December 16, 2008 7:00 AM
Santa Barbra, California: Earth
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▫️Stella

"Stella." I heard Soren's voice call out to me. I opened my eyes, his face was super close to mine. His bright blue eyes stared me down, they were filled with curiosity as he studied my face.

"Soren?" I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"It's time to wake up." He said. "Your hair is a mess."

"Thanks." I got out of bed. "What are we doing today?"

"I was thinking a ditch day." Soren got up and walked around the room with me.

He grabbed a hairbrush and brushed through my hair, he played with it. Why was it when someone played with my hair it felt so amazing? I could feel him putting it up in a braid, he was good at doing hair, for a boy of course.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"I'm braiding your hair." He replied.

"Why are you just so nice?" I asked. "You have every right not to be... you were torn from your home and sent here all alone."

"Maybe it's because you're so cute." Soren tied off the end of my braid. "All done."

I felt the braid in my hair, it was complicated and felt cool. How was a guy able to do that? "So what's ditch day?" I asked.

"You don't know ditch day?" Soren asked. He walked over to me and sat next to me. "Ditch day is my favorite day."

"What is it?" I said.

"It's a day where you do something other then school, with someone you really like." He explained. "Since we have a car now, we could go anywhere."

"That sounds nice." I said. "But that's not our car, we should give it back."

Soren looked almost startled by my comment. "I know whose car it is." He shrugged. "It's Ames's car. He won't miss it."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah." Soren smiled. "He is filthy rich, almost as rich as Hudson. Us taking his car is like charity."

"Isn't charity when you donate something to a good cause?" I asked.

"Look at me." Soren said. "I live in this dump, I only have white T-shirts and this coat." He flipped the collars of his trench coat up.  "And I barely make enough to survive. Let's not get started on how you and Aron are doing."

I sat in silent to think about it, if Ames was as rich as Soren said he was, then he wouldn't mind if they borrowed his car, right? This car was not a good car compared to the ones I drove back home, so it must not be worth a lot.

"I guess that's ok." I said. Soren's smile widened and grabbed my hand and dragged me out to the car, Soren had already packed my things for the drive, weird. He opened the door for me to get in then ran around to the driver seat.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Sure." I replied. "But where is Aron?"

His giant smile left as soon as I said that. "Aron?" His jaw dropped.

"Yeah, my brother." I said. "I can't go without him. We stick together."

Soren blinked a few times. "Aron." He said again. "He is at the school probably."

"Ok then, let's go get him." I pulled my seat belt over me.

"Ok then. It's not like this is a date or anything." Soren frowned and put the car in drive then sped out of the parking lot and down the highway to the school, he didn't talk the whole way, he just had this disappointed scowl on his face. Soren slowed the car down as he drove through the school drop off area.

"There he is!" I yelled and pointed up ahead.

Soren pulled the car next to him and unlocked the door. "Get in loser, we are leaving." He pouted.

"Aron." I yelled at him. "We are going on a adventure."

"Sounds fun." Aron said. "Can some others come.

"No." Soren whispered, but I didn't listen to him.

"Sure." I replied. Soren huffed under his breath at that comment.

"Come on guys." Aron told Hudson as they jumped into the back seat of the car.

"Sick!" Hudson said. "You have a Ferrari. It looks just like Ames, he is going to be jealous!"

"That's my car!" I heard a shout. Ames and Larkin had spotted us and started to run at us.

"That's all the company I can stand." Soren rolled up the windows, he pressed his foot on the gas and the car door slammed shut, we sped out of the parking lot.

"That was close." Soren whispered. The next thing I heard was Soren's phone ringing, he took it out and answered the call.

"Hello?" He said. "I did not steal your car." It must have been Ames on the other end. "I am borrowing it." There was a long pause. "Its for a date! You have like five cars anyways, but a new one." He slammed the phone shut, ending the call.

"Ames is such a stick in the mud." Soren grumped. "All he cares for is himself. I swear if you were to shove a pice of coal up his butt in five minutes you would have a diamond. He doesn't help with anything, he is the worst at taking sides too. He just stood there like a potted plant." Soren banged his hand on the horn. "It's called a blinker moron!" He yelled at the car in front of us.

"I love rivalry." Hudson stated.

"This it stupid." Soren huffed.

"Thanks for inviting us." Aron thanked Soren. Soren groaned and rolled his eyes at that comment.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"Hoover dam." Soren replied.

Hudson leaned forward and plugged in his phone to the speaker. He pressed a button and some heavy rock music came on. Aron and Hudson started to rock out in the back seat. I listened to the beat and bounced my head along to the tune. Soren just glared at the two boys.

"Can I see that?" Soren asked.

"Sure bro!" Hudson said. "Pick the next tune."

"Thanks." Soren grabbed the phone, unplugged it and threw it out the window.

"Hey." Hudson yelled.

"I hate rock music." Soren stated. "Now my car, my rules."

"But that was my phone!" Hudson argued. "And this is Ames's car."

"You really do hate everything." Aron said.

"I don't hate everything." Soren argued. "Just most things. Especially boys who ruin my dates."

"Don't you have the heart to know not to throw another guy's phone out the window?!" Hudson yelled at him.

"I do not have a heart." Soren stated.

"You have a heart." Aron said. "Or else you would be dead."

"I have a literal heart." Soren argued. "Just not an emotional heart..."

"Yes you do." I teased.

"Alright everyone just shut up." Soren silenced us all. "Hudson you will get another phone anyways, you probably have five in your backpack right now. Just to end this conversation, I will pretend to have a heart and this pretend heart is more black then the cloak of death himself. Deal with it." Soren wiped out some white sunglasses and put them on. That lovely speech made us all silent for the next hour. It was quite boring having no one talk and no music playing in the background.

