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The air felt thick with tension as the gun slowly rose from Commander Supernova’s hip to where the evil Empress Prix Shilla was standing. “You let her go,” the Commander said in a whisper, “and no one gets hurt.”
Prix only laughed as she tightened her grip on the poor alien damsel Kartalia, heir princess of the planet of - insert cool name here -. “With that toy gun? You could never possibly hurt me.”
The Commander’s finger stayed on the trigger. “Want to test that theory?”
“She will never love you!” the Empress shouted. “That is not true, Commander, I do love you!” Kartalia cried, “I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my days with you! We will get married, and-”
“Shut up!” Prix commanded and threw her to the ground. Commander Supernova had finally had enough of her and pulled the trigger, emitting a gamma ray so strong it pierced right through the Empress’ chest. As the Commander ran to rescue Kartalia, she could hear Prix’s feeble last words-
“Ludmila!”
But she paid no mind to the evil sorceress and lent a hand for the beautiful alien to grip as she stood up. Kartalia’s gorgeous thick black curls shone under the stars. The moment she was up on her feet, her arms wrapped around the Commander. “My hero,” Kartalia’s sweet voice swooned, “you rescued me!”
“Ludmila, what are you doing?!”
“Indeed I did,” Supernova smirked. “As I rescued the rest of the galaxy.”
“You’re the bravest and strongest commander in the universe,” Kartalia blushed. “Don’t I deserve a kiss now?” the Commander said, and Kartalia picked her up and held her like she was already her bride with her strong arms. Her muscles were prominent - look for more words to describe muscles - and finally, the Commander reached her lips and-
The rattle of the doorknob makes every fibre in Ludmila’s body tense as Priscila barges into her room, clearly about to give her daughter a scolding. “Do you realise what time it is?!”
Ludmila gasps and shuts her laptop at the speed of sound, throwing it to one side of her bed. “Um-”
“What are you doing on your computer that is so much more important than the Studio?” Priscila crosses her arms. Ludmila feels herself going red, but tries her hardest to keep her voice from shaking as she explains, “I-I was just looking for the track arrangements I’m supposed to give Pablo today.” She clumsily reaches for the laptop again and opens a folder to show her mother, “See?”
While at first doubtful of her words, Priscila eventually shrugs and turns back to the door. “Hurry up or you’ll be late. Oh, and your friend is here.” The disdain clear in her tone is enough for Ludmila to know immediately who she’s talking about - granted, her relationship with her classmates has been less hostile lately, but only one person could call themselves Ludmila’s friend and not have to eat their words the day after.
“Ludmi?” Natalia’s unmistakable curls pop from one side of the doorframe. “You ok?”
“Yes,” Ludmila clears her throat, “Why wouldn’t I be?” Naty’s voice gets significantly quieter, “Your mother was making a fuss about you being late and…you’re never late, so I was just wondering-”
“Well then, stop wondering. Have you brought your thingy?”
“Yeah, got it right here,” Naty fishes in a pocket of her jeans and picks out a small USB. She giggles, “It’s the cute little one we bought that time at the mall, with the kitty head that does the-”
“Great, great-” Ludmila sighs, her face still red from nearly getting caught earlier. “I’m- I’m just going to the bathroom for one second, and then we can leave.” She stands up from her bed. “Get the tracks from my computer. Quickly.” And with that, she sprints out of her room and into the nearby bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
“Alright,” Naty huffs and reaches for the laptop. She quickly types in the easiest, most predictable password known to man - Ludmilaistheonlysupernova151 - and, with half her mind genuinely wondering how her computer still hasn’t gotten hacked, grabs the folder and copies it in the USB. As the files transfer onto the drive, the key lights up and emits a meowing sound. Naty giggles to herself again, “That never gets old.”
Once the processing is complete, Naty closes the folder - and another one pops up, simply called Studio. Naty studies it, curious. It only has one file, notes, and that alone convinces her that it must be another part of Pablo’s assignment. Blissfully unaware, she transfers that one onto her key as well.
