'Hey', is the message I'm welcomed to when I wake up in the morning. It's honestly mind blowing that I'm even having anyone from my school willingly texting me. ...It makes me wonder what I did to actually deserve this.

For me, life's been all fucked up—-one bad hand dealt right after another. At this point, after everything that I've endured, I've learned to cope with it and take what I'm given... So much so that at this point that I've been starting to think I actually deserve what I get. 

I continue to stare at the message on my screen from Catalina, unsure of how to respond. Internally, I have a feeling that I'll just fuck up immediately if I try to say anything.

"Okay, Jupiter, play it cool," I tell myself, trying to force a calm expression onto my face. "It's simple. You've got yourself a friend... It's unreal, yeah—-but it's one you want to keep. ...Just be nice. That's what she wanted to be friends with you for, isn't it?"

I take a deep breath, before effectively trapping said breath in my lungs and not letting it out for the time being. Slowly, I type a response to her. 'Good morning. How are you?'. I cringe at my response. Absolutely terrible. What the hell? Why couldn't I have come up with something better than that? I'll bore her to death before we even get to school today.

I get a response almost instantly. 

'Pretty decent,' her message says. 'Wish we didn't have class today though—-would've loved the chance to go hang out with my friends from Chicago.'

'Chicago?' I begin. 'Is that where you moved in from?'

'Yep,' Catalina's response reads. 'I did. It's vastly different from Chicago than here though.'

'Yeah, I'd bet. I mean—-Chicago's a big bustling city, full of diversity and opportunity... Meanwhile, where you moved to—-a small town in Northwestern Indiana—-the most diversity you get is people with Scandinavian roots,' I reply.

I immediately get a laughing emoji response from Catalina.

'Yeah, I didn't exactly pick for my family to move out here, but it was cheaper. There was a law firm not too far out from here that my mom swapped to in terms of jobs, so we moved. Granted, we are still close enough to Chicago that my dad can make the commute to the hospital he works at over there as a nurse,' she says.

I take in the information before I reply. 'Your parents are a lawyer and a nurse?'

'Yep,' she says in response. 'And actually, I don't intend to follow in either of theirs' footsteps.'

'And what do you want to do then?' I ask Catalina.

'Work for NASA. I've been dreaming about it for so long now. The idea of dealing with space like that? It would be a dream come true,' Catalina tells me.

'Oh, yeah. That's right. You said you liked space yesterday,' I say.

She types back, 'Not like. Adore it, actually. Every single aspect is beyond fascinating. I especially find black holes to be so fascinating—-collapsed stars; there's still so much more for us to learn about them that we haven't yet discovered. My only wish is that we'd actually have the proper technology to figure out more about our own universe and what might be out there. I know development of that sort of technology that would aid us in those said knowledge advancements in space are far off and will never be unveiled in my lifetime. But it's still fun to dream! ...Even if my parents think I should just focus on the now and pursue something else, more aligned with what they do for a living. ...Er, sorry for rambling, Jupiter.'

'Oh, no, you're good,' I reply to her almost instantly. 'I get it. ...Sometimes you just get into that zone with something you're extremely passionate about and for a little while, that said thing is all that clouds for thoughts. ...My parents are sort of the same. They want me to pursue something more 'meaningful', in their words. My mom thinks I should go do something like construction or accounting and my dad thinks I need to do something more 'manly' like joining the armed forces.'

Catalina then correctly guesses, 'But you don't want to do any of that, I'm guessing.'

'Exactly,' I respond, swiftly. 'As weird as it might be, I'm pretty passionate about earth science. ...More specifically, meteorology—-weather. ...And the special thing to me is tornadic storms. I've been studying them for quite some and they're still so interesting... and even some, beautiful in their own destructive way. I was planning to continue storm chasing to better comprehend them.'

Catalina texts back, 'Ah, yeah. That makes sense. You drove right into that storm before... Must've been some sort of instinct.'

My face goes a little red. Is she teasing me? ...No. No. She can't be.

'But seriously though, when we first met.... At the gas station... You did drive off in the direction of the storm—-fully north-east. So, I've gotta say, I've gotta respect the commitment to your special interest,' she adds over text.

'Special interest?', I reply back, one of my eyebrows raised.

'Yep,' Catalina says. 'You know... Like ASD?'

I immediately know what she's talking about. 'Autism?'

'Yeah. I've got it. It's why space is so dear to me. ...Might be why tornadoes are so fascinating to you,' she says.

