The First Lost Girl

Chapter Fifteen: Bath Day?

Rufio's P.O.V.
The warmth and comfort of my bed made me want to stay wrapped up in my blankets all day, but Felix had promised to teach me how to defend my self so when he woke me up early that morning I sighed and pulled my blanket over my head.
"Does the princess need her beauty sleep?" He asked. I could hear the smirk in his voice.
"I hate that name." I told him, not removing the blanket. "It makes me sound intolerable."
"Fine. Have it your way princess."
I grabbed my pillow and tossed it in the direction I thought he was. Apparently, by the sound of his chuckle, he wasn't there anymore.
"You're the one who wants to stay here princess, so I suggest you get up and start learning how to fight, you have to learn if you're going to stay."
I pulled off the blanket without question this time and quickly walked over to my chest of clothes. I pulled out a black dress and corset and began to pull off my clothes while Felix went through his chest, seeming to be very focused on its contents. I was lacing up the corset when he stood up.
"You ready?"
I nodded.
"Alright, come on."

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I was hunched over and breathing heavily with my arm wrapped around my waist. We had only been training for about four hours and I was barely able to stand up without exhausting myself further. Felix had taught me the basics of hand to hand combat but they were difficult, for me anyways. Felix seemed to get by with no difficulty at all, that let me know that he was going easy on me. I sighed at myself. How in the world was I going to impress Pan when I could barely handle a few taps in a fight.
"C'mon princess," Felix was saying. "You can't be a lost boy if you can't handle this."
That got me going again. In a split second I had crouched down, balancing mostly on my hands, and swiped my feet under his, causing him to fall hard on his bottom. Before he could react I planted my feet in his chest, kicking him onto his back. I was on him in a second, with one knee on each side of his waist to balance myself, and my knife against his throat. His eyes were wide and mouth hanging open. But he quickly regained his composure and smirked.
"What?" I asked cocking my head to the side.
"You've mis-aligned your placement."
My eyes widened and before I could move he had me in the same position he had been, except for his knees. Instead of being on each side of me, one was placed on my stomach, the other on the ground to the right of me. He had my hands pinned to the ground so I couldn't use my knife. I sighed, letting my head fall back and closed my eyes.
"I always forget that."
He chuckled and let go of my hands.
"You'll have to work on that."
He got up and held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet.
"I know you can do better, you just have to focus harder. Pay attention to your enemy's movements. You can use tha-"
I pulled him down by his hand, which I hadn't let go of yet. He hit the ground with a grunt and I was now in the correct position, my knee on his chest and the other to his side. I had my knife against his throat again, and he had a shocked expression on his face again too.
"Like that?" I asked, unable to keep the smile off of my face.
He grinned.
"Exactly."
I grinned and he smirked. A rooster-like call sounded through the camp, snapping our attention away from the training session.
"That's Pan." Felix said. I let him up and sheathed my knife. "Come on."
I followed him into the main clearing and we joined the boys who were now congregating together.
"Alright boys!" Pan was saying. "It's been about three months, and you know what that means."
The boys erupted in groans and I spotted Beau trying to run away, but Slightly caught him by the hood.
"Go on." Pan ordered. "Nibs, take your tent first."
Nibs nodded and the boys from his tent followed him into the woods, Slightly had to drag Caleb, who was protesting against it, by the hood of his cloak. I looked at Felix in confusion.
"What's he talking about? Where are they going?"
Felix avoided making eye contact with me but he answered.
"It's bath day."

Felix's P.O.V.
Of course Pan would do that. What better way to scare a girl of of the island than telling her she had to bathe with boys? Er, a boy. And if course I had to be that specific boy. Rufio was definitely going to want to leave. Why would she want to stay somewhere where she had to take a bath with a boy. Alone. This is going to be the most awkward experience of my life.
"Bath day?" Rufio asked again. I sighed.
"B-but, what..." She cut herself off by biting her lip, blushing now. "Oh."
I'm pretty sure my ears were turning red now.
I didn't say anything. I stared forward, avoiding any eye contact with her.
"Pan's probably trying to scare you off the island."
"Well I may be a girl but I'm not a sissy. He'd better start getting it right."
My face was heating up now. To my relief, Rufio walked off, mumbling to herself all the while about how Pan needed to stop trying to scare her with boys.
I almost smirked at her. She could be quite amusing -I mean, when she goes off mumbling to herself like that, not amusing like...oh forget it.

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Rufio's P.O.V.
Felix led me to where the boys usually bathe. It was a beautiful crystal clear water pool that had light green grass flanking it on one side along with a beautiful weeping willow that had long branches draped over the crystal clear water, which was forever restless due to the waterfall that fell over the wall of rock in the opposite side. I smiled at its beauty but then bit my lip from nervousness since I would be bathing in it...with a boy.
There was a smooth flat rock face in between the tree and the water, which I set my satchel on. Pan had given it to me, after filling it with oils and shampoos. Girl stuff he had called it. I rolled my eyes. What did he have against girls anyways?
"Okay." Felix mumbled. He and I had avoided eye contact for the past three hours, but I could tell his face was red, mine was too. It truly was the most awkward moment of my life. With shaky hands, I began to unlace my corset and slowly began to strip off my clothes. We had both sworn to keep our backs to each other, but I still felt timid. I, keeping my eyes down, lowered myself into the water by placing my hands on the rock face and smoothly letting myself down. The cool water rose up only to my lower waist. I waded over to the other side of the pool, closest to the water fall, and where the water was deeper, coming up to my collar bone now. The sound of the water falling into the pool was beautiful and relaxing. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding and immediately began to calm down. I decided to soak up the moment and closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of misty water blow against my face.

Felix's P.O.V.
Well this was awkward. I got in the water by placing my hands on the rock surface and lowering myself in. I let myself under then came back up to rake the water through my hair. I began to calm down just a bit. Rufio was on the other side of the pool now, bathing near the waterfall. I was trying to scrub down as quickly as possible. I wanted to get this over with. Like the rest of the boys, I hated bathing. What's the point of it anyways? It's not like there's any parties to get all cleaned up for. And besides, I was just going to get dirty again.
The sun was starting to set, it's red color casted us in just that. The waterfall reflected the brilliant shades of color, catching my eye. I followed the flowing water from the top of the cliff to the bottom, where Rufio was. Her back was to me and her long brown hair was draped gracefully over her bare shoulder. The mist from the waterfall had landed all throughout her hair, coming together in different spots to form ruby like crystals in the sunlight. I looked away, remembering what I had promised and continued to scrub down, using a strip of cloth. What was happening to me? Why did I keep looking at Rufio in this way? Whatever it was, it needed to stop.