Torch of Will

Chapter Two - New Friends

"Ry, why do you have earphones outside?" Bonnie asked as she walked beside me. "You could get hit you know!"

"I'm wearing one earbud. I can still hear things!"

She huffed in reply. "Just don't get run over..." she mumbled.

We spent ten minutes in complete silence, looking at the sun peeking out of the horizon. Suddenly, she asked,

"Hey, Ryan?"

Through my vacant right ear, I heard her call me. "Hm?"

"I was wondering...what do you think of the name Orchard?"

I blinked. What did she mean by that? "You mean...my birth family name?" When she nodded, I racked my head for an answer. "I...I guess that it's alright? Sorry, I don't know what kind of an answer you want."

She nodded and looked forward. "You know what it is to me?" She looked down and smiled. "It reminds me of a garden!" She closed her hands together in a tight ball. "Like the apple that falls from a tree, and when the seeds sprout..." She bounced up spreading her hands out. "It grows into something beautiful!!" She bounced up and down, excited by the idea, as if we were going to plant one. "Isn't that cool?!"

I suppressed a smile, looking away from how adorable she was. "You missed a few details, but when you put it like that...yeah, I guess." She put a hand to her heart as if offended.

" 'You guess'?! C'mon! It's a cool name!" Bonnie pouted. "Where's your sense of pride?! Apple's are nice!"

"It's Orchard," I corrected. "And I'm also an Oro."

"So you're also gold!" she cheered, remembering her spanish. "You're a golden apple!"

"..."

"..."

...what?

Bonnie seemed to notice the ridiculousness of it and flustered. "I-uh...I mean..."

The dam finally broke. First, just a snort, but gradually, I started crying at the pain in my gut from laughing so hard. She blushed even more, not appreciating my actions. "H-Hey!"

"Golden apple?!"

"I don't know either!" she cried, putting her hands on her face. "It was just the first thing that was in my mind!"

"Pfft! Ahahaha!" It felt so good to laugh for so long. I never thought that it would be from some girl that appeared in my head years ago. Still, 'golden apple'? Oh God, was that my nickname now? Am I going to be a piece of fruit for the rest of my life?!

"Shut up!" she wailed, trying to punch me, only for the fist to go through my shoulder. I laughed harder, also hoping that no one looked my way and called the cops, not that I would blame them in the slightest.. She huffed, her face still cherry red. "I thought you didn't want anyone to think you were insane..."

I shrugged, a teasing smirk still on my face. "You didn't want to call me a golden apple either, but here we are." Her dirty look only made my smile wider.

Along the walk, I watched new residents appear from the houses. Little white frogs hopped away with backpacks on them. Moths the size of my head buzzed away, saying goodbye, in English, to their parents. On the back of a pick-up truck, dancing jello wobbled to nonexistent music as they set their destination for Crestview.