I pause, letting the thought linger in my mind for a little bit. Even if I did have a suspicion that I had something like that, my parents would never hear me out. They completely ignore me, so if I bring up anything to them... They'll ignore me. They're so hellbent on focusing on Marek that they actually got him tested for ADHD because god forbid he was hyper as a toddler... Spoiler alert, Marek didn't have it.

Finally, after a while of silence, I respond to her, my fingers moving slowly between each key's place on the screen. 'I suppose it's a thought. Yeah, I do like tornadoes a whole lot, while most everyone else our age—-or hell, people in general—-wouldn't even bat an eye at the idea of learning more about them.'

I pause, taking a deep breath before continuing typing. 'And yeah, I guess I do have some problems. ...Eye contact is absolutely terrible. Why do I have to hold it? It feels like a prison.'

'Absolutely! I know 100% what you mean. It hurts sometimes internally,' she says. 'It's awkward and I don't like it. It's like people are trying to see into my head.... My soul. Eugh.'

'Exactly!' I remark back. 'It's creepy! And don't even get me started on touching! Hugs feel like a prison too! And it's odd when they touch my back!'

Catalina replies, 'Yeah, I understand what you mean, Jupiter. I think touch is slightly less of an issue with me... But I can totally get where you're coming from. ...By any chance, is there any way you're not uncomfortable being touched?'

I pause, letting myself think about her question before responding to it. 'I suppose handshakes and whatnot aren't completely terrible for me.'

'So, like... hand holding? That's okay?' she asks over text.

I reply, 'I suppose so, yeah.'

It takes Catalina a hot minute to respond—-when she does, I get the message: 'Well, that's good to know.'

I freeze when I read that, my face going almost completely red. "Is she..." I begin to murmur before shaking it off. "No... She's not. You're just overthinking things. ....like always."

My phone buzzes with another message from Catalina and I look back down to it. 'Oh, look at the time. Jeez! See you at school, Jupiter!'

I nod, giving her a see you message before putting my phone down and exhaling, shakily. "She was not flirting with you," I murmur to myself, starting some sort of mantra to beat it into my head. "She wasn't. Stop overthinking... Stop seeing things that aren't really there."

Then, I get up and rush to get ready for school.

The whole way to school, I try to ignore the glares my father had been giving me the whole time I was still in the house before stepping out.

Once I make it into the building and make it down the linoleum floored hallways, Catalina's quick to spot me and rush over to fall in sync with me.

"Hey, Jupiter!" She beams.

"Hey," I begin in a slightly more awkward tone.

"I was actually wanting to ask you something," Catalina begins.

I can feel my heart leap into my throat, oddly enough. What the hell is wrong with me?, I mentally question myself. "...and what is that thing you w-wanted to ask me?"

"Well," Catalina begins to say. "...given the fact that we're only about a thirty minute drive from Chicago... and it's Friday... I was wondering if you wanted to come with me up there... Meet my friends over there."

I swallow, with a little bit of an unsure tone in my words at first. "Meet your friends?" The idea of meeting new people is completely daunting to me... And I think Catalina can actually see that in my physical demeanor.

Catalina then tries to quickly reassure me, "Yeah... They don't bite. ...They're friendly. And I can bet your ass, 1000%, they'll like you."

I pause, trying to clarify. "They'll like me...?"

Catalina nods. "They'll like you. I promise." She stops walking as I do and looks at me directly—-but avoiding looking me in the eyes for both of our comfort. "...What do you say, Jupiter?"

I give her an awkward grin. "It couldn't hurt."

"Hell yeah," Catalina replies as we start to walk down the hallway once more, every other student there being drowned out to us and dissipating from our sights. "You'll love them. I promise."

─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─

For once, I feel an overwhelming feeling of excitement inside of me while I wait for class to be over. The last class of the day I have is psychology... and Catalina's there too.

Catalina keeps giving me glances and little grins at how my leg bounces, restlessly.

Finally the bell rings and Catalina and I are the first to get up, leaving quickly to head to our respective lockers, getting what we need and meeting up once more.

"Someone's excited," Catalina replies with a giggle.

I shrug. "It's just the more I thought about it... the happier I got. I mean... One friend is amazing, don't get me wrong. But the idea of a whole group of them? I've been waiting forever for that!"

Catalina ruffles my hair. "Yeah, yeah. I know. It'll feel great when they welcome you." She then realizes what I did. "...Oops... Sorry. I didn't mean to—--" 

I shake my head. "You're fine. I didn't really mind that." I pause and ask, "So, should I drop my stuff back at my house?"

