jogged towards her, my legs feeling numb.

  “Hey, Angela,” I said as I approached her.

  “Yes?” she said as she turned her head, causing her light brown hair to dance around her shoulders.

  “I was wondering…” I took a moment to breathe so I didn’t pass out. “So, this
Friday is when that meteor shower is happening, right? Well, would you like to maybe go stargazing with me?”

  Chapter 4

  Ray

  “Down!” I shouted through my mouthpiece. I glanced left and right through my football helmet to make sure my teammates were in the right positions. I held my hands open, ready to have the football snapped to me.

  The crowd cheered from both sides of the field. I didn’t ignore the noise. Something about it invigorated me. The sound of the band, the cheerleaders, the crowd. The Friday night lights shining down on me. The smell of shredded grass and mud. This was right where I was meant to be.

  One minute left in the game. We were behind by a few points. Third down and eight to go. Forty yards to the end zone. This play was crucial. I could mean the game.

  “Set!” I quickly reran the play in my mind. It was a fake hand-off with a pass to one of the receivers. I visualized their routes so I would know where to look for them.

  “Hike!”

  The center snapped the ball and the field exploded with the sound of football players colliding into each other. I grabbed the ball and faked a hand-off to the running back. I broke to the right and looked down field for my receivers. Once the defense realized it was a fake hand-off, they started shouting, “Pass! Pass!”

  After making a split-second scan downfield, I spotted a receiver near the sideline who had just broken ahead of his defender. I threw the ball deep downfield and got knocked to the ground just as the ball left my fingers. The tackle hurt, but I was too focused on the pass to care. I quickly got up and looked downfield. The receiver was my friend, Doug Cooper, and he was already doing a dance in the end zone, ball in hand.

  “Yeah!” I cheered with a fist pump.

  The crowd erupted into a deafening cheer. The announcer shouted, “Touchdooooooown!” My teammates slapped my shoulder pads and gave me chest bumps. The opposing team slunk back to their sideline.

  “Nice throw, Ray!” Doug said as we returned to our sideline.

  “Nice catch!” I replied, whacking his helmet.

  “Way to go, boys!” Coach Jones said as he sent our special teams on the field.

  The game ended 30 seconds later. The other team had lost their momentum and couldn’t get past our defense within that time. The buzzer went off and our team cheered our victory.

  After shaking the other players’ hands, Coach called us in at the home end zone. We took our helmets off and took a knee around him. The smell of torn grass and sweat was strong. I loved that smell because it meant football.

  “Great game, tonight,” Coach Jones said. “You boys played your hearts out, I can tell. It was close. Too close. We should have destroyed this team. Next week we’ll be playing in Queen Creek, and they’re way better than these guys. If we play them the way we played tonight, we’ll lose. You’ll have to work harder this week to win. And we will win!” The team cheered.

  “But, great game tonight,” Coach continued. He held up a football above his head. “After every game, we award the game ball to one of our players. The player who played his hardest, who gave it his all, who held the team together, and helped bring us our victory—our MVP. Tonight’s game ball goes to our QB, Ray Simmons!”

  The team applauded and Coach handed me the game ball. I thanked Coach with a huge grin. I drank it all in, planning to never forget this moment.

  I walked out of the locker room and saw my mom waiting for me. She was decked out in red and blue, our school colors. She beamed a smile when she saw me. “There’s my all-star quarterback!”

  I blushed, noticing all the people nearby. “Hey, mom,” I said. “Did you like the game?”

  “I liked the ending,” she said. “But the middle was too close for me. Nearly gave me a heart attack.” She patted me playfully.

  I glanced around to make sure no one I knew was around. “Was Sam able to make it?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “Your brother wanted to come, but said last minute that he couldn’t make it.”

  I shrugged. Sam was one of my two older brothers. He played college football right here at the U of A, and my oldest brother, Garret, just got into the NFL.

  My mom was trying to read my thoughts. “He would’ve been proud of you,” she said.

  “Yeah, well he can watch the replays,” I said.

  “Not Sam,” she said. “Your father. He would’ve been so proud of you tonight.”

  Her comment caught me off guard. She rarely talked about dad. I gave her a brief smile, shuffled my feet, and changed the subject. “So, mom. I’m gonna hang out with some of my friends tonight, okay? We want to celebrate our victory.”

  “Okay. Just don’t go getting into drugs or alcohol or anything like that.”

  I scoffed as I started walking to my truck. “Don’t worry, mom. I would never do that.”

  “Alright,” she said. “Have fun! See ya in the morning!”

