THE ALIEN LANDS

Then it was September, and it was just Cordelia, Christina and Raleigh. Everyone were gone. Off to begin their new lives while they watched the leaves fall and the hint of early fall rapidly approaching.

It was a shock to see them go, but along with the shock, they mixed it in like olives going into a glass of gin, it was a greater feeling of relief in the air. Cordelia wanted things to be good between all of them, but perfection only goes with the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation. If it’s not worthy of you, you’re not going to get it, period. Cordelia knew though she had a purpose of being there just like the colonial kids from her Mount Arm-Joy novels. Life now was getting progressively harder for her to deal with. She had not felt pressure like this since the day the Colonial home world had been destroyed. Cordelia always like ignoring things until they build up to the point where it becomes a problem. Christina may have been right, maybe Sandy really did hate her and love Damien. Maybe it was something else but Cordelia hadn’t put her hand on it. Not just yet. But the bonds between Raleigh and Cordelia were never stronger and they loved each other. Now that things were growing increasingly difficult they wondered if they could continue to make their relationship work in their ever-changing world.

As soon as the new semester began, Cordelia had done something she had already put off for far too long: he went to Director Ashman and told him what happened to Lisa. Ashman smiled, rubbed his now bald head and told her he would take care of it. Cordelia was still angry that her people’s technology did not work the way it was supposed to. If it did, Lisa would have had no memory of what happened.

Cordelia tried to explain to Ashman that he made Lisa suffer in a way that no one should have to suffer. Ashman sat in silence and like a Borg Drone showed no emotion to Cordelia’s line of questioning. All she could do was make him promise that whatever measures he was about to take against Lisa that he wouldn’t make her suffer. It was all she could do. When she left Ashman’s office, she regretted what she had done.

Sitting at dinner, or walking the hallways now, Cordelia returned to that feeling she had about being cut off from the rest of the school that she had called home for the last two years and how she didn’t know many of the other students. All of the groups were cliques to themselves. But the Comedy clique was the tightest of them all. Cordelia still had classes with the other Fifth-Years, and chatted with them in a friendly way but everyone had their own groups they hung around with.

“I bet they think we’re horrible snobs,” Raleigh said one day, “the way we keep to ourselves.

“I agree,” Christina added.

They were sitting on a cool stone bench of the fountain known as Dean Winchester, named after the same character from the hit television series Supernatual. They were working on their Fifth-Year fall project, a movie that was going to be released the following summer. Cordelia was set to direct the movie. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, or was it closer to noon, the temperature was borderline between nice and warm and too cool for my taste.

“I don’t know about that guys,” Cordelia said.

“Come on C,” Christina said, “You don’t seriously believe, that do you?”

“No, and think of it like this.” Cordelia sighed. “Remember how we thought and felt about the Fifth-Years when we were noobs?”

Raleigh threw a penny into the fountain. Rumor has it if you throw a penny into any one of the fountains in the Maze you will be honored by the God of Luck.

“I don’t see us as snobs.” Raleigh said. “Do you guys?”

“I don’t know,” Cordelia answered back, “When I first met Damien, I thought he was the biggest jack ass in the galaxy but as it turns out he’s one cool as dude.”

“That’s my point,” Raleigh said, “Some of them are great, and some, not so much.”

“I think the time has come for us to go out and make some new friends,” Raleigh added.

“It has to be people our own age though. I don’t know if I want to mess with anyone younger than us.”

“I don’t have a problem with that.” Cordelia said.

“Who are we going to ask?” Raleigh said.

“Does it matter?” Christina responded.

“Of course, it matters, Christina,” Cordelia said. “It’s not like they are all the same.”

“Well then guys,” Raleigh said, “who would you suggest?”

“I hate to say this but he’s the last person I would even think of wanting to be friends with but what about Stewart?”

“Stewart?” Raleigh was blanking.

“The Native American third year student.” Christina said. “The biggest drama queen in the school.”

“He’s got that movie he’s finishing up with Neil Archer right?”

“Yes, I think, besides didn’t I hear a rumor that he and that horrible second year girl, Dana something is an item.”

“Maybe we need to step back and think about this. Finding friends isn’t something we can make happen like say going into the holodeck and program them to be our friends.”

