Northern_Lights_2017

82 It wasn’t until the twentieth time I went when I noticed a real big change. When I reached the edge of the grass, I stopped right short of the sand. My eyes went real wide. On the sand was a girl with bright orange hair and light skin with lil brown dots all over. I stayed real quiet for a long time, watchin’ her. I didn’t know what to do. My legs started hurtin’ from standin’ so long, so I decided to say something. “Hey.” The girl didn’t really do nothin’; I ain’t even sure if she heard me. Then she began stirrin’, stretchin’ out her limbs and yawnin’ a bit. She flipped onto her stomach and propped her head up on her elbows and stared at me. I could tell she had bright blue eyes, even from where I was. “Hi,” she said in a real strange accent. I could tell she definitely wasn’t from round here. “What’re ya doin’?” I asked, confused. “Lying in the sun. What are you doing?” She cocked her head slightly. I didn’t answer and she laughed. It was the sweetest-soundin’ laugh I ever heard. I smiled real wide and so did she. She was real pretty, I couldn’t help noticing. She turned and dug in her bag and pulled out somethin’ wrapped in paper. “Would you like some chocolate?” she asked me real sweet-like. “Chocolate? What’s that?” I looked at her even more confused than before. She burst out laughin’ real hard. “You don’t know what chocolate is?” I shook my head. “Well, come over here and try some!” I did and sat down next to her on the warm sand. She unwrapped the paper and broke off a chunk of the “chocolate” and handed it to me. It was real dark brown and didn’t really smell like anythin’. I looked at it cautiously, but took a small bite. It was even better than the orange fruits! I shoved the rest of the piece in my mouth and tried to keep it on my tongue as long as I could before it melted. “That was real good!” “Yeah, I know,” she said and broke off another piece. I knew I shoulda saved some for my sister, but I wasn’t sure if I coulda. It was so good. “Here, try a piece of fruit with it.” She handed me a slice of the fruit from the trees and I shoved it and the chocolate in my mouth. I drooled a lil as the juice squirted outta the fruit. The combination was amazin’. “Wow!” I mumbled as I swished around the contents of my mouth on my tongue. “So what’s your name?” she asked, puttin’ a small piece of the dark bar into her mouth. I swallowed and cleared my throat. “Giisch.” “Giisch? What kind of name is that? It’s weird.” She wrinkled her nose. “Hey, my pa’s name was Giisch! I’m named after him.” She just laughed at me; I couldn’t help but laugh either. We sat in silence for a bit before she got up. She started strippin’ off her clothes. I turned away, my cheeks going real red. I ain’t ever seen a girl naked before, not even my sister. She jumped into the water, sendin’ ripples everywhere. When she resurfaced, her hair was plastered to hair face and she was smilin’ real big. “Well, are you coming in or not?!” she hollered. I looked at her, confused again’. “Come on!” she demanded. I got up and began takin’ off all my clothes till I was down to my drawers. She laughed again. “Don’t worry, I have a younger brother; it’s all right!” “What’s your name?” “Huh?” She wasn’t expectin’ the question. “Your name! What is it?” She threw her head back and laughed real loud. She swam a lil closer to me and smiled. “My name is Tangerine. Now come on!” She splashed me and swam away. I tried kickin’ sand out at her, but she was already too far away. “I’m gonna get you, Tangerine!” I stripped my drawers off and hopped into the water, swimmin’ after her. I could tell me and Tangerine was gonna be real good friends. Only much later did I find out that bein’ friends with Tangerine was gonna be a lot harder than either of us knew.