The Fragile Forest

Chapter Three

It was a completely cloudy spring day. No light came through the grey atmosphere but the birds of the evening still chirped, and the people of Earth went about their daily business like normal. Rain Hunter sat on the carpet of her new friend’s living room and listened to the songs of the birds from the slightly cracked window. That was the only thing that was like Scotland, the sound of the birds. Rain had moved from Scotland to America with her sister, Lily, and her parents. Everything about Rain was like her country, flaming red hair and a thick accent that was extremely hard for Americans to understand with their untrained ears. She stood out among her classmates, the first to catch the teacher’s eye when she sat down in her swivel chair with a cup of coffee.

          Lily, on the other hand, was very glad to be coming to America, probably because she was always exceptionally popular and decent at sports and she knew Americans loved those sorts of things. Lily was right about Americans, and she fit right in. Rain suspected she looked up: “How a Scottish Girl Can Be Popular Among American Teenagers”, and read until her eyes bled.

          Rain, unfortunately, came off as too serious or too quiet or sometimes even too bossy for the more popular kids to hang out with her, even though she was none of those things. Maybe she was a little quiet, and sometimes quiet could seem like seriousness, but she was never bossy… All the same, she didn’t fit in with the popular gangs, so she stuck with the closest nerds she could find, like she did in Scotland, and hung out with them.

          Rain cracked open her pop and took a small sip, then placed it on the ground beside her knee. Her new friends, Oliver and Liz came into the room with their cans of pop. Oliver sat upside-down on the lounge chair and Liz laid on the carpet next to Rain, spreading herself out like a starfish. Oliver rolled her eyes.

          “So immature.” Oliver tried to take a drink from her can and the bubbly liquid skipped her mouth and poured into her nose. Liz and Rain cracked up and Oliver just sighed, closing her eyes at her stupidity. Oliver sat right-side up from then on.

          “So, what do you guys want to do?” Oliver asked once Lily and Rain finally calmed down from their fit of laughter.

          “We could play Truth or Juicy Truth,” Lily suggested.

          “Yeah, I guess we could,” Oliver agreed. Rain glanced between the two, confused.

          “What’s Truth or Juicy Truth?” Rain asked, smiling at her two friends.

          “Well, it’s basically Truth or Dare, but we took out the ‘Dare’ part because no one ever does the dares anyway,” Liz explained.

          “Sounds fun,” Rain said.

          “Okay, I’ll go first,” Oliver said, “Hmm… Rain. Truth or juicy truth?”

          “Play it safe, play it safe, play it safe!” Liz budded in. Before Oliver could scold her, Rain chose.

          “Truth.” Liz sighed in relief and Rain glanced at her questioningly. “Her juicy truths are absolutely brutal!” Liz explained. Rain smiled.

          “Compared to Scotland, how do you like America?” Oliver asked, looking annoyed with Liz. Rain had to think about how she could answer without insulting them.

          “Well, it’s very different… Little more crowded than the part of Scotland I lived in. But it gives me the same feeling though, I mean, even though I was born in Scotland and I love it there, I never really fit in,” Rain explained.

          “Aw, Rain! You fit in with us,” Liz said reassuringly. Rain gave a grateful smile.

          “Your turn, Rain,” Oliver reminded.

          “Oh, uh… Liz, truth or juicy truth?”

          “Juicy truth!” Liz squealed.

          “Um… I don’t know what to ask… Well, tell the strangest dream you’ve ever had.”

          “Okay! Okay, so there was this elephant with a banana stuck in its trunk…”

          Rain laughed at the funny parts of Liz’ dream, like Oliver did, but her mind was someplace else. Her mind was in her book. A long time ago she had realized she didn’t exactly fit in with the people of Earth, so her subconscious created a new planet, of which she started writing a book about. Rain was the queen of this planet and the people who lived there. Until recently, of course, when her story took a bad turn and she was over thrown by an evil conqueror. It all started with a strange dream, the strangest dream she’s ever had. It was about two years ago in fifth grade. The first dream was one of those that only seemed like a few seconds, but lasted a whole night in the real world. It started with her hovering over the branches of clear trees, then suddenly breaking through the window of a white, no, grey castle. It ended there. Then the next night it continued. Glass shattered and slid across the floor. She looked in the reflection of the crystal walls. She was not herself. At least a foot taller, and a man, by the looks of the reflection, but she couldn’t be sure. She was clad in black armor and held a metal spear. Without willing to, she traveled down a winding staircase and out into a courtyard, where three other people dressed like her were guarding what seemed to be an exit. The dream ended there. The next dream she was a different person. She had tons of what appeared to be weapons piled on her chest and she was bolting to a courtyard, which looked like the same courtyard from the last dream, where three boys and a girl were hiding behind a wall of white bricks.

          “Rain?” Liz waved her hand in front of Rain’s glazy eyes. Rain blinked. “Oh good, you’re alive.”

          “Sorry, just sort of blacked out there… What did you say?” Rain asked.

          “Truth or juicy truth?” Liz asked.

          “Oh, uh… Juicy truth.”

          “I know you’ve only been at our school for a little while, but do you, you know, like anybody?”

Oliver grinned. Rain stayed quiet and looked down at her fingers. She did like someone, but there was a problem. Lily, Rain’s sister, had already dated a lot of guys from the school, him included, and apparently if Lily’s already dated someone Rain is forbidden to date him, vice versa. Lily calls it the Sister’s Code.

“She does!” Oliver blurted out, “It’s been more than 3.2 seconds of silence; she does!” The two girls squealed and flapped their hands around like retarded sea lions.

“So, what’s his name?” asked Liz, her voice going high and long on the word “name”. Oliver and Liz giggled, waiting for Rain’s answer.

“Elijah York,” Rain muttered. He’d been one of her friends too, but since him and her sister broke up conversations had been pretty awkward between them.

“Oh, him! I know him, he’s sweet. You two would be perfect!” Liz said beaming.

“Well, my sister already dated him though…”

“Why would that matter? He’s single now; you should take him while you’ve got the chance,” Oliver said.

Awkward silence... “Let’s just… Keep playing.”