How To Break Up With An Alien

by Magan Vernon

  How to Break up with an Alien

  Magan Vernon

  How to Break Up with an Alien: My Alien Romance Series, Book 2

  Copyright © Magan Vernon, 2012

  www.maganvernon.com

  Smashwords Edition License Notes

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

  Smashwords Edition: July 2012

  Cover art by Steven Novak.

  http://novakillustration.com/

  Second edition edited by H. Danielle Crabtree

  http://www.hedanicreations.net/freelance-editor

  For Olivia

  Always go for your dreams.

  Acknowledgements

  I wanted to write a sequel that was different than most YA sequels. If I didn't succeed in that I hope I at least made something worth reading.

  This book would not be possible without GP Ching who encouraged me to Indie publish and helped bring this series to life. Angela Carlie, Karly Kirkpatrick, and Megg Jensen — thanks for having faith in a series about an awkward teenage girl and an alien.

  To my early readers, Kelsey Ketch, Rachel Johnson (yes THE Rachel Johnson), Rashelle Workman, and Susan Kaye Quinn, you all are amazing. Thanks for making this book readable.

  The Indelibles, what can I say? You all rock and inspire me to be a better writer.

  This series would be nothing without my amazing cover designer, Steven Novak, thank you for helping me to rebrand this series!

  Thanks to Dani Crabtree for coming to my rescue with much needed editing services.

  To Tim and Olivia, thanks for putting up with my hours hauled away and concentrating on my alien world.

  Pod 23, you guys know you are all Remarkable!

  And finally to you the reader that picked up this book. Without you, none of this would be possible.

  Chapter 1

  One would think that saving the world from evil aliens would be enough to exempt me from my senior year of high school. Or even the fact that I was promised to the prince of Calta, home of said evil aliens. A future Caltian princess needed her beauty sleep. But no, I was expected to join the non-alien masses in Advanced Senior English at 8 a.m., which meant I had to be awake enough to get through my school and work day. Only there weren't enough sheep in the world to count my way into sleep. My anger and annoyance kept me wide awake.

  A brilliant blue light streamed down from my bedroom ceiling, reflecting off the mirror above my dresser.

  “You’re late,” I mumbled, not even lifting my head from the pillow.

  The light disappeared and the weight shifted on the left side of my bed. A cold burst of air bore through my covers and I knew that my alien was nearby.

  “I’m sorry. There was some sort of Martian threat on the Utah capital and I had to handle it.” Ace’s warm fingers brushed against my cheek. The rest of his body might have been cold, but his hands were always warm and left me with a sensation that I couldn't resist. It felt like rubbing aloe on a sunburn.

  “A likely excuse.” I opened my eyes and grabbed my glasses from the nightstand, placing them on my face and sitting up next to him.

  “But I brought you something.” He grinned, pulling a box from behind his back with a giant cartoon purple dinosaur on it.

  “Feeble Weebles!” I tried not to scream and wake up my family in the middle of the night, but it was freaking Feeble Weebles! The Caltian cereal that was like Lucky Charms but with only marshmallows.

  “So does this make up for me being late?” He leaned in closer.

  I nearly brushed my lips against his, pulling the cereal from his grasp. “I’ll think about it.”

  “Oh, come on, for me?” He lifted his eyebrows and flashed his irresistible smile that could have been on its own cereal box.

  I swallowed, setting the box on my nightstand. I tried to think of something to say instead of just staring at the way his temperature control suit molded to body. With his body's normal temperature being half of what a human's was, he always had to wear it when he visited, which was supposed to be around ten o’clock instead of two in the morning.

  "I just wanted to come and wish you luck on your first day of school and work." He ran his fingers along where my sleeve met my arm. "Sorry, I couldn’t get here earlier.”

  “Is this what it’s always going to be like?” I looked up to meet his eyes. They were endless pools of black, a bit frightening, but intriguing at the same time.

  “Always like what?” He lay down next to me, his long body spreading along my twin-sized bed while he propped his spiky-haired head up on his extended arm.

  I sighed. “Me waiting up for you, only to have you show up late or busy with some alien duty.”

  Ace shook his head, his hair brushing against my headboard. “I hope not. Once you are at Northern Arizona, I can arrange to see you more often. Then we won’t have to worry about sneaking around when your mother isn’t awake, and you can even come see me instead of this beaming thing.”

  I lay down next to him, pressing my body to his. His muscles shivered underneath me, and even through the temperature control suit I could feel his icy hot chill. “How about you figure out how to beam me places, and then I can just come see you at work whenever I want?”

  Ace pressed his forehead to mine, his eyes dark and close. “Why must you ask me questions that you know are impossible?”

  “Impossible things are happening every day.”

  Ace let out a silent laugh, the cold air blowing through his nose and tickling my lips. “You stayed up watching musicals while you were waiting for me, didn’t you?”

  “I can sing some of them if you would like.”

  “I think there is something better that you can do with your mouth than sing.”

