avoiding roots below and branches above, and I soon fell behind. Eventually I broke through the emerald confines of the forest and found the rocky shore again. It was low tide, and a tidal river flowed past us on its way to the sea. Along its pebbled banks, shallow pools that never completely drained were teeming with baby sea life.
I was very cautious not to lean too far over the little ocean ponds. The others were fearless, leaping over the rocks, perching precariously on the precipitous edge. They were so careless. I found a very stable-looking rock on the fringe of one of the largest pools and sat there cautiously, without moving or poking, spellbound by the natural aquarium below me. The bouquets of brilliant anemones undulated ceaselessly in the invisible current and twisted shells, presumably containing a live animals, scurried about the edges, obscuring the green-blue crabs within them, while big purple-gray starfish were stuck motionless to the rocks and each other, intertwined in an embrace which I could only assume was consensual, and one small black eel with white racing stripes wove through the bright green weeds, waiting for the sea to return. I was completely absorbed into the sea, except for one small, disobedient part of my mind that wondered what Fredward was doing now, and trying to imagine what he would be saying if he were here with me beside this tidal pool instead of doing whatever he was doing with that big bison brother of his, Emmett. Would he comment on the crabs? Would he find the starfish to be particularly interesting? Would he admire the anemones? Would he be able to stick a finger into the water without falling into it, like I wished I could?
Finally the boys were hungry, and I got up stiffly to follow them back. I tried to keep up better this time through the woods, so naturally I fell. 'Why can't I walk?' I asked myself from my spot on the ground. Mike ran over to make sure I was alright.
"Are you alright?" he gushed, his eyes gleaming at the sight of me on the ground, possibly needing his assistance.
"I got some shallow scrapes on my palms, and the knees of my jeans were stained green, but it could have been worse," I reflected.
"Oh!" He said, his voice cracking. He was clearly turned on by the mention of my body parts and jeans.
When we got back to the First Beach, the group we'd left behind had multiplied. As we got closer we could see the shiny, straight, long black hair and copper skin of the newcomers; teenage Natives from the reservation come to socialize.

118

Chapter 6

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