When the Stars Fall (Lost Stars Book 1)

said. “Put it in the grass.”
“But the lawnmower might get him.”
So we took the small lizard down to the fence and set it free in the tall grass on the other side of it.
“Have a good life, Bug Eyes,” Jesse said, waving goodbye before he turned and ran up to the house.
Jude and I looked at each other, both of us thinking the same thing. Without saying a word, we climbed the fence and went in search of Brody.
It was dusk, the fireflies were out now, cicadas chirping loudly as we followed the creek. I looked out over the rolling hills and trees on the other side. Brody could be anywhere. “Maybe he’s on the ranch somewhere.”
I stumbled on the uneven ground, and Jude caught me by the elbow before my knees hit the ground then took my hand in his bigger one and guided me along the creek bank. I looked down at our joined hands. It was the first time we’d held hands like this. It felt a lot nicer than I would have thought.
Being with Jude always made me feel safe. Like he could protect me from anything. He made me feel braver and I liked that.
“I know where he is,” Jude said.
We walked for another ten minutes before I caught a glimpse of Brody through the trees, sitting on top of a rust-red cargo container.
My body flooded with relief that he was okay but at the same time, jealousy reared its ugly head. The boys had obviously known about this place but had kept it a secret from me. I yanked my hand out of Jude’s.
“You never told me about this place.”
“Well, now you know,” he said, his eyes searching my face.
I remembered what he’d said about my poker face and averted my gaze so he couldn’t see the hurt. “Whatever. It’s not like you guys have to tell me every little thing.” Hurt and annoyed, I strode ahead.
“Hey.” He tugged my elbow and spun me around to face him.
“What?” I folded my arms over my chest and tapped my foot on the ground.
“It’s kind of Brody’s secret spot. He likes to come down here and just chill.”
“Oh. Well… I guess…” I chewed on my lip, mulling it over. “He has a lot to think about.”
Jude nodded. “Yeah. It’s been hard for him.”
I looked over my shoulder at Brody then back at Jude. “Do you think he wants us here?”
“I don’t know if he wants us to be here, but I think he needs us to be here.”
“What’s the difference?”
He gave it a moment’s thought before answering. “Sometimes we think we want one thing but what we need is something completely different.”
Sometimes Jude was smart. Smarter than you’d expect a just-turned-fourteen-year-old annoying boy to be. And sometimes he wasn’t annoying at all. Not even a little bit.
He jerked his chin. “Come on.”
We closed the distance between ourselves and Brody. He saw us but didn’t tell us to get lost. He didn’t say a single word.
Jude was standing behind me as I tried to figure out how to scale the side and get to the top where Brody was. Climbing still wasn’t my strong suit. Before I’d worked it out, Jude’s hands wrapped around my waist and I was lifted off the ground like I was featherlight.
“Grab the rail.”
I reached for the railing and grabbed hold with both hands as he gave me another boost. Gripping the corrugated metal with the toes of my sneakers, I pushed myself up and over while Jude scaled the wall of metal with no problem and sat on the edge, with his legs dangling over the side.
I took my place between the two boys and the three of us sat in silence. It wasn’t the bad kind of silence. It was comfortable. Like we didn’t even need words.
The sky grew dark and we lay on our backs under a blanket of stars. Jude knew all about the stars and constellations and on clear nights like this, he could trace them with his finger. Aurora Australis, he said, and I took his word for it because astronomy was one of his things.
One time I asked him why he was so obsessed with the stars. He said it was cool that they were thousands of light years away but we could see them with the naked eye. And that our planet was nothing more than a speck of dust to whoever was watching us from the stars. I told him that made me feel small and worthless. He said it was the opposite, that we were a part of something bigger.
And I guess that’s how Jude looked at life, like we were all here for a purpose and it was our responsibility to do our part. He truly believed that by fighting for our country, he’d be doing something for the greater good, and that he could protect the people he loved.
“Did you know the stars shine brighter here?” Jude said. “On account of not having light pollution. In the cities, they’re harder to see.”
“It’s true,” Brody agreed. “I could never see the stars where I used to live.”
I thought about a sky with no stars and couldn’t imagine anything sadder. Where we lived, the sky was bigger. The days were glaringly bright and the night sky was inky blue, so dark you could see millions of stars.
“Sucks to be you,” Jude teased, an attempt to lighten the mood.
“Yeah,” Brody said with a laugh, tucking his arms under his head. “Guess it’s not so shitty here after all.”
“Guess not. But sometimes it smells like shit. Did you know that cow manure is worse for air pollution than cars? And when they fart, they emit enough gas to fuel a rocket.”
We all laughed and everything was back to the way it was supposed to be. But when your two best friends were boys, there were times when it got complicated. I wanted to be one of them, but at the same time, I wanted