“Okay, point taken.” Cordelia said as she worked on cleaning her finger nails, while Raleigh was studying a scene he written. Raleigh was very worried about his physical appearance and always made sure his pretty boy looks were never disturbed.

“I don’t know if I’m ever going to be making any more friends,” Christina confessed, “I already have that reputation around campus.”

“Give it a chance, I bet people will be quick to friend you.”

Christina picked up an apple seed and threw it at Raleigh.

“I will give it a chance like farting glitter out of my ass.”

And so, with outstanding determination, a grand plan, they picked themselves up from the ground and set off on a mission to socialize with the rest of their class. Many of them they had to confess that they did not know. In the end, it wasn’t Stewart or even Casey, Cordelia’s old lab partner from one of her previous classes, but Lindsey --- a blonde girl from the mean streets of Detroit who turned out to be the key. It helped that Lindsey and Christina were a great sort of pride and embarrassment at the same time.

There was an unofficial title at Arcadia Academy. If you had the highest GPA in the school, you would be given the title of King Perfect for the guys or Queen Perfect for the girls. It was a source of high honor for anyone at the academy no matter what year you were in school. It was sort of the way that the King and Queen of your high school prom was treated. The title was handed out by the administration in either the Fourth or Fifth Years to the people who had the highest G.P.A., and those who won it were given a cute little golden pen that was shaped like a key to place on their jackets. Their actual responsibilities included contacting the heads of powerful movie studios, sit in on meetings with the senior staff and famous singers that would visit the school, act as ambassadors when they are off campus visiting other schools. In return, as a treat they would get a Perfect mess hall, a special kind of private lounge that is modernized with all kinds of goodies that hard working students would enjoy. Cordelia even heard that this lounge was stocked with wine.

There is another reason why it pays to be a Perfect Student. That was the best place to have sex in, the only thing you must make sure you do is make sure the other Perfects are okay in advance, usually that wasn’t a problem Lindsey was a down to earth girl, since she had a boyfriend of her own, she was the second Perfect girl that Cordelia didn’t know. There was another Perfect student name Ken who no one realized was smart. He never used the room anyway. The only real trick was avoiding the fourth Perfect because the forth perfect was of all people, Stewart.

The announcement that Stewart was a perfect was so universally, world shattering surprising that nobody talked about anything else for the rest of the day. Cordelia had barely spoken to Stewart since their rather infamous alternation, not since she’d gone out looking for him. From that day on, Stewart had become someone who no one wanted to talk to, he was someone who made people nervous, that was not an easy thing to do at a school like Arcadia Academy, but if anyone had a talent for it, it would be Stewart. Stewart would walk quickly between classes, he did not want to make that much eye contact, he usually sat alone at mealtimes and would often talk to himself, he would stay in his room in the afternoon and would go to bed early.

No one knew what else he did. When the Arcadia Students were sorted into groups by their Discipline at the end of their Second year, Stewart wasn’t assigned to one. Stewart was so good at his craft that the staff couldn’t figure out which Discipline to place him into. Stewart was classified as an Independent.

Every day, he turned up and sat at the back of the class. The students did not know if they want to sit with him or even talk to him. He always kept his hands in his pockets, the sheer sign of someone about to commit crime. Many people wondered how he always had a perfect score on the tests. He never took notes, he always could remember every detail of every scene.

Then as the Fifth Perfect was named, Cordelia was stunned to find out she had been named as well. Thanks to Cordelia, Raleigh and Christina had a brand-new space as the Cottage was no longer adequate. Cordelia and the others thought it was strange that no one had been placed to the Comedy Clique since she had moved up. She figured that eventually some new blood would be arriving. At the end of the previous semester. Six new students were placed with the Comedy Clique, and although they hated to admit it, they had as much right to the Cottage as Cordelia, Raleigh, and Christina did.

They did their best to be good sports about it. On the first day of classes they sat patiently in the house as the new kids did their best to try and break through into the Cottage. Raleigh, Christina and Cordelia had spent the day before figuring out how to welcome the new comers. Cordelia wanted to throw them a dinner party when they got in. Raleigh went into town, picked up a few things and then came back. When the newcomers finally made it in, Cordelia, Raleigh, and Christina surprised them with red wine --- and introduced them to their tradition of buying Sonic burgers for them.

