Mudpuppies

Chapter 1

It was an odd thing, really. What exactly was an orange? I turned it around in my hands to look at the fruit that was once just a tiny seed. It was like an old, wrinkly baseball and the texture of its skin felt like a sponge, if a sponge was harder and shaped like a sphere. What if my skin was thick like that? It would be like having armor. I could be a superhero, like in Toby’s comic books, with a special nickname that people read in the headlines of newspapers and talk about in the streets. No one would be able to stop me while I fought evil. Well, except for maybe my arch-nemesis the Juicer. But even then, I doubt it could hurt me. Orange skins were incredibly hard to break through.

I would know. I, Maya Wolfe, have brought an orange as a part of my lunch every day to school since the first day and never, not once, have I ever been able to get my fingers enough into that skin to peel it. Oranges are a tough fruit. They’d have to be to get all the way here from wherever they’re from.

I turned the orange in my hands, peeling at the little purple and white sticker with my fingers, looking for a clue. Where did you come from, Super Orange? I read the sticker-- Florida. Whoa. All the way from Florida, straight into my hands. I cradled it like a small globe, a magical orb.

I felt like the Greek Titan, Atlas, with the whole world in my hands. China, Russia, South America, I was holding them all up. Now if only I could break into the world. I ran my fingernail across the orange again, trying to slice the skin. Nothing. It had an awfully strong atmosphere. 

How did it even get over here? In a truck, I presumed. But what about before that? Who picked it? I looked at the Florida sticker on it again, looking for any indication of who picked it like certain clothing and purses often said who inspected it. I sighed when I didn’t see any “Picker #351” written on the sticker. All I saw was a regular orange with nothing interesting about it at all from far away.

It was weird how cool something could look up close and how plain it could look from far away. I started to wonder what I could do to make it look cooler as I held it now far from my face-- that’s it! A face. Kind of the annoying orange in a video Toby once showed me on the Internet. I giggled, remembering back to that day.

“Hey, Apple! Apple, hey apple!” I recited the lines, trying my best at imitating the voice of ‘The Annoying Orange’.

I saw a boy walk by me in the hall looking at me funny but I ignored it. This wasn’t his turf after all. My friends and I had been sitting in this spot in the hall for lunch since freshman year. The cafeteria was always way too crowded and besides, it was nicer being away from everyone else. By now, in our senior year, this was our spot.

“Hey Apple!” I repeated once more. I looked at the orange with a slight grin on my face while ignoring everyone walking by.

All that ignoring ended up not working in my favor, though. Before I knew it, the orange was nearly knocked straight from my hands by someone coming at it suddenly with their own hand, making one long slashing motion.

“Knife!” Toby said excitedly, reciting the next line of the video.

I smiled widely. He set his things down and got comfortable next to me with his back against the lockers.

“Give me that,” Toby said, snatching the orange out of my hand. He smiled at me as he tossed the orange up in the air and caught it a few times. “You know, one of these days you’re going to have to learn how to do this yourself.”

I shook my head, disagreeing with him. “Why should I when I have you around?”

“You won’t if my dad sends me and Benny away to the military like he wants to,” Toby reminded. He used his fingernail to create a small hole in the orange before pulling more of it up. He did it skillfully, if peeling an orange would be considered a skill, and I was envious.