Angeline had never tasted something so flavorful. She tried to remember her reaction training from the Community, but the sweet bread overrode her senses. Mrs. Mary continued to try and comfort her, but it only made her feel worse for causing her trouble and surprisingly hungry. I have to keep calm. It's just food, but it was so... good. I have to stop. Have to.
“I understand, Angeline. You've never had anything other than that terrible Community food. It's only natural for you to feel so overwhelmed,” she said. “You don't have to hide your emotions from me that's why I'm here. What do you want to do?”
Angeline picked her head up though she was sniveling quite a bit.
“If you dddon't if you don't mind, I'd like to eat more of it please,” she stammered.
“That's fine. Here you go,” Mrs. Mary replied. She passed her the bread and in spite of herself stuffed a big chunk of it in her mouth. The sensation was even stronger than ever, and she quickly devoured the rest of the loaf with no anymore hesitation. Unfortunately, being only use to paste, there was a brief moment where she nearly choked on the bread and spat a chunk on the table.
“I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to make a mess. I... I'll clean this up,” she said. She got up and looked around for a rag to clean with. A few minutes here and I'm already making a fool of myself. It's like the vomit again.
“Here just use this one.” Mrs. Mary handed her a reddish cloth. She hesitated taking it. She had only seen such a color on a rag unless it was stained by blood. Even though it was dry, images of soggy bandages wrapped around a freshly bruised leg made her shutter as she wiped the stray spittle.
“You look very tired. Why don't you take a nap right now and I'll help you both settle things when you're well rested,” Mrs. Mary said. She gave her a gentle smile, but Angeline could see that her reactions made her uncomfortable.
“You are right. I'll be better when I'm fully rested.” Slipping the slightly wet bread chunk into her pocket, she left the table and fell asleep the moment her head hit the mat.
She awoke in the afternoon. Acci was standing up, looking with absolute disdain at the long white shirt and brown skirt in her hands.
“Am I supposed to wear this? It's like a big ole blanket,” she whined, tossing the clothes to the floor.
“It's not that bad.” When Mrs. Mary picked them up, she saw that Angeline was awake. “How was your nap, dear? Are you feeling better?”
“Yes I am, thank you,” Angeline said. She stood up and Mrs. Mary handed her a plastic bag.
“Here are some new clothes for you. If you still want your old one, I can wash them and give it back to you if you prefer to wear them.”
“No it's fine. Since I'm not going back to my Community,” She let out a long breath. “There's no reason to hold onto it anymore. Do with it as you wish.”
She took out the shirt and skirt out of the bag and gave them the similar scrutiny. The length of them were fine but the shirt had short sleeves. If she wore it, her arms would be fully exposed in public for the first time.
“You don't like it?” Mrs. Mary asked.
“No, it's not that. I like it but-”
“It's ugly! Can I git somethin shorter? I'll sweat so bad in dis,” Acci said, interrupting Angeline.
“I don't have anything shorter, sorry. Though my granddaughter can definitely help adjust it, and if you have something to trade, you can go to Maris' shop if you want another one. “Though none of them will be as... short as what you're use to,” Mary sighed. It was clear the questioning was tiring her out, but to Angeline it did not look like Acci cared.
“Fine. I guess my old clothes are smellin now.”
Right there, much to Angeline's shock, Acci pulled off her top and skirt in front of them. Angeline quickly turned away as she finished dressing. Wow. She actually doesn't think of others when she does anything. I thought she was just tired and scared like I was. Does she even get scared? How does she live like that.
“Alrigh it's on and like I said, it's like a big blanket,” Acci said. The white shirt and skirt covered most of her body except her slightly bulky arms that were now traveling to the edge of the skirt. With a few strong tugs, She tore a big strip of cloth from the skirt, pulled it around the skirt and then ripped it off, leaving a jagged, higher in the back than front miniskirt that horrified Angeline.
“You can't go out like that!” Mrs. Mary warned.“It's too revealing!”
“Whatcha mean?” Acci replied, working on ripping her shirt enough to show her stomach.
“I don't want people to assume ugly things about you just because you're showing a lot of skin and your clothes now look like a dog shredded them. It's better to wait until they get to know everyone around here before you wear something like that.”
“Like I care what a bunch of wierdos think. Any can you wash des too.” She nudged them over to Mrs. Mary and walked towards the table where half her loaf was still sitting.
