Childlike

Chapter 4: He's actually 15

"Bullshit!" she yelled. Her "bullshit" echoed across the field, scaring the shit out of the poor birds who were just minding their own business. The three  boys just stared at her and she gave them an "oh, please" look.

They now formed a circle, the boys sat on the ground, while she stood; she didn't want to dirty her shorts. They discussed about Admir's age. Well, with out including Admir, of course. Admir quietly watched as they, especially Aurora and Simon, argued about Admir's age. He didn't find the need to actually contribute any information, since they obviously didn't need him to.

"Why don't you just ask Admir directly? He's right next to you" a loud, squeaky voice came out from behind Aurora. Aurora opened her mouth to say something, when Simon stood up and threw his arms up in the air with a cheeky smile on his face

"Laila! You sparkly smartass"

Aurora twirled around to see a short chubby-faced girl with extremely wild light brown curls and oddly silky soft bangs. Also, she quickly understood why Simon added sparkly to the smartass bit. The girl had so much sparkly lip gloss on, she could out-sparkle a bedazzler. She wore galaxy leggings which looked like she had poured 50 bottles of glitter on it. Let's just say that Laila's sense of style was very unique.

"Good to see you too, Simon" she responded to Simon's greeting and quickly shifted her attention towards Aurora. She eyed her from head to toe, as if she was studying an animal. Before Aurora could protest, Laila stretched out her hand towards her and didn't change her stoic expression.

"I'm Laila and you are?" she asked uninterested, she just wanted to pass greetings quickly. Aurora looked at her hand and hesitantly reached out to shake her hand. It was a quick and business-like shake, Aurora hadn't even finished saying her name and they had already finished shaking hands. Laila sat down Indian-style and clapsed her hands together. Her "paying attention" position.

"So, what are you guys discussing about?" she asked curious to know what was all the ruckus they were causing about.

"Admir's age" Simon answered while he sat back on the ground in his previous position. Laila glanced at everyone quickly and ended up back on Simon.

"Why didn't you guys just do what I said before?"

No one answered and Laila just shook her head slowly in disappointment. Aurora didn't even think of that, even though Admir was right next to them. She walked over to Admir and squatted next to him. Aurora looked at him while he avoided eye contact.

"Admir you're 11, right?"

Silence took over for a while and Aurora looked at Admir expectantly. His eyes darted towards Aurora's, but quickly averted his look and focused on a string he was pulling from his shirt. He didn't say anything and when Aurora was going to get up. He produced the sound a buzzer made with his voice. Aurora slightly flinched at the sound.

"I'm not 11, I'm actually 15" he said getting up and brushed the dust off his shorts. Aurora just stared at the boy in front of her, she didn't actually expect him to say he was 15. Everyone said that he was 15, even the guy himself said it. It was confirmed and she was forced to believe it.

Simon laughed obnoxiously and stood up at the same time Markson did. Aurora got out of her squat and Laila yawned as Admir helped her up. They all looked at each other for a while, until Markson called it a night and they went their different ways home. Markson and Aurora slowly walked back to the cottage.

"That was a mess, they didn't even apologize properly" he told Aurora with a tired expression. Markson sounded like a tired dad with juvenile delinquents for sons. Well in a way he kind of was the "parent" of the group. He was the oldest and the most responsible, being 17 and all. Some people thought it was weird for him to hang out with "kids", but he considered them a lot funnier and interesting than other teens his age in town, although they were sometimes a bit irritating and annoying. Oh, can't forget embarrassing either.

Aurora gave him a forced smile and a "it's fine". Aurora wasn't very pleased with Simon, but at least she had an interesting day.

"At least you guys distracted me from unpacking hell" she forced a laugh, suddenly remembering that she still had to unpack and how that was going to take her forever. The corner of Markson's lips twitched and he forced a cough. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his worn-out jeans.

"After supper, I could help you unpack" he offered, not looking at her directly and focused on kicking the small rocks off his path.

"Cool"

That was all Aurora could muster to say. Neither of them would say anything and they walked in silence, until they could see, from the distance, a small cottage with bright yellow lights sprouting from inside the small windows. Markson broke the silence with a "race ya" and dashed towards the cottage that looked so small from far away. Aurora didn't run. So, she ended up speed-walking instead.

When Aurora finally arrived; Markson was just chilling on the bench that's located in front of the Jenk's home. She breathed in and out trying to calm down. Speed-walking takes away a lot of energy.  Markson did body-builder poses; he expressed his need to show-off his racing skills. Aurora dramatically rolled her eyes at his stupidity, and after he decided to stop with the poses they entered. As soon as they stepped inside, the smell of Mandy's cooking slapped them across the face. Markson's eyes widened and a smile from ear to ear grew on his face.

"Mom, is that Winged Pork?!" he yelled across the room while he took his boots off and flung them to the corner. It wasn't a rule to take your shoes off before entering; it's just logical to take your shoes off if they're dirty, which they were. Aurora decided to follow Markson's lead and slipped her flats off.

"You got that right, Mister!" Mandy yelled from  the kitchen. Aurora tapped on Markson's shoulder. He turned around and raised an eyebrow. Aurora leaned closer to his ear.

"What's Winged Pork?" she asked shyly. He let out a gasp. Markson was flabbergasted and by the look he gave Aurora, it was noticeable.

"The best dish ever created!" he exclaimed. His answer didn't really clear Aurora's question, but before she could ask anything else Markson disappeared into the kitchen.

*

Apparently Winged Pork was just duck and pork meat. Aurora doesn't really like duck, so she didn't really enjoy the meal. After dinner, Mr. Jenks got home. He greeted Aurora, as if she had been living there for years, and he placed a gentle kiss on his wife's lips. He worked  with computers, or something like that.

Before, Aurora and Markson went upstairs; he turned around and asked a question with two words.

"Winged Pork?"

He was answered with two words.

"Winged Pork"

Aurora and Markson headed to the guestroom, the room Aurora will be staying at. There she had left her luggage and Markson was going to help her unpack. Aurora sighed and flopped onto bed. Markson sat on the floor, and rolled up the sleeves of his blue button-downed shirt. He actually kind of looked like a cowboy, especially with his hair. His hair had been growing out of a buzz cut, that he had gotten a few months before. He wasn't a cowboy though. Jeez it wasn't Nashville, Tennessee or Hannah Montana the movie.

"I don't wanna unpack" Aurora groaned. The thought of having to get off the bed was unappealing. Especially, to just unpack.

"We gotta unpack, leggo!" he hollered and the way he yelled "leggo" was horribly cringe-worthy. Aurora cringed at his intent to be cool.

"That was so lame"

He shrugged and unzipped her luggage. Aurora got up with a groan and dumped herself on the floor next to her bags.

Aurora and Markson unpacked and when they finished they felt like they had just seen hell and they had just dived in a pool of holy water. That's how tiring it felt and how good the floor looked.

The floor looked so good; they ended up falling asleep just where they were.

(Author's Note)

I really love all of them. Anyways, if you see any errors with grammar or like commas and all that stuff. Please do mention it cause that would be very helpful. Also, I'm really enjoying writing this so, I hope you're enjoying it as well. Thank you for reading!