Page 2 of Kailirex

CHAPTER 2

STELLA

“Stella Le Bon,” called out Mr. Kaperneski and I stood from the row of chairs lined up neatly on the left side of the stage as viewed by the audience. I crossed over to where he stood behind the podium, placing my hand on the diploma he held out to me.

“Congratulations,” he said and we both turned our faces slightly towards the audience and held our pose for a few seconds so the school’s photographer and my eager relatives and friends could all go crazy snapping pictures. Well, the school’s official photographer wouldn’t, but he surely was taking a few so they could try and sell me a package, and also in case I ended up becoming really famous, the school could add it to their Alumni Wall of Fame or put it in a brochure or whatever.

Then Mr. Kaperneski let go of the beribboned cardboard tube and that was my cue to start exiting stage left. I’d done this whole graduation thing before, and it varied little. My preschool had gone with the novel approach of having us all dress up as storybook knights in costumes of leggings, long sleeved t-shirts, and tunics constructed from silver sequined fabric. The head of the preschool, Mrs. Grünbaum, had dressed up as a medieval queen, a table full of plastic swords next to her which she used one by one to ‘knight’ us each in turn while professing we were ready to do our duty to the Kingdom of Knowledge and go forth and learn. Our parents were handed our diplomas in sealed envelopes after the ceremony. High school and NYU saw me wearing a cap and gown and doing the whole tassel thing while accepting my diploma on a large football field. No doubt I’d be doing that again when I returned to NYU for my next degree.

Twenty-three names later, all of us graduating from Cinematic Nights School of Filmography at last.

“You did it!” my mom cried out, rushing towards me with her arms wide, Dad beaming proudly behind her.

“Yes, well, she always has been an overachiever,” my brother Eric said, with a playful smirk. “Though give me a few years and I’ll have two degrees as well. Though mine will happen to be in the same field of study.”

“And they should give grants for Master’s and PhD’s the same way they do for Bachelors!” our father grumbled. “They like making people go into debt too much.” Pop, Dad’s father, griped.

My brother and I threw each other looks of commiseration. If left unfettered, he would grumble on and on about this subject until someone, perhaps even him, would bring up the Mylos. Neither of us wanted to do that, seeing as I was planning on applying for the Scholarship to pay for my next stint at NYU. Eric was scheduling himself an appointment right along with me, so he could focus on his degree and not have to worry about money to pay for it or his living expenses, the same as I was. We hadn’t told our parents, as while they both approved of the deal with the Mylos, they worried about all the humans who’d left the planet and how they couldn’t get home for Sunday dinner every week.

They fretted about that whenever someone they knew, family or not, joined the military, too. Life for my parents revolved around work and family and that meant Sunday dinners at my mother’s followed by a drive to the nursing home to play Canasta with Nana, as well as huge family holidays spent at the beach house Grandpa Norton, my mother’s grandfather, had bought when my grandmother had been a small child. All the aunts, uncles, and cousins, and even Nana were always there.

“So, who’s hungry?” my cousin Debbie piped up, having caught the look between Eric and myself and knowing how Pop would otherwise get going.

As if these were magic words, Pop snapped right out of his diatribe in order to take charge of our mob.

“We need to get going or we’ll miss our reservation,” he barked. “Everyone know how to get to Benihana?”

We then wasted several more minutes while he had all the drivers huddle around him to make sure they had the right street address to put into their respective Sat Navs. This, of course, meant we were well and truly caught in the middle of all the cars leaving the graduation, and since it was a Friday night, into formidable traffic. Thankfully, Pop had planned ahead and made a reservation accounting for all possible factors, erring on the side of lateness. We all got to Benihana well in time.

“We sure are going to miss you,” my boss at Little Cherubs said.

“You quit?” Mom asked, with a small frown. “Is that wise? Or did you get a new job already?”

All chatter around the table fell silent as everyone looked at me. My brother Eric closed his eyes with a small sigh, then reopened them to jump into the fray for me, ever the gallant older brother.

“The thing is, she and I decided that combining our living expenses made more sense than both of us going through the whole roommate thing again. You know how hard it is to get someone you can trust and get along with who also pays on time and then they leave to move in with friends, or their job takes them away, or they get married, whatever.”

Mom nodded, her lips pursed. “True enough. So you both gave notice and are moving to an apartment that’s too far for her to commute without getting up stupid early? I hope it’s not a long lease since you’re waiting to hear if you got into any of those Masters programs. I’m presuming you’re both going to move to wherever that college is at and share expenses while she works. It’s not like she’s gotten a job in the movies or anything yet.”

“Dora, let them speak,” my Aunt Lucy chided. “They haven’t finished sharing their news yet.”

I smiled tightly. “Actually, we will be Door Dashing together on weekends until the fall semester starts at NYU.”

“You got in at NYU?” Mom exclaimed, looking at my brother.

“I did indeed. And I can do it completely online so I’ll only need to go on campus to use the library on occasion or if I want to see my advisor in person,” he grinned crookedly. “As for the apartment, Stella’s lease ended last week and she’s moved in with me already. Mine goes month to month in June, so we’ll be able to decide if we want to keep it or look for somewhere else less noisy.”

Eric’s apartment had the train rumbling right past, so moving was definitely in the cards.

“It’s so hard to find a good apartment you can afford,” Mom pointed out. “And I don’t know about that Door Dashing business. You know, when you were twelve, your Uncle Frankie’s downstairs neighbor had a nephew who was shot while delivering a pizza for the local pizza shop.”

“We can decide which orders to accept, and I can promise you we will not be heading into any sketchy areas,” Eric promised her.

“So, you got a new job lined up?” my cousin Elle asked. “Or just Door Dashing until you get offered a job in film?”

“I don’t see why she got a degree to teach preschoolers if she really wanted to make movies,” my Uncle Harvey interjected.

“Because I want to work in children’s educational television,” I explained for what must be the umpteenth time. “And besides, I’ll also be going to NYU online this fall. I’m going to take business classes focusing on the entertainment and media fields.”