Chapter Text
The bridge cracked and groaned under the two girl’s weight, threatening to send them both crashing into the street below. It was no good; they’d never make it across unless they could make a stronger join.
“Rilla, back up,” Cora ordered, scowling down at the wood beneath her. She’d been so sure they had it right that time, especially after she’d found the slightly newer bit of rope. Well, there was time to give it another go.
Rilla edged back onto the roof then held the plank as Cora jumped back off the bridge, landing neatly next to her.
“What do you want to do now?” demanded Rilla, jigging from foot to foot. “We could go back to mine and….”
“This was your idea,” Cora said, staring at her friend until she held her hands up in submission.
“Alright, fine. One more go and then we can go back to mine.”
It was fairly typical of Rilla to come up with an idea, and then get bored before they’d even finished it, though Cora had to admit that this hadn’t been as stupid as some of her other ideas.
Only the week before they’d narrowly avoided being arrested when Rilla decided it would be nice to look inside one of the shipping warehouses down by the docks. It turned out they had rather more than just dogs patrolling outside.
The empty building on Tenth Street had looked much easier in comparison, but it had so far repelled their every attempt to get in, without having security mechs on guard.
“What did you say was in there again?” asked Cora, looking around for the bit of rope she’d discarded earlier.
“I dunno.”
“I thought you said…”
A loud masculine shout of “Hello ladies,” made them both jump, and they looked round to see a gang of boys on the other side of their bridge. Ah yes, Cora remembered. The Tenth Street Reds were supposed to be in that building.
“Looks like you’re trying to break in, that right?” one of the boys shouted, leaning on the edge of the roof top as he stared over. “Are you both wanting in? Hey blondie, you can come over anytime, see what we’ve got,” he shouted at Rilla. “You can leave your friend at home ‘til she grows some tits.”
Cora felt her face colour with embarrassment, and the gang started laughing, a couple of them making obscene gestures over the gap at them. At the age of fourteen puberty had done very little for Cora other than give her a good few inches in height over her friend. Rilla, however, had grown outwards one way in particular.
“Leave them alone,” one of the boys said. “They’re just kids.” The voice was familiar, but the owner was hidden in the gang of boys, most of whom looked barely fourteen themselves.
Rilla grabbed Cora’s sleeve, tugging insistently at it to get her attention. She’d already considered running away, then thought better of it considering how trapped they were up there. Any escape route would be cut off within minutes, and Rilla was a slow runner.
“Where’s the fun in leaving them alone?” laughed the first boy, staring at Rilla in a way that made her cringe. “I’m going to go over and say hello.”
He started climbing onto the bridge, and Rilla turned to run, her eyes wide with fear as they boy started towards them one tiny step at a time. As much as Rilla loved getting into trouble she was hopeless at getting out of it again, often getting them into situations that Cora had to get them out of.
She grabbed Rilla’s arm, looked pointedly at the plank then climbed up onto the bridge herself, desperately hoping that her frightened friend would get the hint before it was too late.
The moment Cora got up on the bridge, high above the street and moving at last she felt the thrill of actually doing something, all her nerves vanishing in an instant. This was what she was good at, dealing with the trouble she so often found herself in.
Once up and balanced she took a few moments to size up the boy shuffling towards them, then she turned her attention to his gang, searching for the source of the other voice she’d heard. Where did she know it from?
“Look bitch, get off the bridge so I can play with your friend.”
“Raynor, stop,” the familiar boy said, stepping forwards out of the group.
Cora kept inching forwards, hoping that Raynor would be stupid enough to do the same, and her faith was rewarded when the bridge gave an ominous crack beneath them. Raynor froze for a second, and then, when nothing happened, he resumed his slow journey. “Or what Nathan?” he jeered, grinning back over his shoulder at the other boys.
This was exactly the moment Cora had been hoping for. In one swift movement she stepped forward and kicked the join between the two planks as hard as she dared, breaking the already straining rope and severing the bridge.
