by Lauryn April
“They took her when she was eighteen.”
I’m eighteen. “I was lucky to just get tagged, huh?”
Logan offered a wan smile, then he walked deeper into the room. I followed him past the empty canisters to where bodies, appearing black against the glowing light, floated in green liquid. The sight of them made me sick.
“What is all of this?”
“Experiments gone wrong. I guess they kept them around to avoid making the same mistakes.”
I stared in horror at one of the containers containing a deformed figure. It looked like a man, but his eyes were solid black and bulging from his face. One hand had long spindly fingers, but the others were short and human-like.
“I don’t remember anything about being there. I was too little, but my mom tells me they kept us like cows. We were just livestock. But over time we evolved. We got stronger. The Greys would return to earth and bring back more people. None of us knew why. I think they did it to keep the gene pools human enough that we wouldn’t get out of control, but we did anyway.”
“What happened?”
“We revolted, sending our planet into a war that’s been going on for the last fifteen years. When the uprising began some of us were able to escape by stealing their ships.”
“You came to earth in this ship, didn’t you?”
Logan nodded. My mind raced as I thought about all the things he’d been through. What had happened to me had been hard enough to believe, but all of this…it was too much.
I gulped, feeling claustrophobic. It felt as if the glowing green canisters were closing in, threatening to spill over and drown me. I needed fresh air and walked back to the door. I didn’t know the way out of the ship, but just getting away from the Greys’ failed experiments helped.
I wished I could forget all about them, that I could go back to being normal. I wished I had never pushed Logan to tell me any of this.
I slowed my pace as I stepped back into the hallway, taking a few deep breaths. Behind me I heard Logan’s footsteps.
“Sorry if I scared you. I didn’t mean to,” he said.
“This is just crazy. I mean, my neighbors are aliens, I was abducted, I just…I can’t believe this is all real. But at the same time I know it is. Kind of a mind-warp, you know.”
“It’s a lot to take in, I know, but you have to promise me one thing, Payton. I’m trusting you not to tell anyone about this.”
I laughed. “Right, because I want the whole school thinking I’m a nutcase. No rational person would believe any of this, and I’m certainly not going to tell anyone I spent the day with you.” I cringed, realizing that was harsh.
Hurt flashed through Logan’s expression before he hid it with a guarded look. “Of course, what was I thinking? Prom Queen Payton Carlson has a reputation to keep.” He laughed.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said, though I wasn’t sure that was exactly true. I did have a reputation to keep up. “And I’m not the Prom Queen…yet.” Junior Prom Queen didn’t count.
Logan shook his head. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
I followed him back through the maze of hallways. A rush of fresh air floated by, and the end of the hallway filled with light, signaling we were nearing the exit.
I called to Logan. He turned around. “I won’t tell anyone. Just so you know.”
A grin pulled at the corner of Logan’s lips and he nodded. “Thanks,” he said, and we continued walking toward the light.
“So, how does this whole thing work for you?” I asked as we walked through the woods.
“What do you mean?”
“Like, does anyone know about you, like the government…or are you hiding from the DOD?”
Logan laughed. “No, your government knows about us. When our ship crashed we were…taken into custody for some time, but eventually your government realized we’re not the real threat. The Greys are, and they’ve been abducting people from your planet for centuries. We’re allowed to seek refuge and live here peacefully so long as we share everything we know about the Greys. Someone checks in with us once a year to make sure there aren’t any problems, but there never have been.”
“How many of you are there?”
Logan shrugged. “Not sure – hundreds, maybe thousands. There aren’t any in this area anymore.”
I nodded. We were exiting the woods, and Logan’s house came into view.
“So,” Logan said. “You wanna come over, hang out?”
I nearly stopped walking as I thought over his question. Part of me wasn’t ready for the time I was spending with Logan to end, but when I thought about hanging out with him, I felt…anxious, as if that was something I shouldn’t be doing.
“Um…no, I should get home, figure out what I missed skipping class.”
Logan looked away. “Right, of course.”
“Yeah, I’ll um, I’ll see you around.” With a wave I walked to my house.
I made my way across the yard, wondering if anything would be different between us. We had this thing we shared, something we both understood that no one else could, but I’d gotten my answers from Logan. I knew what he was; I knew what happened to me. Was there anything left for us to talk about? Would we become friends? I felt the more likely outcome was that we’d go back to how things used to be.
Ultimately being abducted by aliens changed nothing. It was in the past. It didn’t matter that Logan was an alien or that I’d been abducted. Tomorrow I would be Payton Carlson, head cheerleader, high school senior and far too popular to be seen with geeky, loner Logan Reed.
For the first time that thought bothered me, but I didn’t see any way to change it.
CHAPTER
10
The next day Logan waved at me in the hallway. I waved back. Hailey gave me a weird look, shaking her head. I was glad when we parted ways, and I went to my locker to get my English book. As I retrieved it I realized Hailey wouldn’t be the only person to look at me strangely for waving at Logan.
Logan honestly didn’t deserve the crap he got from everyone. They picked on him because he was quiet and kept to himself, and honestly he was a little odd. Then I remembered he was from another planet, so maybe he had a reason to be a little odd, but he was a good person.