“This is fucking awesome!” the new Comedy Clique kids said, one after another as they made their way inside. They all were impressed at the updates that had been done to the house. They inspected the cool sixty-five-inch television, the playstation four that Cordelia had purchased. Raleigh and Christina exchanged looks. They could not believe how young they were. Cordelia, Christina, and Raleigh made small talk with them and remembered what it was like when they were new.

Sitting in a row on the couch, the Third-Years enjoyed their party too quickly and didn’t even wait to begin. They asked about the movies on the wall, the various script collections. Would they be allowed to take scripts outside of the building. It was an eye-opening experience for Raleigh, Cordelia and Christina as they were now the ones being the mentors to a new generation of Comedy Clique kids.

After a few hours, the kids all decided they wanted to get some playstation four action in. They did not ask for permission to go into the game room, they just moved in there. Cordelia and Raleigh were happy to remain in the main area while Christina went off to log on to get some time with her Demon Hunter on world of war craft.

“I feel so old,” Cordelia said.

“I can’t even recall their names,” Raleigh said, “Damn, I’m turning into my parents.”

“Maybe we should treat them like borg drones. Tell them it’s a tradition.”

“Then when we call them by the wrong drone number. Watch them freak the fuck out. Or we could call them all Damien.”

“Even the girls?”

“Remember that West Wing episode where Will had trouble keeping the two Lauren’s apart. We could do that to the girls.”

They were enjoying leftover red wine. They were getting drunk, Cordelia couldn’t believe she was getting drunk. Happy cheers were being herd as the gamers were having a blast. Then before you knew it, someone shouted go over to the trashcan and throw up.

“Don’t you wish you could stay young forever?” Cordelia asked.

“Yea baby there’s a problem with that,” Raleigh said, stroking her head, “once you matured and become an adult, this” and he points to what the new kids were doing, “doesn’t seem all that cool anymore.”

By that time, Christina had finished leveling her Demon Hunter to level seventy-six and logged off for the evening. She had been listening to their conversation off and on. When she joined, them she said, “I am of the mindset that maybe this place should have been burned to the ground,” Christina said.

“You know what would be cool if we did that and do it like sister did in that one Tyler Perry movie where she set the car on fire, had this big ass bottle of wine in her hand and snapped her finger off as she walked away from the burning car.”

“Yea,” Cordelia said trying real hard not to laugh, “but if we did that, what would we have to pass on to the next generation of kids?”

“Cordelia has a great point as usual,” Christina said, “this school is all about traditions and what good are we if we don’t pass along those traditions.”

“I can’t help but see myself in these new kids,” Cordelia said.

“I can see myself in them as well,” Raleigh added.

“I sure hope they will remember this because when we leave, it will be up to them to carry on the tradition.” Cordelia said.

That winter, Cordelia didn’t go home for the holidays. Around Christmas-time --- real-world Christmas --- she’d had the unusual conversation with her parents about Arcadia Academy’s usual schedule, which he had to remind them about every new year. She had to remind them that their schedule was different from a normal college schedule. Then by the time Arcadia Academy’s calendar Christmas rolled around, March was already knocking on the door in the real world, and it did not seem like a big deal to go back. If they had asked her, they would be more than happy to see their daughter, but Cordelia’s father was disappointed that she didn’t come home, but as his wife reminded him, she was growing up and transforming into a brilliant young woman who had a future in the Entertainment industry on Earth. Besides, Cordelia’s mother also reminded her husband that their daughter was not dependent on them as much anymore.

Instead, Cordelia went home with Raleigh. It was his idea, though as it got closer to the holidays Cordelia wasn’t exactly sure why he invited her in the first place, and at first the idea made her murderously uncomfortable.

“I don’t know, I’m not sure.” She said when Raleigh asked her. “It seems like the things that boyfriends and girlfriends to.”

“Would your parents raise a stink if they knew you were dating a Colonial girl?” Cordelia questioned.

“You don’t want to come. You don’t think I am good enough for you?” Raleigh wailed.

“No,” Cordelia shot him a don’t you go there look, “I do want to go and meet your parents. I want to see where you come from. Hell, I want your parents to know who I am. But promise me you will not make me take you to meet my parents. They will talk you to death.”

