Freak || Aonung

Eighteen

The moment they all get to the beach after dropping off Tuk, all of them call for their ilus. Aonung looks at Zo'ile as she calls hers, and flits his eyes back to his, asking if she wants a ride. She shakes her head but gives him a smile. 

Zo wishes she could ride on his ilu with him. Her siblings and her follow the Metkayina kids. They head towards an island with a large tree on it. At the front, rocks surround it, but the more they go around it, they can see the rocks lessen. The other side is an entrance to the tree. It is nothing like the trees back in their home. 

They all hop off their ilus and enter it. Everyone smiles and laughs as they run giddley into it. Aonung finally grabs Zo'iles hand while they climb up easy steps in the tree. 

As they ascend up the trunk, more kids from their village follow. Closer to the top, voices yell and laugh. 

At the height of the steps, there is a flat space where the tree branches grow from on the sides. It is almost entirely enclosed. 

"Holy shit." Zo says in English. Her and her siblings have picked up their fathers sayings since they were kids. 

Aonung laughs and looks at her confused. When she finally looks at him after taking it all in she laughs. "Shit." She says in the equivalent of Na'vi. He laughs and pulls her along, following Kiri and Roxto. 

The two girls follow the boys, not knowing anything that is going on. They lead them to a circle of the teenagers where they all pass around a weird looking plant. 

Aonung gets it first and takes a bite of it, showing Kiri and Zo'ile what to do. Zo smiles and quickly takes it from him, not even caring what will happen. 

Roxto takes it next, and then passes it to Kiri who is the most skeptical. When she takes a bite, Zo comes over and gives her a hug while laughing. "They are nuts."

"This is nuts." Kiri agrees, looking around again. 

Everyone is acting crazy. Back home they had parties, but the Metkayina kids definitely do it differently. 

"Bye sister!" Zo calls as she turns around and grabs Aonungs hand, pulling him away from the group. "Private?" She asks him, still walking. 

He nods once, and then guides them to the edge of the opening in the trunk. He climbs up one of the huge branches and she follows. 

A result of the plant begins to kick into action as they climb. Her brain begins to feel fuzzing and her hands just feel like they float even though they are still taking her up. 

He stops when the branch turns into a V and sits in the space that it creates. 

"I missed you." She says, grabbing his hand.

"You have no idea my Zo."

She raises her eyebrows and tilts her face. "My Zo?" She asks.

His face begins to grow warm and she watches him as he gets nervous. He shakes his head. "Zo, I meant Zo."

Her hand quickly grabs onto his and she nods once. "I like My Zo."

"Okay My Zo."

"How are your parents?" She asks, changing to conversation after the weird romantic eye contact.

"They were fine. They thought I was with more people, and I've stayed out like that before."

Zo'ile rolls her eyes at the thought of him being with other people staying out like that.

"How are yours?"

She scoffs out a laugh and notices the way it feels slower then it actually is. "As if that's a question. My mother was terrible to me for a while. My father didn't really care. I think it's getting better,"