When I walked into first hour, Logan smiled at me again. I wanted to smile back, but I saw Jo out of the corner of my eye and ignored him completely. I took my seat beside my best friend and stared straight ahead the entire hour. The rest of the week I avoided eye contact with Logan, which wasn’t hard. We only had first hour together, and I kept myself busy with cheerleading and planning for Homecoming. We didn’t have any real reason to talk anymore, but it was still obvious that I was avoiding him. Sometimes I wasn’t sure why. I think at some point I convinced myself that Logan and I just couldn’t be friends, that it’d be best to make that clear before he got the wrong idea.
After practice on Thursday I gave Jo a ride home from school. On the drive she had her head stuck in a book with a title that had something to do with oranges: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, or something. I only glanced at it. A few weeks ago she was reading this YA Romance with a rather drool-worthy shirtless guy on the cover. I asked a lot more questions about that one than the oranges one. I figured she was reading it for a class and didn’t bother her. Before she got out of the car she turned to me, and a wave of nervousness washed over her expression.
She bit her lip and said, “Saturday, my parents are going to be out of town, and I was thinking about inviting Nik over; would you want to stop by?”
“Oh my God, yes, absolutely. What time?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’ll text you.”
“Okay,” I said, my voice sounding bubbly.
“Um, just one thing though.” Jo twirled her class ring around her finger.
“What?”
Jo’s voice was low and serious. “Nik’s not what you’re going to be expecting.”
I sighed. “You don’t know what I�
�m expecting…and I’m not expecting. I have no expectations. Whatever it is about Nik that you’re worried about, I’m sure it’s not as big of a deal as you think. I’m sure I’ll love him as long as you do.”
Jo smiled. “Thanks, Payton.”
She waved as she got out of my car.
I pulled into my driveway. As I did, I saw Logan making his way across the street. Inwardly I cringed at the awkward conversation that I was sure would come next.
“Payton,” he called.
I sighed and slowly turned to him. “Logan?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“No, I’ve been busy. Note the cheerleading outfit.”
“You’re always busy; you’ve been avoiding me.”
I crossed my arms, planning to stand on my busy comment. Then I let out of huff of breath, unable to keep up the façade. “Look, Logan–”
“No, I get it. It’s fine for you to talk to me when there’s something you need from me, but the head cheerleader just can’t be friends with some loner outcast.”
“I’m sorry, Logan, I did have a good time with you the other day. But aliens don’t fit into my life.”
“And I’m an alien so….”
“It’s not like that. It’s like…like the end of The Breakfast Club; we were just two people coming together over a shared experience, but we don’t run in the same circles. It’s nothing personal; I mean what would we do as friends anyway? Are you going to take up cheerleading or show up at one of Jared Hoffman’s parties? Are you going to go running with me and Jo on the weekends? Do you want to go shopping with me and Hailey? We just don’t have anything else in common.”
Logan’s lips thinned. He looked away. When he met my gaze again, the hurt still shimmered in his eyes, but he tried hard to mask it. “You know…you’re right,” he said. “It’s not like you’d enjoy any of the things I like to do either.”
My lips fell into a sad smile. Weakly I said, “Yeah,” but it was at that moment I realized I didn’t really know what kinds of things Logan liked. I had no idea if I would like any of the things he did.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around then,” Logan said, his chin tilting downward, shoulders slumping. He stepped away, then turned and walked across the street.
For a moment I watched him go and wondered if I’d made the right choice, but then again what choice was there really to make? Our worlds were just too different.
Friday, Logan was back to pretending like I didn’t exist. It was as if nothing had ever happened between us. When I left for school he was walking down his front steps. He didn’t wave. He ignored me in English. We didn’t make eye contact in the hall. It was exactly how I’d thought things would be, and I noticed every time things weren’t different.
Throughout the day he snuck into my thoughts. I remembered how black his eye had been when I’d cornered him in the bathroom. I remembered how he’d made the fence shake and unlocked it with his mind. I remembered his expression as he’d told me about the Greys and how he came to earth. I shook the thoughts away, shook the guilt away. Eventually, I’d pushed all thoughts of Logan out of my mind.
The rest of the night I focused on my squad and my routine. There was an away game that night. We left directly from school via the bus to make it from Robert E. Lee to Central on time. It would be a late night, but with only a week until the Homecoming game, everyone was excited.
I lead chants on the bus and wore my best smile at the game. I did my best to convince myself that telling Logan there wasn’t any way we could be friends was the right thing to do. I wanted to think about anything other than our talks of aliens, or how Logan had been nothing but nice to me when I’d been a total bitch to him. I tried to convince myself I didn’t regret the things I’d said to him. So that night I went with Hailey to Jared Hoffman’s after party and convinced Jo to come with us.
“You sure you wanna come?” I asked Jo as we piled into Hailey’s SUV with the other girls from our squad.
Jo nodded. “Yeah, I mean I’ll probably be in no mood to go running tomorrow, but I could use a drink.”
“Everything alright?”
“Fine, just nervous about tomorrow.”
“What? Not about my meeting Nik?” I said in a lower tone.
