Jungle Princess ✔

Chapter 4: Jungle Eyes

Light filtered through the beige blinds of Amarissa's bedroom, striping the walls with shadows. The muffled noises of traffic below mingled with the muffled noises of conversation floating from the kitchen, where the rest of her family were.

Amarissa rolled to her right side where her alarm clock read 7:56AM. Amarissa groaned. She was late!

It was Monday, and she was late. Plus, she had to catch the subway to school.

"If we could afford a nice apartment like this one, why couldn't we afford a school nearby?" Amarissa complained as she scooted onto the red leather stool and slumped onto the kitchen bench in exhaustion.

Bonita placed a plate of steaming French toast before her, and tapped Amarissa's head. "Knock-knock, baby. Who's there? Time. Now eat your breakfast and hurry up, because time ain't waiting for anybody!"

Julio laughed as he slid his arms around his wife's waist and kissed her hair. "Good one, mi amor."

Amarissa groaned again and shoved some toast into her mouth, chewing like a cow. Not that she could care less. It was a Monday.

Ricardo strolled into the kitchen, snatching an apple and biting into it raucously. "Hey, sis. You're chewing like a cow," he pointed out.

Amarissa shoved the rest of the toast into her mouth and mooed. Julio laughed. "Good one."

Bonita frowned at him. "No, not good one. We didn't raise our daughter to be a cow."

Amarissa swung her bag over her shoulder and swiped a banana from the fruit bowl while simultaneously pushing her feet into some sneakers. "Bye, Dad. Bye Mom."

Ricardo was right behind her, combing his hair furiously while chewing on his apple. "Don't you mean, Mooooom?" he joked.

This time Amarissa laughed, not because she was in a good mood, (or should she say moooood) but because she loved her family, no matter how much they drove her crazy. She loved them so much.

The subway was always crowded on Mondays. Men in suits heading to work, women clutching briefcases with glossy hair pulled tight into a bun heading to the court and teenagers like Amarissa just going to school.

Ricardo sat with his friends at the back of the train, while Amarissa stood alone somewhere in the middle, between the workers and the kids. A lot of them rode on the Lexington Express, as she did, every morning, to her school - East Side Community High.

As they turned a corner Amarissa lost her balance and landed in the lap of a boy. And not just any boy.

As Amarissa struggled to climb off his lap, the boy lifted his eyes and for a long moment they connected with Amarissa's. Something gripped Amarissa's heart like a fist. How could someone have such mesmerizing jungle-green eyes? This boy ought to be arrested!

Amarissa could smell the jungle, could taste the tropical humidity that caused her cheeks to flush, and could feel the soft earth beneath her feet, until she realized. She was on a train. Or, more specifically, on a boy.

"Oh, Gosh, I'm sorry," Amarissa gushed, then frowned. Since when did she ever say Gosh?

Jungle Eyes grinned, revealing pearly whites contrasted against caramel skin. "No worries." His voice was how Amarissa imagined a tiger would sound like if it could talk. And if it lived in New York. She wished she could hear it again, but the lady on the speakers announced her stop at 14th street. Amarissa had to go.

She secured her bag strap over each shoulder, flashing another apologetic smile at the boy, before shakily exiting the train. For a moment Amarissa stood on the platform, watching the train recede into the darkness of the tunnel, carrying Jungle Eyes with it.

"Hey, Amarissa! Whatcha starin' at? Come on, we'll be late!"

It was Tamsin, her best friend. Amarissa whirled round, and already Tamsin had her claws digging into her arm, dragging her toward the stairs to the street. Today Tamsin had a tight leather jacket on, and under that, a leopard print top that revealed just an inch of belly, where you could just see the glint of her piercing. Her jeans were frayed at the hem and slashed so much it was a wonder they were still holding together, and, as usual, she had a Yankees baseball cap backwards over her frizzy cocoa curls.

Tamsin was a wild cat. She went everywhere and did anything. That was one of the reasons Amarissa's parents didn't particularly like her. Okay, fine, they hated her.

Tamsin weaved them through traffic, crossing intersections and causing an orchestra of horns to fade behind them as they ran the couple of blocks to East Side Community High. As they entered through the doors, Tamsin flung an arm around Amarissa's shoulders and heaved out, "Whoo, that was fun. I sure love being late - gives me more motivation to move."

Amarissa glanced at Tamsin, cocking an eyebrow. "You are late on purpose?" she asked incredulously.

Tamsin shrugged, breaking away from her friend and replying breathlessly, "Yeah. Who isn't?"

Amarissa rolled her eyes as they reached their lockers, which was, coincidentally, right next to each other. She shoved her bag in, and grabbed her biology text book while Tamsin smeared her pouty lips with bright red lipstick.

"You know, we've only got less than two years left of this," Tamsin said, switching to eyeliner and drawing on her eyebrows.

"So?" Amarissa knew Tamsin wanted to leave school more than anybody, but for some reason, she seemed...sad.

"I'm just sayin', I'm gonna miss this place. I'm gonna miss the daily workouts I get from running roads," Tamsin continued, shutting her locker and adjusting her satchel on one shoulder. Amarissa faced her friend, admiring her cherry red lips and sparkling eyes. Amarissa's eyes never sparkled. They were just really dark, like black holes.

"You mean almost getting run over every morning?" Amarissa joked, even though it was true. Amarissa swore she thought Tamsin would die from getting hit by a car, but she knew if Tamsin ever did get hit, she'd just lecture the driver for ten minutes about almost denting "dis booty."

"It's kinda hard to get a real thrill around here," Tamsin said as they walked together to home room, which they also shared. "I need that adrenalin rush, you know? It wakes me up."

"How about you be like every other New Yorker and get a cup of coffee," Amarissa suggested with a chuckle.

Tamsin nudged her with her elbow and smirked. "Amarissa, you know I'm more of a Coca Cola girl. Coffee is just too gross and hot. And speaking of hot..."

Tyler O'Brien sauntered down the hall, flashing every girl that passed a wink or a smile, depending on how cute he thought they were. And then when he locked eyes with Amarissa, blue on black, he immediately glanced away to Tamsin, who waggled her five jewelled rings and candy pink nailed fingers at him, giggling and pinching Amarissa.

"Ow, what was that for?" Amarissa rubbed her arm and pouted sulkily, knowing very well that people like Tyler O'Brien didn't wink or smile at people like her. People like Tyler didn't even know she existed.

Tamsin had a goofy smile on her red painted lips. "Tyler winked at me."

Amarissa sighed and pulled her friend into homeroom. "Get over yourself, Tamsin."

Tamsin didn't get over herself all through homeroom, nor did she get over Tyler. And the whole time Amarissa thought of that guy on the subway, that guy she had never seen before, but wanted to see again.