Rocket To The Moon.

“That kiss. I meant it. It was genuine.”
Rocket’s words played over and over in my mind like a song on repeat.
“I know something bad will happen.”
No matter how hard I tried, no matter how interesting a distraction came up, I could not stop thinking about him. He was haunting both my conscious and subconscious mind with his evocative yet mysterious stare and his soft lips. I was mesmerised, and he wasn’t anywhere near me. I ended up doing as Madison had instructed me, and before I knew it, I was on my way to the swimming pool to meet up with Gracie, Adam, Christa, Hunter, Andy, Sean Crystal, Alexia and Eve. Tom was also going with me. In truth, I did not feel up to going swimming…all I wanted to do was sit alone with my thoughts. My extremely confusing thoughts. But Tom had managed to annoy me enough with his whiny attempts at persuasion that I had finally given in and agreed to go. But now, I suppose it was best that I said yes, because the last thing I wanted to become was a social hermit who ended up becoming estranged to all of her friends and then never marrying and living alone in a creepy bungalow right at the end of a cul-de-sac at which children always throw rocks and stones because they’re convinced that a crazy old witch lives there who casts spells on kids, turning them into profiteroles. That scenario may sound a little unlikely on paper, but believe me, it could happen.
We met up with everyone at the entrance to the indoor swimming pool, and even when I was being shoved forcefully off of the high-dive by an overly hyperactive Hunter, Rocket was still on my mind.
“Hey, Hero! Heads up!”
Before I had any idea when was happening, Hunter forcefully grabbed me and rugby tackled me into the pool. We plunged into the deep end, and when we surfaced, he was practically choking on the water from laughing too much.
“I bet you didn’t see that one coming!” he pointed at me and continued to laugh. I forced a giggle.
“Nope. Didn’t see it coming.” I agreed, grinning as much as was physically possible without hurting my face.
“Careful, Hunter, you’re going to end up drowning her.” Tom remarked, as he approached us, wading through the clear blue water.
“No, I won’t.” Hunter insisted “Right, Hero?”
“Right.” I agreed with him again absentmindedly.
“Hey, Hunter!” Sean called from across the pool. “Get your fat-ass over here! We need your help!”
“Hey, I’m not fat…” Hunter muttered to himself, hurt. He then sadly waded his way over to Sean, leaving me with Tom.
After a few moments, when we were absolutely sure that we were alone and not about to be disturbed, Tom spoke to me in a rather serious, yet intrigued tone of voice.
“So, what happened with you and Rocket after I left?” he asked.
“Not a lot.” I admitted truthfully.
“Come on, you don’t have to lie, Hero.” Tom teased, nudging my arm.
“I’m not lying.” I replied “He told me that nothing could happen…and nothing did happen. That’s it.”
Tom sighed with frustration, “Fuck it. That’s always been his problem. He never does what he wants.”
“Why are you trying to get so involved anyway?” I asked, not with any malicious intent towards Tom, but just out of pure curiosity.
“Because I know that this will help his well-being so damn much. If he can just have one thing that will make him happy…then you have no idea how much he will change.” Tom explained.
“But he said that he was afraid of getting too close to me. He said that he knew something bad would happen if he did. I’m not sure how anyone can know that…but he seemed sure.” I said.
Tom sighed, “Rocket has had a bit of a bad history with that kind of thing. Everyone he loved has either been turned against him, taken away from him, or in the worst of cases, killed.”
“His parents.” I noted.
“Take me for example, I was his best friend, and he got dragged away from me without even getting the chance to say goodbye. I’m the only person who attempted to challenge this theory and find him again.” he said.
“That’s very upsetting.” I said quietly.
Tom nodded and agreed silently.

*Tom’s POV*
Rocket. I couldn’t believe him.
He had the perfect opportunity to make things better for himself. To finally have something that would make him happy. Yet, he shied away from it.
Typical.
He turned down the opportunity to be with the girl he loved all because of some crazy bullshit that he believed in.
It was really starting to piss me off.
Finding Rocket had been somewhat of a challenge. It wasn’t overly difficult, but I hit a couple of obstacles along the way.