Ludmila walks into the room, visibly more composed than before. “Did it meow?”
Naty puts one thumb up, “It meowed!”
“Good, let’s go then.”
After Vilu and Fran’s presentation - a presentation during which Ludmila nearly bites her tongue off, trying to keep herself from any snarky comments. Redemption is a rocky road, with none of the sweetness - it’s finally her and Naty’s turn. “Take out the tracks,” Ludmila gets up from her chair and walks to the stage. Naty hurriedly follows close behind, USB in her hand.
She sticks the key into the designated computer and pulls up all the audio files, and just to do Ludmila a favour, she opens her notes too.
“Very well, Violetta and Francesca. That was a wonderful remix of your song,” Pablo claps enthusiastically, to which Vilu and Fran exchange winning smiles. “Now up next, Ludmila and Naty. You decided to expand upon your Peligrosamente Bellas, right?”
“Not that it needed any expanding, the track is already perfect as is,” Ludmila smirks. “But yes. We implemented guitars and made it sound a little more…rock, a little more, spacey.”
Naty chokes.
Ludmila turns around swiftly, her hair swooshing like a shooting star, “Nat?”
Naty is visibly red in the face, her eyes as wide as humanly possible. But she’s smiling, like she’s holding a laugh. No, she’s very clearly holding in a laugh. Ludmila furrows her brows. “Nat,” she lowers her voice, “what is going on.”
“Everything ok, Natalia?” Even Pablo looks perplexed. Naty clutches her hoodie and breathes in deeply, “I’m fine- must’ve- breathed wrong?…” Having had enough of her antics, Ludmila struts to where she’s standing, “I’ll do it myself-”
“No!” Naty screams a little louder than she should and now everyone’s attention is on her. “No, I mean, you’ve done so much already. I’ll do it!” And she plays the correct track, carefully closing Ludmila’s notes - or, more accurately, Ludmila’s self insert sci-fi fan fiction, before she can find out it’s in Naty’s possession.
“What was that about,” Ludmila snarls once the class is over and they’re at their lockers. “What was what about?”
“The tracks. Pablo’s- why were you even laughing?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ludmi,” Naty plays dumb, twirling a strand of her hair with an innocent smile. Ludmila only looks at her, as if entranced, then coughs out: “Stop it, stop that-”
“What? I thought you loved my…thick black curls.”
Ludmila seems to be ready to answer something on the fly, instead, she stops in her tracks. “Huh?”
“Nothing,” Naty giggles, and leaves the room with a skip in her step. Ludmila stares at her as long as her eyes allow it before she disappears behind one of the Studio’s colourful walls, and then she’s left chewing over that strange, strange interaction. Her cheeks grow pink. “How do- I do not- Natalia, come back here!”
The Adventures of Commander Supernova, by Ludmila Ferro, masterfully disguised as notes in her computer, is Ludmila’s very own attempt at becoming a novelist. Except, as the Sun shines and the grass is green, Ludmila may very well be the worst writer known to man.
Naty finds a solitary spot in the park and takes her sweet, glorious time reading her best friend’s garbled mess. At first, she hesitates: obviously, this is very, very private. And Naty has to be the first one who ever found out about this. Oh, if her mother knew, that would be…
So she starts to feel guilty about it, but when it comes to doing things against Ludmila, she’s the first one to recognise that guilt easily dissipates when you start facing the facts of all the things the tarantula’s shamelessly done to her. So, devoured by curiosity, she opens up the file again.
The year was 2312 - Earth was so over. Everyone who was someone had moved over to space stations in the Milky Way, proving sustainable life on other planets. But people weren’t ready to live under the circumstances of the vast universe and many died…many except one brave commander who went by the name of Supernova.
When danger knocks on her door, Commander Supernova is ready to take the call! With her wit and strength, she’s ready to take down anyone who stands in the way of space justice. Just ask her arch-enemy turned loyal servant, Kamilla-
Naty shuts her laptop and hides her head between her knees, her whole body shaking with laughter. No way, no way this is real. This has to be some elaborate test of trust - Ludmila must have planted this in her own computer to see if Naty would take the bait and invade her privacy…no, that is way too smart a plan. This is authentic. Too authentic, even. She resumes her reading with a deep breath.
