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<09/27/2011 - 09:00 | Saffrin Middle School (GA Studies), Austell, GA, USA>

"Oh, but I thought you liked the new hair style." Lumina spun in a cute excited twirl, showing off and flapping her new pigtails in front of her mirror to show me all the hard work her sisters did on her new appearance.

"When did I say I didn't?" Lumina showed me this morning already, so seeing them again wasn't going to feel as shocking as the first time. "Lack of surprise doesn't mean I don't like them Lumina. You look great actually!"

"Yep. They are great... Now it's your turn Reed. When are you going to get a makeover?"

"You think I should get braids or something? I could do ponytails too if I grow my hair out long enough." We both knew I wasn't serious, though Lumina might continue pretending as if I were. It's another contest to see which one of us can be the most silly. Let the games begin!

"I see your feminine side is still perfectly alive. I guess the purge wasn't responsible for prolonging it after all."

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I hate heathens so much, I can't even condone the thought of being one percent masculine. Either way, it's the same reason I can only hang out with girls."

"So long as you don't get carried away," she added with warning.

Yeah, she doesn't have to warn me though. "By the way, are your lips always such a beautiful blue? Or do you have access to lipstick up there?"

"It's natural coloring for us Altiri. Something to do with the air, but of course I'm no expert on it. I'm glad you like it though."

"Of course I do..." As I sat at my desk surrounded by the usual gang of people, I tuned the world out for Lumina's sake, focusing only on her. After I complimented her looks, I perched my dreamy face on my hands, too engulfed in these feelings to care what expression I might be making. Instead, I went much further. "I don't normally get a chance to see what you look like. The connection always has to be so strong before our vision can swap like this. But who would have thought you look so amazing?"

"I'll accept that as a compliment."

I was happy to make Lumina smile again. Despite what I promised myself earlier, it was too difficult for me to retain the visual memory of Lumina's face and body due to last summer's meddling. I recently had her stand in front of her mirror while I stood in front of mine, staring deeply into each other's eyes as I happily complimented her ethereal beauty. It was getting harder for me to tell if I naturally found her this attractive by default, or if I only came to this conclusion because I was now in love with her, but the difference mattered not. For an ancient Altiri alien, Lumina is quite the attractive woman, even if she looks like she's nineteen or twenty years old.

There to break the silent immersion we had wrapped ourselves into, Banarus pointed at me with laughter in her voice. "What's with that weird look on your face?"

Lumina started doing the same, laughing directly at me, though her voice and gesture was so much cuter when she did it. "Better control your expressions Reed. I know I'm irresistible to you, but people will find out about us if you drool over me all the time."

"Oh, shut up!" It was getting easier for me to expect when Lumina was about to tease me about anything or not. In this scenario, she was too correct. I have to mute my external expressions, so that people don't get too suspicious. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"I don't think that will be enough to save you."

Right on cue to prove Lumina right, Laura took sudden interest in me and asked me something with a brazen grin to her name. "So, how are things between you and Lumina?"

"Great," I thought. Here we go. Lumina somehow knew ahead of time that I wasn't doing enough to hide how serene I was inside. People wouldn't normally ask me why I'm happy if ever I were in the past, but the problem with that is, I've never been this happy before, so my external mood always defaults to something dark or pessimistic.

"Told ya so!"

I might as well try to nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand like before. Things can't get too bad this time; they already know Lumina's name since I plastered it onto an eraser before. "Well, things are great actually. I'm having more fun hanging out with her lately, so I would say things are swell."

"Oh!" Banarus interjected desperately. "Can I see a picture of her?"

"What?" Did she forget the last conversation we had about this? I already explained this to everyone, but it's as if they forgot all about it. "No. Look, I told you before, Lumina is a secret for very important reasons. I can't share anything else about her, not even her photos." Even if I did have photos of her on me, there's about a forty percent chance people would instantly realize she isn't human like the rest of us.

"That's because you don't have any photos to share..."

"Thanks for stating the obvious Lumina. Now I'm really bummed out."

"Sorry. I wasn't trying to tease you that time."

"Do your parents think it's weird though?"

I couldn't help but get a little bit nervous anytime Zero asked me something about this secret. She's as intelligent as I am, if not more, hiding herself behind a shyness that we both share. If I'm not careful with her, my secret will be exposed instantly. Still, I thought even she knew this much by now from what I explained earlier. "What? You must not understand my situation at all. Even my parents know nothing about this."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"What? You're dating in secret?! That's so deviant of you!" Kate, as much as she didn't speak to me directly was finally interested enough to treat our conversation as if we were leaking juicy details. I still failed to see why it was a big deal though.

"You may have just said too much."

Before I could even register Lumina's warning, Banarus added on to the mysteries, forcing me to take care of the present situation falling out of my grasp. "How do they not know about it? That's crazy! How are you spending time with her if you have to hide everything all the time?"

When I'm desperate enough, life finds a way... "I never said it was easy. But it's imperative that my folks in particular don't find out a single thing. I know for a fact that my parents would never accept the situation as it is; they would never accept us at all." I have to at least claim this much, even if Lumina thinks I've gone too far. If rumors spread to the entire school that I'm so much as dating somebody, those rumors could float to my parents inadvertently, since they sometimes enter the school to pick me up out of here.

"But they're your family," Zero argued.

