Golden Star Short Story Collection

[Poncho]

I realize that I'm writing enough stuff that I want to post that it could end up clogging the forums with short, one-three post threads that can cause a lot of issues for people looking for threads or starting threads. So I'm gonna just make this big topic and keep stuff in here so it's not burning holes in the forums. I'll link the start of each one here as a table of contents. Hopefully that's all okay.

 

A Silver Medal Start (November)

A Steel Resolve (November)

A Nice Day to Take A Break (December)

Edited December 3, 2023 by Poncho

[Poncho]

Early December 2023, Liberty Park

 

It took Michael awhile to find Samantha. 

 

She had skipped an entire day’s worth of class, and Vice-Principal Duncan had sent Michael out to retrieve her, because even though they’d only been in classes for a few weeks, it had already become extremely clear the best way to get Sam to do something was to ask Michael to get her to do it; she didn’t listen to almost anyone except Michael, and even that was tenuous at best. But Sam had become, if anything, more temperamental and difficult to handle ever since getting Superpowers, being even more prone to skipping class or failing to turn in assignments. This was the second time this week she’d skipped a class, but this time she’d skipped the whole day. Around lunch, Duncan had gone to Michael and asked him to go find her. He’d started going down their major haunts, and finally found her in Liberty Park, sparkled out and asleep on the Grand Lawn. When Michael trudged up to her, he tapped her with his shoe.

 

“Sam, get up.” he said with a little frustration. She grunted, opened her eyes momentarily, then rolled away from Michael.

 

“Leave me alone Mikey.” she grumbled as Michael sat down next to her. “I don’t like that school.”

 

“You didn’t like our old school.”

 

“I don’t like this one even more.” she huffed, sitting up to look at him. “It feels cramped. All these kids have these powers, and I feel like I’m never sure if someone likes their powers or not. And then I say the wrong thing to the wrong person and they get mad.”

 

“I say the wrong things to people all the time. My first day I think I said the wrong thing to every single person.” Michael noted. “The people there are nice, they’ll forgive you when they realize you didn’t mean any harm with it.”

 

“Mike, people treat you and me very differently. Isn’t that one of the first things you started learning at that school? Remember how you treated the bug guy?”

 

“His name is Baz.”

 

“Yeah, and you treated him like he was just like anyone else and made him embarrassed by pointing out he looked like a giant bug.” 

 

“...Yeah, okay. I did that. But I also apologized and he looked like he got over it. And I don’t intend to make that mistake again so eventually he’ll realize I didn’t mean anything bad when I said it.”

 

“That’s not how it usually works. And there’s no promise he actually will realize that.”

 

“If I don’t try it never will happen.” he responded, frowning. “Can’t you at least give it a try instead of giving up before it ever begins?” She sighed in frustration at his constant pestering.

 

“Why are you always so confident that everything is going to work out?” He had to pause to think about it again, because Sam was challenging not his actions, but his fundamental assumptions about how the world worked or wouldn't work.

 

“...I...guess because my thought is if you don’t have a positive outlook, you’ll cause a negative outcome?” he offered, not really sure. “...I’ve never really thought about why things wouldn’t work out.” He admitted.

 

“See, that’s your problem. Mikey, I like you. You’re smart in a dumb way, you’re charismatic in a frustrating way, you’re physically impressive in an annoying way. You always have a positive outlook, but it’s not because you’ve gone through issues and come out through it better, you’re just disgustingly positive in a way that can rub people the wrong way; it feels fake how positive you are when you have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s like a rich person telling a poor person to just spend less on avocado toast.” she rattled off, wagging her finger at him in frustration. He sat there dumbfounded

 

“...Oh.” he finally said. “...I’m sorry.” he offered in consternation. He didn’t even know what he could possibly say in response to her crushing, but accurate, observations. He slumped back into the grass and lay there. Samantha did the same. They lay down and watched the clouds float by, not saying anything to each other, not really acknowledging the other was there, or anyone else in the whole world; just two people laying on the grass in Liberty Park, two kids that should probably be in school but weren’t, an appropriate thing for a cop to check out. But no one did. After some time, Sam finally sighed.

 

“...Look. All that stuff is true. But it’s the same reason you’re the kind of person that people like to follow around, and that you end up popular no matter where you go. You don’t let things get you down; you’ve got a chipperness about you that can help people get over their own issues. You’re a lunkhead who never had an issue in their life, who's tried almost everything they can get their hands on, abandoned the stuff that’s boring and casually stayed with things that you enjoy or you’re good at. You’re a junior in high school and you’re working on college essays, you’re helping kids you met two weeks ago prep for their college entrance exams. You’ve never gotten a C in your life. You’re a miserable person to hang around with, but also the best person to hang around with. Someone like you shouldn’t ever spend any time with me because I’m a danger to your perfectly planned, plotted out life that you’ve kept in a diary since you were 8. But you do it anyway. For every terrible thing someone can say about you, it’s just as much a good point of you.” she says. 

 

“Thanks,” he said. There was more silence between them as they watched the clouds. Michael was pretty sure that one looked like a rabbit. As the rabbit warped under the atmospheric forces of the wind and gravity, twisting into a circular mass of fluffy whiteness that didn't resemble much of anything at the moment. When it stopped being anything, he finally spoke again.

“It’s not like you don’t have your good points too, you know. You’re a lot smarter than me, you know? And you’ve adapted to these powers a lot faster. You never let how frustrating your life is keep you from continuing on and I’ve never seen you bogged down in frustration or annoyance. Like sure you skip school, but you’re usually doing something else when you do it, finding your own fun or engaging with the world on your terms. You’re a free spirit, that’s impressive and it makes me jealous in my own way. I wish I could just go off and ‘do’ something sometimes the way you do. I always have so much effort spent in planning, thinking, making sure I’m using every minute to the maximum efficiency, and then you just go and do whatever you want, dragging me with you. That’s...great, honestly. It’s a ton of fun when you drag me into something ridiculous. I’ve skipped out on Math and English today specifically to come find you. I’d never have done that if I had my way, but now I get to sit here in the nice, slightly chilly weather, and watch the clouds on a sunny winter day. I can just...relax for a bit. It’s nice. So thanks for that”

 

“Yeah, you’re welcome.” she said. “I won’t run off from school tomorrow. Promise.” 

 

“Alright.”

 

“But today, we’re taking a break.”

 

“Agreed.” He said, closing his eyes. It really was a good idea to take breaks from time to time, and this was a nice day to take a break.