Not only was she the smartest and bravest in probably the whole galaxy, but she was also out of this world (meaning she was hot). Everywhere she went everyone fell in love with her, aliens and humans and like, alien humans and human aliens, she was so gorgeous it was insane.
Many times she had to turn down proposals and diamond rings because before all else she was a hero and she belonged to no one. Also, they were not at her level. Only one alien lady was worth her time: a princess who fell in love with the Commander the moment she laid eyes on her - and who could blame her? Her name was-
And Naty has to do a double, and triple take. No. No way. No way.
Her name was - insert name for Nat -
“Hoho.” Naty freezes, eyes wide. “Hohohohohoho.” And then the computer starts to feel hot, melting in her hands. It’s a prank, it’s a prank, it’s a prank-
“See, you’re laughing again! What’s so funny?!” Ludmila seemingly appears out of nowhere, materialising in front of poor Naty who by instinct almost throws the laptop across the park. “Natalia,” Ludmila crosses her arms, “is it something on the computer?”
“No-”
“Are you hiding something from me?!”
“No!-” Naty grabs the USB and cries out, “This is just- the meowing is so funny!”
Ludmila looks at Naty like she’s visiting her grandma in the madhouse. “Of course, you would find that funny. You’re always in your own world.”
And just like that, the ball is in Naty’s field. “I know right, sometimes I wish I could live in space.”
“Me too,” the blonde sighs and grabs Naty by the arm. “Can we go now?”
Naty feels Ludmila’s fingers wrap around her muscles and suddenly this is way too fun it almost feels criminal. She did have a hunch earlier, but- “Want me to carry you?” she asks sweetly. Ludmila, who has already stepped forward, has to go back. But she’s not even looking at Naty, instead, she stares down at her own shoes. And when she says, “Really?” in the smallest tone Naty might’ve ever heard from her, she can do nothing but sweep her off her feet, one arm around her waist and one holding her knees, no sweat broken. “Where to?”
Ludmila’s heart beats so quickly and fiercely that her whole chest is dancing to its melody. “I think- we-” And oh God, she’s adorable when she’s flustered, “Beto-”
“Oh right, we have a class with Beto. Let’s go,” and the next word is quiet, whispered in Ludmila’s ear, just in case she can save herself from certain death, “Commander.”
“What did you just say-”
“I said come on. Why, what did you hear?”
(Ludmila is from then on pretty convinced this is all a big hallucination. She doesn’t mind as much as she thinks she does.)
Naty realises Ludmila has a full-on crush on her, bordering on obsession, after she finds every moment she can to read more of Commander Supernova’s adventures. And she’s the first one who can’t believe it - but it becomes glaringly obvious when the paragraphs in which her muscles are described are double the ones of the actual plot of the book. And then there are her beautiful curls, and her shiny eyes, and Jesus Christ, was this what that idiot was thinking the entire time she called her useless and pathetic?!
Commander Supernova, a cool and collected space hero with a thirst for justice and the most luscious blond hair in the galaxy, travels to help those in need. She meets many familiar faces, such as the helpless and naive Veyo Leda, who apparently has to say about a million times how infinitely less talented she is than the Commander (talented at what), her own personal butler Kamilla (and she didn’t even try there) or her former lovers Le Hónn and Thorm Ass (nice).
And then there’s Kartalia. Princess Kartalia of the ‘unknown planet name’, stunning and sexy (her words) and strong and oh well, Ludmila is gone. How old was this document? How long has she been writing it? Does Naty need to worry about the whole killing-her-mom thing? (Because yes, there is an I am your mother scene. And Ludmila dared make fun of Naty for wanting to watch Star Wars with her. “They don’t know what they’re talking about, that’s not how it works!”)
