Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 10: Cuts and Bruises

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language

Marali lay peacefully in the water, floating just above the surface next to Kiri. The Sully family and Marali had now been living at the Metkayina clan for two weeks, and at that time, Marali had grown closer with Tsireya and Rotxo. At first, she wasn't sure about getting to know Rotxo, but she pushed her suspicion aside and decided that he was sweet and funny once she got to know him.

The Omatikaya teen had kept her promise to her father and talked to him every day since leaving home behind. It was still hard on her, but it seemed like the longer she was away from home, the less her heart ached when she thought about it.

She was starting to like her new home more than she had anticipated.

As Marali lay in the water, she felt the pull of the ocean, and how the water softly kissed her skin. It was a beautiful day outside. There was a slight breeze, and the sun shined brightly on the girl's blue skin. She was glad that Tsireya had given them the day off to enjoy themselves and explore the village on their own.

Lo'ak had decided to practice riding his ilu, Kiri was right beside her, Tuk was getting her hair braided, much to the girl's dismay, and she had no idea where Neteyam was. He had been avoiding her like the plague after the fight the two had.

The girl continued to let her thoughts drift until she heard the sound of muffled voices. She opened her eyes and tapped Kiri on the shoulder.

It was Ao'nung and his little posse of assholes.

"Huh? What'd you say?" Kiri asked, using Marali's hand as leverage to help herself up.

"Are you some kind of," He paused, looking back at his friends with a smirk, "freak?" Marali sends a death glare to the boy, not liking where this conversation is going.

"He asked if you are a freak," the Rotxo look-alike asked. Kiri shook her head, annoyed at the conversation, as it was one that she'd had before back home. Marali followed Kiri, placing her arm around her shoulder as she roughly nudged one of the boys.

"Are you sure? I mean, you're not even real Na'vi." He asked, now following the girls with his friends right behind him. "Look at these hands. I mean, look at them." Ao'nung then turned his attention to Marali, who was standing beside Kiri, "And you... What are you, her lap dog? You always follow her around like a lost puppy. Did you follow them here because your parents didn't want you?" Ao'nung continued, grabbing a hold of the girl's wrist.

Marali roughly pulled her arm out of his grip and narrowed her eyes at him.

"You better choose your next words very carefully, fish boy," Marali seethed, doing her best to keep her composure. This isn't the girl's first time dealing with bullies. She dealt with them a lot back home. Not only was she bullied, but Lo'ak and Kiri were often picked on as well for not being 'true' Na'vi. It always made her blood boil.

Lo'ak was walking to the beach, looking for his sister and Marali. He wanted to know if they wanted to hang out since they had the day off. They hadn't done anything together in a while. He heard Ao'nung and his group of friends make comments to the girls. Lo'ak looked at Marali and saw how tense she was, then he turned his attention to his sister and saw her nervous behavior.

He had to do something.

"Hey!" Lo'ak yelled, announcing his presence to Ao'nung and his goons. "Back off, fish lips," Lo'ak said, walking in long strides and stopping in front of the boy who was picking on his sisters'.