“Mrs. Mary, do you have a place where I can change? Angeline asked.
“You can go into that room over there.” Mrs. Mary pointed out a small room in the corner. “There's a small mirror near the door if you need it.”
Angeline grabbed her bag and walked into the room. She grabbed the mirror carefully since it had jagged edges, placed it on the dresser table and began to dress. The clutter in the room didn't get in her way but made her uncomfortable. Ripped fabrics, jars filled with strange colored liquids, and clothed bags that resembled people with needles sticking out their eyes littered every table. Everthing is so cluttered around here. I can't keep reacting so violently to everything. After putting on and adjusting the clothes, she started working on hair. She closed her eyes, unfurled the remains of her braid and braided it up again, briefly opening her eyes to make sure there wasn't any hair left over but not enough to actually focus on the image of her new face. Satisfied, she went back outside only to discover that Acci was gone.
“Where is Acci?” She asked Mrs. Mary, whose face sagged with weariness.
“Well. After finishing my bread, she ran out of here. What did I agree to?” Mrs. Mary chuckled.
“Maybe she went back to Mr. Ben's office? I'm sorry. I have to leave you to, temporarily. I think we're supposed to stay together.” Acci said
“No need to apologize. It must be hard for both of you to make such a quick adjustment. It's been such a long time since I've seen genuine Nxy and Pearlie behavior. Since this whole town has seen genuine Nxy and Pearlie behavior. So it's best for both of you not to try to take it in all on your own.”
“Thank you for your wise advice, Mrs. Mary,” Acci said before walking out through the door.
More people were walking around now and wave to her as walked around. She waved back, expecting to be pulled into a long introductory conversation, but most people stopped at just waving. Some gave her confused, but ultimately friend looks.
When someone did speak to her, the conversation usually went like this,
“Oh! I haven't seen you around before? You must be one of the new girls they've been talking about,” they would say.
“Yes, I am. My name is Angeline! It's nice to meet to you,” she would reply.
“It's nice to meet you to. I'm -. I hope we meet again.” Then they left her without another word. After some time walking, she saw Acci surrounded by four boys. She walked towards her but stopped short when she realized that she would disrupt their conversation. She started turning away when Acci called out to her.
“Angeline! Get over here!” Acci yelled. Angeline turned back and quickly ran towards her. The three Pearlie and one Onyx boy, unlike Acci, seemed genuinely happy to see her, so she felt a little more comfortable rather than intrusive.
“Hello, Acci. I'm sorry for following you, but I just wanted to make sure you were ok when you left Mrs. Mary,” she said. Acci looked confused.
“Why? Ugh... Anyway dis is the other girl. Not as interestin as me righ?” Acci's snub made Angeline stomach twist. She's so mad at me. I am getting in her way? Maybe I've been clinging to her much. It doesn't look she needs my help or anyone's help. She's stable all on her own.
“Actually she's much cuter,” the Pearlie boys said. “So how you like Stone?”
“The people here are wonderful. Though I'm having trouble getting use to all this.”
“Well. If you want me and the guys can show you all the best places.”
“Thank you but we already had -”
“I need some Juice before I go anywhere else. Kinda tired now,” Acci said, stretching her legs out.
“Sure... We'll get you some. Follow me.” They moved away and Angeline followed behind.
The boys seemed more focus on Acci, taking quick glances at her lower body. One of them put their hand around her shoulder and though she gave him a polite smile, his friendly gesture didn't make her feel any better. They walked over to what she believed to be a fairly large house. He opened the door, looked inside and gestured for them to come near. When Acci approached, he put her hand in front of her.
“Sorry, you can't come in. We'll be back in just a second,” he told her.
“Think I'm gonna steal your stuff? I'm not stayin out here so move.” She pushed the other boys out of the way easily when they tried to hold her back..
“Look. My parents would be suspicious with two strangers in the house. Angeline looks like the more trustworthy type, so I can take it out easily. Ok?” he said.
She looked a little annoyed, but she stepped out of the way as the boys nearly shoved their way to the front.
“Whatever. Just don't waste my time or I'll go.” She twisted around, swaying her hips side to side as she walked though it kept trying to fall off her hips.