Between every couple of paragraphs, there are long descriptions of stars and other space elements that make Naty feel like she’s reading a dictionary, until she goes to the next one and she’s graced with the words the strong alien giggled and it made the Commander fall in love even more and she has to sit down for a while.
This is way too much for one girl to handle. Especially one who’s been taken on such an emotional rollercoaster as Natalia Vidal. At this moment, there’s nothing more she wants than to march up to Ludmila’s house, computer in her hand, and demand an explanation. But is there really anything to explain there? The truth lies naked in front of her. For once, Naty is truly and undoubtedly in the driver's seat. Now all she needs is a route to follow.
She needs a plan.
Lena opens the door to her sister. “Help-”
“How is it that every time you start a conversation it’s always that or-”
“Ludmila-”
“Yup, there it is.” Lena hangs her head. “Come in,” she sighs. The older Vidal walks the length of her sister’s room before finally settling on the desk chair. She tangles her fingers together, then untangles them, again and again before Lena speaks up: “Naty, what is it?”
Naty jumps on the chair. “O-ok, so.” Not really sure how to even go about this, she tentatively starts: “Ludmila, she-” her words get caught up in her throat. She can’t do this to Ludmila, she can’t. Exposing her would just be evil, and there was no harm in what she was doing with her silly little story. So Naty tries a different approach: “Imagine I…found out about somebody’s- um- feelings, without them knowing I know.” And avoiding her sister’s stare, she adds: “Romantic feelings. I think. Not a hundred per cent sure on that.” Kartalia’s beautiful brown eyes met the Commander’s, and right then, Supernova wanted to live forever in that moment. “But like. Eighty-six per cent sure.”
Lena sits on the bed. “Their feelings towards you, you mean?” Naty nods slowly, then alarmingly fast. “Alright, alright, I got it! And, just so we’re clear, this somebody is Ludmila, right?”
Naty squirms in her seat, looking to one side, before inevitably nodding again. “Cool. Can you…tell me how you found out about her feelings or-” Naty shakes her head no so energetically that she has to stop herself, having to subsequently massage her temples. “Seems like you’re not taking this very well,” Lena says trying to sound as heartfelt as possible, but really, finding the situation hilarious.
“Yeah. Well, this has never happened to me before, you know? It’s- and she- you know her, Lena.”
“Unfortunately I do.” She huffs. “So what is the problem now?”
“What is the prob-” Naty giggles nervously, “What is the problem?! Didn’t you just hear what I said?!”
“Loud and clear.”
“Ludmila-” Naty’s panicked yell turns into an urgent whisper, “Ludmila likes me.”
“Yeah?” Lena arches an eyebrow. “No, you don’t get it, Ludmila likes me!” Naty repeats, and Lena bites her lip to try her hardest to remain the level-headed one. “Yeah, I know that.”
“So- wait. What do you mean, you know that?” Lena smiles, looking up at the ceiling. “Naty.” And Naty is so confused by now, like there is something she’s supposed to get but can’t. “What?”
“Ok, how do I put this without you freaking out- well, realistically there is no way you won’t, so.” Lena claps her hands, “Ludmila has been hopelessly in love with you for years, hermanita.”
Naty looks at her, face blank. After a long, quiet moment, she snorts. “Hah. Ok.”
“So you…knew?”
“This isn’t funny, Lena,” Naty’s plastered smile sends chills down Lena’s spine. That is denial in its purest, rawest form. That is years and years of convincing herself that nothing was ever gonna happen, not in the slightest, not a chance in the world. “I understand that this is hard to hear,” Lena breathes trying to go the smartest way about it, “but it is true.”
“I said it’s not funny.” Naty’s leg bounces up and down so much that Lena gets dizzy just by looking at it. “You have to admit, it is a bit funny-”
“Lena.”
“It’s true! She has a huge crush on you, realistically from the moment you first met, or at least from the moment I first met her.”
“Sure. And you never cared to tell me because?” Naty’s tone is trying so hard to remain collected and smug, but her face now void of all colour tells a very different story. “Honestly? We all thought you already knew.”
