Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 21: Return of the Tulkun

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." She said as she pulled away and scolded herself. "No, it's okay." He assured.

Marali looked up at the boy to see him smiling at her.

He's so beautiful. Marali thought to herself.

Both teens stood there and admired each other until Neteyam cleared his throat, and Marali looked down in embarrassment. "Do you want to continue skipping rocks, or do you want to do something else?" Neteyam asked.

Marali thought about it for a moment. What else could they do?

Then it dawned on her. They were by water, and suddenly, an idea popped into her head. "Hey, look, it's your mom." The girl pointed as she bent down.

Neteyam looked in the direction Marali pointed in, and then quickly turned around, confused before water was splashed in his face. Marali giggled when Neteyam stood there with his eyes closed as he processed what happened.

"You are so gonna get it!" He said. Marali laughed as she ran away from him, splashing water in his direction as a means to defend herself.

Neither teen was that fast in water so it was a struggle to run after each other.

Not only was it hard to run in water, but it was tiring. Marali was quickly slowing down because she was splashing Neteyam, running from him, and laughing all at the same time. Neteyam, however, only seemed to run faster when he saw the girl slowing down.

Marali turned around to splash the boy one last time before he wrapped his arms around her and spun her around.

"I can't believe you did that!" He exclaimed as the girl was still in his arms. "You fell for my trick! It's not my fault you're dumb!" She retorted with a smile on her face.

Neteyam sat the girl down but kept his hands on her waist as he slowly lifted his lips into a smirk. "I'll show you dumb." He said.

Marali raised her eyebrows at his statement.

"Oh yeah? And how are you gonna do-" She was cut off as Neteyam's hands moved to her sides, and he relentlessly tickled her. Marali broke out into fits of laughter as she tried to escape.

Neteyam wrapped his arm around her and tickled her with his free hand.

Marali's sides started to hurt from how much she was laughing. "Stop!" She said, and Neteyam continued to tickle her. "Say you're sorry for calling me dumb!" Neteyam said.

"No!" Marali protested as his tickling continued.

"Apologize, or I won't stop." He said.

Marali shook her head. "Fine, then I'll continue to tickle you."

This went on for a couple more minutes before Marali had enough. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry for calling you dumb!" She said, and Neteyam quickly stopped tickling her and let her go.

Marali stepped away from him and turned around as she tried to regulate her breathing. She looked up and playfully glared at the boy in front of her. "I hate you." She teased.

Neteyam his eyes at her.

"You love me." He said cockily.

"Maybe in your dreams." Marali joked as she sat down on the sand.

Neteyam looked at her before mumbling, "You don't want to know what we do in my dreams."

"Did you say something?" She said, looking back up at him.

"No," Neteyam said as he sat down beside her, knowing he was lying through his teeth.

Marali looked at him as he sat beside her. She was happy that agreed to come hang out with him because if she hadn't she would still be sitting in the pod making another basket.