< HSoS 56 | High School Of Scenes | HSoS 58 >
< HSoS 56 | H So S Timeline | HSoS 62 >
Antares checks for a light in the garage, then goes to tap at Maia's window.
Maia peeks out the window morosely, blinks, smiles a little bit, and hurriedly stuffs her notebook under her bed, before opening the window and offering Antares a hand in.
Antares "Thanks. Ow, fucking rosebush," Antares says, grinning as she climbs in. She sprawls on the bed, folding her arms under her head and looking up at the ceiling meditatively.
Maia glances down at Antares, then settles herself carefully on the side of the bed.
Maia "How're you doing, superstar?"
Antares shrugs. "Fine, I guess. I'm more worried about you and Furud."
Maia looks away, hunching her shoulders. "I don't...know what to do."
Antares closes her eyes. "Tell me about it?" she offers, mostly expecting a negative.
Maia "He wanted to know why I did it. And why I could tell you, and not him."
Antares slits her eyes open, looking sideways at Maia. "I ran into him on the way here. He was pretty hurt, not that guys can ever just say that."
Maia sighs. "I mean, I guess he has a right to be."
Maia "But he doesn't even..."
Antares waits, closing her eyes again.
Maia "They were gonna take him."
Maia "Just like they did with Cassie."
Maia "Just like they did with my mom."
Maia "Just like they did with Zavi, too, and they haven't done that in a long time. I thought they weren't doing it any more..."
Maia "Did you ever meet Cassiopeia?"
Antares Antares opens her eyes to look at Maia for a second, then sits up, looking at her in profile. "A little," she says quietly. "She's the one who didn't talk until she was five or something, right?"
Maia "Yeah."
Maia "She was nice. Really weird, but nice."
Maia "I wonder..."
Maia shrugs.
Maia "I couldn't tell him. You understand, right?"
Maia "He's too...angry." Maia looks over at Antares as she says this.
Maia "I didn't do all this bullshit so that he could find out and run off and get grabbed or shot or something."
Maia "I just want him to be safe."
Antares smiles crookedly. "Yeah, uh, I guess you've got difficult friends all over."
Antares "But, look. You can't keep doing this shit alone."
Maia "Why not? I have so far."
Maia "I mean."
Maia "Today might be, uh...a little difficult to sweep under the rug."
Antares "Okay, I understand if you hit me for saying this, but... how's that working out so far?"
Maia frowns.
Maia "No one's dead," she says quietly.
Maia "I mean, no one else."
Maia kicks the bags on the ground idly, then notices Polaris's bag and picks it up, uncertain with her hands.
Antares "Don't open that," Antares says quickly.
Maia glances over, startled.
Maia "I wasn't gonna. I mean...I guess I'd better give it back."
Antares "I dunno why, but Polaris said opening it would be a bad idea now that she's not trying to get you in trouble."
Maia blinks, then opens the bag.
Maia fishes around inside, but just comes up with a few statues and the usual schoolbooks.
Maia "I wonder what the hell she meant by that?'
Antares "It's Polaris, who knows." Antares flops back down, resuming her contemplation of the ceiling. "Look," she begins, then stops.
Maia "Antares, I...I want you to be careful."
Antares makes a weird sort of facial shrug at the ceiling, as if asking it who Maia thinks she's talking to.
Maia "I know how you feel about what's happening, but, Johnstone's really dangerous."
Maia "It's not just him...it's the whole thing."
Maia "I don't..." she hesitates, then grabs Antares's arm, lying next to her, "I don't want to lose you."
Antares tilts her head over to rest it against Maia's. "They're playing us all, right now. That's not gonna stop unless we start working together."
Antares "And I don't want to lose you, either."
Maia "I just want everything to be all right," she murmurs.
Antares can't think of a single honest thing to say to that, so she closes her eyes to keep Maia from seeing the tears in them.
Maia just holds on.
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