A Replacment

A familiar face

I quickly paddled over to the girl while still trying to figure out where I've seen her, she looks so familiar. She has tanned skin, brown hair that's kind of like mine except hers is in half a ponytail...and it's still dry. I know I've seen her somewhere but I just can't place it. I decided to put the thought aside and focus on helping her. When I get to her I help her on my board and paddle out to shore, neither of us saying a word. I look back at her to make sure she's ok, to see a worried look in her eyes.

When we get to shore the worried look vanishes and is replaced by fascination.

"Whoa," she said sounding out of breath, "I have no idea where I am, but I gotta say, this place is far out, the things here are so neat!"

Far out? Who even says that anymore? The girl looks at me and smiles wider, if that's even possible. She steps closer to me and waves.

"Hi, thank you for rescuing me, my name's Kiki, what's yours," she asked.

Kiki, Kiki, where have I heard that name before? Now I know I've seen her before, but where? It's driving me nuts - wait, why don't I just ask her? Ugh! Sometimes I can be a real ditz.

"I'm Nikki. Um, have we met before?" I ask after telling her my name. She looks at me confused.

"I don't think so, I've never been here before, I was just surfing, and a huge wave hit me, and I washed up here."

Well we haven't met before, but she still looks familiar. I'll figure it out later, right now we have other things to deal with.

"Just washed up? How is that even possible?"

"I don't know, but, I'm not sure how I'm going to get back home." Her smile faltered, and I started to feel bad, maybe I should help. Wait, Ms. Hilga won't allow some stranger in the house, she barely wants the kids she has, but I can't just let her go out on the streets. As I argued with myself, I noticed that Kiki wasn't by my side anymore. I looked around for her and saw that she was talking to a couple that was walking on the beach. Oh no, she can't just go around talking to random people. I run over to Kiki and the couple. When I get there I see her messing with their phone. Kiki sees me and runs over to me, with the phone still in her hand.

"Nikki look"! She says happily, showing me the couple's phone. "This little box is so neat, when you talk to it, it talks back "!

I force out a chuckle and take the phone out of her hand. "Yeah, that's really cool Kiki, but maybe we should give it back to that nice couple." I go over to the couple who are starting to look a little mad that she took their phone, I quickly give it back to them and apologize.

"I'm sorry about that, my cousin's just really excited to be here visiting me since she came back from...Iceland," I say trying to think of a lie fast so they won't get suspicious that she's so fascinated by modern technology. Apparently it worked because they don't seem mad anymore, they just smile kindly at me and laugh.

"Thats alright kid, my brother was the exact same way when he came back from Cuba," said the woman.

"Just make sure you watch her, you don't want her getting into things she shouldn't," said her boyfriend.

"I'll watch her sir, and thank you for being so understanding".

The couple smile at us again and walk away.

"Wow, they were nice"! Kiki said as she popped up from behind me, making me jump a little. Talking to that couple actually helped me make up my mind about what I'm going to do with Kiki, I did rescue her so I guess she is my responsibility now, so I'll let her stay with me until we can get her home, I'll just have to make sure Ms. Hilga doesn't find out.

I turn to Kiki and put my hands on her shoulders to try and make her stop bouncing.

"Okay, I've decided that you can stay at my place until we can get you home ok?" I ask. Kiki puts a her hands on her chest, looking like she's about to cry. Oh no, what did I say that would make her cry? Suddenly she jumps up and wraps her arms around me in a hug.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you so much, I have no idea what I would've done without you!" She shouted in my ear still hugging me. I shrug and wrap my arms around her and hug her back. Hey I don't get hugged very often, and when I do there usually very brief, so I'm not about to pass up one, even if it's from a person I just met. But after a few minutes I gently push her away.

"Ok so if you're going to live with me you're going to have to listen to what I say alright," I say.

Kiki smiles and nods her head vigorously. I take a deep breathe.

"Ok, Ms. Hilga, the woman that takes care of me won't be to happy that I brought a complete stranger into the house, so you're gonna have to hide, ok?" Kiki nods her head again.

"I also live with a bunch of other girls so you're gonna have to stay in my room until I say so."

Kiki nods her head. "Alright, I'll do whatever you say, you did save me after all." She grabs my hand and drags me along the beach. "So where's your place," she asks not slowing down, I release my hand from hers and point the other direction.

"That way."

"Great,". She giggles and runs in the direction I pointed at. I really hope she listens to what I told her, otherwise things are gonna get really bad. Wish me luck.