By then, her stifling chuckle made me frown, and she further destroyed my perception of hers by leaving the words, "For a tall, muscular man, you seem awfully feeble."
"Shut up!" I finally yelled and managed to stand up. I scanned her again and had my initial thoughts thrown out the window. I just noticed that she's wearing a school uniform. I'm not kidding.
A school uniform, on a Sunday…
She must love school that much, considering the second semester will only start tomorrow and she's already prepared for it.
Weirdo!
All in all, it's a blue vest that covers her white shirt with an ivory wolf logo bearing the letters HHS. My gaze traveled to her short skirt, which revealed nothing because she wore black jogging pants too. Odd choice of fashion if you ask me, and what's with her uniform looking all ashy? It's like she's never washed it. Disgusting!
Nonetheless, she's not really my type, so why am I overanalyzing this?
"Geez! Chill out, bro. You're too hot-headed—"
"Hold on! Is that really how you say sorry?! You know you startled me into rolling from there," I pointed at the sunken fence, "To here, right?" I lashed out and pointed below my feet.
What can you expect? She's been too prissy this whole time.
"I mean, if you ask me, it's not my fault. I didn't even touch you. Maybe you just can't balance yourself." Her nonchalant tone and apathetic stance made me scoff.
"Ha!" I was in utter disbelief and was in no way succumbing to her insults. "Me? Can't balance?! I'm a well-received basketball player known for my crossover dribble that can put Lebron in a wheelchair. Heck, I've even carried my team and have been the state's MVP for three years now. And you know what, not to brag, but if I didn't have such a pathetic excuse of a father, I would've been in the nationals right now, vanquishing those stupid kids they're pulling on the draft instead of being in this stupid town with a stupid person like you belittling me!"
By the time I finished yelling, I was out of breath that I could hear myself exhaling through my mouth. Diminishing echoes of my words scared the seagulls that they flocked away, but it wasn't enough to scare this girl in front of me.
She just looked at me with a thrifty gape and livid orbs. I wouldn't deny that saying those words out loud lightened my heavy burden, as it was already weird enough that she didn't seem to get scared.
"For fuck's sake…" I murmured and turned back, attempting to stomp my feet to express dissent, but it was quite difficult to do so on sand. I then marched my way up the grassy sloped land and made my way back to the road, her mouth still not stopping.
"Lebron James? Who's that? Isn't Magic Johnson the best player anymore?!" She asked, and I felt her presence hovering behind me.
Why the heck is she even following me?
"What are you? Living in the '80s?! Get off my back and stop following me," I answered and expected her to run away because women are dramatic like that.
Unfortunately, this one seemed like an alien because she kept walking beside me and babbling her mouth about her outdated basketball shenanigans.
The sun had completely settled down at this point, so everything around me was dark, though some lamppost lit the two-way road. I noticed the trees lining up on the side, which made it creepier because the sound the cicadas made kept pounding my ears. Sure, the insect and bird sounds were annoying, but nothing was more vexing than this woman beside me.
"Hey, you gotta stop acting like older basketball was dreadful. I'm sure players back then were better than players now. I mean, Jordan was phenomenal! He's one of the best players history has ever seen! And those calves… Man, I'd sure love to witness him play live—"
"Oh my God, just shut up! You're not making things any better!" I sneered and glared at her. She stopped for a while and loudly sighed.
"Why are you so stuck up as if moving here is so bad?"
"Because it is! I hate it here. It's ugly; everything is musty. I have no phone, no money, no car. How am I supposed to survive? And the house I'll be staying at alone… it's barely livable!"
My pace slowed down when I realized that I still had my things laid out on the road. Damn it! I'll have to move everything inside tonight because tomorrow is the first day of class. Shit! I haven't even checked the house on the inside yet because I wussed out. For sure, everything would be scarier now cause it's nighttime…
"You haven't even been here for long," she replied, and I looked at her with annoyance.
"I don't need to be here for long to realize how bad things would turn out. I'm all alone in a remote town, hours away from my friends, with no one else helping me out. Add that to the fact that some weird-ass woman wearing a school uniform on a Sunday night is talking to me, and certainly, I'd lose my mind before this semester ends…"
Words just came rocketing out my mouth. There's no helping it. I've never been this frustrated before. I'm not the biggest talker out there, but this depressing circumstance was something I didn't expect.
That old bastard really got ahead of me. How heartless!
Just then, her soft chuckle blared in my ears. I looked at her with my brows raised.
"What are you laughing at?" I spitefully asked, to which she looked down and smiled, answering, "Nothing, you remind me of someone. What's your name, by the way?"
It happened very quickly, but the glinting of her eyes and curling of her lips snapped my soul. I felt my heart leaping and my stomach viciously knotting.
Well, that was weird…
"Why would I tell you that? It's not like you're my friend," I just said to hide my bewildered countenance.
"Hm, alright. I'll just call you… Tumbleweed."
"What?!"
"Tumbleweed. I'll call you tumbleweed because of how you rolled down earlier—"
"Joaquin! My name is Joaquin Astley! Don't call me tumbleweed and never, ever talk about what happened earlier to anyone!" I pointed at her face in a threatening manner. If word got out about that, the embarrassment isn't the one I'm concerned about. It's the papers claiming that I'm a feeble player I'm most afraid of.
"Oh… Joaquin… Astley…" she repeats, her eyes fixated on the road.
"Yeah," I briefly noted, not bothering to ask her name because why would I? It's not like I'll befriend someone this lame.
"So, are you never gonna give me up or desert me?"
"Haha… that's funny," I muttered with a poker face. I've been rick-rolled since the day I entered high school, and this joke has gotten old now, let's be honest.
"Damn right…" she said, and I noticed her stop, but I still kept walking.
"Well then, Joaquin…" she called me out and seemed like brewing something. So, I looked back and stopped in my tracks.
"What?"
"You're mistaken. Honeycreek isn't just a stupid town. It's much more than that."
Despite her words debunking my claim, I was drawn in on her narrative. Pulling her gaze from the ground, she kept them fixed on me. "Take a deep breath, clear your mind for a moment, and look around you…" Her eyes then shot to my left, so I followed her lead.
My head turns to the side, and as if I'm on the air in a tip-off, my world stop.
I've lived in the city ever since I was born. Visiting rural places is never my thing, so such a scene has never appeared before me. I thought that a night sky so bright and clear were fictitious and only existed in Star Wars, but it seems like that isn't the case. I unconsciously stepped to my left and hurled my body to see clearly.
Thousands of glowing dots occupy the sky as if someone spilled glitters on a blank canvas while the moon proudly sauntered itself in the middle, right next to the mountain that had a blue halo hovering around it. The woods on its foot even bewitches with a greenish gleam itself. It's like I'm seeing a painting depicting a world of fairytales.
"Oh…" I didn't realize that I mumbled that.
"It's not so bad here, Joaquin. I mean, look further…" Her words pulled me out of a trance.
"Huh?"
She laughed and pointed down the road. Since we're on a slightly levered gravel, we could see the neighborhood. I squinted my eyes at first cause I couldn't make out further down the block, but when I did, I covered my mouth in shock.
"They are helping you—"
I didn't get to hear what she said as I ran towards the shack, yelling, "Don't steal my stuff! Get away!"