Zinc 01 - Altors, page 2
part #1 of Zinc Series
Laying flat on my back against the concrete, I stared up at the sky with hooded eyes, feeling a bit sleepy as it couldn't get more peaceful than Edge. The sound of waves crashing into one another was surrounding us, and the clouds changed colors as the sun made space for the moon to rise. It wasn't cold because it never got cold in LV.
Solenum was lying next to me, one leg crossed over the other, bouncing it up and down because she could never sit still. She didn't mind sitting at Edge for hours, though she had to move some part of her body because she couldn't seem to help herself. She was very impatient, especially in school. Acacia said that was just because we were fifteen. Maybe it was. Solenum had been so reserved and bordering on skittish when I'd met her, I had no idea if she had turned into her regular self again or if she'd just changed completely from who she was before.
I tilted my head to the side, pulled out of my thoughts at the sound of her light chuckle. She was probably just thinking of something amusing, making me smile in turn as she hadn't always smiled and laughed this easily. Although Sol had allowed me into her life that day on Edge, she hadn't just become happy all of a sudden. It had taken a lot of work and imagination on my part. At first I had tried to make her tell me about her parents, but I soon came to realize that pushing resulted to nothing at all. She'd simply close up again, removing whatever progress I'd managed to install within our friendship. I'd resorted to pranks instead.
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"Shhh, keep quiet or else he'll hear!" I whispered harshly as I pushed Solenum behind the kitchen door, before squeezing myself in beside her.
"Won't he get angry?" She whispered, her eyes huge with worry as she tugged onto my sleeve, trying to get my attention. I shook my head at her with a grin, pulling my arm free from her hold as I pressed a finger against my lips. My calculations had been correct. Lupinus got home at five after six in the evening. He would walk over to Acacia who was making dinner for all of us 'lost kids' and give her a kiss. He would then follow that up with the announcement of needing a shower, and then he’d walk through the door Sol and I were hiding behind. This was it.
I turned my head in Solenum's direction, and while her eyes were still wide, I could see a small smile trying to worm its way onto her lips, excitement clear in her eyes as Lupinus' footsteps came closer and closer. I showed three fingers, mutely signing a countdown. When I was down to my last finger, she and I jumped out from behind the door, roaring out loudly as Lupinus walked into the hallway. He jumped in fright, turning around mighty fast as we both burst out laughing at the surprise on his face. I was in tears as I clutched my stomach, Solenum already sitting on the floor as she pointed at his face, her giggles filling the boarding house.
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We'd been ten years old then and my pranks became more creative the older we got. Or I liked to think so anyway. We’d ring doorbells and then run off. Moved all of Acacia’s tools in the kitchen around in hopes she might think she’d gone crazy for a split second. Of course she’d instantly known it had been us. But it’s when we’d switched sugar and salt that she’d scolded us pretty badly. Her morning coffee with a teaspoon of sugar was relatively sacred. She’d not been our target of that particular prank. While we'd ended up standing in our own kitchen corners for an hour so we could think about the wrong we had committed, Solenum and I had been too pleased with Brass’ reaction when he’d put salt on his cereal to really mind.
"What’s so funny?" Solenum asked curiously, interrupting my thoughts.
I looked at her, smirking, "Remember the salt and sugar switch?"
"That was a beautiful day. The punishment, while annoying, was totally worth it considering Brass' face."
I snorted at that, "Even when he chased us through town, shouting he'd kill us when he’d catch us?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Lupinus wouldn't have allowed it."
I shook my head in amusement. "Obviously. More so because you're his lover!" I joked, rolling away laughing, as she tried to smack me.
"Am not! He's old enough to be my dad!" She sounded outraged and completely disgusted, making me laugh even harder. It’s not just that he was old enough to be her father, it’s also that while biologically he wasn’t, they truly were as tight as a dad and daughter might be. Brass was jealous of the relationship she had with Lupinus, leading to some unfortunate teasing.
~~~~~~~~
"Solenum and Lupinus, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Brass and his stupid little follower sing songed through the boarding house's courtyard. I scowled at him as I wrapped an arm around Sol, squeezing her shoulder in sympathy as I saw she was on the verge of tears.
