Friday nights were always uneventful for Sands. While her friends were spending quality time with their respective lovers, she was stuck at home. But she never complained. It actually was good for her, to take a break from her loud mates and the generally noisy world. The break meant climbing on her roof, watching the stars. It became a habit over the years.
Her father used to climb to the roof whenever he and her mother were upset at each other, of after a fight. She wondered why he went there, so she asked him.
“Because the stars won’t be mad at me,” he said in a playful manner and she laughed, taking it as a joke. But, as she grew up and her father left their family, she realized he was dead serious. And he was right. The stars were peaceful, and beautiful. Such powerful, but mild forces. She loved watching them, even if she wasn’t sad, or mad. Maybe it was what kept her going.
That evening, she decided she would climb on the roof earlier, to read until the sunset. But, of course, the beautiful scenery wouldn’t let her read much. The sun setting behind the little houses of the suburbs was majestic, wonderful. But it was too fiery for her, too big of a star. At least it was warm, she thought.
It was still light outside when she opened a pack of crackers, her dinner for the day. Her mother worked night shift, her brother was with some friends in the city and her sister was sleeping over at her friend, so no need to cook. Crackers were better than some warmed left-overs anyways. She munched at the vinegary snack as the lights on the street were turned on. She looked around at the houses in her neighborhood. There weren’t people on the street, save for the little family in front of the house next to hers.
Four people – the parents and their two daughters, were moving some furniture in the house with the help of some men. Well, the daughters didn’t. The younger-looking one stood on the grass, her head in her phone. Probably texting, Sands thought. The other sister had her back turned to her as she leaned on the short wooden white fence, making only her blonde hair and black clothes be seen through the spaces between the wood boards.
Sands looked away, wondering why those people kept working after sundown. She shrugged her thoughts away and decided to give the blonde another look. It was odd, seeing someone blonde close to her. She saw fellow students dyeing their hair in light tones of brown or red, but never in blonde or anything unnatural, especially since her high school was quite conservative. That girl had to be some weird non-conformist.
She lay on the roof as she finished half of the pack of crackers and put her hands on her flat belly. It wasn’t fully dark yet, so she had time to rest her eyes for a while. The school day had been quite hard due to the hard classes of Math and the school drama she had to watch in the cafeteria. But she survived it, and she didn’t have to work on Fridays to Sundays, thank God.
“Hey!” a voice had her open her eyes and looked around, and down once she remembered she was sitting on the roof. There, on her lawn stood the blonde girl, an amused smile plastered on her face. Sands couldn’t see her face clearly, but the eyeliner around her small eyes was evident. “What are you doing up there?” She gestured toward the roof, as if she needed to know what up there meant.
Sands shrugged slightly.
“Waiting for the stars to appear,” she simply responded, her voice coming out hoarse. She cleaned her throat as the blonde nodded and opened her mouth to speak again.
“That’s cool,” she appreciated. “I’m Lee Chae, by the way.” She did a small wave of her hand as she spoke her name. “My family just moved here… But I’m pretty sure you know that already…”
Sands chuckled awkwardly and moved to sit better on the not-so-comfortable surface.
“I’m Park Sands,” she presented herself and felt bad for not continuing the conversation with another question, so she added. “How old are you?”
“18. My sister,” she pointed a finger to the girl. “Is fourteen. How old are you?”
“18, too.” Chae’s eyes widened and she began laughing. Sands watched confused as she covered her mouth with her hand. “W-Why are you laughing?”
Chae stopped looked at her. “I’m… I’m sorry, but… I thought you were around my sister’s age.”
“Oh, no problem,” Sands laughed, too. It wasn’t the first time someone thought that. “You aren’t the first…” It was true, her baby face had her confused with a much younger girl, giving her some problems at work in her first days. But selling books wasn’t something only adults did, so people didn’t say anything after a week.
“Oh, okay.” Chae nodded and looked at her parents. Sands moved her gaze toward the couple, too, instinctively, finding no one. “They probably decided not to bother working with no light. Anyways, nice talking to you,” she said and began walking away. “Have fun with the stars,” she greeted and waved. Sands waved back, feeling awkward, but good.
She wasn’t the best at making friends. It had been others who came closer to her, breaking her walls. She was shy, she had no confidence, and she knew that. She tried to change for other people, too, but decided it wasn’t good, trying to be someone she wasn’t. So Sands ended up being the shy, pretty girl with others, giving her usually charismatic self just to her close friends, those who made the first steps, and to her family.
She lay back on her back as the first stars began appearing, wondering if Chae would talk to her again.

~*~