The Lost Chronicles
The Blue Girl
By Vennice Floran
I fiddled with the strap of my leather messenger bag as I stared out the window. Trees rushed by as the bus bumped along the old dirt road. I tilted my head, letting the sun stream through the window and touch my face.
“So anyways, my cousin said the pool is definitely out of the question until he can get it fixed,” Avalon rambled on.
Avalon Cook, my best friend, was almost my complete opposite. She was one to draw attention with wavy auburn hair usually held in a low, messy bun, and green eyes always full of energy. By contrast my thick, curly black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a handful of strands framing my face, emphasizing pale skin that could almost rival Snow White and soft brown eyes.
We seemed like complete opposites. She liked plain tee-shirts, jean capris, flip flops, and her ancient oversized, faded olive green jacket with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, which was catching the afternoon sunlight. My style was unique with two-toned, old fashioned lavender shirts matched with silver-purple paints, tall brown boots, and a pair of fingerless black gloves.
Avalon was the bold and outgoing one, always sticking her nose in every mystery she could get her hands on. I usually hung back and took down what I saw in my sketchbook, which didn’t always fit with my attention drawing appearance. I would follow her to the end of the world, as she would me, and I loved the adventure she brought. I just wasn’t big on talking to other people.
In short, the only similarities seen between us from a glance would be our shared age of sixteen, and the dreary town we had lived in forever.
A stranger would never guess that we had been as thick as thieves for as long as either of us could remember. We might as well have been sisters, a part of each other’s family, for all the time we spent at each other’s houses.
And now we were off to spend the summer to her cousin’s old house in Misty Crossing. It wasn’t our first shared vacation, but it was our first vacation alone. I still couldn’t believe our parents had agreed to it.
“Natasha,” Avalon said, waving her hand in my face. From the tone of her voice, it wasn’t the first time she had said my name.
“Yeah?” I turned to her.
“Did you hear a single word I said?”
“The pool has cracks in the bottom from weak building materials, so we can’t use it,” I responded.
“And after that?” She raised her eyebrows, eyes fixed on mine.
“You said my name?” I guessed with a weak smile. She gave a sigh. “Alright, I zoned out.”
“I was trying to tell you that we’re almost there. Grab your suitcase.”
Another quick glance out the window showed the trees disappearing for a sleepy old town. With its wooden and stone buildings and cobblestone roads, it looked almost pulled from another time.
I grabbed my suitcase, purple like most of my stuff, as Avalon grabbed hers.
The bus rolled to a stop and Avalon leapt up, restless from sitting in the bus for five hours. I, on the other hand, was not nearly as graceful, tripping over my suitcase and nearly landing flat on my face.
I hurried to catch up to her, dragging my suitcase behind me, and struggling to get it off the bus.
As soon as I was off, the doors closed behind me and the bus moved along, the driver now free of her only passengers.
I blew a stray hair out of my face and glared at it as it drifted back, before tucking it behind my ear.
“Isn’t this place so cool?” Avalon asked, doing a three-sixty to take it all in.
“Yeah, your cousin was right. This is going to be a great summer.” I readjusted the grip on my suitcase. “So, where to?”
“Uh, this way.” She started off down the road
“You don’t have a clue, do you?” I sighed, smiling a little.
“I have a map,” She stated, holding her head high.
“It’s buried in your suitcase somewhere, isn’t it?”
“I know where we’re going.”
I laughed, bumping my shoulder against hers.
“We’ll get there eventually.”
