Alkalians by Caleb S. Bugai Page A

and what would that
be, Sean?” Rose asks with a malicious smile on her face.
    Understanding she already had the
idea, he sighs before explaining to Matt, “See, when I was here
last year, I took one look at her down the hall and nearly flipped
head-over-heels, or more correctly, dropped my books and those of
every student crowded around me when I bumped into them on my way
to the floor. I had been smitten by her dazzling, red-hot beauty.
It was love at first sight, a common epidemic around these
parts.
    “ But anyway, it took me a
long time, over the rest of the school year, to gather up the
nerve. I had even practiced on other girls, with a good number of
them going quite well, before I came up to her and asked her out.
She took one look at me, and laughed wickedly, saying there was no
way she’d go out with me. I swear, I was laughed right out of the
cafeteria by everyone around me. And later that day, after classes,
as if adding salt to the wound, the girls of her gang and some rich
guys who would want to ask her out surrounded and pounded me into
the ground in our morphs. If it hadn’t been clear before, the
message had been beaten into my skull. Never ask Cynthia Volvaron
out if you’re not good enough for her.”
    Once excited to hear of his failure to
ask her out, Rose then feels sorry for him as she says, “Aw, Sean,
that’s, that was so wrong of them to do to you. I mean, wasn’t it
enough that your heart had been broken?”
    “ Pff, nah, for them it
wasn’t. See, they didn’t want any other silly, backwater, freshman
nobody getting the idea of flirting with a girl like her,
especially since she’s also a boss student. So, Matt, take this
advice seriously. When you see her, don’t even think of talking to her. She is well
beyond mine or your reach. Got it?”
    “ Uh, yeah, I’ve got
it.”
    “ Good, good. Um, who else
is there? Ah, yes, speaking of female boss students, there is Lyn
Arcterus. If you asked me, or the most of the other students in the
community, we’ll tell you that she’s the nicest of the boss
students. Rather than picking on the most of us, she and her troop
are the ones who usually cause friction with the other boss
students and their gangs. Also, she’s impossible to go by
unrecognized. She and her girl friends go around in their own,
striped uniform suits, but she’s the one in a white suit, with blue
hair, and, uh, eerie white eyes. The reason students try to stay
out of her way is not just because how unsettling those eyes are,
but, since she’s not afraid to cause trouble with the other boss
students, they don’t want to get caught in the crossfire, you know
what I mean?”
    “ Um, yeah, we know what
you mean,” agrees Matt while glancing to a nodding Rose. “But wait,
did you say her last name is Arcterus? Would she happen to be
related to a guy named Fenrir Arcterus, from Tirez?”
    “ Hmm. Maybe. Why do you
ask?”
    “ Well, my father knows
this guy, Fenrir, as they are both state rangers who will often
pass by each other while scouting the border between Minari and
Tirez. So, I can’t help but wonder if me and her already know a
little about each other if she happens to be Fenrir’s
daughter.”
    “ Heh, that would be
interesting to know. But, we’ll worry about that later. Another
thing Lyn Arcterus is known for is her hot temper, a temper that
could match Cain’s, and her distaste of men ever since she got
dumped by James, so, I don’t think you’ll want to, oh, walk across
that thin ice just yet, you know?”
    “… Right.”
    “ Right. And, the last, but
not the least, of the boss students is known as Buster Harmada. The
reason he’s got such a high standing in the community is not only
because of his relation to the Harmada family of Riaquen. It’s also
because he can kick just about any student’s butt in battle. Not
only does he already have a powerful battle morph to begin with, I
believe it’s called a MechWarrior, but he’s also so