he continued. "You'll like this—watch the colors." He lit another small branch and laid it alongside the first. The flames started to lick quickly up the dry wood. Mike winked at me, and some of the feces on his head dripped onto his cheek.
"It's blue," I said in surprise.
"The salt does it. Pretty, isn't it?" He lit one more piece, placed it where the fire hadn't yet caught, and then came to sit by me. Thankfully, Jess was on his other side. She turned to him and claimed his attention. I watched the strange blue and green flames crackle toward the sky. They say that when you see a blue flame, a supernatural being is thinking of you... I wondered if it was true...
After a half hour of listening to Jess and Mike talk about Blues Traveler, some of the boys wanted to hike to the nearby tidal pools. It was a dilemma! On the one hand, I loved tidal pools. They had fascinated me since I was a child; they were one of the only things that had ever fascinated me in Forks. I loved the way they were full of hidden secrets, and the way they represented entire sufficient ecosystems, and the way there were aminals in them. On the other hand, I'd also fallen into them a lot. Not a big deal when you're seven and with your dad, but now... It reminded me of Fredward's request—that I not fall into the ocean.
Lauren was the one who made my decision for me. Even though she was a lesbian, she didn't want to hike, and she was definitely wearing the wrong shoes for it. Most of the other girls besides Angela and Jessica decided to stay on the beach as well. I waited until Eric and Tyler had committed to remaining with them before I got up quietly to join the hiking team. Mike gave me a huge smile. Heh!
The hike wasn't too long, though I hated to lose the sky in the woods. The green light of the forest was strangely at odds with the adolescent teenage laughter, too murky and ominous to be in harmony with the light banter around me. Everyone around me was so... seventeen. I thought ill of them briefly before remembering my promise to Fredward. I had to watch each step I took, carefully

117

Chapter 6

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