The Forgotten Island

CHAPTER THREE:

BARELY LEGAL

-Arya-

Almost two months had passed since Fish and I had that conversation in the cafeteria, and it was some of the best weeks of my life. My mother’s eyes had practically bulged out of her skull when she saw the price tag for the senior trip on the permission form. My mom had raised my sister and I alone since I was born, and money had always been tight. It took a few days and I had to promise to do an ungodly amount of chores but she finally agreed to let me go. The next two weekends Fish and I went shopping, spending almost all of our savings on getting me some more feminine clothes (Fish said mine were a mix of boy clothes and nun-wear) and dresses for the upcoming cruise. In between weekends, while Fish helped me with my chores, we discussed ways to get Blake’s attention and ways that we both could get more attention from the opposite sex while on the ship. Fish didn’t ever have a problem attracting guys, who wouldn’t want to date a fun, tall, gorgeous girl? She never seemed to keep interest though and had been on a self-proclaimed “break” from dating for the past 6 months. I ate up her advice like a delicacy knowing that out of the two of us, she had more experience. This cruise was going to be her debut back into the scene while I set my eyes on the prize; Blake. I dreamt about him almost every night, his slender fingers riding up my bare back as I leaned into him, his hands gripping my hair as he pulled me into a kiss. I always woke feeling out of breath and wanton, my panties wet. Today was no different, only it was my birthday, I was officially a legal woman. My first act of being a legal woman? Changing my underwear. Why did being a girl have to be so messy all the time? Stupid hormones.

This was the week I had decided to start wearing some of my new “feminine Arya” clothes, and today’s choice was a flouncy forest green summer dress to bring out my eyes. It had a low cut neckline to help enhance my moderate B cup breasts and it fell mid thigh. I paired it with gold bangles on both my wrists and wrapped my hair up in a messy bun to complete the look. Watch out Mr. Fischer, tom-boy Arya had been replaced by a green eyed vixen!

I heard Fish’s squeal before I even finished closing my truck door after arriving at school. “OH MY GOD ARRIE!, you look amazing!!” I preened under her admirations and returned the favor by complimenting her gold shimmer tank and black shorts. I am so lucky to have her as my friend, I thought to myself as we walked into the school, I hope we stay this close forever. Fish and I giggled as we noticed fellow male students eyeing us as we walked by, our hard work wasn’t going unnoticed! I really only wanted the attention of one boy, however, and finally found him outside our first period class door. “Hey Blake!” I said, in a voice two octaves lower than normal. I had read somewhere that using a deeper voice was sexy. “Hey...Anya, right?” he replied with a small smile on his perfect lips, his eyes taking their time enjoying the view of the new me “Nice dress”. Anya? ANYA? Oh man, that was almost my correct name! Blake Fischer almost knew my name! The thought erased any semblance of cool I may have had left and I slurred out something that sounded like “Shrooper Doo” as a response. He immediately looked like I had just grown an extra chin and made a quick exit from the conversation. I watched him go with a mortified expression. What the hell was “Shrooper Doo”??? I avoided his gaze as I took my seat in class. No amount of looking attractive would help me if the guy thought I was a total weirdo. Shrooper Doo, of all things I could have said, just kill me now.

I survived the entirety of class agonizing over the exchange over and over in my mind, only to agonize over it some more for the remainder of the day. “Don’t worry about it, Arrie” Fish consoled me as we walked to our vehicles at the end of the school day “All we have to do is look good and not make up any more ridiculous words. And besides, if things get really desperate, we can just tell him you have taken a vow of silence and then we won’t have to worry at all!” I groaned in exasperation and wondered how hard pretending I had taken a vow could be.

My birthday night was a comfortable movie night in with my mom and sister, Fish unable to attend, eating a banana cream pie as we swapped stories and got caught up on each other’s lives. I made sure not to mention any of my plans with Blake however, as I didn’t want to give my mom second thoughts about letting me go on the school trip. We had never been big on presents but my mom and sister surprised me with a white gold turtle pendant necklace that I adored instantly. I wish I had known that would be the last night I would get to see my mother and sister in the same place. The rest of the week passed by without incident, as I resolved to stick to smiling sweetly at Blake whenever we crossed paths and not engaging in any more conversations. I was relieved to see that he still stole admiring glances at me here and there, and I began to feel hopeful that I hadn’t totally blown it with the shrooper doo incident. I fiddled with my birthday necklace as I stared at my mostly packed suitcase laying open on my bed. Had I remembered to pack everything? How many pairs of shoes did I need to bring? One more couldn’t hurt. “Arya!” I heard my mom yell from downstairs “Fish is here, time to go!” I threw one more pair of shoes in my suitcase then zipped it up. I quickly unzipped it again just to throw in one more pair of shoes and some extra hair ties before closing it up for good and giddily gliding down the stairs. Fish was there, looking like a model with her curls swept up into a ponytail and gold leaf shaped earrings hanging from her lobes. I gawked at the two suitcases she had by her feet, how much clothes could we possibly wear on a week’s cruise? Loading up my moms tiny Ford Fiesta with our three large suitcases, we headed onto the open road towards the port of call where we would board the ship.