The Jungle Story

Prologue

"Man, today feels sooo boring..." Lu muttered as she left the home she lived in with her cousin and the exchange student, Mike.

"Nothing's even happened yet, princess." Mike replied.

"Exactly, that's why today is so boring," Lu scoffed. "I wanna go home already..."

"Well not now, we got school to go to, if you want adventure, you have to get up and go out, you can't expect it to come knocking on your door as simple as that." Mike informed as they walked.

Og hummed in silent agreement.

"Oh, yeah? And how would you know, Big City Girl?" Lu folded her arms.

"Well, I had lots of adventures before I met you two," Mike looked back with a smile as they continued to walk to the island school. "I had bigger ones here, but I had big ones at home too. Like when I went to PS 118."

"PS 118?" Lu and Og asked then.

"I thought you said you went to a school called St. Albans!" Lu cried in an accusatory tone. "I bet you're not even really from New York City! What's your REAL name? Are those pigtails even real? Who'd you steal that earring from, huh?"

"Pipe down," Mike made her stop as they quit walking for a bit as Lu and Og stopped behind her. "It's all true. It was before I went to St. Albans. I had to switch schools after fifth grade because Dad got a new job to move us to the apartment building I lived in until I came here."

"Yeah, really." Lu now refused to believe anything Mike said.

"It's all true, have I ever lied to you before?" Mike leaned back with a laid-back smile, folding her arms.

Og smiled, shaking his head while Lu did the same, only with a stoic, expressionless face.

"Exactly," Mike smiled. "It happened back at PS 118 when I was in fourth grade."

"How old were you?" Og asked, curious.

"Nine," Mike informed. "I never thought a big adventure like this would happen... It's about my old pal Arnold before I met Max and Melissa in fifth grade."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lu interrupted. "This was before those friends of you who dumped you for some girl named Janine who played Zucchini?"

"Yes, and it's called Squash, Princess," Mike rolled her eyes at Lu's outbursts which usually annoyed her, but she did like Lu despite the irritability. "Anyway, it was about my old friend, Arnold."

"Mike, forgive me, but school is about to start, we best hurry or we'll be marked tardy." Og spoke up.

"Huh?" Mike saw how the sun was high in the sky now which trademarked time on the islands. "Maybe you're right."

"Perhaps you could share this riveting tale at our lunch period?" Og offered with a smile. "Even if there would be the Cuzzlewitz clan."

"What Cuzzlewitz?" Lu went into her mantra about the other family on the island. "There are no Cuzzlewitz. There's only us and Mike on this island, remember, Og?"

Mike and Og rolled their eyes at her then.

Mike, Lu, and Og then got into school to start their learning which consisted of bashing their desks, yelling and screaming at each other. Mike still never understood it, but she did what she could to fit in until her service as a foreign exchange student would be over. The adults of the island would come and serve as a teacher for certain lessons like Mike suggested on her first day of school on the island.

Marjorie taught history, Alfred taught hunting, Queeks was like a school librarian with strict teacher tendencies and force people to stay still and be quiet, and Wendell had random lessons, mostly about his prized tea cozies and Lu would claim that no one can talk while he's talking except for her since he is her father. Soon enough, it was lunch time for Mike, Lu, Og, Haggis, Baggis, and Hermione.

"Okay, Mike, it's lunch time," Lu smiled as she opened her fancy coconut-made container. "You can tell us your story now."

"I say," Hermione came up, looking to the two shorter girls in her class. "What is this I hear about a story?"

"None of your business, now quit talking to us, you don't exist!" Lu snapped.

"Aw, come on, Lu..." Mike coaxed, then looked up to the older girl. "It's a story from back when I went to school at PS 118 before St. Albans."

"Mike has informed us that it includes an old friend of hers named Arnold." Og added.

"Story time! Story time!" Haggis and Baggis overheard, then sat at the end of the table.

"Wow, I've never been this popular before," Mike sounded flattered as the kid population of the island was now at her feet. "I guess you all wanna know, huh?"

The others clamored about how they did and wanted to hear this story.

"Okay, it's a long story, so please, hold all your questions until the end, no yelling or banging while I'm talking, and listen carefully, because I'm only going to say this once, so pay attention," Mike informed them like a proper adult figure. "I'll tell you The Jungle Story..."

"The Jungle Story..." the native kids whispered.