Yeah, well that's debatable. "That's the point, Zero. As long as there is even a remote chance that they can do some kind of damage, then even they cannot know about it." I was most certain of this now. My father would probably disown me. My mother would fight to have me sent to a dangerous mental institution until I'm a walking zombie, and Peterson would just laugh at me before doing the exact same thing. While I'm still unsure about my real father, the other two are totally against me; they would never have my back in this situation, even if they did somehow believe that Lumina is real. I would be happy to live on my own right now if I could... But I can't, and that's why this must remain a secret for now.

Still, I shouldn't have underestimated the curiosity of the girls around me with the topic already brought up. Laura took her turn in trying to pry information from my cold, locked brain. "Is she like a secret agent from another country?"

"More like a cop, probably." Banarus took guesses for me before I could get a word in. "I bet that gives you some good cosplay options though."

The others starting laughing at the comment Banarus made, and Kate swopped in shortly after to deliver their collective ultimatum. "But what's she like anyway? Is there really no chance of us meeting her?"

It's like they don't care about what I told them earlier when I put my foot down on the topic. They all want to meet her, to get to know the real Lumina, not that I blame them. Honestly, I want that too, but it's not as if Lumina can land her space ship down here and greet us in person. So sadly, the possibility of that is nil. "Well... I seriously doubt there could be. But Lumina is such an amazing person. I can't possibly describe how cool she is in a single class period."

"Is this like something that is supposed to be dangerous?" Without relenting, Zero affirmed that she and the others were going to keep poking and prodding until I was blue in the face.

"They're asking the kinds of questions best avoided Reed. Change the subject!"

I felt the only right thing to do was to follow Lumina's advice. I have to be very careful how I do this though. If I change the subject too fast, it won't seem natural. I have to pretend like this secret isn't as sinister or crazy as their minds make it out to be. "Dangerous?" I repeated, starting with Zero's assumptions. "No, not particularly. But there would be a massive problem for me if family members found out. Then again, that's not the only reason I'm protecting her privacy... Look, Lumina made me promise not to ever give away too much about her, to anybody, and that includes my friends. Due to certain circumstances, I have no choice but to respect that privacy."

Banarus stared at me with such a strange look, like she was looking directly into the soul of a total stranger. It made me feel less comfortable, until Kate suddenly did the very thing I was trying to accomplish all along. "Hey? Did anyone hear about that field trip coming up?"

"Field trip?" I instantly played along, trying to put one weird conversation behind an ordinary one.

"Good. Subject is changed... You're getting better at knowing what to say these days."

"When it counts anyway." I can't take the credit for it this time though. I didn't think any of them would relent, but I am curious about the actual details of this field trip. My classes never get to go on these expensive adventures.

Banarus made the first inquiry, as if she heard about it before. "You mean, the one for honors literature?"

"Is it only for that group?" Zero wanted to know more as well, trying discover the details for this mysterious endeavor. Even she had forgotten about Lumina.

Kate finally elaborated on the details so scarce, reading out the requirements to join. "No. Ms. Dang is letting her personal honors Lit class join too, but only if they buy their own tickets."

So that means, I could be eligible too? "Okay, I'll bite. What is this field trip about anyway?" I happen to have a late class with Ms. Dang, so this means even I could go if I wanted to. However, I've had it with the boring trips to old museums.

Without hesitation, Laura cleared up my confusion with few words. "It's a field trip to Wahsega! It's basically like a camping trip."

"You know what? I think I'll go too." Zero simply announced her plans, seeming excited about the idea of a weekend camping trip somewhere in another place.

"Wow! Everyone is already going."

"Do you want to go there too?"

Laura turned back to me with another question before I could talk to Lumina on the matter. "You should come too Reed. How many chances do you think you'd get to go on a field trip?"

"And now you're purely invited."

"Gee, I don't know. I'd have to look more into it first. I don't know what kind of field trip this would be." I didn't have to lie this time. I'm already sure I wasn't going to bother, but something Laura just told me made it impossible for me to say no automatically.

She's right after all. How many field trips have I really been on in all the time I've been alive? Once high school is over, there won't be any more field trips, because there won't be any more school. The ones I've been to have not been very great, but they have not been terrible either. I should at least look into it before I decide. I don't even know what Wahsega is!

"Wahsega? I feel like I've heard that name before... But I've never seen anyone take field trips to the place. I've never seen it before anyway." Even Lumina in her limitless memory of the world has no knowledge about the place.

"They said it was like a large camping trip, as in a camp. Imagine summer school, but only for a day or two, out in nature. I think that's what they are projecting. But until I look into it some more, I won't know for certain."

"Guess what I'm going to wear while I'm there." While Banarus made excitement with the rest of everyone, I sat in verbal silence, having my own conversation with my girlfriend.

"I don't disagree with the idea though," Lumina countered. "Maybe we can actually go there together, just you me."

My body shot straight up as my eyes opened wide with intense excitement. "That's an excellent idea! We can both go to camp together, using our telepathy to share every part of it!" I couldn't hide my sudden excitement from the others, and I felt like a ditz for not having the idea myself. Even if it turned out to be as boring as a museum, sharing that experience with Lumina would be amazing as always! Now I have to know more about this little camp.

Right as made up my mind, the bells of the school rang throughout, forcing everybody to enter their transition from the first class to the second. "It's time for me to go find out what this is all about!"

"But you still have class, don't you?"

"I'll look at it all right after lunch!" I can go to the media center real quick while I'm on my lunch period, without needing a pass to do so. It's the best time I will have the opportunity. A weekend getaway with the woman I love, without anybody else ever knowing about it? What could possibly be more romantic?