“All right.” He didn’t sound any less excited. “Do you promise to hate my parents as much as I do?”

“Colonial honor,” Cordelia said. “Maybe even more if they subject me to tasteless humor.”

The transporter beams home for vacation was always a delicate procedure and it led to vast numbers of Arcadia Academy students backed up with all their suit cases in a disorganized line that would fill up the corridors leading to the main level of the house, where Professor Cole oversaw getting people where they needed to go. Every student was always happy when exams were done, theater productions were done, or movies in the can and in post-production. The First-Year students were always the most anxious to leave to go home to see what old friends were doing. Cordelia and Raleigh waited together in silence with their packed bag, holding their hands, side by side. Cordelia looking as lady like as she could manage. She hardly had any clothes anymore outside of her Arcadia Academy uniform.

Raleigh was Dallas, Texas and although Cordelia had been on Earth now for over five years she was not completely familiar with the geography of the United States or the history of the nation. Apart from touring with her parents when she first arrived on Earth, Cordelia had never been anywhere outside of Chicago and her Arcadia education had done very little to improve her knowledge of American locals. And as it turns out, she didn’t get to see that much of Illinois anyway.

Professor Cole set up the transporter device to open directly into the sun room inside Raleigh’s parents’ house. Bamboo floors, dull stucco, new appliances, Raleigh had told Cordelia that his parents recently completed a renovation thanks to watching HGTV which Cordelia told him that she was a fan of.

The house was a one story, country style farm house. It was the Foster’s dream home. They had worked all their lives to build a house like this. Raleigh was their pride and joy and acting is what got them everything they always wanted out of life. Now it was Raleigh’s turn to pass on the tradition.

“Welcome to the house that acting made,” Raleigh said joking, kicking his bags over to a corner. Raleigh led her by the hand down a dark corridor to the living room where new couches were placed and angled around an impressive new plasma television.

“My dad changes it around every so often,” Raleigh explained. “I don’t know who fell in love with HGTV first, mom or dad. When I was little, dad was a famous actor in his own right while my mom started out in the directing side of the business. When the money started increasing in their bank account, they decided that they wanted their house to match the times. Here come and check this out.”

Raleigh led her to where a photo album was resting on a coffee table.

“This is the album of memories, all the pictures in here are places we lived at over the years. The eighties, the nimieties and the early two-thousands.”

“You lived in some impressive houses.”

“You give any thought to our final project?”

“Not yet,” Cordelia said, “I was thinking of writing a full-blown movie about what happened to my people on the way here to Earth, but I don’t know how my people would feel about it.”

“Well, you better think of something. The Fifth-Year Film Project is coming up and fast.”

Cordelia understood that it was sometimes better to wait out these moments when Raleigh felt like he was living in the shadows of his parents. Everyone had their own little reaction to going to their home. She spent the next hour exploring the house. The design choices the Fosters made reminded her of her favorite HGTV show Property Brothers, a lot of the design choices would be something that Jonathan would pick. At dinner time, when it arrived, an old school English butler would serve them dinner, whatever was cheapest and quickest to prepare. Cordelia even tested PSPSI for the first time.

The Fosters were simple people with simple taste and values but on occasion if they wanted to impress someone they would do that. But what Christina wasn’t expecting was when a round-face, medium-sized man suddenly appeared in the doorway wearing a sheriff’s department uniform, shocked Raleigh. His head was bald, he was white, and he haven’t shaved for several days.

“Well, well, what do we have here, do I need to run a background check on our guest here?”

He made a face that implied that he wasn’t very good at telling jokes.

“Hey dad,” Raleigh said. “Dad, this is my girlfriend, Cordelia Alldice.”

“Hi,” Cordelia said. She been trying to enjoy the meal that had been prepared, but it was harder than it looks and she had a little bit of a pain aching in her side. Raleigh’s father shook his very long hand. He almost forgot his manners as he wasn’t used to having guest in his house.

“Why are you eating leftover pasta? I had pizza hut less than an hour ago.”

“Honestly we didn’t know there was anything else. Where’s mom?”

