Chapter 26: Build-Up

Beach Bunker Ball. It was a strange game, unlike the Bunker Ball Jason was used to. Instead of trying to drop the ball into a basket, the goal of the game was to knock the ball over the net that divided the court and get it to land on the other person’s side. They were playing in the sand so it was harder to move around than normal, but with how light the ball was, it didn’t matter. The game was still fun.

The best part was that Jason got to play with Moira. The students had been placed in groups of four for the trip, and there were two groups for each station. So Jason, Moira, Skye, and Andrew faced off against the students from another group, knocking the bouncy ball this way and that.

“Haa… ha…” After the first five minutes, Skye was so exhausted she could barely stay standing. She didn’t get what the point of all this physical exertion was. She would have been much better suited for something that relied on her superb sense of detail and delicate touch, like sandcastle building. But the purpose of this trip was to experience everything the beach had to offer, even the things she didn’t personally enjoy. So she put her own interests aside for the good of the group.

“Yeah! Way to go, Jason! Nice hit!” Moira cheered. Skye glanced at the energetic girl congratulating her Partner. Moira really was full of energy, more than making up for Skye’s lack of physical ability. And Jason, well…

Jason was having fun, and that made Skye smile.

I’m glad he’s enjoying himself. Over the past few months, Jason and Moira had gotten close again, even closer than they had been before their fight. She still didn’t know what it was they were fighting over, but-

“Skye! Watch out!”

Skye’s eyes snapped forward just in time to see the colored ball spinning towards her. It caught her in the face and she stumbled back, landing in the sand.

“Skye! Are you okay?!” Moira ran over, her face filled with concern. Skye stood up, rubbing her nose tenderly. Good thing the ball was made of rubber and filled with air, otherwise that might have really hurt.

This is why I don't like sports…

The game continued like that. Everyone seemed to be having fun, so Skye tried to have fun as well. Then came the violation.

Jason lunged for the ball as it flew over the net. It was in his section of the court, so it was his responsibility. But that didn’t stop Moira from trying to hit it anyway, filled with energy as she was. The two collided and landed on top of each other in the sand, their faces inches away.

Skye sighed. Moira was so clumsy sometimes!

Coach Louise blew her whistle. “Rules violation! In-game physical contact! Point penalty!”

Moira and Jason stood up, brushing themselves off. Their faces were bright red, and they couldn’t even look each other in the eye.

“Hmph!” Skye sniffed. Served them right! Breaking the rules like that, no wonder they were so ashamed of themselves! If she’d done something so inappropriate in front of everyone she’d die of embarrassment!

…

The rest of the day continued in much the same vein. While Skye enjoyed the peaceful tranquility of sitting upon the dock and holding a fishing rod in her hands, Moira squirmed in place and complained, getting her line all tangled up. And while Skye floated gently in the water during swimming time and let the waves wash over her, Moira was swimming all over the place begging the boys to race with her.

She smiled as she watched them from afar. I’m glad they’re all having as much fun as I am…

Then Moira swam up to her.

“Skye! Jason, Andrew and I are gonna race! Wanna come?”

It was a generous offer, but of course she had to refuse. “Thank you for asking, Moira, but no thank you. You know the rules, no physical exertion in the water if you can’t handle it, and I’m not a strong enough swimmer to race.”

“…Oh, okay then.” Skye felt bad, seeing Moira look down like that. But there was nothing she could do. She swam off, and for the briefest moment Skye wondered if maybe she should have joined anyway. But she quickly pushed those thoughts aside, that would be against the rules.

Then, finally, the event she’d been looking forward to the most. Building a sandcastle. Everyone had their own section of the beach to build theirs on. Skye was not as artistically inclined as Jason (though few were) but she could still mold the sand well. They were given many example models they could pick from, and she enjoyed trying her hardest to get her castle as perfect as possible.

Moira, on the other hand…

“What are you doing?” Andrew asked. Skye glanced over at the pile of crumbling mud in front of the redhead that could charitably be called a “castle”. To her confusion, Moira was digging a deep trench in the sand, right up to the edge of the boundary posts.

“It’s a ‘moat’!” Moira explained. “See, I’m gonna fill it with water, and then nobody can cross!”

“That’s not what the assignment is,” Skye scolded her. “We’re supposed to follow the examples from the booklet, none of them have trenches like that.”

“But this is what I want to build!” She pouted. “See? I even put in a little bridge and everything!”

Moira pointed to a section of her moat, where she’d dug a hole underneath the sand and left a crumbling path above it.

“This way, people can come and go, see?”

Skye shook her head. She had no idea what that girl was thinking sometimes.

“I think it looks nice,” Jason said. Skye couldn’t believe her ears. Nice? It looked nice? She stared in shock at the beautifully crafted masterpiece Jason had sculpted, unable to understand what he saw in that… mess.

