JUNE MILLER POV
"Becky, you are literally not listening to the words coming out of my face right now!"
I slammed my locker shut—well, I tried to, but my backpack was so stuffed with charms and emergency snacks that it just kind of bounced back open with a pathetic thud. I didn't care. I was vibrating. If I were a phone, I'd be on permanent 'Vibrate' mode, except the motor was currently running on high-grade caffeine and the lingering adrenaline of having almost committed regicide by popcorn.
"I'm listening, June," Becky said, her voice muffled as she rummaged through her own locker. "You ran into a guy. At the cinema. You've run into three lampposts and a mailbox this week alone. It's a Tuesday."
"No! This wasn't a lamppost!" I grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, my aquamarine bun bobbing frantically. "This was... a celestial event. This was a glitch in the simulation where the developers accidentally dropped a High-Tier Legend into the Starlight Cinema lobby. He was wearing silk, Becky! White silk! In a movie theater! Who does that?"
Becky sighed, finally looking at me with that 'June is having another episode' expression. "Okay, start from the beginning. Slow down. Use actual sentences."
I took a deep breath, but it didn't help. My heart was still doing the cha-cha.
"Okay, so I was running, right? Because the Starfall trailers were starting and if I miss the 'In a world...' guy I feel like my soul is incomplete. I was coming around the arcade—I might have been doing Mach 1—and I didn't see him. It was like he just manifested out of the light from the snack bar. And then... BOOM."
I mimicked a nuclear explosion with my hands.
"I hit him. Hard. Like, 'call an ambulance for my pride' hard. I thought I was going to fly backward and die on the linoleum, but it was like hitting a marble statue wrapped in a cloud. He didn't even budge! He just stood there while his popcorn did this slow-motion, beautiful arc through the air like snow."
"And?" Becky prompted, actually looking interested now.
"And I looked up," I whispered, my eyes wide as I relived the trauma. "And he was there. He had this face, Becky. I'm not kidding. It wasn't just 'cute.' It was 'built by ancient craftsmen to represent the pinnacle of human achievement.' His skin was perfect. His hair was perfect. And his eyes... oh my god, his eyes."
"Blue? Green?"
"Gold," I said, my voice cracking. "They were gold. Not like 'light brown' gold, but like... 'freshly minted coin' gold. They were glowing. I thought maybe they were those super expensive custom contacts, but they looked so real. He looked down at me and he didn't even yell. He just looked... confused? Like he'd never seen a girl in a baggy hoodie before. Like he was a prince who had just been tackled by a peasant."
Becky leaned against the lockers. "So what did you do? Please tell me you didn't do the thing."
"I did the thing," I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "I started talking. And I didn't stop. I told him he was unfairly handsome. I asked if he was a model. I think I asked if he was an angel? Or a prince? I don't know! My brain just started leaking out of my ears. I was trying to brush the popcorn off his shirt—which, by the way, felt like it cost more than my entire house—and I was just babbling. I think I told him I was going to jail for ruining his day."
"June, no."
"June, yes! And he just stood there! He turned this shade of red that was so adorable I wanted to put him in a jar and keep him on my nightstand. He looked at his sister—at least I think it was his sister, she was this stunning girl in a gray coat who looked like she could kill me with a look—and he stammered. This literal god of a man was flustered by me."
I did a little spin in the hallway, my oversized hoodie sleeves flapping.
"He was so awkward, Becky! It was the best part! He had all this... I don't know, this 'power' coming off him? Like, the air felt warm near him, but he was as shy as a middle-schooler at his first dance. He called it 'acceptable.' Who says that? 'It is acceptable.' I felt like I was talking to someone who had been living in a castle his whole life and just stepped outside for the first time."
"Did you get a name?" Becky asked.
"No! I was so panicked I just called him 'Goldie' and 'Mister Prince.' I shoved five dollars into his hand for the popcorn—I literally had to force his fingers to close around it—and then I ran. I fled! I am a coward!"
"You gave a potential billionaire five dollars for a bucket of popcorn?" Becky started laughing, a loud, wheezing sound that made people in the hall look at us. "June, that's iconic. You tipped a prince."
"I was helping!" I defended, pouting. "He looked so lost! But honestly, Becky, it was weird. After I ran away, I looked back for a second. He was just standing there staring at the five-dollar bill like it was a piece of alien technology. And his sister was just laughing at him. They didn't feel like... people from Jorgen City. You know how the 'prodigies' like Jeremy Klice act? Like they're better than everyone because they can spark a bit of Blue light?"
Becky nodded, her face souring at the mention of the local noble kids. "Yeah, they're the worst."
"This guy was... different," I said, my voice dropping. "He was a billion times more intense than Jeremy, but he didn't feel 'mean.' He felt... heavy. Like if he actually got mad, the whole mall would just melt. But when I bumped into him, he was just a guy. A really, really, really gorgeous guy who didn't know how to handle a girl in a teal hoodie."
I leaned my head against the locker, staring at the ceiling of the school hallway.
"I keep thinking about it. I sat through the whole movie and didn't see a single thing on the screen. All I saw was that gold light in his eyes. It felt... familiar? Which is crazy, because I've never seen him before. But for a split second, when I was grabbing his arms to stay upright, I felt this... hum. Like a song I'd forgotten the words to."
"Okay, now you're getting poetic," Becky teased, nudging me. "It's just a crush, June. A massive, cinematic, 'only happens in movies' crush."
"Maybe," I said, though I wasn't convinced. "But I have the five dollars... wait, no, I gave him the five dollars. I have nothing! I have no name, no number, and I'm out five bucks! I'm a disaster!"
"At least you didn't get incinerated," Becky said, closing her own locker. "Come on, we're going to be late for Chem. Maybe your 'Prince' will manifest in the lab and help you with your titration."
"Don't tease me. I'm in mourning for my missed opportunity."
As we walked down the hall, I kept touching the straps of my backpack where I'd held on to him. My heart was starting to settle, but the image of him wouldn't leave. He was so bright. In a city that was currently feeling dark and creepy with all those disappearances, he felt like a literal sun.
I wondered if he was still in the city. I wondered if he was looking at that five-dollar bill and thinking about the blue-haired girl who tackled him. Probably not. He was probably off being a prince somewhere, eating fancy food and being perfect.
But for a few minutes in a sticky cinema lobby, he was just 'Goldie.' And he was flustered.
"I'm going back to that theater every night until I find him," I declared as we turned the corner.
"No, you're not. You have a math test on Thursday."
"I'll study in the lobby!"
I laughed, but as I looked out the hallway window toward the Jorgen City skyline, I felt a tiny shiver. The news was still talking about the missing people. The 'prodigies' were still out there hunting. The world felt like it was holding its breath.
But I wasn't scared. Not really. I just kept thinking about those gold eyes. If someone like that was walking around our city, maybe the dark wasn't as big as it thought it was.
"Hey, Becky?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think angels like popcorn? Or do they just eat, like... stardust?"
"June, shut up and walk."