Young Writers Society

In the morning, Novah was fast asleep in the black chair with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head resting on her shoulder. Calix watched from his bed and smiled. Something about her made him feel strange, an unusual kind of happiness. A feeling of weight, almost like a responsibility but not a burden.

Opening hours started again and he knew that meant Seiko was going to come. He didn’t know why but that made him worry. He started to think about what he would say. Is it strange that Novah was with him all night? Why does the thought make him feel so embarrassed and defensive?

Part of him told him to wake up Novah but he didn’t want to disturb her and ruin the moment. So instead he waited and not for long, because in only an hour, he could hear Seiko coming.

When she pulled back the curtain she looked at Novah with a confused face and a bit of a smirk, “Uh?”

Calix heart fluttered, “She couldn’t sleep,” he answered nonchalantly, “So we hanged out last night.”

“Oh okay,” Seiko replied kind of passive-aggressively.

“You jealous she likes me more than you?” he teased.

“I’m not jealous,” Seiko frowned a little.

With a quiet groan, Novah moved a little and opened eyes. Seiko and Calix both looked over at her. Calix, his heart racing, and Seiko, her eyes waiting for something. “Morning sunshine,” Seiko announced.

Novah looked around confused and mumbled, “Morning.” She looked over at Calix and felt something strange. Like last night had formed some sort of connection, she could tell Seiko felt it to. Well, more of felt the absence of that connection. Seiko knew there was something and Novah even though she had just met them both, hoped she hadn’t come in between them.

“Novah, do you want to go get breakfast?” Seiko asked.

Novah looked at Calix and then looked down at herself and replied, “Sure, I’m just need to get dressed first.

Seiko smiled and replied a little pettily, “Yeah.”

Together, the girls left the ward and went on their way back to Novah’s bedroom. Novah felt awkward and shy, but not like when she first met Seiko. This time she felt like she did something wrong.

When they got to Novah’s bedroom, Novah opened the door and went inside. Seiko opened the blinds, letting the starlight brighten up the room, while Novah went over to her closet. She put on a grey tank top, some grey pants, and a grey sweater, all made from cotton. Then Novah went in her bathroom and cleaned up a bit, before she was ready to go.

The cafeteria was a large white room filled with many people sitting alone and working or sitting in group chatting on long tables with benches. Seiko lead the way to the cafeteria line where they got trays filled with food.

“Yes!” Seiko grinned, “It’s waffle day.” Novah smiled and gladly accepted her waffle. Then they walked to the back of the room and sat down at an empty end of a table.

Novah poured syrup on her waffle and began to eat. They didn’t talk much at all for a few minutes, until Seiko placed her fork down. With a mouth full of food she looked up in awe. Novah looked over her shoulder to where Seiko was looking and saw a girl walking towards the them with a young man behind her.

The girl was gorgeous and kind of scary. Her skin was brown and her head was shaved but it still showed the shadow of her natural dark blue hair. Her face held a stern look and her walk was confident. The young man was a bit taller than her and his skin was tan and muscular. Her hair was blond waves, rippling as they walked to the table.

Seiko swallowed her bite of food and exclaimed, “Reah! You’re back!”

A beautiful smile broke out on that girl’s stern face as she answered, “Haha, yeah.”

The girl and the boy sat down at the table and ignored Novah. She felt out of place as she silently ate her waffle.

“This is Elijah,” Reah grinned and pointed at the blond boy, who was shoveling down his waffle, next to Novah.

“Cool,” Seiko smiled, “Welcome to Atana-32.”

“Thanks,” He laughed and looked over at Reah.

Seiko gave Reah a weird look and laughed, “Are you two a thing?”

Elijah grinned and looked at Reah, they both answered, “Yeah,” while laughing.

Seiko snorted and remember Novah was there, “Oh! This is Novah.”

Reah looked Novah up and down and replied, “Oh yeah. Nice to meet you.”

Novah smiled politely and replied, “Nice to meet you, too,” quietly.

“Novah, Reah was out on an expedition with some of the scientists for a couple weeks,” Seiko explained.

“Oh, cool,” Novah replied and took a sip of her drink.

For the rest of the meal, Novah was silent, as Seiko, Reah and Reah’s boyfriend talked away about the expedition and inside jokes. Novah couldn’t help but feel irritated. Maybe she was angry at Seiko but hadn’t realized it. Novah felt like Seiko was irritated at her and that made Novah upset. All she could think about was talking to Calix again.