“Ack! Ack!” The boy at the door coughed. “We have to go. You can stare at her later.” The boys turned from Acci and followed the other boy inside with Angeline.
The house wasn't much different from Mrs. Mary in terms of size, but it was more decorative. Sitting on a armchair in the living room was a middle aged, burly man.
“Hey Dad! We're just showing the new girl around the neighborhood and stopped by here,” he said.
“Oh, hello. I'm Terrence's father. I hope those boys are causing you any trouble,” His father said.
“No, They've all been very kind to me sir, thank you,” she replied.
“Good. Good. It's nice to see Terrence with the right people for once.”
She saw Terrence's gritted his teeth, but he quickly recovered and answered, “Well we got to go, but I'll get something for her to eat before she goes,” He shoved Angeline in the direction of kitchen. When they went in, he pulled out a brown, squishy bag, put it in another bag and gave it to Angeline.
“Just walk out the door. If the old man asks, just say its spare food and nothin else, got it?” He instructed her. She nodded her and walked out with the others, worried that his sudden coldness was her fault.
“Finally!” Acci said as they got, grabbing the bag out Angeline's hand. She tumbled the bag until she found a cork and started pouring it into her mouth.
“Yeah! Dis is really good stuff,” she said after taking a big swig.
“Now that you have the Juice, let's really show you around,” said the other boy, putting his hand around his shoulder. Angeline slid the his hand slowly down down her arm and moved slid away from him.
“It's gettin late. I'll be good tomorrow. See ya.” She started walking away from the group with the bag in her hand.
“You just got here!” said Onyx boy.
“Yeah, but its my first day. I gotta settle on my own,” Terrence caught up to her and tried to get the bag from her.
“If you're leavin, you're not taking the Juice,”When he pulled it away from her, he noticed that it squeezed flat.
“How'd you just drink it all that fast? How am I going to explain this?”
She went back to him and draped herself on his shoulder.
“Just say Angeline did it. There it's solved. Can't wait to see you tomorrow.” She said in a slow, low tone. She continued to walk away as the boys watched. Angeline stood in awe of the whole situation. Though she didn't understand how Acci could be so callous about everything, she could see that was the master of disarming awkward situations.
“I should've known a Nyx bitch would pull somethin like that, but at least she's less of tight-legged. What about you, girl? You want to stay here with us,” Terrence asked.
Their eager faces made Angeline uneasy. She felt even more uncomfortable Acci here, but she did not want to offend them either. What should I say? Should I just go? Acci made it so easy. Wait Mrs. Mary still needs me.
“I'm sorry, but Mrs. Mary need me to go back to her. I wish I could stay.”
“Oh Mrs. Mary. Yeah, you should go. We don't want you to get on her bad side. I'll see you tomorrow,” Terrence said.
“Thank you so much. I'll see you all tomorrow,” Glad that she had an acceptable she briskly walked away as they waved her goodbye.
This has been such a stressful day. As she walked, she took some time to admire the golden glow of the noon sun in the distance. Everything's so slow and unstructured here. Will I ever get use to all this. She rubbed a loose strand of her black hair between her fingers and tucked it back in place. But I can't keep acting I'm still there. Eventually I'll be in control again. When she made it back to Mrs. Mary house, she saw that Acci was sleeping on the mat again and Mrs. Mary was sitting at the table with two bowls on it.
“Welcome back, Angeline! How was your day?” she asked
“It was very nice, thank you. I met some interesting new people and saw more of the town, thank you for asking,” Angeline sincerely replied.
“Wonderful. If you want to talk about anything that happened or still confused about, It won't be a problem for me. But first I have something new food for you try! Bean Soup. I hope it's too strong for you.”
“Thank you so much. I'm happy to try it.” She sat down at the table and tasted a big spoonful of the mysterious green liquid with brown chunks in side of it. Her tongue was bathed in a cascade of salty and strangely delicious flavors, bringing tears from her eyes once again,
“This is delicious. The food here is so- Ahh!” Suddenly the savory flavor turned to heat like it lit her whole mouth on fire.
“Here drink this!” Mrs. Mary handed her a cup of water. “I'm sorry. I didn't know it would still be too hot for you. I'll mix something in that'll take it down even more.” She took the bowl and went back into the kitchen as Angeline gulped the water down like she was dying of thirst.
I hope there aren't too many surprises like that one.