When he first disappeared, no one would tell me anything. I asked my parents, our school teachers, our classmates, and got nothing. I saw on the news that his parents had been killed, and I knew immediately that something was wrong, because I would have been the first person he told. I considered the possibility that he had also been killed, but dismissed that at first because I just didn’t want to believe it. Then, that theory was proved wrong when a newscaster stated that their twelve year old son had been found, unharmed. What they did with him after he was found, however, was a total mystery to me. I did nothing for the first couple of years. I pretty much forgot about him after a while.
When I was sixteen, I discovered my homosexuality. If Rocket had been around then, he would have been the first person I came out to, without a doubt. But he wasn’t there, so I made the ridiculously stupid mistake of telling my Dad.
Now, my Dad is literally the definition of intolerant. He hates everyone. And I mean everyone who isn’t a white, straight American. He is a horrible person, which is the main reason why I spent the majority of my time with Rocket’s family as a kid. And when I told him I was gay, I was surprised he didn’t actually just strangle me straight away. He did blow up though. Even the neighbours three doors down could hear him shouting - it was pretty damn terrifying. He basically told me that I wasn’t worth his time, that I was a disappointment of a son and that he shouldn’t have knocked my Mom up because it was a huge mistake. Thanks, Dad. Anyway, he wouldn’t speak to me at all after that, and I felt more alone than ever. I hadn’t managed to make any other friends after Rocket’s disappearance, my parents were separated and my Mom lived on the other side of the country. So I had no one. I was going to try and run away. I didn’t know where the heck I was going to run to, just somewhere away from my asshole Father. I was in the process of packing all of my belongings into a rucksack when I came across the photo album that belonged to Rocket and myself. In it, were hundreds of photos, mostly of the two of us just goofing around in various different locations - pulling faces at the camera, attacking each other whilst the photo was being taken, and best of all, holding up our middle fingers at the photographer. Upon finding this, I knew straight away where I was going to go.
I waited until my Dad left the house. Every Friday night, he walked to the local bar and drank until he forgot his own name, and then walked home again in order not to get a DUI. Once I was sure that he’d gone, I went outside and hotwired his car. This was something Rocket had shown me how to do a couple of years ago, and though it was something I’d never used, I could still remember exactly how to do it. I shocked myself once, which hurt like hell, but in the end I managed to get the car started and drive away as quickly as possible.
My first stop was the house of our old school teacher. She had taught our class when Rocket was still here, so I figured she must have known where he had gone. Upon opening the door, she seemed very surprised, yet happy to see me.
“Thomas Cardell, is that you?” she asked, her green bespectacled eyes widening.
“Hi, Mrs. Jackson.” I smiled.
“You’ve grown so much. I can’t believe it! When did you get so tall?”
“And you haven’t aged a day.” I assured her, and she smiled affectionately.
“So, how can I help you, Tom?” she asked. I took a deep breath, and explained my situation.
“I think I can help.” she said once I had finished speaking, and I sighed with relief. I drove her to the school, in which were kept various records of all current and former students, including Rocket and myself. She flipped through his folder.
“Ah, here we go, apparently he was sent to The Crescent adoption centre in southern California.” she announced.
“What? But that’s hours away! Why didn’t he just get sent to the one fifteen minutes towards the centre of here?” I asked.
Mrs. Jackson shrugged “Possibly for safety purposes. The authorities probably wouldn’t have wanted him living anywhere near the location of the attack.”
“Could you find me the address of this place then?” I asked.
Her expression filled with worry, “Oh, Tom, you’re not going, are you?”
“Of course I am.” I replied.
She smiled slightly, “You were always so determined in my class. Even with your math tests.”
I laughed, as she searched for the address of the adoption centre.
“Here,” she scrawled it out onto a sheet of paper and handed it to me, “Be careful though. Despite the fact that you were extremely cheeky…you were always one of my best students.”
I smiled, “Thanks, Mrs. Jackson.”
I waved to her, and then walked outside, before hopping into my Dad’s car and driving south, with the photo album on the passenger seat beside me.