Naty leaps from the chair. “We?” Her voice now gets clearly frantic, “W-Who’s we?!” Lena realises she’s made a mistake, “Listen-”
“Oh my God, who’s we, Lena?!”
“The guys at the Studio?” Lena tries with an apologetic tone just to try to get her sister to calm down. “Your friends? Your teachers too, realistically?…Mom and Dad?” With her hands covering her face, she peeks through and sees Naty completely still in the middle of the room, eyes wide open like she’s a software program rebooting her entire life, which…isn’t too far from the truth. “Oh no,” is all she says, collapsing to the ground. “No, no, no,” and there’s a feeble laugh in it, too, as Naty gets into a foetal position and keeps repeating to herself, “no, no, no,” a scene as alarming as it is sad. Lena, who wasn’t ready to have her older sister completely melt down on her bedroom floor today, sits down next to her and pats her awkwardly on the back. “There, there.”
“This whole time- this whole time?”
“It would appear so.” Ludmila was never a great actress, no matter how much she liked to pride herself on that, and that included not being able to hide her feelings. Every time someone as much as laid eyes on Naty, Ludmila was right there, like a shadow, silently profiling any and all possible enemies. She made it her personal mission in life to have Naty be right there by her side every waking moment, not-so-masterfully disguising it as needing an ‘assistant’, and never let her leave her sight for more than five seconds - God, the lengths that girl will go through. “But that’s not bad, right?” Lena tries to remain as gentle as possible. “You like each other. Isn’t that great?”
“What?!” Naty explodes. “No. No, it’s not great! I- that asshole! How dare she like me!”
“Woah, ok-”
“I spent every day of my life ever since I met her bending over backwards for her to just notice me and now she- she’s in love with me or something?! That is absurd!”
“I agree, but-”
“No, no, it’s fine. I will just- pretend I don’t know anything. And then it’ll all be alright. It will all go back to normal.” She shoots a look at her sister, begging for confirmation, but Lena’s so mesmerised by what is happening in front of her very eyes by now she can’t say anything. “Ugh, but how could I ever do that? My life is ruined.” She sulks again, curled up on the floor. “Look, why don’t we…think this through,” Lena says. “Ludmila likes you. You like Ludmila. For some reason, you are now aware of that. How do you proceed?”
“Proceed. Hah. I’d rather lay on your floor forever.”
“What was your first reaction, immediately when you found out? What did you do?”
Naty peeks up at Lena. “Made fun of her?” Then immediately, as if to cover up a slip-up, “But- but I didn’t realise how serious it was then! I just thought it was some stupid-” she hits the brakes before she lets out the word story. “A prank, or something. I couldn’t have imagined that it was going on for years, apparently,” she gestures vaguely to her sister. And Lena is more curious than ever to know just how exactly Naty found out about Ludmila, but that’s a story for another day. “I say you have your fun with it.”
Naty reflects for a moment, then her eyes light up. “Really?” she asks as if she needed Lena’s approval. Lena nods, “Why not? She sure has her fun taunting you, why can’t you do the same? Mindfully, of course.”
Naty thinks back to how flustered Ludmila looked when she picked her up, and a giggle bubbles up her throat. “You’re right. That’s exactly what I’ll do.” She stands up suddenly, “I’ll make her wish she never liked me,” she says in a tone that however gleeful does not cover up that ominous sentence. “Thank you Lena, you’re the best!” she smiles and runs out of the room with new purpose.
Lena, who knows she’s done absolutely nothing but cause her sister to go through the whole five stages of grief on her bedroom floor (perhaps the only right way to process the fact that Ludmila Ferro has a crush on you), looks on in bemusement. Next time she sees Naty, she hopes she’ll tell her either she and Ludmila made out or beat each other up. Either outcome would be a fun story to tell at a wedding.
“So I’m taking lead vocals here, and you come in on the second verse-”
“You are insane if you think I’m going to do that, Camilita,” Ludmila snarls from the edge of her seat. Camila smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes, “It’s either this, or you fail the assignment.”
