Dangerous waters of Appletown

Adrianne Arrives

I wake up to the sound of footsteps and rolling wheels of a suitcase which are making a familiar annoying sound. I manage to get out of my bed before the door opens and she almost knocks me over.

"CACA-CHAAN!"

"Hey, stop it, freak! I'm gonna fall!" I scream as we both fall on the soft bed, hugging each other tightly and laughing like mad.

"I haven't seen you in ages! How's life? And what about your new school? And boys?"

My BFF Adrianne has finally arrived. This summer's going to be fabulous, exhaustive, lovely, unforgettable and way too great. We haven't seen each other since we were thirteen years old because she moved out of state. I clearly remember that day.

I came over on her last day in town and saw her standing in front of their cute wooden house without mascara on. She had always hated her nearly invisible eyelashes so I found it quite surprising. When I asked her why wasn't she wearing any mascara, she told me that she knew she was going to cry and she didn't want to look like a raccoon. It was hard to say goodbye. And she did cry. We did both.

Adrianne smiles as she sits on my bed and examines my room. She's a cute light ginger blonde with a bob-like short hairstyle. Her eyes are a dark blue shade - the one newborns always have. She has always problems choosing the right mascara because her lashes are short and haven't got much of a volume. The most cute feature of hers is probably her mouth. She has full raspberry-coloured lips and perfect teeth thanks to the braces she had to wear in elementary school. Her nose is rather small with lots of freckles. It makes her look cute and a bit like a mischievous kid. She has a small forehead and a round face so she doesn't have any kind of fringe (which I do).

My name's Caroline. Adrianne was a big anime/manga freak back then so she called me 'Caca-chan'. Luckily, she doesn't use that nickname anymore. She calls me Carrie most of the time.

"Caroline! Answer my question!"

"I love the sea. And the new school. And the boys there. It's like a cute boy paradise. I've just been there the day before summer break so I don't know much about the school, but I love everything here so far. What about you?"

She tells me that the boys in her new town are either awful or taken so she's still single. Luckily, she's here now so I can find her a boyfriend.

We chat for almost three hours and we have loads of things to say.

After dinner (my mom's delicious pizza, yum yum) we rush back in my room and Adrianne insists on watching an anime series. It's called Noragami and it's about a girl who meets a god. The story is actually quite good, funny and a bit touching, but the Japanese names are impossible to remember and they seem all the same to me.

"Who do you like the most?" she asks me when the fourth episode is over.

"Well, that guy, what the hell is his name... Tato or something like that... You know, the one with blue eyes..." I struggle to remember the name when Adrianne helps me.

"Yato," she says. "I like him too. Need help with names?" I nod because I really do. "The brown-haired half-demon girl, that's Hiyori."

"What?! And I thought that her name was Iki!" That was the only name that I was able to remember and it was wrong.

"That's her surname. Most Asian surnames go before first names. So when you hear 'Yoshida Chizuru', Chizuru is the first name and Yoshida the surname. Got it?"

"Probably. So the god is Yato, the girl is Hiyori, that teen boy is Yu... Yu... Yuchine?"

"Yukine."

"Yukine. Gosh, I hate Japanese names," I sigh. We watch the fifth episode and go to bed. However, we're both too excited to sleep so I get a bag of Lays and we stay up late, giggling and chatting.