Chapter 3 - Pleasant Feelings

The dinner was delicious. It was the best thing Elvira had ever tasted! Even though her own mother’s cooking was the best in Imae, she believed her mother and Theresa Houtz could go into a cooking match with thousands of other people and be tied. It would be amazing for someone to surpass her mother’s cooking, but it might’ve been possible for her aunt to do so. After eating the delicious dinner of rice, fried chicken, dumplings, fresh green beans from their garden, and some scalloped potatoes, Elvira helped Theresa with the dishes. Bret thanked them for the meal and left, not without getting a hug from Elvira. For some reason, Allex glared at him while he got the hug.
It was a tiring job to do the dishes. There had been so much food, and now she could see why. There was a mountain of dishes and pots and pans in the sink of the kitchen. Although there were two people working on them at the same time, it was still a hard chore to accomplish. Elvira’s hands and arms felt sore as she cleaned off the table and emptied out the trash outside.
Once all of the chores were completed, Elvira was free to do as she pleased. She decided to unpack some of her stuff. She was unzipping her bag when she heard a soft knock at the door.
“Yes?” Allex opened the door a little bit.
“Are you unpacking?”
“Yeah…you know you can come in…” Elvira said, smiling at Allex. Allex avoided eye contact, but walked into her room and sat on the bed.
“Allex?” Allex looked at Elvira.
“H-huh?” he stammered.
“Why are you so shy around me?”
Allex raised an eyebrow. “I’m not that shy…am I?” he said, biting his bottom lip.
“Well, I guess I’m not used to guys like you…”
“What…?”
“All my other guy friends were pervs, remember? They all weren’t quiet around me,” Elvira sighed. She smiled at Allex. “I’m glad you’re not like them.”
“We’re cousins. Why would I think about in a way like that…” he said, obviously disgusted. Elvira shrugged.
“There’s a slim chance that there…could be a little incest in each family,” she said, laughing.
“But…”
“Do you like anyone at school?” Allex’s face turned bright red.
“W-what?! What was with that?!” he cried.
“Wow…didn’t know that would be such a sore subject…” Elvira giggled. “So you do like someone!”
Allex sighed. “Why?”
“I just want to get to know you,” she said.
“I’m already with someone…”
Elvira gasped excitedly. “Who?!”
Allex was silent. “…Jean…”
“Omigosh!! Aie!! So cuute!!” she squealed, causing Allex to flush an even deeper red. He stood up and looked away from Elvira. Elvira raised an eyebrow.
“C’mon! Don’t get so upset! Y’need to lighten up,” she teased, hitting him lightly on the arm.
Allex studied her. Elvira became confused.
“What? Do I have something on my face?” she asked, putting her hand on her cheek. Allex shook his head. Elvira smiled.
“Oh…by the way…what’s up with you and Bret?” Elvira asked suddenly.
Allex’s face burst into a deep blush. “WHAT?!” he screamed, causing Elvira to topple off of her bed.
“Ah…er….I..I gotta get some homework done,” he stammered, rushing out of the room.
Elvira hoisted herself back onto her bed, eyes wide. “What was that?” she said shakily. She shook her head. Hrn…does he really have homework…? A large grin crept onto Elvira’s face as she jumped from her bed to her floor loudly, not to mention ungracefully. Her foot slipped and she fell onto her back. She immediately sat up. She crawled to her opened bag and took a few objects out.
The first object was a pile of a “camouflaged” outfit. It was a short-sleeved shirt with pants and large brown and black hiking books. The next object was a…hat? The third object was binoculars and the final object was a rope. She stood up with the outfit and stared into the mirror with a grin.
~
Allex sat down into the chair that rolled into the desk near his door. He stared blankly at the screen of his laptop and sighed. He tapped a few keys on it and yawned. He looked around at the walls of his room lazily. As he gazed around, he spotted a shadow at his window and his eyes widened.
