The Stars Beneath Our Feet

Lolly has started to build a new, expanded version of the House of Moneekrom in the storage room in the community center. He calls it “[his] world” (95). Nobody in after-school except Vega knows what he is doing in the storage room. When he builds, he feels like Jermaine is in the room with him.

One day, when Ms. Jen forgets to lock the door to the storage room, Rose comes in and sees what he’s doing. He warns her to leave, and she gives him an “evil look” (98) before she disappears. Lolly feels like his world has been “hijacked” (98).

In the elevator, Lolly engages in small talk with his neighbor, Mrs. Jenkins. There is a boy in the elevator he doesn’t know. When they reach the first floor, Vega meets him. The new boy glares at Vega threateningly before he leaves the elevator.

Lolly and Vega ride the subway to the Bronx. It’s a bad day to be in the Bronx, but lately Lolly’s days have been bad everywhere. Whenever he thinks about Jermaine, there is a heavy rock in his chest that seems to get heavier and heavier.

As they walk, Vega says he hopes Rose doesn’t go crazy trying to get into the storage room. Lolly has named the city that he is building Harmonee, which is expanding around the House of Moneekrom.

Across the street, Lolly sees their destination: a nightclub called BLOCK, the place where Jermaine was murdered. They sit down on the curb and Lolly starts to sob. After he finishes crying, he realizes the rock in his chest is gone, but he knows it will be back.

That night, Yvonne brings Lolly another big bag of Lego bricks. It feels like a good end to a bad day.

Mr. Ali asks Lolly how his trip to the Bronx made him feel. Lolly almost expected to see Jermaine standing there and telling him it was all a big joke.

Mr. Ali says that even though he will always love and remember Jermaine, it is time for him and his mom to grieve in a healthier way. The first step is getting rid of Jermaine’s bed. Lolly says building his Lego world makes him feel connected to Jermaine and to his father. His dad isn’t around much, but building reminds Lolly of the old days, when his parents were still together and Jermaine was still alive.

Mr. Ali says to hold on to those good memories, but also to move forward.

Everyone in after-school knows about Harmonee now. Lolly has made almost 80 buildings in his city. One day while he is building, Rose comes in, immediately sits down on the other side of the room and starts building something.

Lolly can’t believe it. For the next 20 minutes, Rose takes more and more Lego pieces from the trash bag and quietly builds on her side of the room. Lolly thinks about saying something to her to stop her, but Rose is a lot bigger than he is and he doesn’t know what will happen.

Mr. Ali pokes his head in and asks if they are okay—he was the one who let her in. Lolly, panicked, tells him that Rose is building with his blocks. Mr. Ali thinks that’s excellent, but Lolly feels like Harmonee has been invaded.

From now on, he and Rose build on opposite ends of the storage room. Rose is building her own city, but Lolly doesn’t think it is nearly as good as Harmonee. They do not talk to each other. Building doesn’t make Lolly feel calm or creative anymore.

One day when Lolly is about to finish a new bell tower, Rose tries to take a piece Lolly was saving. They yank the bag back and forth until Lolly pulls the bag so hard Rose jerks her head up. They glare at each other. Lolly feels like he is shooting lasers out of his eyes. The rock in his chest feels boiling hot. Rose suddenly drops the bag and sits down next to her city, her eyes red, face tight. She puts her head in between her legs. Suddenly Lolly doesn’t feel so victorious. He takes one Lego out of the bag then drops the bag in front of her. As he finishes his tower, he hears Rose building.

Lolly devises a plan to get Rose out of the storage room. He has been watching her build; she is fast, but not as fast as he is. Lolly tells Rose that they are going to have a contest because there isn’t enough room for both of them in here: Whoever stacks a tower ten feet tall first is the winner; the loser has to leave the room forever.

Ever since Halloween, taking revenge on people doesn’t make the rock disappear, but it makes him not mind it so much. He likes other people feeling bad because it makes his insides feel hardened. Part of that scares him because he is becoming less and less like himself.        

On the first day of the contest, Rose is in the room first and has already laid the first floor of the tower. Still, Lolly is convinced that Rose doesn’t have the skills to beat him. Lolly calls his tower Blaze Tower after King Blaze, the ruler of his kingdom. On the second day, Lolly finds that no matter how fast he builds, Rose is faster. Her tower is almost two feet higher than Lolly’s. Still, Lolly is impressed at Rose’s creation. He realizes it is a replica of One World Trade Center, the tallest building in America.

Lolly feels defeated watching Rose build on the last day of the contest, until the heating vent starts blowing air right at Rose’s tower. The tower teeters more and more until it falls and shatters. As Lolly jumps up in the air in victory, his left hand grazes his tower. He grabs on to the tower and holds it still as Rose laughs. Lolly finally releases the building and it collapses. For some reason, the collapse makes his chest rock soften. Mr. Ali comes to see what is going on and tells Lolly it’s time for another talk. Rose is delighted.