Catalina nods as we head outside. "Yep. Then I'll meet you there. I'll pick you up and then we'll head to the windy city... Meet up with my friends... Maybe grab a Chicago style pizza."

"Sounds great. See you in... 20 minutes?"

Catalina nods. "Yep, 20."

Once Catalina and I part ways, I practically run back to my house, rushing upstairs, dumping my backpack in my room, and hopping in to take a quick shower. I try to be careful of washing over my side where my injured ribs are. 

Once I get out of the shower, I dry off and re bandage my leg and get dressed into something else.

I make sure my hair is dry before putting on my shoes once more, grabbing my phone and heading downstairs.

Mars barks to me, tail wagging.

I give him a quick scratch behind the ears and tell him. "...I'll be back before you know it, bud. Don't you worry." I make it to the door and Marek gives me a look. I give my brother back a look that says 'don't you dare'.

Marek shouts, "Jupiter's trying to head out!"

"Dammit," I grumble under my breath.

Surprisingly, my mom doesn't come to scold me... It's only my father.

"Where are you going?" My father begins, appearing in the doorway to his office, arms crossed.

"Just to Chicago... With a friend," I say. I don't know why they'd fight me on this... Chicago's close and it's not like I'm grounded or anything.

"A friend?" My dad snorts. "I didn't think you had those."

"She doesn't!" Marek shouts, purposely saying the first part to piss me off. 

I roll my eyes, face starting to go red. "I do."

My dad brushes me off, still laughing alongside my younger brother at me. "Fine, fine. You and your 'friend' can go to Chicago..." He laughs louder. "...and hopefully never come back!"

I roll my eyes once more before heading out onto the porch, slamming the door.

Inside, I can hear my mother hurrying into the room and actually scolding my father for once for that comment. Odd.

I wait until I see Catalina's nice looking Toyota pull up.

"Someone need a ride?" She asks as the windows are rolled down.

I snort at that, coming over and opening the door to get into the passenger side. I sit down and close the door once inside. I put the seatbelt on and ask her, "Yours?"

"Yep," Catalina says, tapping the steering wheel. "All mine. My parents got it pretty easily... Considering their jobs and all."

I glance back to my house, seeing my dad and Marek standing on the porch and staring in shock.

"Shall we go?" Catalina asks me when she spots them.

I nod. "We shall."

And as we drive off, I can hear Marek shout, "Wait, was he with a girl?"

─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─

The drive is pretty peaceful. 

The windows are rolled down and wind tousles our hair and acts like a natural air conditioner.  

Catalina has a classic rock station playing and sings along to it like she's got no care in the world.

Halfway through an AC DC song, I tell her, "You know... you sing... really good. Beautiful." Dammit, that was awkward.

Catalina's cheeks deepen into a shade of pink. "Um... Thanks. I'm sure you're good too."

Is she blushing? Is she actually blushing at what I said? All I did was point out the obvious. I swallow before shaking my head at her comment. "Yeah, I'm not so sure I would."

"Come oooon," Catalina urges, playfully. "I bet you do! I bet you do!"

"I don't—-" I stop, recognizing the next song that plays on the radio. Duality by Slipknot.

Catalina laughs at my expression. "You know it!"

"Maybe. So?"

"That means you've gotta sing!" Catalina says.

"Oh, I don't know—-" I'm cut off.

"Come on! I've got you! I'll imitate the guitar! Don't even worry about it!" Catalina says with a laugh before horribly mocking the instruments.

"Okay, okay... I will. If you stop that!" I laugh.

"Yes!" She screeches, wind loudly blowing though and past the car.

As we near Chicago, the song comes to an end and Catalina grins softly. "You know... Jupiter... You're not too bad yourself." She fumbles her words and tries to correct, "Your singing, you know."

I smile softly back at her. "Thanks."

I'm completely in awe though as we drive through the city. These skyscrapers... 

"What?" Catalina gently laughs.

"Hm?"

Catalina grins as we pull into a parking spot and she stops the car, taking off her seat belt and I follow in suit. "You've got this... cute little expression of wonder. And I wanna know that's about," she says, still grinning. "So, spill," she adds as we exit the car.

I'm a little tongue tied at her saying the word 'cute' to describe my look, but I shake it off and look up to the sky once more, in awe. "They're huge!" I comment.

"Welp, they're not called skyscrapers for nothing," Catalina says with a laugh.

I continue to look up, completely amazed. "It's one thing to see these things in images and movies but...." I can't even finish my sentence, the words are caught in my throat as I blink a few times in disbelief.

"--it's a whole nother thing actually seeing it," Catalina says. "I know. I get it. It was the same way when my family moved here from Puntarenas when I was two."

