Closed The Stars Don't Always Align

[Freddie Lagowski]

Why Marina? There were so many girls in Astronomy. Freddie could have been paired up with any of them for this project - but it had to be Marina. The one who was mad at him. Okay, she never said anything, but she hadn't really talked to him since that time he ditched her in class. Ugh. That was mean. He didn't mean to do it - he would've carried the telescope down the stairs if he could've. But he didn't. She had to carry it up, and then he just ditched her. Obviously she was mad at him.

He bent the black sheet of card like a shield as he made his way across the student lounge, then let it flop onto the table. They had everything they needed now: pens, pencils, scissors, colored paper, the black background, and glue to stick everything on it. Freddie slid into his chair. This was gonna suck. "So, someone - one of us needs to do the earth," he said, leaning on his elbow, rolling some pens under his hand. "And the other one can do the sun. Yeah? Or I can do all the drawing stuff and you can do the writing. Actually, that's better. Yeah. You can do that."​

 

[Marina Vortalis]

Marina wasn’t happy about this, how could she be when she’s been forced to partner with this person? She wasn’t even entirely sure what she’d done to him to deserve the treatment she’d been given so far, but she was hardly going to let him know that it had gotten to her. She didn’t need friends anyway, she had… well, Ares kind of, she wasn’t always sure with him. They’d spent time together at Halloween and even that had been interrupted by Freddie and she really didn’t know why. So when he approached she didn’t look up right away. She took her time opening the glue, smoothing out the paper to the corner with her thumb, and then finally looked up to meet his eyes. “Wow, what an offer,” she told him dryly, her tone completely flat. She didn’t want him to know how she was feeling in either direction.

“You ditch me with a telescope, and now I get the honour of doing all the writing.” She might only be eleven but she wasn’t stupid. He hadn’t even bothered to ask her what her handwriting was like, he just assumed he was a better artist than her and decided she was useless at it. She was of course, but he hadn’t even asked. She uncapped the marker she would prefer to use and tested it on the corner of a piece of paper she decided could be the scrap. She liked this marker actually, it glides nicely. “Just make sure the Earth is round.”​

 

[Freddie Lagowski]

"You were fine, though - right?" Freddie said, reaching for the green marker and a sheet of white paper. Marina didn't need his help. Obviously that wasn't the point, but it was still true. She didn't have to worry about falling down the stairs all the time. He leaned on his elbow, not looking up. "Think I know how to draw the earth. Thanks."​