"Solenum and Lupinus, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" They repeated, shoving me and trying to rile me up as well.
Acacia came out of the kitchen before I could throw in a punch, pushing Sol and myself behind her as she looked at Brass.
"You better tell me right now whether that is true, because if it is, I will have to confront Mister Jacoby and tell him that although I love him very much, I don't forgive cheating. I will have to leave him. And when that happens you won't get Spaghetti Bolognese on Wednesday evenings anymore, no.” She shook her head. “You will be eating Lupinus' undercooked and watery macaroni instead." Acacia paused for dramatic effect before she added in a soft and haunting whisper, "Forever..."
This led the boarding house bully to clear his throat uncomfortably.
"Yeah. Okay. I'll stop." He muttered, glaring in our direction as Solenum and I grinned, feeling safe behind Acacia.
~~~~~~~~
We were both laughing at the memory when we heard Acacia shout for us from down the street, killing the amusement.
"Solenum Everhart, Calycanthus Esquivel! Get back here right now!" I grimaced as her voice echoed through the street, always managing to reach our ears at Edge. A second voice began scolding me shortly after the echo died out.
“Cali!” Sol shoved me. “You have got to stop setting the foster documents on fire! Our punishment is no dinner 'cause of that.” She grabbed her belly, looking at me wide eyed. “Can you hear my stomach, Cali?! Can you?!” I rolled my eyes as she whined dramatically at my side.
What was so funny about her huge appetite, besides the fact that she probably ate more than most boys in the boarding house, was that she was a bit on the skinny side. Kind of like a wooden plank as she had no curves; although she did have plenty of muscle, so she wasn’t delicate or fragile. The only real feminine thing about her was the way she tied her hair into two little pony tails, letting them dangle behind her ears. Otherwise she wore boys clothes and recently I had to stop her from using my deodorant. I had assured her that the flowery smell girl deodorants had, weren’t overwhelming enough to be able to smell them off a person. Still, she’d wrinkled her nose which made me laugh because it was tipped in that direction naturally; as though someone had pressed their finger against the end of it.
She also had very full heart-shaped lips, the pink tint to them managing to bring out the auburn locks in her hair that twined with the midnight black. She had these huge eyes that sort of reminded me of a fish staring at you from its aquarium, most likely wondering why you were keeping them in such a tiny space with transparent walls. They were a warm yellow with tiny specks of gold flickering and mixing through them to outline her pupil; they matched her skin tone really well. It was a matte, darker than my own, but definitely lighter than the Jacoby's. They were like a dark chocolate, while Solenum was more like milk chocolate and I was just caramel colored, I guess.
"Alright, lets get moving. Acacia will kill us if we take too long." She mumbled. Once we were both standing, we simultaneously wiped the dirt off our clothes, and it didn’t take her long to start running off Edge to get to the boarding house.
I skipped forward to keep up with her, laughing. "She's a florist. She’s harmless." Acacia had a small flower shop in town; it was open during the time all the kids were off to school.
"Yes, well,” I saw Sol shrug. “wait till she finds the flower you're allergic to." She nodded pointedly my way, making me snort in amusement and swing my arm over her shoulders.
As we entered the courtyard we could see our roommates, Holly Winfrey and Delph Riddle, playing a game of cards, sitting on top of the picnic table, because using the bench was said to be uncool.
Delph looked up from his set of cards, grinning at us wickedly.
"Did you burn shit again?" Delph was just a bit taller than me, which wasn't really hard to do because I was quite short. Solenum and Holly were actually taller than the both of us. He had jet black hair, very similar to my own, and you could tell he rarely brushed it as there were large knots settled at the base of his neck. Acacia tried to run a comb through it from time to time to no avail. Those mornings sucked. Delph could belt out notes I'm not sure were supposed to be possible for a dude. Anyway, he had a skater look about him, always wearing the baggiest clothes available.