“Wh-what?! What in the hell was that…?” he said, as the shadow quickly disappeared from his field of vision.  He rubbed his eyes and stared at the window. He stood up, opened his window and peeked out. He glanced back and forth, trying to find something that was not there. He shook his head, told himself that he was seeing things, and turned, closing his window behind him.
~
Meanwhile, hiding in the large tree outside Allex’s window, Elvira hugged a large tree branch while hanging upside down. She sighed, dropping her head slightly. That was close…she thought. Her eyes the ground that seemed to float above her. She was pretty high up, ten feet or so. As she studied that grassy ground, her hat began to slip from her head, causing her to reflexively reach up and grab it. As she did this, her legs felt the full brunt of her weight.
“Oh god…noooo….,” she cried, looking at her legs in fear. She tried to swing her body to have her arms grab onto the tree branch above her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t reach the branch. “Geeezzeee…why do I gotta be so short?!” she growled, frustrated. Each time she swung, the grip on the tree that her legs had became less and less. It wasn’t until minutes later that she realized that she was losing her grip. She struggled to regain the grip she had earlier, but in doing so, she slipped off of the branch and fell, ripping her right pant leg from the knee down.
“AIEE!!” she screamed, falling to the ground below.
People always say that when others have done bad things in their life, or their past life, that they will never have any luck with anything in their life. It would seem that Elvira was not very lucky, as onlookers would think. But in reality, she had plenty of luck to go around. It was pure luck when a longhaired blonde boy was walking underneath that very tree at the very moment Elvira fell. She landed on his back, slamming his face into the grass. Unfortunately, this boy was not very lucky.
“Uagh…what the?” he squeaked out, obviously surprised that a girl “fell from the sky”. 
Elvira sat up, her legs cradling the boy’s head. Her heart was beating rapidly and she was clutching her hat very tightly.
“I…I’m sorry!” she cried out, jumping to the left to get off of him so that he could stand. She knelt down next to him as he pushed himself up with both of his hands. His hair was a lighter blonde than Elvira, but it also had brown on the tips. He was pale, with bright blue eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asked, almost on instinct, noticing that he looked more fragile because of his thin, slender body.
He turned towards her and scowled. “Yeah, I’m just fine,” he growled, standing up. Elvira blinked, almost as if she was a confused child. She stood up next to him. She smiled a huge smile and hugged him tightly. His expression turned from anger to shock.
“Thank you!! I could’ve died!” she said, pushing her body away from his.
“What? What d’you mean?” he said, grimacing in pain as he rubbed his lower back. Elvira stared.
“What?” The two stared at each other for a few moments, sharing an awkward silence. Elvira tapped her chin.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Why should I tell you? I don’t even know you!” the boy said, pushing her further away from him.
“You saved me! I want to know my savior’s name…,” Elvira pleaded. “I’m Elvira.”
The boy grunted as he walked a few feet away from the tree. He chuckled. “what did I even save you from?”
“The tree,” she said, pointing to the tree.
“Oh…so you fell…,” he mumbled. He was quiet for a few seconds. “I’m…Toby.” He scanned the street and looked down at his watch. His eyes widened. “shoot! I’m late!”
Elvira grabbed his wrist before he could rush off. “What’re you late for?”
Toby pulled his wrist out from Elvira’s hand. “Butt out! God! Do you need to know everything? Some people don’t like it when others are nosey!”
“I’m sorry…,” she said, shifting her gaze to the ground. She kicked a rock into the lawn.
Toby felt guilty and looked Elvira up and down. “I…gotta get going,” he said softly, feeling bad at how he yelled at her. “Wh…what school do you go to?”
“I guess Brine High. It’s the closest one, right?” Elvira said, glancing at Toby’s face.
“Guess. I’ll see you sometime then,” he said. With that, he rushed off, leaving Elvira in front of her new home.
Elvira put her hands on her hips and glared after Toby. “Why’d he ask me what school I was in…he can’t possibly be in high school. He looks younger than me,” she said to herself. She couldn’t help but watch after him as he ran down the road. Something in the back of her mind recognized him, but she thought it was just a coincidence. She shrugged and walked back into the house.

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