“Or I could do it by myself and leave you in the dirt. Now that’s an idea.”
“Oh yeah! Do the assignment that’s literally called working together by yourself. One of your smartest ideas so far!”
“Listen, you-”
Naty barges into Angie’s class, seemingly unaware of the two girls’ presence. Both Camila and Ludmila go quiet, but for very different reasons. “Hi Naty,” Camila starts.
Naty turns around in a whirl, “Oh, hey! Sorry, pretend I’m not here. Just picking some stuff up for rehearsal with the guys- I’ll be out in a second.”
“No worries,” Camila says, then focuses back on her partner for the assignment. “If you don’t want to do it this way, then what do you suggest?” She purses her lips. The other girl doesn't answer. “Ludmila?”
Unfortunately, Ludmila’s mind is miles and miles away, probably in outer space on a planet that has no cool name yet. Her eyes are very much stuck on Naty’s tight sleeveless turtleneck, or more specifically, her arms, and the way her muscles flex when she picks up the drum set, one drum at a time. One. By. One. Her back. Oh God, her back.
Camila observes the scene in front of her, her mouth wide open, stuck on a silent laugh she resolves is best to keep inside. Not only is Ludmila thoroughly dazed by the vision of Naty, moments away from drooling, but she also should know full well that there is no rehearsal with the guys, there is absolutely no need for drums for the assignment, and most importantly, Naty’s partner for this is Francesca.
“Alright, I think that’s it,” Naty finishes…stacking the drums together? Whatever the hell she was doing made no sense, but it did get Ludmila’s (hormones’) attention. She turns to the girls again, catching Ludmila unprepared, looking right back at her. Naty winks. “I’ll see you later.” And with a mischievous grin, she walks out of the room, clearly having no reason to have been there whatsoever in the first place.
Camila watches Naty walk out with a newfound sense of respect for her. This was an…interesting development, to say the least. And Ludmila’s still frozen, eyes now staring at nothing in particular and face redder by the minute. “So,” Camila finally decides to exploit this situation and gives her partner’s shoulder a slight nudge, “we agree that my idea is the best, right?
“What? Yeah, sure,” Ludmila shakes her head, finally back on Earth. Upon noticing Camila’s smirk, she completely switches: “W-why are you looking at me like that?!”
“No reason. Well, you did just agree to do things my way, which is a victory in and of itself, but-”
“Oh, shut up,” Ludmila rolls her eyes and stands abruptly from her seat, immediately stumbling on one of the drums Naty had scattered and falling face flat on the floor. “I said shut up!” she screams, getting up and running out of the room. Camila can only laugh at whatever just happened. Another day with those two, standard procedure.
(Naty snickers all the way to her next set-up. Not her fault her character’s homeland had a tradition of wearing sleeveless tunics- she was just following Ludmila’s orders once again, wasn’t she?)
Later, in the zoom room, everyone is either rehearsing for their assignments, talking to each other or secretly-but-not-really trying to recover from their best friend's chosen outfit. “Are you ok, Ludmi?” Naty bites her cheek not to make her smile too obvious. “You’ve been staring at me the whole day.”
“Hah!” Ludmila cackles defensively, rolling her eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself. I was just- trying to figure out, if that was…my…shirt?” The words come out of her mouth as she is still testing them, but Naty pretends what she said makes a lot of sense. She nods with a serious expression, “Oh, yeah, that checks out. Don’t worry, it’s mine. I bought it for the occasion.”
“What- occasion, Natalia,” Ludmila crosses her arms. Naty shrugs, and then suddenly: “Watch out!” she screams, and without any notice, she picks Ludmila up. Ludmila squeals and instinctively holds tight onto Naty: “What?! What is it?!”
Naty lets out a small giggle at Ludmila’s immediate reaction but she stays calm: “I’m sorry, I thought I saw something on the ground.”
“Is it gone?”
