chapter 1 - soft smiles and fish guts

I wanted to disappear, but I couldn't show it because to them I wasn't the type to say no and run away just because I was scared.

"Come on Jamie, do it already!" Judy demanded, giving me a rather unpleasing cold stare that sent chills down my back.

"I'm going, so be quiet." I barked, I watched as my friends eagerly waited for me to pull the rope. The very rope that was connected to a bucket of fish guts that rested right over Mr.kennett's head. I knew what awaited me if i let go, but i still did it. As Mr.kennett woke up with a blood curdling scream we couldn't help but laugh till our heads popped off, as he rushed to the bathroom to get the guts off. It was hilarious, I had never seen Mr.kennett that disgusted before, nor had any of us ever seen Wilbur laugh that hard.

I loved it, his soft smile, I couldn't help but blush at the sight of it. I was only fisthteen yet I had never met someone else who caught my eye like he had until last summer. It was hot and things only got worse when I became frustrated with the people who had come to adopt me. They chose a baby over me, they always do. I was angry because like always it just wasn't fair. There was nothing special about some snout nose pound of flesh who couldn't even wipe it's own butt, yet they still chose it over me.

After that I stayed in my room for the next few days. I barely ate and didn't even care to play with the others. Not even zera and her comedy show could cheer me up, and they were always funny too. I wanted to be alone but like always that could never happen and it only got worse when Wilbur came. He was shy, yet surprisingly tall and slim for his age, unlike me who was rather short. You wouldn't even think he was a fourteen year old.

But for some reason he followed me like a dog chasing its tail, it was annoying yet surprisingly adorable. He'd follow me around like a lost puppy and would always listen to my story's, no matter how false they were.

"Stop following me," I demanded, turning around to confront him as I stood on my toes.

"But i-"

"But nothing, it's weird and annoying so get lost!" I shouted. For the next week Wilbur didn't bother me, in fact he didn't even care to say hello.

I thought it was over, until one afternoon he busted through my door. I was startled non the less and watched as the out of breath shovel a shovel in my face and as shy as he was demanded I go plant flowers with him. I was in no position to refuse after he ran all this way just to ask me to plant some flowers, so I did. After that we became good friends, and nothing more.

"Jamie, he's coming!" Zera whispered, snapping me back to reality.

"No point in whispering, I already gotcha you snot nose rats," he said, grabbing us up like he was pac man.

"So which one of you had this brilliant idea?" He Questioned.

"I did." I answered, I didn't want my friends to be punished for this. Plus it was my idea anyway. Pushing the others to the ground he took me to his office and "interrogated" me. It hurt, it hurt so bad i felt like i was going to throw up. I quickly made my way to the bathroom assuring none of my friends would see me like this, not ever.

"Why must you be such ungrateful brats?"  He yelled, as he grounded us and sent us off to bed. None of us had an answer because in the others minds it was just a silly little prank. But of course that didn't stop us from talking to each other through the vents that were placed through the ceiling and floor. Me and Wilbur shared a room right below Zera and Judy's room.

"Hey zera, you awake?" i asked, as i stood on my toes as I tried to talk through the vent. Wilbur was much taller but was too busy making flower crowns that he didn't even realize how much i was struggling. 

"Yeah i am, and so is Judy," she replied. 

"So whats up?" Judy asked, poking her fingers through the vents. 

"Sailing trip." I said. 

"Sailing trip?" they all repeated in confusion, i had some pretty wild ideas through the years but this was my biggest one yet. I began explaining to them that we were all fifthteen and no one any time soon is going to adopt us and we never know what might happen in the future. Summer was coming and was the best chance to get away from the dump for a while.

After talking it out some more for the next hour they all surprisingly agreed with me. We began detailing our plan for some time that night and before we knew it dawn had appeared. It was awfully quiet in the morning and four teenages with no sleep had just hit the tip of the iceberg of our plan. Wilbur was tasked with finding a boat we could use, zera would handle the money we needed, judy had to find an adult with a boating licence to take us with them and i was in charge of making sure Mr.kennett didn't rat us out. And after all this we ended up sleeping till noon, it wasn't the best start but we were getting somewhere. 

After waking up from our nap we all decided to head out even if it was noon. Wilbur went down to the port and forntaly one of the fishermen let him use a boat as a thank you for all the times he repaired something for free. Zera went to the bank to deposit some of the money her late mother's left for her that wasn't put in a trust fund. Judy went to her older cousin's house and as cold hearted as she made him out to be he said yes. Then it was my turn, I gathered a bunch of pictures of me, wrote a note and placed it all beside his desk, with all the evidence I had, Mr.kennett had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. 

We had all decided to wait till school was out to do our sailing adventure and continued our studies as a result. It was brutal, because when you go to an all white school, me, wilbur and judy being some of the only people of color wasn't so great. Wilbur was nicknamed chocolate man and was regularly asked if he spoke african, as if it was a language. I was called bean boy, which isn't too far off from the slur. Judy was regularly asked if she ate dog and asked if she could speak chinese, she was koren and spoke french, english and a number of other languages. Judy was a bit more native to the situation and zera would always have to step in to chase off the brats that bothered us. 

When we weren't in school we did our usual hobbies and found some new ones too that would make the time go faster. Judy took up painting, and was pretty good at it from what the rest of us could tell. Zera tried to learn how to cook but eventually went back to babysitting. Wilbur continued to look after his garden, while I took up karate and was forntually let alone by Mr.kennett. Time went by quicker then we all expected and by the time we knew it summer was on the horizon.

As the bell rang on the last day of school we all rushed over to the orphanage to gather our things. We were to meet at the port, at the crack of dawn and set sail.But for or the next few hours we waited patiently, unable to sleep for god who knows how long. It didn't take long for zera and judy to join us in our room and for some reason other teens form the orphanage. 

"Spin the bottle." one of the girls proposed. We all looked at each other in confusion as all of us had heard of such a game but never played it. 

"You go first," said another boy, pointing his finger at me. I didn't want to play but i didn't retaliate either, so letting out the biggest sigh a spinned the bottle and watched as it passed everyone over, and over, and over, and over, until it landed on wilbur. We were both in shock and didn't know what to do. As I began blushing hard I felt a slight peek on my cheek. 

"There's your kiss," Wilbur said, giving me his usual soft smile. As the game played for the rest of the night I still couldn't help but think about Wilbur and soon enough it was over and time for bed. As we said our goodbyes to the girls and the boys next door Wilbur pulled me aside.

"I'm sorry for kissing you without your consent." he said.

"I-Its fine, lets just go to bed." i replied, for the rest of the night i kept his words in mine. I had never met someone as caring as Wilbur and because of that I pledged to make him mine, no matter how long it takes and whatever the cost may be.