"So where are we going again?" Hudson asked.

"Hoover dam." Soren repeated for probably the tenth time this hour.

"Isn't that the place from that one movie?" Hudson asked. "It was destroyed, right?"

"That was just a movie." Soren said. "We are getting off that this next exit." He informed us.

"So how are going to see the hoover dam if it was destroyed?" Aron asked.

"The dam was not destroyed." Soren replied.

"It was exploded in the movie." Hudson stated.

"Smashed to pieces." Aron added.

"That was all fake." Soren kept his eyes fixed on the road.

"How did they fake destroying the dam?" I asked. "Isn't that hard to do?"

"They have a fake dam." Soren answered, pulling into a parking lot. "And we are here now."

It was packed with people. Soren threw the keys to an attendant and gave him some cash to park the car. We all headed for the dam after we got out.

"Ok." Soren said. "Make sure we stay together and don't jump in the water because you think you can, Hudson, I am looking at you."

We all got out of the parking garage and headed over. Man, was it a sight! The water was shiny and smooth, the sky was bright blue and beautiful. I leaned against the side of the  dam and looked down into the lake. Soren came next to me and looked at the water with me. His face shined like gold in the sun and his eyes made the bright blue sky and water look grey. He was more beautiful as the view.

"The water is nice." He said. "You like it?"

"Yay." I said. "It's beautiful."

He scooted closer to me. "Did you know that this dam could harvest power?" He asked me.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yay." Soren said. "The water flows through the dam and spins wheels that make electricity."

"That's amazing." I smiled.

"It is." Soren yawned, I noticed his arm was touching mine softly. "It's much like how Malison harvests it's power from black holes."

"Guys!" Hudson yelled as he ran over to us. Soren quickly moved away.

"There is a clock!" Hudson stated.

"Seriously?" Soren groaned. "That is what you had to tell me?"

"It's the Arizona and Nevada clock." Aron ran over. "And they are different."

"Daylight savings." Soren stated. "Arizona doesn't participate, Nevada does."

"That's so cool." Aron said. "Stella did you see it?"

"It's really not." Soren stated, he walked down the path, away from the rest of us.

"I'll be back, I should talk to him, can you leave us alone for a second?" I told them before running after Soren. "Where are you going?" I asked.

"Somewhere else." Soren kept walking.

"Like where?" I asked.

"Somewhere there is not people." He groaned.

"Then you shouldn't have taken us to a tourist  attraction." I laughed. "There are always people here."

Soren just looked at me, his face was filled with sadness and sorrow. I couldn't get what he was trying to tell me.

"Come with me." He said and grabbed my hand, his hand was warm and soft. I liked holding his hand, it was nice.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Up." Soren said. He started to climb up a trail, at the top the view was breathtaking. The landscape stretched out for miles and miles, the red rocks were stunning against the bright blue sky.

"Wow." I gasped.

"I know, right?" Soren smiled, he shuffled closer to me and out his hand around my waist. I gasped when he touched my waist and looked at him. No boy had ever held my hand before, let alone touched my waist.

"Is it ok?" He asked me. "That I touch you there?"

"Sure." I blushed. No one has ever touched me there. Warmth flowed through my body and into my heart. What was this feeling? Was it love? I could feel Soren's heavy breathing through his body.

We stared out at the sun, setting over the hills. The sky turned pink and orange and behind us the moon approached.

"Stella?" Soren asked me. "Can I ask you something?"

"What Soren?" I asked. I looked at his face, so close to mine. His skin was so smooth and so beautiful.

"I wanted to tell you that..." Soren started. "I kind of like.." He paused and looked away from me, shying away from me.

I looked at him, encouraging him to continue.

"I like-"

"Yo!" I heard a shout behind us.

Soren let go of me and moved away.

"We're you two birds being all love birdie?" Hudson yelled as he and Aron climbed up the pathway.

"No." Soren said blushing deeply.

"Really?" Aron teased, He made a small space between his fingers. "Because you're like this close to kissing."

"I could feel the love." Hudson smiled. "In like my legs then it worked into my hips then I felt your love in my heart."

"That's weird." Soren said. "But Nothing was happening! I care for myself and only myself." Soren yelled at them. "So my actions are clear and my consequences." He stopped. "Yeah right, consequences. Ha-Ha. If I could I would date myself." He walked passed them and stormed down the hill and back to the car.

"Girl," Hudson said to me. "He totally digs you."

"Stella... I'm starting to get second thoughts about our plan working." Aron said

"No Aron, it's working great. I can tell he is in love with me, i only invited you guys along for backup. All we need is his help in getting home, then we ditch him." I whispered, trying not to show my sadness from what Soren said.

We walked back to the car, where Soren was waiting in the drivers seat. I got in the back with Aron and Hudson. The front seat remained empty, like my love for Soren.

We drove all night, in silence. I rested my head on Aron's shoulder, I didn't even look at Soren. The car slowed down till it came to a stop.

"Random question." Soren turned to us. "Does anyone know where to get Ferrari gas?"

"Ames gets his at his house, it's shipped from Italy." Hudson told everyone. "He told me it's the only place where they sell it."

Soren banged his head on the horn, blaring it loud.

"Of course we have to be in the middle of nowhere!" Soren complained. "At night, stupid! Stupid!" Soren banged his hands down on the steering wheel and dashboard, yelling his curses at the top of his lungs. "Good Saint Nicholas!"

"Santa is here?" Hudson smiled. "He can save us!"

Soren ignored him and got out of the car to kick a rock and called someone on his phone. The rest of us stayed in the car till he got back. Ain't nobody wanting to mess with Soren when he was this upset.

"Its goanna be a long wait." Soren sighed. He sat in the driver's seat, and we waited.