It took me several hours to drive down to the address written on the paper, and I almost fell asleep several times at the wheel on the way. Eventually, after about three cups of coffee and two litres of diet Coke, I reached my destination early that morning. The woman at the reception looked to be in her sixties. She was small, with a stern, pointed face and a harsh, icy stare.
“Yes?” she demanded as I walked up to her desk. Her evil gaze pierced right through me. Her glare was almost so intolerable that I couldn’t look at her.
“Hi, my name is Thomas Cardell.” I said, attempting to sound as friendly as possible “I believe that a close friend of mine lives here, or used to…do you think you could help me out?”
She paused, and appeared to examine me with her cold stare, “I’m sorry, but all information on our residents is strictly confidential.”
“What?!” I snapped “I drove seven hours to get here and you won’t help me at all!?”
“Strictly confidential.” she repeated, turning her ugly nose back to the computer screen in front of her.
I couldn’t give up now. I couldn’t go back to my Dad. So I had to persevere.
“Look, lady, you are standing between me and my best friend. I haven’t seen him in over four years and this is the only way we can be re-united. And even if you are a total jerk, I doubt anyone can be as heartless as to stop me!” I was shouting now. People were staring, but I didn’t care. I was outraged.
“Sir, you’re causing a scene. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” she said casually. I seriously thought I was about to punch her, until I saw a hand fall down onto her shoulder, and I looked up to find that it belonged to a woman who was probably in her early twenties, with a young looking freckled face and long red hair.
“Let me take this one, Angela.” she said softly to the old woman, who then stood up and allowed the girl to take her position.
“I heard what you were saying a minute ago.” she said “And, though it’s against the rules of my job, I want to help you out.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, “Oh, thank you so much. You life-saver!”
“If you would care to follow me.” she stood up and walked through a door situated behind the desk, holding it open so that I could enter. In the room were several file cabinets and a computer. Not so exciting to any regular person, but to me, this was perfect. I told her the name of who I was looking for.
“Hmm, I don’t recognise that name, so he’s probably not a resident anymore. Let me check the records.” she turned and pulled open a drawer, before flicking through various files. She turned to me half way through the process, “I’m Heather, by the way.”
“Tom.” I replied.
Eventually, she pulled out a very thick file, and started leafing through it.
“Wow, it seems that your friend was quite a trouble-maker.” she noted, reading through some of his records. I smirked. It was his alright.
“Can you tell me where he is now?” I asked hopefully.
“Yes. But you must promise not to let anyone know I told you this.” she said. I nodded in agreement, and waited as she found his new address.
“Here. Good luck finding your friend.” she smiled.
“Thanks.” I took the address, and shot quickly out of the adoption centre before Evil Angela could try to stop me with her stupid wrinkly old face. I got lost trying to find his new house, and when I did manage to find it, I was amazed. He was living in some movie-star villa right beside the ocean. I have to admit, I was a little envious. Then I got worried…suppose his adoptive parents or siblings answered the door? How was I supposed to explain myself to them? I paced around for about twenty minutes rehearsing my explanation, but in the end, that wasn’t necessary. Rocket answered the door.
I was surprised. He looked so much thinner and unhealthier than before. He didn’t smile when he saw me. In fact, for a couple of seconds, I was convinced that he didn’t recognise me. And then I got to go through the joy of finding out that I had gone through all that to find that he’d changed completely, and he wasn’t my best friend anymore. Not even slightly. But I could tell right from the beginning that he had something more with Hero, even though neither of them knew it. And it was up to me to sort that out, and get my best friend back.

*Hero’s POV*
After our short conversation, Tom’s eyes drifted off to the side and he appeared to be staring off into space for the good part of fifteen minutes. I didn’t bother trying to break him out of his trance though, because he seemed to be thinking very deeply about something. Eventually, he returned to planet Earth.
“Hero,” he said “I have a plan.”
“A plan to what?” I questioned.
“A plan to get you and Rocket together.”
I blushed, “Umm…okay…”
“But it’s going to involve some sacrifices, and a lot of awkwardness. It’s a bit wild, but I think it just might work.” he said.
I nodded unsurely.
“We’re going to make him jealous.” Tom stated.
“How are we going to do that?” I asked.
He sighed, “You’re going to have to pretend to be my girlfriend."