“That,” Nathan said cheerfully as the flimsy half of the bridge plummeted to the ground, taking a surprised looking Raynor with it. He plummeted down into the street, and landed heavily in a pile of rubbish where he lay still.
The boys instantly tore off after him, some of them shouting threats at Cora as they went. Probably time to move she thought, watching them flee down into the street. All except the boy called Nathan.
“Come on,” hissed Rilla. “I can’t hold this much longer.”
Cora turned, making it back to the rooftop with one long leap. Once there she turned back to see Nathan looking over at her with a grin on his face.
“Cheers for that,” he said, making no move to go and check on Raynor.
“You’re welcome,” Cora called over, still trying to figure out who he was but coming up with nothing. She was about to ask him when Rilla shook her shoulder. “He’s waking up, come on!”
They scampered off the roof top, down through the building and out of the door on the other side of the street. Neither of them stopped running until they reached Rilla’s house seven blocks away, bolting up into her bedroom and collapsing in a sweaty heap on the floor.
After five minutes of wheezing Rilla had recovered sufficiently enough to start jabbering on about their ‘adventure’, talking non-stop about Cora’s bridge breaking plan, and how she’d only figured out the sitting on the plank bit at the very last second. “Who was that though?” she asked, breaking into Cora’s thoughts.
“Who?”
“Nathan, do you know him or something?”
She’d been wondering that herself, trying to figure out who he was and why he’d seemed as though he wanted to protect them.
“No, I recognise him though,” admitted Cora, getting slowly up from her uncomfortable position on the floor. “I can’t think where from.”
“He seemed to like you,” teased Rilla, wiggling her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
“What, you mean like Raynor liked you?”
Rilla mimed being violently sick then turned her face away, giving a delicate sniff as though the whole idea of boys was beneath her. “Well, he’s scum. As if I’d do anything with someone like him, urgh.”
“And what, Nathan isn’t scum? He was with them too,” Cora pointed out, perching on the edge of the bed. “Tenth street reds? Who came up with that stupid name? Have we seen enough of them now? Can we do something else?”
“Oh, yes,” agreed Rilla. “I’m sure I’ll have plenty of ideas for tomorrow.” She squinted at the clock, then prodded Cora, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand. “Shouldn’t you be at home?”
“Shit yes,” Cora said, leaping to her feet and sprinting for the window. “Stay out of trouble ‘til tomorrow.”
“Yes and you, make sure you…”
The rest of Rilla’s words were carried away as Cora jumped down into the street. She was sure she’d heard the word Nathan in there somewhere though, and an involuntary smile started creeping across her face as she darted through the darkening streets. Dom was not going to be pleased.
A strange sound caught her attention over the usual din of the city, forcing its way into her head and making her skid to a stop to look for it. It was the sound of an engine, not unusual in a city located under the flight path into a large space port, but it wasn’t that which caught her attention. Instead of the smooth roar there was something obviously wrong with it, and Cora flinched away as the belly of the spaceship passed overhead, expecting it to come down any second.
Nothing happened. The ship and its noise passed harmlessly into the distance, leaving Cora stood there with nothing but a racing heart and a growing sense of foolishness.
“Nothing,” she muttered. “I’m going to get in trouble for nothing.” Cora shook her head, and glanced up the street to make sure it was clear before crossing. That was when she saw it.
In the half light, dancing like glitter through the air, the tiniest glowing flakes were falling to the ground all around her. Cora couldn’t help but be fascinated by them. She stepped into the pool of light beneath a streetlamp, raised her hand up to catch them. For the briefest of seconds she felt as though she was looking up into a sky full of stars unlike anything she’d seen in her pollution filled city, twinkling above her in the deepening blue.
Then, just as quickly as they appeared, they were gone. Cora felt a twinge of regret, then frustration as she realised how late she would be by now. Dom would never believe any story about star dust falling from the sky, it sounded ridiculous even to her.
Forcing her tired legs into a flat out run, Cora dashed for home, all thoughts of stars and Nathan vanishing the moment she heard Dom’s raised voice floating through the back door.