  He tilted his head and pressed his lips to mine. After waiting all night for him, the electric current his touch sent through my lips and all the way down almost made up for it. Almost.

  "Alex?" a woman's voice rang through the door.

  Crap, my mom. I broke the kiss and put my finger to my lips. Ace rolled off the side of my bed and crawled underneath it. I pulled the comforter up and over the side to try and hide him the best I could.

  The door squeaked open and mom poked her blond mess of hair in. She reached her fingers under her thick glasses, rubbing her eyes. “Is everything alright? I thought I heard something?”

  "Oh, no, just woke up and thought I would listen to some Ira Glass podcasts.” I pushed the comforter farther onto the side of my bed, hoping that she wouldn't walk over and see Ace lying between the bed and the window.

  "Oh.” She glanced at my IPod in the dock. Hopefully she was too sleepy and wouldn’t realize that nothing was actually on. “Well you should probably get to sleep. I know the first day of school is exciting, but it'll be better if you are awake for it. You need your rest."

  "Okay, I will do that.”

  She nodded and I thought she would leave the room, but instead she walked over to my nightstand. My heart pounded as I thought about how close she was to finding Ace under my bed. Hopefully he didn’t breathe too loud.

  “What is this?” She picked up the box of Feeble Weebles, squinting at the giant purple dinosaur.

  “Just some cereal I got the other day. Been hiding it in my room so I wouldn’t have to share with Elijah.” Good excuse, Alex, Good excuse.

 
Mom shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

  I shrugged. “Yeah it’s new.”

  “Huh. Alright, well next time let me know when you get a box and I will try and get some for Elijah as well.”

  “Will do.”

  Finally she walked to the door and closed it behind her. I waited until I heard the door to her bedroom shut before I pulled up the comforter and leaned over the side of the bed. But Ace wasn't there. Nothing but dust bunnies.

  Huh.

  I sat back up and felt something cold against my back. I looked up and there was Ace, kneeling behind me.

  "Looking for something?" He placed his hands on my shoulders and brushed his lips to my forehead.

  If only I had the speed that my alien boyfriend had, then I could just zip through my senior year and forget about distance and mom’s annoyingly great sense of hearing. But when said alien boyfriend was in my bed, I wanted nothing more than the opposite speed. I wanted to freeze time to keep everything just the way it was.

  Chapter 2

  "Alex? ALEX!"

  I jolted forward, knocking my elbow out from under me and causing my cereal spoon to slide across the table.

  "I swear I thought that military base would have instilled some discipline, but as soon as you come back you're up all night listening to talk radio." Mom grabbed my cereal bowl and placed it in the sink.

  Little did she know that the military base I spent my summer at was actually an alien operations center, and I was up late talking to my alien future husband.

  "I'm fine, Mom. Remember, you're the one that got me this job at the coffee shop, so a few espresso shots after school and I will be good to go."

  I stood up from the kitchen table, slinging my messenger bag over my shoulder and kissing the top of my little brother, Elijah's curly head.

  "Fine, fine, it wouldn't be the first time you haven't listened to a word I said." She rolled her eyes and set another piece of banana on Elijah's plate. We both knew he would never eat it and eventually throw it down to one of the cats, but hope sprung eternal.

  "Love you, too, Mom." I gave her a quick peck on the cheek, slid on my flip-flops and headed out the front door.

  The humidity hit me like a brick wall. As soon as I stepped out of my air-conditioned house I could feel the sweat gathering under my arms. I wiped the steam from my glasses and headed to my car.

  I didn't know why mom wouldn't just let me drive her car on days like this. While she sat inside typing away, her glorious air-conditioned sedan sat in the garage. Meanwhile I had to drive around town in my stepfather's grandpa's old car, affectionately called 'The Pox' for all the brown rust spots that covered the powder blue exterior. The vehicle's looks wouldn't bother me so much if there was at least air conditioning. But I wasn't that lucky.

  I opened the door and rolled down the window before I even tried to brave the faux leather interior.

  Hot. Hot. Hot.

  I pulled down my shirt where the seat met with my bare skin. "Some stylish ride for a future princess," I muttered to no one in particular.

  The car sputtered to life, and I turned up the radio to try and drown out the sound of the roaring engine. It kind of reminded me of the ship that the queen of Calta gave Ace and me after she kidnapped him, and then released us to go back to Circe. Of course my car wouldn't have Caltian fighter planes after it or reeked of formaldehyde. At least I hoped it wouldn't have anyone chasing after it. I was already late for school as it was.

  ***

  Winnebago High School looked like a giant cement block that someone just placed in the middle of a cornfield. There were a few windows positioned in perfect squares and a giant orange sign flashing 'Welcome Back Students.'

  I screeched down the blacktop path until I got to a parking spot, right outside the gym doors. Just my luck, Gemma Lee and her rugby posse were pulling in at the same time.

