Mandisa Grade 9, Featured Image: enshrined in gold Lia Grade 12
“I’ve always been jealous of the stars.”
There was silence for a while. One wasn’t sure what to say, and the other was regretting what he said.
“You’re jealous of balls of gas?”
My eyebrows furrowed with confusion as he shook his head in response and chuckled.
“No, they’re just so far away from everything. Away from the pain and loss this world has. Away from all the insecurities and doubts people fill into your mind. They’re just so free.”
Blades of grass peeked through my fingers, the back of my white heels indenting the ground. My hands played with the blades, twirling them around with my fingers. I allowed the earth to embrace me, grass curling around my bare arms. My ears listened to the wind howl softly, the purple chiffon moving with it. The fabric danced against my ankles as the white petals on my corsage stroked the green.
A piano played in the background, the music playing softly from the speakers in the gym. The sound dodged the black and white balloons and moved past the sweaty teenagers and red punch. It slipped through the open glass windows, reaching the football field.
“Do you ever think they get lonely?” I asked.
“Who?”
“The stars.”
“Why would they?”
“They look so close to each other, but they’re so far away.”
“I never thought of it like that.”
Harry Styles became the only sound on the field, apart from the soft whistling of the wind.
“Do you want to dance?”
“Pardon?”
I turned my head to face him, the turf caressing my olive skin. He turned his head too, his brown locks spilling down his face. He opened his mouth again.
“Do you want to dance?”
“Okay.”
I pushed myself off the ground, using my hands to dust off the specks of brown spotting my purple dress. He adjusted his black blazer as he placed my hands in his. He pulled my hands to his shoulders, allowing my fingers to interlock around his neck. His hands wrapped around my waist.
I’m falling again, I’m falling again, I’m falling.
We swayed to the distant melody of Harry Styles’ ‘Falling’. I don’t know if you can really get lost in someone’s eyes. I mean, they’re just a circle inside a white shape. But, as I looked at his eyes, I felt as though I should be getting lost in his eyes. It felt like a scene from a movie, and that was what I was expected to do. Get lost in his eyes.
But instead, my dress caught on my heel, and I slipped. His hands instantly wrapped around me tightly, pulling me up before my head could reach the ground. We stared at each other, not in a getting-lost-in-their-eyes way, but almost as if we were waiting for the other to stop the embarrassment.
Instead of some smooth line I should have been delivering to save myself, I laughed. One of my hands dropped from his neck to clutch my stomach. I started laughing loudly, not even attempting to stifle my snorts. He followed suit, allowing a hearty laugh to escape from his chest.
We laughed for a while.
My hands went back to his neck as I collected myself. My eyes met his again, the corners still wrinkled with joy. He shifted my body so that we were standing again.
I smiled. He smiled back.
I looked at the ground, before opening my mouth and saying, “Let me be your star.”
“Huh?”
“Let me be your star.”
“You want to be my ball of gas?”
I met his eyes again and lightly nudged his shoulder as he chuckled, his head looking at the ground.
“No, I want to make you feel free. I want to take you away from everything.”
He smiled, lifted his head to face me.
“You can be my star if I can be yours.”
“Deal.”
We smiled at each other, still swaying to the song. He spun me around, my white heels tapping on the grass.
I’m falling again, I’m falling again, I’m falling.
Elements Magazine 