The sound of feet sloshing through the snow brought me back to the present. I turned to see an elderly gentleman walking back down the dock towards town. My thoughts must have seriously been preoccupied to not even have heard the man return from, what I was sure, was a fishing trip.
I brushed off a plank and sat down. My little thoughtful spot. I swung my legs back and forth, trying hard to find something else to think about, and blanked out my mind. I flopped backwards, staring up through the branches of the tree beside me. I couldn't wait for the tiny buds to blossom.
Color. That's what I wanted. Just a little splash of color to look at. Something besides white, white and more white. Sure there were browns of every shade, but I wanted something warm and colorful.
I thought about the royal purple dress Kaida had chosen for me. That was definitely colorful. The purple confection twisted around my body like satin ribbons, tighter than a glove. It was sleeveless and almost completely backless, flaring at my hips and swirling around my knee's. Kaida said that I had to have it, even if we spent both our pooled money on it.
The store clerk had walked over when she'd seen me exit the changing room. And some how she had 'accidentally' tweaked the tag off while helping me zip it up. She surprised us both by saying that I could have it at half price. She said she was absolutely sure that I had to have this dress, no one else would look right in it. That was probably the only time someone other than Kaida had been unnecessarily kind to me.
I had no jewelry, so Mag's hair picks would be the only other decoration on me. I frowned. I could picture my plain-Jane weirdness next to everyone else. A room full of villagers, a good percentage of them tan with long dark hair, and dark almond shaped eyes.
Then there would be me. My skin iridescent, like snow under a moonlit sky, my dress showing off more than I cared to. My brassy maple colored hair curled around my face. The high heels that absolutely would never get worn again laced up my calves. I scrunched my eyes closed. Sure, I'd be invisible compared to everyone else.
*Sigh*
I was already a few inches taller than the rest of the girls, did Kaida need me to look like a totem pole too? I opened my eyes and glanced towards the sky, the clouds were drifting by slowly. At least we would have moonlight tonight. I laid there on the snow until my stomach grumbled at me. Hopping up I started back to Kaida's house. I was sure that someone had to be up, and I needed some food before I passed out from all the early morning exercise.
Kaida was sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal. "Where's everybody?" I glanced around, no sign of Konai, or the rest of her family in sight. "Konai wanted to go fishing this morning, and his dress shirt didn't fit anymore, so dad's buying him some new cloths to wear. And the runts are still hanging out at my aunt's house, they should be there for the rest of the weekend." She eyed me suspiciously, "Hey, you not sleep so good last night?"
She had no idea.
"I'm fine, really." But it was obvious she didn't believe me. "Okay lets get started," she shoved the last bite in her mouth, "this might take a while." "Huh?" I grabbed a bowl and started eating, "No deal, I'm starving." But she didn't hear me, she ran upstairs, rummaging around, and came back with a bag of makeup.
"NO WAY, I told you, no more makeup." "Chill out Andrea, this will help." She smeared some white jelly around my eyes, and they felt cold instantly. Then she went to work on my hands, I had to swap out eating left handed while she buffed and painted my nails. I convinced her clear was the best way to go, simple and elegant.
Not that I really wanted the bright red nail polish that she had decided to wear. I was not that brave. After the initial torture of getting my fingers and toes done, she ordered me to take a shower, my early morning run had apparently offended her nose. I laughed all the way up the stairs.
We spent the rest of the day being nervous, trying to find the best way to call Little Joe. Kaida lost her voice twice, and was going to force me to do it. Finally he saved us the trouble, calling later that afternoon to say Konai was going to shower and change at his place, then they would come here to get us. Dance. Dancing. I couldn't sit still, Kaida was having the worst time trying to get me to hold still long enough to curl my hair without burning me.
"Do you want to look like a supermodel or what?" She tugged on my hair again, giggling. She new I was self-conscious about my looks. Sure, I could dance. I could dance circles around everyone else, literally. But curled and primped and dressed like this, in front of the whole village?