Then she glanced at her own castle. It was much better than Moira’s. But he hadn’t complimented hers. Just Moira’s.

“In fact, I think I might try that, too,” Jason said, and to Skye’s horror he began to dig a trench of his own, defiling that perfect work of art with… with something not permitted!

“What are you doing?!” Skye exclaimed. “You’re ruining it! Stop!”

The stinging in her chest returned when she saw his face.

“I-I just thought adding a moat might make it look better,” he mumbled.

Skye stomped her foot. “It’s already perfect! It’s exactly like the picture, so why are you adding something unnecessary? You’re just making it worse! Get rid of that right now!”

He didn’t have an answer. He just shrugged, and turned back to his sculpture. But he didn’t fill in the moat like she expected, he kept digging!

That sting returned. Why wasn’t he listening? She was only trying to help.

…

The last activity of the first day was dinner around a big bonfire. Of course, the fire wasn’t real. It was a projection by Ai. But it was still exciting. The students sat in their groups and ate dinner on blankets without tables or chairs and talked about what they did today.

Jason was having a blast. It reminded him of the picnic they’d had in the oxygen farm.

The one problem was that Skye seemed to be bothered by something. She was even more reserved than usual, giving sullen one-word answers whenever someone asked her something. He tried a few times to see what was wrong, but her only reply was “it’s not worth discussing.”

Honestly, that was fine for him. It meant he had more time to spend with Moira. She carried most of the conversation, talking with so much excitement and detail it was like they were reliving the day all over again, while he and Andrew chimed in whenever they could.

He sighed. She looked beautiful in her swimsuit, bathed in the warm light of the bonfire. He couldn’t remember what life was like before he fell in love with her.

She caught him staring and they smiled when their eyes met, but only for a moment. They had to be careful, after all.

“I can’t believe I got so clumsy I crashed into Jason like that!” Moira laughed, scratching her head sheepishly. “I’m usually so good on my feet!”

“I guess it’s just one of those things,” Jason tried to laugh it off. But his heart still raced thinking about that moment. Moira’s body pressed up against him, her lips inches away from his, feeling her warm breath licking across his skin… how many times had they been in just that situation, moments before taking each other in close and kissing?

He’d seen it in her eyes for a second there, that instinctive desire to do it again, but they’d managed to control themselves. Jason shivered. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened if they’d given into their urges and just started kissing in the sand, right there in front of everyone.

If only he wasn’t still feeling those urges now, just sitting next to her.

It’s fine. You just have to make it a little longer. Desperate, Jason forced his eyes off of Moira and scanned the beach for a distraction, spotting Doctor Sylvia sitting with the other teachers. She waved to him.

He sighed. If only there was somewhere they could get some privacy here, but no. His classmates’ eyes were everywhere.

…

After the bonfire, it was time to turn in for the night. Each group was assigned their own quarters in the Bungalow, which came with two separate rooms. Jason and Andrew would sleep in one room, while Moira and Skye would sleep in the other.

As Jason laid in bed and stared up at the painted wood of the roof, he realized this was the first time in a strange bed. Andrew was snoring in the bed beside his, when yesterday he’d had a room all his own. Across the living space it wasn’t his parents sleeping peacefully, but his Partner and the girl he loved.

He imagined what life would be like after the next Sextennial, when he finally completed his Unification Ceremony. He would have moved out of his parents’ quarters by then, like Kate, and be living with Skye at that point, and would never sleep in his old room again.

Living with Skye… going to bed with her every night, waking up beside her every day, sharing meals together, raising their children… for years he’d accepted that as natural. He pictured Skye’s smiling face, imagining growing old with her.

But it’s not Skye’s face I want to see before I go to sleep… it’s Moira’s. He went through those moments again, replacing Skye in his mind with the girl he loved. Moira, wishing him good night with a kiss. Moira’s tender hands wrapping around his chest as they drifted off to sleep, and waking up in her arms. Their kids, with the same curly orange hair and bright smiles as their mother, calling him “dad”.

He turned over and stared at the wall.

Impossible.

They could never be together. Not really. He was Skye’s Partner, and she was Andrew’s. How long could they keep sneaking around with Doctor Sylvia under the guise of “therapy sessions”? Today had been far too close. If one of them had a little less self-control, they would have gotten caught, and everything would have ended. And it was only getting worse. The more time he spent with Moira, kissing her, touching her, telling her he loved her, the harder it was to fight the urge to do it all the time. They were fighting against their impulses while giving into them at the same time, and eventually one of them was going to lose, maybe both of them.

We have to stop. We have to stop before we get caught. Just… “indulging” like this is only going to make it all worse.

The decision hurt. But he was sure. The doctor had been warning them for weeks, and today had cemented it in Jason’s mind. There was just too much risk.

A soft knock on the door made him jump. He nearly fell out of bed.