Stars Gods Wolves by Dan Kirshtein (good books for 8th graders .TXT) 📗

an unauthorized vessel requesting permission to land. He is insisting that you authorized him, but I can’t find any record of that. Can you confirm?”

Yet another tablet was handed to Gally. She looked at this one, and the screen caused her to give a very different kind of smile.

Jupiter Proximity:Landing Pad 2

He pretended he hadn’t spent several nights with just her on his mind. He pretended that he hadn’t been looking forward to this moment for six months. And most of all, he pretended not to hold himself back when he saw a very frail, kind of lanky figure walking his way on the landing pad.

It wasn’t like before, and that was felt by both of them. This was quieter, warmer. When she was close enough, Harper spoke first. “I like your hair,” he said, thinking she’d done something different.

“Thanks. So, this is what it’s like all the time.” She lifted a hand, palm up, and showed it to him.

Harper nodded and smiled. “When you’re not vacationing on Sabile.”

“Exactly.” She grinned before realizing that she’d got rather close to him, standing a few inches apart. “They just offered me a promotion for that whole mess.”

Harper looked impressed. “Really? You gonna take it?”

Her eyebrows dropped, losing their casualness. It was one of the first times she’d ever talked about herself to him. “I don’t know,” she mused with a higher-pitched voice, scratching the back of her neck. “I want, uhm…” she paused. “I want to be in a place where—” She paused again, turning a bit red. “I’d be easy to find. Should someone decide to visit,” she hinted.

Harper smiled. “Well, I was able to afford some upgrades, thanks to you.” He looked back at his medium-sized black vessel. “I think I’ll be around.”

She smiled, and the silence grew for a moment, but only for a moment.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”