“I forgot to tell you, your mother booked a job at a local school teaching music. Last I saw she was at her office working on a piece.”

“Dad when did you join the sheriff’s office?”

“Six months ago, I got bored at home and wanted to go back to work.

“This house is really impressive,” Cordelia said, “this is a full renovation?”

“Yes, it is, HGTV inspired me. Mr. Foster couldn’t resist the last remaining bottle of red wine anymore, he grabbed a bottle, poured what was left and then placed the glass on one of the end tables. He took off his gun belt, took the gun out of the holster, entered the combination safe code 7-11-33-32 and a small beep was herd as he put the gun inside. Cordelia noticed a couple of cuts that were fresh almost like he got in a fight of some kind. Cordelia noticed that while Raleigh was a quiet person, his dad seemed the opposite.

“This house has only been finished about two weeks,” he said. “Three years this renovation project was happening. Raleigh’s mother and I did all of this work ourselves. That kind of food you’re eating, not going to fly. Let’s get some good old fashioned junk food in here. Whose up for Sonic? My treat.”

Raleigh glared at his father like he had been kidnapped and replaced by the changelings from Deep Space Nine. Cordelia stayed perfectly still, as if she was waiting for the other shoe to drop but he kept his promise. Took them into town, brought Sonic cheeseburgers and then brought them back to the house. Once they finished dinner, it was getting late for him.

“I got an early shift in the morning, so this old man is taking his sexy ass to bed. Good night!”

He tossed a towel that he was going to be taking with him to the shower upstairs and vanished out of the room. Raleigh got up and cleaned the mess they made.

“Well, you’ve met my dad.” And sighed as he kissed Cordelia on her cheek. “If you think he’s a trip, wait until you meet my mom.”

During this domestic suburban no man’s land Raleigh and Cordelia established, a workable, even comfortable routine for themselves, intruders trying to figure out how to navigate the most dangerous video game in the world. For Cordelia, it was refreshing to be in the middle of someone else house. She could see the emotional baggage. Raleigh was like the Earth Hero the Flash. Always happy or at least trying to be happy while he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She knew the rules of the Foster house and followed them. But she could also see Raleigh was like she was someone who wanted to get out from under his parents and be his own man.

If nothing else, the house was quiet during the day. They had plenty of food, and they had plenty of wine. They had all the privacy in the world they wanted: Cordelia was surprised at how carefree Raleigh’s parents were. They did not mind that Raleigh and Cordelia were sharing a room together. Cordelia liked his parents. The bathrooms were also impressive, Raleigh had a large glass shower that allowed music to come through the speakers. Every morning when they got out, they would flirt with each other in the bathroom, growing closer, deeper in love with each other, almost playing games of chase the buttocks

Over the course of the two weeks Cordelia only saw Raleigh’s mother once. Raleigh’s mother was black and when she finally saw her, Raleigh could be her twin. Everything except their skin color was a dead match. The light skin features on Raleigh clearly came from his father. She was playing a beautiful jazz piece down stairs one night which Cordelia really enjoyed. She really did not question who Cordelia was, or why she was there. She had a free spirit about her as if music was the only thing that mattered.

One afternoon, when they went shopping, something was on Cordelia’s mind that she needed to get off her chest.

“Hey, can I talk to you, about your parents,” Cordelia said that afternoon.”

“Sure.” Raleigh said as if he was bracing for whatever she was going to say.

“Are your parent’s candidates for the Greyber building?”

“I’m sorry the Greyber building?” Raleigh asked.

Cordelia had to keep reminding herself that Raleigh was not from the Colonial system so there were some references that he was not going to be able to get. They were now down the meat isle picking out what meats they wanted.

“I’m sorry about that. Jonas Greyber was the first man in our history to go completely insane. Legend has it, he went from planet to planet, city to city killing people and doing unspeakable human acts against his fellow man. By the time the authorities caught up to him, he was so far gone they had to build a place secure enough to keep him out of public sight forever, hence the Greyber building.”

“I understand now,” Raleigh said laughing finally getting the reference, “No, don’t worry about it. You’re not the first person who question how crazy my parents are.”

“How can you be the normal one out of everyone.”

“You’ve obviously never been to a Foster family reunion. There are some days I can’t stand my parents. You know, since you been here, they have been putting a front on for you.”