Sol says he has the cutest and most pinch-able cheeks she'd ever seen. He had light grey eyes that were always hooded and red ringed nowadays. I knew he smoked herbs behind the high school's gym with Helix Peterman, a neighborhood friend. I'd tried once, but I didn't like the sudden lack of control it had given me, so I never joined them in their little after school sessions again.
I offered him a nonchalant nod.
Turning his head back to his card buddy, he said, “Pay up, Blondie.” Holly handed him her last candy bar, shooting a glare in my direction. She was a pretty girl, tall and with a set of bright blue eyes. Her cheeks were covered with freckles and although her smile beamed sunshine, she didn't use that tool to her advantage often. She preferred to glare and scold; definitely a bitch, a lovable one though. It’s when I was about to point out to Holly that Delph was shamelessly cheating by leaning over to check out her cards, that Acacia made her presence known by throwing the kitchen door open.
"Now!" She barked, staring myself and Sol down hard as we obediently followed her.
"Don't forget practice tomorrow!" Delph yelled after us. "We are finally old enough to enter The Ring tournament and I need you two on my team!"
"Wouldn't miss it!" Solenum shot back over her shoulder. Delph, Holly and Helix were probably our only friends. We knew others, but yeah...they were our only friends.
~~~~~~~~
"I'm calling a conference." Delph said sternly, hitching up his pants as he marched up the stairs to go back to our room, leaving me, Sol and Holly staring after him in surprise. The conferences didn't happen often. The first one had occurred when Delph had been beaten to a pulp by Brass. Delph had taunted him of course, but still, Brass shouldn't have done that. Now every time we needed to discuss something important, we would call a conference and assemble in one of our bedrooms, talk the subject over and make a decision together.
We left the living area to follow him upstairs, entering my room with worried faces as we sat down on the ground while Delph paced the floor.
"How old are we?" He asked. Of course he knew, but he probably just wanted to make a point.
“Twelve." Holly answered uncertainly, giving Sol a funny look, who shrugged because she had no idea what Delph was getting at either.
He stopped pacing and then turned to face us, giving a firm nod at Holly's answer.
"Yes, we are. I might as well have been born in this place, much like Holly. You guys came here when you were ten." He paused and then nibbled onto his bottom lip, looking shy all of a sudden. "We're great friends, right?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Of course we are. What's wrong?"
"I've kept this a secret for so long." He shook his head in a form of defeat. "I don't know if I can tell you now."
Sol kicked his foot to get his attention. "You can tell us anything." She assured with a smile, and Holly and I nodded in agreement. Delph looked up from the ground, glancing at each of us intently before taking a deep breath. I had no idea what he was going to reveal, but obviously it was big.
"We promise not to laugh." I offered.
He nodded, sighing as he fiddled nervously with his sweater sleeves. "I don't know how to ride a bike." He muttered, blushing a furious red.
"Err. Neither do I." I confessed, looking over at Sol who shook her head.
"We don't really need to know how." Holly pointed out. "We can walk everywhere in LV." That was true, but up until this point I had never thought it over and believed it to be weird.
"Lupinus can teach us." Solenum suggested.
"So, you'll learn with me?" Delph asked hopefully.
~~~~~~~~
If my life had been a bit simpler, I probably would have been the best of friends with Delph instead of Solenum. But that was not the case; there were many things that made us different. Different enough to not understand each other at times. Solenum understood those things all too well and shared the same complications I did. It mattered.
~~~~~~~~
Delph pushed me off the bike, making me fall down onto the ground.
"You lied to me!" He shouted angrily. I checked my palms and knees to see if I'd scraped them.
"I didn't know."
Delph scoffed. "How could you not know you already learned how to ride a bike? Why didn't you just tell me?! I was embarrassed enough as it was; you didn't need to take advantage of it and then show off!" He grimaced. "I can't believe you'd do that. Lucky I'm smart and figured you out. Nobody can learn to ride a bike that fast." He kicked the bike we'd all been using for emphasis. I narrowed my eyes, needing to swallow the lump in my throat in hopes that would stop me from crying.
"I didn't know!" I screamed out in frustration and then stomped off in the boarding house's direction, knowing that if I didn't walk away, this would end up with a broken nose on Delph's part.
