Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 24: Two Outcasts, One Bond

The girl wouldn't allow him to act like a child and ignore her just because her words hurt him.

So, she made a decision that later that day, she would get him alone to talk to him.

However, for the time being, she was hanging out with Rotxo and Ao'nung surprisingly. Never did the girl expect that she would hang out with the two boys who made fun of her when they first arrived. If the Marali that first arrived at the Metkayina clan could see her now, she would probably kick present Marali's ass.

"So," Rotxo started as he looked at the girl with a smirk. "Has lover boy confessed to you yet?"

Marali rolled her eyes as she allowed a smile to play on her lips, "Yeah, he did. But he's mad at me right now." She said as she looked between Ao'nung and Rotxo.

"Why is he mad at you? What happened?" Ao'nung asked.

The girl sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck before she spoke, "I may or may not have told Neteyam and his parents that I like someone else." Marali confessed.

Ao'nung and Rotxo looked at each other before they burst into laughter. Both their laughs were loud and obnoxious, and Marali looked at them with a scowl.

"It's not funny!" She exclaimed.

Her words only seemed to fuel their laughter as they clutched onto their stomachs and rolled on the sand, tears starting to form in their eyes.

"Y- You are such a skxawng," Rotxo said between his laughter. "Why would you tell them you like someone else?" Ao'nung added on.

Marali pulled at her braids in frustration. "I don't know. I was flustered?" She said as Rotxo and Ao'nung's laughter started to calm down. "Jake and Neytiri confronted us about leaving the pod in the middle of the night, and Jake told us that he wasn't ready to be a grandparent."

"So?" Ao'nung said with a shrug of a shoulder.

"What do you mean 'so'? Do you know how embarrassing it is to have two parents insinuate that you're sleeping with their son?" Marali whisper-shouted as a group of children walked past.

Ao'nung rolled his eyes at Marali.

"Are you sleeping with Neteyam?" He asked, and Marali could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.

"No!" She quickly defended. "Then, what do you have to be embarrassed about? Sex is a normal thing to do, Mara." Ao'nung said, and Rotxo nodded his head in agreement.

"I already planned on apologizing and confessing my feelings to Neteyam." She muttered, and Rotxo and Ao'nung hit each other's shoulders.

"Finally!" Both boys yelled. "We thought we would have to force you to confess." Rotxo teased.

"Yeah, yeah. Buy you remember our deal, don't you?" Marali said, and Rotxo looked down shyly.

"What deal?" Ao'nung questioned. "We made a deal that if Marali confesses her feelings for Neteyam, then I have to confess my feelings for Kiri." Rotxo softly said.

Ao'nung looks at his best friend with a smirk and starts to say something, but he's interrupted.

"Ao'nung! Rotxo! Mara!" A voice yells.

All three teens snap their heads in the direction of where the voice is coming from to see Tsireya and Neteyam waving them over. "We have to go! It's Lo'ak!" Neteyam yelled.

When Marali heard Lo'ak's name, she quickly got up and dove into the water, calling an ilu to come to her. Ao'nung and Rotxo were following closely behind her as they also called their ilus. As the three teens resurfaced, Tsireya explained what was going on.