“Hmm,” Naty pretends to search for the non-existent culprit, spinning Ludmila around as she looks carefully. “I don’t know, maybe it would be safe to just, keep you up for a little more.” Ludmila stares at her as if she just got on one knee. “So what, you’re going to do this the whole time we’re here?”
“You’re extremely light. I could do this all day.”
“Ugh. Fine, but it’s just- just cause I need to- to be protected. You can’t let anything happen to me before I upstage Camila, ok?”
Naty turns to her with a big goofy grin, and then her entire confidence dissipates the moment their noses touch. That’s how close they are. They don’t talk at all from then on.
There are a few instances during Pablo’s lecture that the students send confused looks their way, but not too confused anyway. Classic Ludmila and Naty antics.
Ludmila hides in the Studio bathrooms, fixing her hair in the mirror. What is happening today? Why was Naty hellbent on distracting her? Why was she getting so easily distracted, is the real question. But that is a question she knows the answer to.
“Get a hold of yourself,” she whispers to her reflection. At least here she’s safe.
And obviously, that’s the moment Naty walks in. “Who are you talking to?”
“N-no one,” Ludmila actively avoids looking at her. She gathers all of her things inside her bag and goes to the door, but accidentally catches a glimpse of Naty and almost trips over nothing.
“Hey, hey, you ok?” Naty tries helping her, but Ludmila only runs away faster, screeching: “Don’t touch me!”
And Naty keeps up the facade until Ludmila’s far away enough that she can take the alien antennas off her head. The description was clear: Kartalia was physically Naty through and through, except for the greenish skin, the pointy ears and the antennas popping out of her hair. Was she starting to feel a little guilty? Maybe. Was she going to regret this later? A hundred per cent.
The next time Naty finds Ludmila she’s at her computer in one of the common rooms of the Studio. She sits opposite her with a sheepish smile. “What’s up?”
“Not now.”
“The correct answer is space.”
“Natalia, shut it.”
Naty actually does shut up, slightly confused. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“Someone hacked my computer,” Ludmila’s tone is grave. Naty doesn’t catch up to it, “Ay, are you surprised? With that password?”
“I had- a very private file that’s just gone.” Her cheeks are slightly red. “A private file? What do you mean?”
“I said it’s private.” Ludmila keeps scanning the same three folders, with the same result. “My notes. I bet it was Camila.”
And Naty, bless her soul, brings her own downfall to herself. “Oh, you mean your space novel? Ludmi, no one would hack into your computer just to steal that.”
“It’s-” Ludmila looks up from her screen, “What are you even saying, it’s not a-” And that’s the moment the words die in her throat. Naty’s eyes grow the size of two black holes.
They stare at each other for at least a minute without saying anything, two deers caught in each other’s headlights.
“I-” Naty tries after a long while, “the- when-”
“Oh, absolutely not.” Ludmila shuts her computer, stands up from her chair so abruptly it falls behind her, and marches away. “Ludmila,” Naty gets up too, running after her, “wait, I can explain-”
“Don’t.” Ludmila spins around to face her for the last time, and she is actually really, really mad. “Don’t,” she repeats sternly, and her eyes are shining with tears. With that, she's gone.
Naty is left speechless in the middle of the corridor, every student walking by her puzzled at the very theatrical scene that just occurred.
There was a reason why the helpless alien and the brave commander clicked so instantly: in a way, they just got each other, in ways no one ever could. No matter the hardships, no matter how much people could try to separate them, they had each other, and that was never going to change.
Commander Supernova had always been deemed a weirdo by the world, even by her own mother, but Kartalia never saw her as that. She just saw her as who she really was: the smartest, coolest, most talented space hero in the entire galaxy. And she made the Commander feel like the luckiest person ever, because to her she was never Commander Supernova: she was just Ludmila, and that was enough.
In the following week, Ludmila makes the conscious decision to completely avoid Naty.
Every time Naty enters a room, that’s Ludmila’s cue to leave, and when she meets her eyes in the halls, she walks the other way directly. It’s actually impressive how good she is at avoiding someone when she wants to - and at first, Naty walks after her, calls her, and even tries cornering her, but after a while, she comes to the conclusion that Ludmila does need her space. Literally.
