I had just talked with Esmeralda on the phone. I had embarrassed myself. I almost asked her out. For the fourth time. Just hearing her smooth voice made me nervous. Thankfully, she couldn't see me sweat or blush if we were on the phone. Sam, Victoria, and Jonathan had already figured out that I had a crush on her, making it even worse.

She wanted to know if anything was going on with Sam. I decided to talk to her on campus the next day. "Sam, do you feel yourself getting mad for no reason lately?" I asked. "... what? Did you get this from Esmeralda? (Oh crap, I thought) I told her to mind her own business. But nooo, he had to talk to someone who she thought could talk to me-" 

I put my finger on Sam's lips, shushing her. "I did get the idea from Esmeralda. But she didn't tell me to ask you. So next time, instead of jumping to conclusions just because of our connection, if you're going to accuse me, at least make it subtle..." I said, and walked away. She caught up to me and hugged me. At that moment, it happened.

The third earthquake of the week.

We fell to the ground. The third one was a lot quicker than the last two. It was over in about 2 minutes. Sam was sitting next to me. She had tears in her eyes. I pushed her red hair out of her face and asked her about the earthquakes. We stood up and she told me that she was sure this had to do with Jupiter's downfall, and that Earth was next.

I was so surprised that I almost fell back onto the ground. "But... if the Earth is destroyed..." I started. "I know. It's the only planet you've ever known and love. That was how it was for me. But I was helpless. This time, we're going to stop it from happening," Sam said. "How?" I asked.

Sam took a deep breath.

"I don't know. But however we do it, we will succeed... or die trying," She started to cry again, a silent cry.

"Of course." And we just stood there, crying, until we had to go our separate ways. We had to save Earth, no matter what. But if we all died trying... what would the point be?