Starla

Title: Starla

Plot # 22

Written: Jan 2010 

“Whoohoo!” my laughter echoed through the air as I soared by on the newly made star, “Rosalina this star is amazing!”

“Yes, Starla,” My aunt was standing on the ground watching me try out her latest design, “and I would appreciate it if you avoided the buildings and save the stunts for when it’s not your first time flying it!”

I steered back towards her and landed, “This is defiantly your best invention yet.”

She pulled the star out of my hands smiling, “Thank you, but you realize that is what you always say about my inventions.”

“Because it true!” I threw my hands in the air for emphasis, “all your inventions are incredible, and the next one is always better then the last.”

She smiled but I could tell she wasn’t convinced, “It is very maneuverable but,” she pressed a button on the top and the large metal board shrank into a ball of light the size of a lemon. She held it up to her face like she was examining it with new eyes, “it doesn’t have a very long range. It can only go a couple of galaxies before it looses its connection and dies.”

A couple of galaxies? “Sounds long range to me.”

She laughed like that was funny, “well yes, to you,” she said it like I was five and still thought unicorns existed, “but when you’re traveling the entire universe, a couple of galaxies isn’t very far.”

“True,” I took the light from her hands, “but as you can see, I’m not traveling the universe, so I say it is long range; making it your best invention yet.”

She rolled her eyes, “Some day you’ll invent something twice that powerful and wonder why you ever praised me.”

I had to think about how to respond to that one. Aunt Rose was always modest, but that comment was almost insulting. I wondered for the millionth time why she had been so critical lately, “well until then,” I hugged her neck trying to squeeze the sarcasm out, “you’re still the best inventor I know.”

She just hugged me back, not bothering to argue. She knew as well as I that I wasn’t an easy person to sway.

* * *

       “Stella, if you wouldn’t mind…” I jumped up to keep my papers from flying across the room as my morph star whizzed into the library. She changed from her star shape into a six-inch version of me. The mini-me walked across the table making her usual tinkling sound.

       “What else would I be doing besides studying constellations?”

        She made another tinkling nose and I blushed, “I’m not always thinking about Jack. I concentrate when I need to.” I stood up from my chair and walked over to a shelf.

        The library wasn’t very big. Well, considering the size of the observatory it was on; plus it was an observatory so you’d think that the library would be a key point in the structure, but no. still it was a pretty good size and had over five-thousand books, so it still made it hard to find things.

       My eyes scanned up and down the shelf, “Do you remember where Aunt Rose keeps her nebula books?”

       Stella made her “beats me” sound.

       “Of course you wouldn’t know,” I bit my tongue. Apparently I hadn’t squeezed the sarcasm out of Rose, but sucked it into myself. I turned around to see Stella, now a flame, blackening the edges of my papers, “I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated. I’ve been studying for hours and I still can’t figure out this galaxy.”

       Quick to forgive, she turned back into mini-me and flew over to help me search.

       It took us about ten minutes to find the nebula books, but it wasn’t much help, since as soon as I sat back down at the table I suddenly remembered this galaxy didn’t even have nebulas.

      “Ugh!” I banged my head against my useless pile of books, “This is hopeless!”

      Stella gave me an encouraging tinkle, but I just shrugged it off, staring at my books mindlessly.

      “You know,” a voice came from the door way, “I hear you get a lot more out of the book if you actually open it.”

      A tall boy stood in the doorway, about a year older then me. He was wearing kaki shorts and a stripped polo that brought out his blue eyes. His sandy spiked hair and gorgeous smile made him just about the most attractive boy alive.

      My mood immediately lightened and I jumped up from the table, “Jack!” I ran across the room.

      He laughed as he swept me into a hug and spun me around.

     “What are you doing here?” I asked when he finally, but regrettably, put me down, “I thought you weren’t supposed to be back for another two weeks?”

      He shrugged, “Change of plans.” I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t.

      Stella mad a sort of ‘attention please’ noise and flew over to us.

      “Who’s this?” Jack asked.

      “Oh, that’s right; you haven’t met Stella have you?” Jack and I hung out a lot, but we were usually planet searching. He hadn’t really spent that much time on the observatory. “This is my morph star.” I motioned to the bird perched on my shoulder.

      “A morph star?”

      “Yeah, we have a lot of them here. They are originally light stars, but they can change into whatever shape they want. She likes birds for some reason, but she usually changes into a mini-me when I’m around.”     

       As if to illustrate that point she changed into that shape.

       Jack flashed his gorgeous smile, “Cool. Can she do me?”

      “She could, but she won’t,” he looked at Stella with mock offense and I laughed, “I’ve yet to get her to change into anything male or ugly.”

       He seemed fascinated by that, “Why?”

       I shrugged, “My theory is what they morph into, to them, is like what we wear to us. A girl star would never change into a spider and a boy star would never change into a daisy. Just like you would never wear a dress and I would never wear baggy shorts.”

       “He nodded, “That makes sense.”

       “Not to mention,” I leaned towards him and whispered, “Stella tends to be a little more vain then the rest.”

       Jack laughed and Stella turned into a flame again, making me jump.