“Did you guys fight again?” Camila asks her one time. “Not exactly…it’s hard to explain,” Naty sighs running a hand through her curls. Camila shrugs, “Well, I don’t know whether to thank you or not. She’s a lot more docile lately. But she looks lifeless, like, I almost feel a little bad.”
“Me too.”
But what hurts the most is that Naty wasn’t even given a chance to explain herself. Granted, what she did was wrong, but it wasn’t on purpose- well, yes, some of it was on purpose. But she never meant any harm. She looks at Ludmila longingly from afar. She just wants to grab her by the cheeks and make her listen. She probably should’ve done that from the start. But it was fun while it lasted. Now she wants her best friend back.
So when one day she’s suddenly pulled into one of the Studio’s closets, and immediately recognises the hands that plunge her into the dark, at least she’s glad her antics haven’t changed.
Ludmila turns on the light and they’re very close, but Naty is so happy that she doesn’t care about that anymore. “Ludmi, I’m-”
“Shut up and let me do the talking.” Ludmila puts one hand in front of her face so as to physically pause her. “Ok,” Naty immediately agrees.
Ludmila takes one deep breath. Exhales. “You know I don’t like talking about my feelings. You know I never do. I have my own ways of expressing myself, and they’re weird, but they’re mine.” She pauses again. “I don’t care how you feel about me. I don’t care if you hate me now. That’s-” Another pause. “I will not apologise for how I feel about you. So you can make fun of me all you want. I just…I wish I could’ve told you.” Her voice breaks. “And I would’ve told you. I wanted to tell you.”
And that’s when Naty gets it. “Ludmi…”
“Because it’s a lot, and it’s- and I know it’s dumb to you, Nat, but it gets me through.”
“I don’t think it’s dumb.”
“Don’t.”
“Ludmi, I liked it!”
“Don’t!”
Naty grabs Ludmila’s hands and offers her the biggest, most earnest smile she can. “I really liked it. I loved it. Because you made it. I never meant to make you feel like you were being made fun of. I actually thought you would’ve liked to see my…prominent muscles, but-”
Ludmila lets out something between a dry cough and a laugh. “Nat.”
“Ok, I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. But I’m serious. Actually, I have something for you.” Naty grabs her backpack and takes a stack of paper sheets out, passing them to Ludmila. “I even printed it with the fancy font you like.”
Ludmila reluctantly accepts it and skims over the words of the first page. The adventures of Supernova and Kartalia 2: Prix Shilla’s revenge. “I started it, but I thought we could actually write it together.” Ludmila’s mouth hangs open wide. “Nat…”
“And I thought for Kartalia’s home planet, you could try something like Spain, but like, with a Y instead of an I. If that works.”
And Ludmila’s cackle is so genuine it’s infectious, making Naty join her. “That’s ridiculous,” Ludmila tries, but she is visibly so, so happy, it doesn’t even matter, because she engulfs Naty in the biggest hug she’s probably ever given her in the entire time they’ve known each other. Naty holds her back just as tight. “Thank you,” Ludmila whispers. “I’m still really mad though.”
“I know.”
“You should’ve never done that.”
“The antennas were funny.”
“Natalia!”
“Sorry.” Naty disentangles herself from the hug and looks at Ludmila directly in her eyes in a way that says there’s something she wants to do, that she’s wanted to do for a long time. “Ludmi,” her voice is soft and small and so, so sweet, “you can still tell me.”
Ludmila hesitates for a moment, but then she clenches her fists and says it fast, shutting her eyes tight. “I think I really like you. Maybe I might love you. I don’t know, this set you back a little bit.”
“My hero,” is all Naty replies, reaching up to her Supernova’s lips.
(They’ll realise the closet door was open the whole time later. Not like anyone was finding the situation particularly strange. Just another day with those two.)
(Prix Shilla's revenge finds its way on Ludmila's nightstand, no matter how ridiculous she insists on calling it.)