The Mystery Of Camelloe Grove

Chapter 1 Part 2 - Exploring

???'s POV

—

I was walking around the non residential area of Camelloe Grove. I had recently stopped at the Freddiemeyers and bought myself some gum, and was chewing in some at the moment. The breeze blew my brown fluffs of hair a bit, and I found myself looking at the clear sky. The weather was really nice today.

It was strange, the weather had taken a dip recently. Most days were windy with overcast skies, but the wind cleared up mostly, and clouds finally went away. It had been this nice sunny weather for two days now. Perfect walking weather, if you ask me.

Then I ran into something, or rather someone.

I looked forward, and nothing was there, so I directed my gaze down, where a girl was on the concrete clutching her ankle a bit. She had strawberry blonde hair that reaches just past her chin, but not quite to her shoulders. It had small waves towards the end. She wore a long sleeved light red shirt and a dark teal short sleeve over it.

"Ow— Are you ok?" I said out of instinct. She looked up, revealing forest green eyes. She seemed annoyed, but I don't think it was directed at me, or at least hopefully it wasn't. I extended my hand, hopefully I could make up for my mistake.

"Thanks, I'm fine. Don't worry." She responded, and accepted my offered help. I pulled her up, and I saw her stumble a moment, before gaining full balance. She must have an ankle injury or something. 

"I mean, I did bump into you, and you fell, and I was worried! I didn't think I was walking that fast." I replied, even I could hear the awkwardness in my voice. It wasn't often that I numbed into anyone, especially someone I had never met before.

"It wasn't your fault, I was distracted, and you weren't walking that fast I'm sure. My ankle has problems, so the slightest disruption can cause if to fail on me." She explained, laughing at the end of her sentence. So it was something with her ankle! 

"Oh-" I said, before laughing with her. She had a nice laugh, quite contagious. It was at least a whole minute before I introduced myself. "I'm Kellar! I don't think I've seen you around here before, and it's a small town, so are you new?"

"I'm Lily, I'm visiting my aunts, they moved here around a month ago. Nice to meet you, Kellar!" She replied. Who moved here a month ago?.. Oh! It was my mom's childhood friend, what's her name.. Marrietta I think. 

"Oh, is Marrietta your aunt?" I asked, verifying. I have a habit of pointing when I say things. 

"Uhm, yeah. How'd you know?" She asked, sounding confused. I realize how weird this must be, some random teenager knowing one of her aunts.

"Oh, she was friends with my mom before she moved away when she was a kid! She told me about it after she moved back!" I informed her. I had only recently heard the story myself, and I didn't know if she knew the full story yet, so I only revealed the necessary information.

"Oh, cool! She didn't say anything about living here when she was young.." Her voice got quiet at the end of her sentence, as though she was talking to herself more than me, which is understandable. So she doesn't know the full story, maybe I'll tell her eventually. Then she continued. "So, where do you live?"

Well that was straightforward.

"Right across from your aunts' place actually, heh." I told her. I had actually seen her aunts when they moved in, so that's why I know where they lived. Hopefully she doesn't think that it's creepy, it's not supposed to be. Plus, it makes sense, since my mom was friends with her aunt so long ago, right? 

"Cool!" She replied. She seemed genuinely interested. Hopefully we can be friends! After a second of awkward silence, I realized she didn't know how to continue the conversation. 

"Want me to show you around town? Yeah sure, you can learn the layout on your own, but you can't learn the best spots and restaurants unless you have someone like me giving the grand tour!" I said, pointing to myself. I've been here ever since I was born, so I really am the best person to give her a tour. I felt quite smug. 

"Uh, sure. As long as I'm back home before uh let's see.." She takes off he backpack, pulling out her phone and presumably checking the time. "As long as I'm back home by noon we should be good!"

"Ok, sounds great!" I exclaimed. I turned around and started walking in the direction she had been walking, and turned back for a moment.  "Follow me!"

"Ok! Where to, Kellar?" She asked, jogging a moment to catch up.

"Well, you probably want to know the best hang out spots, right? You know, the ones with the free wifi and stuff!" I suggested. There were a few wifi hot spots and such, but I knew the best ones that didn't get much attention.

"That sounds like a good idea, so mr. Tour guide, where is the best free wifi hangout spot?" She asked, slightly sarcastic. I laughed a bit at her tone, before motioning her to follow me as I took a few twists and turns. 

We crossed a few roads, but eventually we found ourselves next to a small trail sign. The trail wasn't covered by dense tree cover, and it seemed to go up a hill.

"Up here?* She asked. She sounded skeptical.

"Trust me, that's why it's the best spot. Half the people here don't even know it has free wifi!" I told her, and started running up the trail. She followed me after a moment. I looked back and I saw her almost fall, he ankle half rolled, but she recovered and kept up with me.

"Woah.." She said slowly after we got to the top. There was a small stone bench that we sat on, and from that bench you could see the entire town and the tops of trees.

"Yeah, this is my favourite spot in town. I call it wifi hill, not around other people, can't have them knowing my hide away, but in my head that's what I refer to it as." I told her. It was still pretty early in the day, but if was closer to 11:20am now.

"Yeah, this place is beautiful! There's nothing like this back home." She said, still sounding amazing by the scenery. I laughed a bit, and leaned back.

"So, Kellar, how long have you lived here?" She asked, turning to look at me.

"I was born here, Lily." I told her, and she made a sound like a surprised "Oh" before she started to laugh. It was a nice laugh, not directed at me, but rather her own question, I could tell.

"What time is it?" Lily mumbles after we had stopped laughing. She seemed to be asking herself, as she took off her mini backpack and went to grab her phone again.

"11:27am" I told her, a smile on my face.

"Wha- how'd you know?" She verified my answer by looking at her phone. I chuckled for a moment, then showed her my wrist, which was adorned by a watch. "Ohhhhh."

"Yeah, I got it for my birthday a few years back. I always lost track of time." I told her. She seemed to understand, maybe even finding it relatable as she nodded.

"I should probably head back, we live right across the street right? So maybe you could show me my way back, that way I don't get lost, you know? I can play my playlist while we walk." She suggested, standing up.

"What's on your playlist?" I asked. I was curious as to what her music taste was, she seems like a nice person.

"It's— well, it's all Glass Animals, heh." She told me, her shoulders raised slightly.

"Oh I love their music! Is 'Space Ghost Coast To Coast' on there?" I asked, that was my favourite song by them.

"Yeah!" She said, she looked really happy, and maybe even excited. She quickly pressed and swiped a bit in her phone, and suddenly the song started to play.

"Awesome!!" I exclaimed, as my foot tapped along to the beat, my head bobbing a bit as well.

"Well, let's start our walk back!" She said, and I let her take the lead.

Yeah, new friend! I'm glad that she came, even her aunt has one weird story. I wonder when I'll tell her, or if I will. Or how long she'll be here.. it would suck if she like, leaved in two days. I'll have to ask her about it..

Lily. My new friend.

—

Next chapter poggg