The planet was spinning far behind me, in a warm blurry mess. Then, it suddenly exploded. Flames and rubble reached out in all directions, soaring through space. Floating along past my ship were small pieces of debris. Most were unidentifiable, but throughout the mess, I could identify lost shoes and socks that were probably eaten by the dryer.

My name is Jessie, and my parent bought me a one way ticket to space. As I turn back to look at the Earth behind me, I’m filled with hurt. The thing about this ticket to space, they could only buy one. My world has been blown to pieces, no pun intended.

Back home, I had a beautiful family. My mother was blonde with blue eyes, and tall. Some people tell me that I look just like her, but I don’t see it. My father is tall and has brown hair and brown eyes. My brother looks just like him. Well, sort of, he’s only 3 weeks old. At three weeks old, he still kind of looked like a potato. He had brown hair, just like my dad.

I turned around and tried to look toward the future. In the distance, I saw a small space station attached to Mars. This is the planet that the young girls will live on, until we become “of age.” This new rule is supposed to keep the population. The boys are on Venus until they’re 18. Then we all go onto the space station. The space station is giant and right in between the two planets. I’m 17, so I’m only on Mars for one more year. It’s totally pointless, I’ve been living with boys for the past 17 years, there’s no reason why I can’t just go to the space station.

The ship suddenly began to slow, and then it stopped. I was 200 feet away from the space station, sitting and waiting for my turn to dock. Quickly, ships were mounting onto the station and then shooting off into space. Then my ship lurched forward, and hit against the space dock. Then a large door opened, and we were into a suctioned room, getting ready to mount into the space suit. There were people all around me, shoving me into different parts of the suit. I felt the gloves click onto my hand and then the helmet went on. Then I journeyed on to the new planet.

Once again, my heart was aching. I understood why my parents and Michael stayed behind. There was no way for a baby to survive without parents out in space, I was my family’s only hope of survival. The new planet was so dull, and I just wish I was at home. There were no trees, no way for oxygen except for these big poles you must hook to and refill your tank. I’m not quite sure there was no crash course for living in space, just a video telling us how great our new life would be.

There were buildings all around, silver and standing tall. I began to read the solid black writing on the outside. One simply said “school,” another “bank,” and another “restroom.” What? We had to share a restroom? Things like this are plainly labeled everywhere I went. Where were the houses? Then I walked up to a gate. It was labeled “living district.” Finally! Houses! I scanned a mechanism on my arm to unlock the gate. I entered the gate and there were shaped pods that look just like the tanning beds that we had back home. I really shouldn’t say that, there is no home. This is home now. There was no way I’m sleeping in that thing. I’ll sleep on the ground.

A whistle blew, and intercoms came through our headsets. “Everyone please report to the Meeting Hall immediately.” Then a map popped up in front of my face, I pushed some buttons on my sleeve, but the map wouldn’t disappear. I followed the blinking light on my screen and headed toward the Meeting Hall. I assumed this would be a “meet your new planet” type thing. The screen flashed off and I was in front of the Meeting Hall.

I entered the Meeting Hall, and a woman took off my helmet. There must be oxygen wired into the building. I took a seat on a floating chair, and waited for others to arrive. In about 20 minutes there were around 200 girls sitting in the huge building around me. We all turned towards the stage as a man and his family walked on. He walked up to the mic and began to speak. He introduced himself as “The Captain” and told us about his wife, Carla, and his son, Sam. Maybe it was the thought of being with only girls for the next year, but Sam looked awfully cute. The Captain told us about how his son is 17, and will be leaving us in around a year.

From that moment on, I zoned out. All I could see was the face of Sam. He was looking at me, wait, what?! He was looking at me, I turned away quickly. My face went bright red. Wow, even on a whole new planet of red, I still blush. I turn back to him and his face is bright red too.

A few days later, I was walking down the road, looking at the paths in the sand. I couldn’t tell the difference between the people’s footsteps, because our boots are all the same. I hate that feeling, like i’m not unique. There’s no way to differentiate between me and anyone else. THUD! I cracked helmets with someone.

I looked up, and there was Sam. We both turned bright red. As he was looking at me, I mumbled something about how klutzy I am and he replied “It’s okay, I’m Sam. And you are?”

“I know who you are. I’m Jessie.” I mumbled.

“Well, Jessie, I’m sorry for running into you, how can I make it up to you? Would you like some ice cream?”

I nodded and we headed toward the parlor. As we walked in, we unhooked our helmets. We sat down at the bar and I ordered a peanut butter shake. “Peanut butter, huh?” Sam asked.

“It was my dad’s favorite, it’s the only thing I’ll eat.” I said sadly.

He mumbled something about being sorry and we went on eating our ice cream in silence.

In about a week, Sam and I were out again. We were sitting in what would be a field back home, but here it’s just dust. We were eating a picnic of sandwiches and chips. It was a little complicated, because we can’t open our helmets, so instead we have to put our food into a compartment and it is wired to our stomachs. It’s kind of creepy, actually. But I didn’t mind, beings with Sam was all I needed.

Sam was different than boys at home. He was funny, and sweet. He didn’t seem to care about other girls. I imagine it must be hard, because there are lots of other girls that he could spend time with. I think The Captain knows that we are together. He smiles at me and calls me by name when he sees me on the street. He’s a nice man.

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Sam and I are officially dating. We have to keep it a secret though, because there is supposed to be a no fraternizing among the Captain’s family and the girls. We hide out behind buildings and sometimes sneak into the school to spend time each other.

I keep putting off the idea of leaving. In three months, Sam heads to the space station. I shouldn’t be freaking out, because I’ll be there a month after. A lot can happen in a month though. I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

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Sam has been gone for 30 days. Tomorrow I leave for the space station. I’m excited to see him. We really haven’t communicated, except for the occasional message that Captain could sneak to me. I walk through the land feeling excited to head to bed to lay the day away.

The next morning, I head for the export module. I’m jumping with excitement as they strap me into my seat. We start to fly towards the space station. Soon, we mount and I get off. Standing there, with a bouquet of the most beautiful white flowers I’ve ever seen, is Sam. He smiles and hugs me. We hold hands as we walk into the station and begin our lives together.