Jo shrugged. “Kinda. But I know it’ll be fine. Let’s not talk about that right now; let’s just have fun tonight.”
I smiled. “I think I can handle that.”
Jared’s house was packed tight. A couple of girls stumbled into the front yard. They clung to one another as if their ankles had been tied together for a drunken three-legged race. A red plastic cup crunched beneath the broken heel of the girl on the right. We parked down the road and followed the music to the door. As we stepped into the living room, a group of guys pushed past us and wedged through the crowd.
Hailey left us when she spotted Darren hovering by the keg. After noticing Jared standing next to him, Jo and I decided to let her go off on her own. Jared turned to us. He winked at me from across the room.
Jo rolled her eyes. “Maybe we should have found a different party. I’m sick of the way that creep treats you.”
I shrugged. “There really aren’t any other parties going on; everyone’s here. It’s fine. I can handle Jared.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” Through the crowed I saw broad shoulders and blond hair pushing people aside. “Especially with Ian here.”
I smiled and Jo turned just in time to see my potential future boyfriend walk up. His hair screamed hat-head, but considering we’d all just come from a game, I couldn’t complain. His smile, however, was absolutely perfect.
“Payton, I’m glad you made it,” Ian said.
“Yeah me too – this place is crowded though.”
“Should we get the two of you a couple of beers?”
“We’re avoiding the keg.” Jo tilted her head toward Jared.
Ian looked over his shoulder. “Ah, yeah I don’t blame you…I have a better idea.”
Ian led us through the house and down the stairs. Jared had a finished basement with a TV the size of an elephant and a personal bar. All the seats at the bar were filled as my classmates twirled on the barstools. Violent images flashed across the TV screen as a group of guys played some war-themed video game. Behind them a long table was set up, where a game of beer pong was coming to an end.
Jo and I followed Ian across the room to a table where a large punch bowl was filled with red liquid. Orange slices floated on its surface, and a stack of red cups sat on the table beside it. Ian poured both Jo and me a cup. I smiled as he handed me mine, but Jo was more cautious taking hers.
“Ever heard the phrase ‘don’t drink the wop?’” she asked.
Ian laughed. “I made it myself; it’s safe, I swear. It’s not even really that strong. Mostly Hawaiian Punch.”
“Alright, I’ll trust you.” She took a small sip.
I didn’t share Jo’s worries and took a large gulp from my glass. The three of us hung out for a while, talking about the football game and the Homecoming dance. Jo and I played a game of beer pong against Ian and won. Then, as we were refilling our glasses from the punch bowl, Jared appeared.
“Ian man, I see you’re hanging out with my ex.” Jared wrapped an arm around Ian’s shoulder.
Ian narrowed his eyes. “No, Jare, I’m hanging out with my date to Homecoming and my friend Jo.”
“Oh, you and Jo are friends now, wow, aren’t you popular.”
“Don’t you have somewhere else you can be?” Jo asked.
“Yeah, like, I don’t know, helping some slutty sophomore do a keg stand?” I added.
“Oh, how cute,” Jared slurred. “Someone’s jealous.”
“Hardly.”
“Look Jared, why don’t you find something else to do?” Ian suggested.
Jared clenched his jaw, then patted Ian on the back and stepped away from us. “You know what, I will. Y
ou can have her; just watch out for Logan Reed. The little freak has a crush on her.”
“Jare, just go,” Ian said.
The next few hours went by in a blur of tipsy laughter, stumbling steps, and giddy dancing. I remember hugging Jo and tripping over the rug. I remember Ian catching me, and laughing so hard I cried. I jumped up and down and swayed to the music.
At some point Ian and I were separated from Jo. We found ourselves alone in an office in the basement. Ian had shut the door, and we sat on a leather couch making out.
By then the not-so-strong punch was feeling a lot stronger than Ian had suggested. That or I’d just had too many glasses of it. Either way the alcohol had my whole world spinning. I felt light and giggly. Even as Ian kissed me I wanted to smile, though part of that was simply because he was Ian. I scooted back on the couch and fell backwards into the cushions. When Ian nearly fell onto the floor I laughed, realizing he was as drunk as I was. He quickly regained his balance again, and I giggled as he kissed my neck.
I felt Ian’s hand moving up my side, his fingers gripping my hip. He kissed me on the lips again, harder this time, and suddenly all lightness vanished. Pinned beneath him on the couch I tried to push him back, but he didn’t budge. As his hand started to trail beneath my cheerleading skirt, I pushed at him. Hard.
I liked Ian, I enjoyed kissing him, and part of me wanted to keep going, but things were just moving too fast, and my brain couldn’t keep up to process if I wanted all of it.
“Stop,” I said, and Ian instantly pulled away from me.
“What’s wrong?” Ian asked.
I stared at the ceiling, taking a deep breath. When I sat up the room spun.
“This is just all moving a little fast, don’t you think?”
Ian smiled. His crooked grin reminded me how much we’d had to drink that night. “I don’t know. I like you, you like me. I mean, we do have something, right?”
I felt bubbly. It felt good to hear Ian say he liked me because I really liked him. I nodded, yes.