  I waved goodbye and turned toward the parking lot. There was a group of friends hanging around my truck. Doug was the first to notice me approaching. “There he is!” he said as he gave me a bro hug. “Our MVP!”

  “Nice game, boys!” I said to the group. Two other teammates, Cody and Tyler, were sitting in the truck’s bed with a few girls. “You ready to party?” The group cheered.

  “Great game, Ray.” It was my girlfriend, Britney Miles, looking as great as ever.

  I opened her door for her. “Thanks, Brit.” I leaned in and kissed her. Everyone in the truck laughed and whistled. We broke our kiss and jumped in the truck.

  “Let’s get this started!” Doug said as he pulled out a couple of six-packs of beer.

  My mom’s warning came to my mind, but I washed it away by cranking on some loud music with heavy bass. With that, I revved my truck’s engine and we sped out of the city to a place called Red Knoll, the perfect place for a bon fire. Britney held my hand while I drove. Doug and a couple of girls were in the back seat of the cab, jamming out to the music.

  I wore an invincible smile. I felt invincible, like nothing could stop me now. I was living my dream. I was the MVP on my football team. I was awarded the game ball. I was dating the hottest girl in school. I was the most respected guy in school, even as a junior. I was on the path to become everything my father was and everything my brothers were. I planned on even surpassing them, being the best.

  I rolled down the windows to let the desert night air blow in. It still felt warm even though midnight wasn’t too far away. There was no moon, so it was pretty dark out. I turned onto the dirt road that led to Red Knoll. We passed by tall saguaro cactuses and green bushes, basically the only living plants in the desert.

  Doug and I started talking—or shouting over the music—about the game. We reviewed nearly every play, relishing the plays that rocked and fuming over the plays that crashed. The girls started talking about their clothes or something, I wasn’t really listening.

  After a few more miles, we arrived at our regular bon fire spot. It was at the foot of a small hill called Red Knoll where there was less vegetation and more space to park vehicles, start fires, and even play a small two-hand touch football game.

  Before I parked, Doug leaned forward and pointed at something in front of us. “Who’s that?” he asked. The truck’s headlights revealed two people in the distance standing near our bon fire ring. I couldn’t tell who they were because their backs were to us. They had no fire going, no flashlight, so it was like they popped up out of nowhere. “What’re they doing out here?” Doug wondered.

  “Let’s find out,” I said. I turned down the music and drove closer. As we approached, one of the figures turned around and put up a hand to block the light coming from the truck’s headlights.

  “No way,” Britney said. “It’s Michael Stone.”

  “Dang it, Stoner!” I said, pounding the steering wheel. Why did he have to show up when this night was going so well? How did he always end up getting in my way?

  “What’s Stoner doing out
here in the middle of the night?” Doug asked.

  “Looks like they’ve got a telescope,” Britney said. “Who’s he with?

  “I think that’s the new girl,” Doug said. “She’s in my English class.”

  “Well, they’re going to have to move,” I said. “This is our spot.” I got out of the truck and left the lights on and the engine running.

  Doug laughed and got out of the truck with me. “This is gonna be fun!”

  Everyone got out of the truck. I think there were about ten of us all together. Cody and Tyler were carrying bundles of firewood on their shoulders. Several of the girls carried camp chairs, blankets, and snacks. Doug still had the beer.

  The new girl stood by Stoner with her hand up too, blocking her eyes from the headlights. As I got closer, I could tell that she was really attractive. Maybe more attractive than even Britney. How did Stoner end up with a girl like that?

  “Hey, Ray,” Stoner said, obviously unhappy to see me. “You guys just passing by?”

  I kept walking until I was just a few feet away from him. He didn’t back away from me, which was unlike most dweebs at school. He stood tall, almost as tall as me. There was a lot of tension in his expression. I could tell he was still sore from the fight, and more than just from his black eye. I grinned. Something was so funny about watching Stoner get angry.

  “Nope,” I stated. “This is our spot for our bon fire. We come here nearly every other week. You guys are gonna have to move.” Cody and Tyler had already walked past Stoner and had thrown the wood into the fire ring.

  “Ray, you shouldn’t light fires here,” Stoner said. “Didn’t you see the ‘no fire’ sign on the road?”

  “Nope,” I lied. “And I don’t care anyways. We’ve been lighting fires out here plenty of times, and no one has ever stopped us.”

  “Well I might. If I can’t light fires out here, then you shouldn’t either.”

  I chuckled and took a threatening step closer. “What? You think you can stop me? Just like you stopped me from pounding your face in on Monday? Or like you stopped me from getting you suspended?”