"He doesn't remember, Delph." I heard Sol explain. "He doesn't remember anything from before he came here."
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The boarding house was made out of dark wood with small straw eaves sticking out. Flowers were hung from each window railing, giving the house a very welcoming look. The courtyard was rather plain, a couple of picnic tables in every corner and the occasional large flower pot Acacia had put there for decoration. Inside the boarding house there were two large areas on the first floor beside the kitchen. The dinning area was a room with a ton of plastic chairs and tables for all the 'lost kids' to sit at. The second room was a living area with couches around a coffee table where we could play cards and board games.
The second floor had all the bedrooms and one big bathroom with small square showers along the wall with sinks opposite of the showers with a large mirror hanging over it. Acacia had made strict rules and Lupinus was always present in the hallway during the times we got up and went to bed. Boys showered in the morning while girls showered in the evening.
The Jacoby’s were young for the job they were doing.
Among all the 'lost kids', as we named ourselves, there was a lot of competition. Sol and I got along with everyone, except Brass and his friends. Yet, we all had one thing in common; Acacia and Lupinus. If anyone dared blacken their reputation, Sol and I would happily fight alongside Brass and his gang to make sure it stayed as white and pristine as it should be. Luckily, that occasion had never taken place.
Pulled back into the present, I saw Acacia in the doorway, her foot impatiently tapping on the floor.
She was a curvy woman, shaped like an hourglass, thirty-six years old with pitch black curly hair that shaped an afro sort of bob on top her head. It was decorated with a colorful flower printed scarf settled neatly against the edge of her hair line and the long skirts she wore matched it in print. She had dark chocolate colored skin with a wide and full mouth, high cheek bones, a round nose and dark grey eyes. Her face screamed comfort and care; her entire demeanor was very motherly. Not right now though, as she was scowling at me and Sol.
"Solenum didn't do anything." I said. It was true. Out of all the lost kids, she was probably the one that attracted the least amount of trouble.
Acacia gestured for us to get in. Both dropping our heads, we made our way in to stand before the fridge, as we always did when getting yelled at.
"She may not have helped start the fire, but neither did she stop you." I sneaked a glance at Sol from under my lashes and snorted as I saw her smirk.
"Wipe those grins of your faces! That is the thirty-second couple you've scared away in five years, Cali!" Solenum cleared her throat delicately, about to cut in, but Acacia didn't let her. "And you! What am I supposed to do with you? The dreaded Sundays arrive and with it apparently a fresh batch of teenage hormones, as you return to your mute state whenever faced by foster parents. Worse, now you pretend to be deaf, too." Our guardian sighed, rubbing her face in her hands. I did feel guilty as I saw her so upset. But, I'd chase the foster parents away again and again if it meant I could stay with Sol.
I felt my best friend grasp my hand and squeeze, leading Acacia to smile and step closer so she could cup our faces.
"I know you kids don't want to be separated." Her voice sounded soft now. "And if I could, you know I would find a way to keep you together forever." I knew what she'd say next, she'd tell us that there were many ways we could keep in contact, or that if we were lucky, we may end up in foster homes close to one another.
"You don't understand!" Sol cut in. "We don't need parental figures!" Acacia found this highly amusing, but it didn't stop Sol. "All we need is each other."
"Solenum is my family." I murmured.
"Without Cali, I'm not whole." My best friend added. A grunt was heard from the kitchen doorway, making us all turn to look in that direction.
"I'm all for friendship, kids, but stop settings things on fire to get your way, Cali. It gives my missus premature white hairs." Lupinus walked over to Acacia and wrapped his arms around her waist. Much like his wife, Lupinus had dark colored skin, black hair that was tightly braided against his scalp. Deep grey eyes, so dark, they looked almost black. He was tall with impressively broad shoulders, definitely not lacking muscles. Lupinus worked in the town's only garage. His hands were usually stained with some kind of motor oil and he frequently smelled like the product you put into the car to clean the windshields. He always wore the same dark blue overalls, the ends shoved haphazardly into a pair of black combat boots.