"Andrea? Uh.... are you breathing?" She sounded scared, like I might actually keel over. I might. My breath came out in a huge whoosh, flicking the hair in front of me away from my face. At least I couldn't see my reflection. Yet. "Almost done, I swear."
Pulling on my curls, she ran her fingers through them to break them up. Then she gathered a mound of them, pinning them in place, and twirled everything on top into a loose bun, my hair dripping in swirling lengths all the way down my back.
I stared. Compared to the perfect royal purple of my dress, my skin looked like I was carved out of snow. I suddenly wished for a blizzard, it would make it that much easier to disappear. The simple mascara and lip gloss made me feel pretty enough, though Kaida had put on the whole nine yards.
Her eyelids were a mix of smoky coal and green, to match her dark green dress, and her hair hung loosely, pinned up behind one ear with a sparkling butterfly barrette. She did look like a supermodel, a pixie supermodel. I smiled. Looking at the two of us was like looking at night and day. She was dark and dramatic, and short. Quite short. And I felt pale and pasty, and gangly. Stupid high heals.
She had chosen to wear higher heels today too, so she would be that much closer to Joe. I stifled a giggle. "What? Do I look okay, did I mess it up, is my lipstick smeared?"
I started laughing. Hard. "Yeah, yeah, it's all okay. I was just thinking how cute it's going to be watching you dance with Joe in those heels." She swung the hairbrush she was using at the back of my head like a baseball bat, it stopped an inch away. "No making fun of me, no matter what. I don't care if you laugh at us all night, keep it to yourself." But she was blushing furiously. They were going to make a perfect couple.
My mind was stuck on other things. Stuck. With Konai. All night. I shuddered. "So who's your brother brining to the dance?" My voice broke slightly. "What do you mean? He doesn't have a girlfriend, you know that." I did. I was hoping maybe he had changed his mind, maybe found a girlfriend in the last twenty-four hours, so he could be occupied with someone else.
"With all the extra classes, tribal studies, and getting ready for college, he doesn't have time for girls, never has. You know it's all tribe, tribe, tribe to him."
I busied my hands with flattening out my skirt, "Any chance he could chill with someone else while we're there?" My fingers got tangled fidgeting with the laces of my shoes. "Yeah, sure, everyone's going to be there, maybe he'll run off with the guys and go fishing again." There was something in her tone that made my stomach turn.
Everybody. Everybody would be there. Practically everyone in town, even the non tribal members. The dance celebrating the beginning of spring was always a big affair. Probably the only highly social event that the village had, other than the prom in high school. I had avoided that catastrophe easily enough. Kaida had gone by herself, while I mended a sprained ankle. Okay, so a faked sprained ankle. But there were no chances of me spraining my ankle this time, unless I decided to throw myself down her stairs, which was highly unlikely.
We primped and preened in the mirror. "You look great Kaida, really. He's gonna go crazy when he sees you. " I patted her on the shoulder. "I hope you guys have an amazing night." She stared at the floor for a moment, her cheeks turning a ridiculous shade of pink, "Thanks, you too." I thought about that for a moment.
No chance. If I started having fun, Konai the Barbarian would probably hunt me down in the middle of the dance floor and put me out of my misery, right in front of the villagers. Maybe I could escape into the night, and no one would notice. I could wait until Konai was distracted and bolt for the nearest exit. I frowned.
"I'll talk to him okay?" Her words pulled me out of my frantic schemes.
I smiled weakly, I was so easy to read. "He doesn't have to be nice to me Kaida, that's like asking the sun not to shine. But if he could just not hate me in public, that would help." She grabbed me and gave me a huge bear hug. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he's on his best behavior. Threat of bodily harm usually does the trick." She winked at me.
There was a honk outside, and we both jumped. "Wow, that time already?" There was a strangled fear in my voice.