  "Ugh, Wop, the fumes from your car are going to give me emphysema." Her raspy voice boomed over the sound of my engine before I turned it off. She had been calling me Wop since eighth grade. She said she heard it in an old Clint Eastwood movie, but I think her redneck family probably just instilled the hate in her.

  "Nice to see you, too, Gemma." I threw my messenger bag over my shoulder, shutting my car door, and tried to speed walk to the school doors as fast as I could.

  It was all a game for Gemma. Ever since I moved to Winnebago in middle school she had been on my case. Whether it was about the fact that I spent more of my time reading than hanging out with anyone or the fact that I was the only kid with olive skin and glasses, it was like her personal mission to torture me as much as possible.

  I guess I underestimated how fast Gemma's tree-trunk legs could move. The tapping of her clunky shoes on the linoleum behind me let me know that she was right on my tail.

  "Another year at this miserable school, but once we win state for rugby and I get my scholarship to a Big Ten school it will be smooth sailing." Her voice carried over me and boomed against the metal lockers.

  "Yeah, but you look so good in your uniform," added one of Gemma's Rugby cronies, Rachel Johnson.

  "Rachel, what the hell does looking good in my uniform have to add to the conversation? Sometimes I wonder how you make it through life."

  On that note, I sped up the stairs as fast as my flip-flops could carry me and got to my locker. I didn't want her to take her rugby anger out on me instead of Rachel, just because I was nearby.

  "Hey, Bianchi, good to see you made it back." Brody Birely smiled over his locker at me. With the alphabetical order of our names, we had been locker neighbors for as long as I could remember, except I didn't remember him being so tall last year or having that stubble of hair on his chin.

  "Yep, one more year and I'm out for good." Stop staring. He was your crush last year. Now you have a boyfriend who also happens to be a very powerful alien.

  "Don't rush. It is our senior year after all. Best time of our life, right?"

  I closed my locker and looked up at him. He had a smile that never left his face and was so contagious that I couldn't help but squeak out a smile in return. "I guess that is what all the movies tell us."

  I turned the other way and walked to my first class of the day, Advanced Senior English with Mrs. Huff or the crypt keeper as most of us called her. She sat hunched over her desk, staring blankly at a stack of papers through her thick, granny glasses while students slowly piled in to the rows of desks, praying she wasn't making a seating chart.

  I took the seat closest to the window in the corner. If you could call it a window, more like a rectangular hole in the blank, white plaster walls. The usual flock gathered in the front of the room: the overachievers who spent their whole lives sucking up to the teachers and getting high off extra credit. One would think that I would be sitting next to them, as one of the smart kids, but to tell the truth their ass kissing and constant need to make a point annoyed the crap out of me.

  I wondered if there was any way Ace could beam into the classroom. At Circe he once came to my window in the middle of the night and we went for a ride on a hover bike. Of course that ended terribly. Maybe it would be different at Northern Arizona, maybe he could enroll as well. Instead of sitting alone in the back of class he would be there next to me. We could pass notes, or whatever people did in classes. Then, whenever the professor wasn't looking, he would lean over and press his lips to my forehead or maybe even my neck, or…

  "Long time no see." Brody plopped down in the desk in front of me, knocking me out of my daydream. He always smelled like a pair of new jeans, and it took everything I had not to lean over and just sniff him a little.

  "What are you doing in advanced English?" I fumbled through my messenger bag, pulling out my five subject notebook and a mechanical pencil.

  "Are you trying to say that I'm not smart, Bianchi?" He turned around, leaning in over my desk.

  "I'm not saying that." I thought about what words to use."Just did
n't think a guy who wears a Carhart jacket year round would take an advanced class."

  "Yeah, normally I wouldn't." He turned back around as we heard the squeaking of the crypt keeper Huff lurching up from her chair."But I need something else to put on my college applications beside Future Farmers of America."

  College applications, something I was all too familiar with. At first I thought my internship at Circe would get me into Columbia, but instead I ended up with an alien boyfriend and an acceptance letter to Northern Arizona.

  "Okay, everyone, simmer down now," Mrs. Huff croaked, thumbing through the papers in her hands and handing them down the rows of students. "What I have here is your syllabus and list of required reading for the first semester."

  I looked down at the sheet of paper once it was passed to me, the usual required senior reading: Greek tragedies, Dickens, some Shakespeare, and of course a play about racial intolerance—same thing every year that was in every single one of my English classes. Romeo and Juliet themes for Freshman year, Oliver Twist and orphan themes for sophomore year, Mythology for junior year, and of course we had to round it out with the rest of the cannon so we could have something to reference when people mentioned an Oedipus Complex.

  "After each reading you will be required to write a one-page summary with your thoughts on the reading. These will go out every Friday and be due every Monday."

  Awesome. My day was just getting better and better, weekend homework followed by PE. If these were supposed to be the best days of my life, I dreaded the rest of them.

  Chapter 3

  After sitting on the bleachers and listening to the football coach talk about the requirements of appropriate workout gear, I had Spanish and then it was off to my first day of work.