I look back down at her. "Costa Rica?"

She nods. "Yep. My parents told me I used to be deathly afraid of these skyscrapers... But, times change. ...One thing remains the same though... I still love living near the water... whether it be the Gulf of Nicoya or Lake Michigan. I love it all the same."

I pause, adding on, "You know... My older sister was the same when my family moved here from Krynica Morska... She was a toddler too. ...Had to go through so many overwhelming changes. Krynica Morska was on the water too... It's beautiful... Or so I've been told."

Catalina gives me a soft glance and smile as we continue to look at each other from opposite sides of the car. "Guess we both found a new home here."

"Guess we did," I reply as we make our way away from her car and look up once more.

"You're right though," Catalina begins to say. "It is beautiful up there. Completely gorgeous... Amazing."

I say to her as we look up, "Tallest buildings I had ever seen were in Fort Wayne. And those things usually peak at 300 feet."

Catalina then comments, "Well, here, in Chicago, the average is 1000 ft or more... So over three times your amount."

"Hard to comprehend that," I reply before we look down again and start walking, close by each other.

"I love this city with everything in me," she tells me. "...But there's one thing I hate about it... One thing that little small town has up on it."

"And what's that?" I ask her.

"It's the light pollution... You can't properly see the city. During the day, it's fine... but it's lonely at night," Catalina tells me. "You never really know just how much you appreciate the stars in the sky at night until you roll up to a big place like this and you can't see them... They're drowned out by the lights... The crowds and peaks. ...But..." she looks at me. "...when you're in a small town like that, you get to notice things... people, you wouldn't've before... Amazing ones. And that's... that's pretty fucking cool."

My breath hitches for a second. She's not talking about you. She's not talking about you. She's not talking about you, I have to tell myself in my head and beat it in.

We're silent, staring at each other for a little while before a voice breaks us out of our gaze.

"Catalina! Hey! Over here!" A guy shouts to us.

Catalina laughs and takes my hand, leading me over to the group. "Come on!"

I awkwardly hold her hand, trying not to sweat. 

Catalina begins to introduce me to all of them. First, she gestures to the tall blonde boy. "This is my friend Odin Myers... He/him."

"'Sup," Odin greets.

Catalina gestures to the girl with dark skin, curly hair, and the coolest makeup I've ever seen. "Trinity Rhydderch. She/her."

"Hey!" Trinity waves to me.

Catalina's gaze then goes to another figure with dark hair and a tan to their skin. "And River Vallad... They/them."

"Aaniin," River greets me.

I raise an eyebrow and Trinity says, "It's Ojibwe... For hello."

"Ah," I begin and before I can introduce myself, Catalina starts to do it for me.

Catalina tells her friends, "...Everyone, this is Jupiter Krawiec..." She pronounces my surname correctly... Wow. ...At least someone can.

Catalina then pauses, letting me do what I have to.

"Oh!" My eyes grow wide. "He/him."

"Nice to meet you," River says.

"Where'd you get that?" Odin asks, gesturing to his nose so I know what he's talking about.

"Oh—-" I stop.

Catalina butts in—-clearly so we don't have to go in depth about what happened and so her friends don't just take pity on me. "He got into a fight... But won."

Odin grins, holding a hand up. "Sick, dude!"

I high-five him.

Trinity snickers. "Um... Cat? You got something you wanna tell us?" Her gaze is on Catalina's hand, that's still desperately gripping onto mine.

Catalina shakes her head almost frantically and lets go. "Nope. Who wants pizza?"

Trinity raises an eyebrow at that response from her friend.

"I know I do! I'm starving!" River says.

"Well, you wouldn't be if you would've eaten the Salisbury steak at school today," Odin tells them.

"Ha! As if! The food there is completely inedible... Poison actually and you know it," River shoots back at Odin. "You're the only one stupid enough to eat it!"

Odin grins. "Well, in my defense... even if it is actual slop... I do seem to have a stomach of steel."

Trinity snorts. "Say that to the food poisoning you had last month. You were sick for at least a week!"

Odin huffs, dramatically, feigning hurt. "Hey! Don't you start! Not with iron-fists Krawiec over there. I'll look uncool."

Catalina laughs. "You're already uncool, Odie."

Odin mocks her with his tongue sticking out and Catalina playfully rolls her eyes at him as we enter the pizzeria.

At the end of the night, after a whole several hours of fun and bonding, we exchange numbers and they add me to their group chat. I've never exactly been part of a group chat before... But what I do know is that things are starting to look up for me.