“What do you mean? A front?” Cordelia laughed a little. “There are still some Earth based technology that I still don’t understand.”

“Let me put it in Arcadia terms for you. You know we go to a super-secret drama school that no one knows about.”

“Right.”

“Well my parents have been acting for you since the day you are here. Normally, when no one is around or when someone thinks they aren’t looking, they are at each other’s throats day in and day out. Always fighting over one thing or another. Then god forbid, if they decide they want to bring me into the fight, I must take sides. Most of the time, I don’t want to get involved.”

“You so remind me of Christina.”

“Except I’m way better looking.”

“Point taken.”

Cordelia wondered which one of them had it worse. Raleigh’s parents at least according to Raleigh were control freaks, but in the two weeks she had been there, she could not detect it. Her own parents were more like slave owners who would do whatever it takes to get the task done. Control freaks for lack of a better word. Cordelia wanted to get away from her parents just as badly as Raleigh wanted to get away from his.

“I can see why you came to me that first day.” Cordelia said.

“I don’t know how I knew but somehow I felt as though you and I had a comparable situation with our parents.”

“Raleigh, I love you babe, but considering how I grew up, your circumstances seem trivial compared to what I went though.”

“You don’t have to live with parents who put on a front for people to try and act like they are normal. It makes me sick to my stomach to see them acting like this. This is what you don’t understand! You don’t know any other actors except for the ones we go to school with. Therefore, I had hoped and prayed that the day I went to Audition I had passed and when I got in, I was so damn happy, I went out and got drunk the first night.”

Raleigh’s voice was strangely urgent, almost angry. He was trying to catch her up.

“These jobs they are doing now,” Cordelia asked.

“Is not what they wanted to do. Dad had a dream of becoming a world class singer. Mom wanted to work behind the scenes and but she just did not have the soul to get the really best parts.”

They had checked out and spent a total of two-hundred-and-eighty-four dollars and seventy-nine cents and loaded everything up into Raleigh’s car. Raleigh was bald and Cordelia was going to wait until they got back before she got a haircut.

“Babe,” Raleigh said behind the wheel, “I need you to do something for me.”

“Sure.” Cordelia said looking at him.

“Promise me that we will never end up like my parents.” They were at a stop light. Their eyes looking at each other, but Raleigh was not a happy person. He was angry and serious. “I know you think it’s going to be multi-million dollar homes, positive press coverage, people knowing who we are. Like in Mount Arm-Joy. I know that’s what you think. But, I want you to get real for me. We’re going to be normal every day A-List actors and producers when it’s all said and done.”

Cordelia didn’t know what to say.

“You are just as bad as my parents,” Cordelia said leaning back as the light changed from red to green, “Total buzz kill.”

“I’m serious Cordelia. Sure, we may have the connections. We are going to get high paying jobs, but as far as things going to be easy, it’s not going to be easy. Please understand me on this.”

Cordelia could see that this was important to Raleigh. The fear, the one thing that Raleigh was more terrified of than anything on the planet was being like his parents. He did not want his life to be dull, non-eventful and just down right so bad that they would seriously think about their lives. Raleigh wanted their career to be a success and so he was thinking about the future. Cordelia was thinking the same thing too.

“Look, I get you are afraid Raleigh,” Cordelia said. “I get it.

“You don’t know what true fear is Cordelia?”

“Woah Mr. Stop right there,” she jumped back, “I know what true fear is. You still have the planet that you were born on. The planet where I grew up on, it’s no longer there. Imagine having to go to bed every night wondering if you are going to have a place to call home. Imagine having to go to bed every night wondering where your next meal is going to come from? Imagine wondering if your friends are even going to make it to the new world. Don’t sit there and tell me that I don’t know about true fear, I know about true fear.”

Cordelia was pissed off and when she finished Raleigh realized what a tactical error he had made by disrespecting her like that.

“I’m so sorry baby. I keep forgetting that you lost your home planet.”

“I get where you are coming from Raleigh, I really do.”

“I should have been more sensitive towards you as well. Will you accept my apology?”

“Of course.”

They said nothing else for the rest of the day. They had another week left on their vacation. Then their fifth and final year, their final semester would begin.