Once Hilda opened the front door, a brisk breeze hits her face. Even with Winter ending soon, it seemed like mother nature had a few more frigid days up her sleeves. She let her appreciation for the weather be known to those in her neighborhood by taking a deep breath through her nose, only to exhale it loudly through her mouth. The cold air was quite refreshing compared to the usual musky town air.
Twig, her young deerfox companion, stepped out to stand beside her, no doubt also appreciating today's forecast. "Such a shame they'll be missing out, huh boy." She let out a small sigh. Twig twitched his nose in what she assumed was agreement.
She was pretty much on her own today. Flu season had finally caught up with David and had to stay home. Frida, being one of the only two people in their class that knew where David lived was given the task of delivering his homework. Hilda offered to go along, but her friend refused, not wanting her to run the risk of getting sick. Frida had said her parents made her get her flu shot early to make sure she didn't miss a single day of school.
As for Alfur and Raven, apparently, they already made plans together. Fieldwork Alfur called it, most likely just an excuse to write another report.
She supposed it wasn't all bad, Twig is with her, and rock collecting isn't an activity that requires more than one person. Though it may be tab more boring.
Ever since she and her mum moved to Trollburg, she had gotten used to being accompanied by her human friends rather than strange creatures trying to stalk her weekly. So being alone had felt familiar yet off at the same time, it was odd.
Twig galloped ahead of her to there destination; The Tidepools. Even with all the debris littering the place, and the scaring memories involving the tide mice, it somehow drew her in. Perhaps it was because it was one of the most natural places in town and yet a very eerie place that made her shiver with adrenalin.
speaking of adrenalin, it felt like it was kicking in. She started racing towards the water with Twig, who had won before she had even begun running.
Once she came to a halt, She took off her boots and socks and rolled up her leggings. It stung when she finally put her feet in the freezing water, but she knew it would be worth catching a cold if she could get some new samples for her collection.
But that didn't seem to be the case today. Even one of the most natural places in town still wasn't natural enough to bare any good rocks.
It just wasn't like the mountains she grew up in. Back there you couldn't walk a few feet without finding a new mineral. Here, all you could find was ragged black stones and garbage; witch just ended up stinging her feet a lot more.
"Perhaps it was for the best that David and Frida didn't come huh?
She frowned and looked down at her now red feet. Twig stopped sniffing the ground and trotted back up to her, and gave her the softest of headbutts on her leg he could manage. It helped put the smile back of her face, so she bent down and gave him a quick scratch behind the antlers.
"Achooo!"
The sudden sneeze startled them both. They quickly turn there heads to the source of the noise, It was coming from the small patch of trees and bushes that separated the shores from a few neighboring houses.
When they saw the leaves on the bushes rustle, Twig was back to being on guard. His tail fluffed up and let out a low growl. Once the figure stepped out, it just made Twig growl even louder.
"Jeez, it's way too cold for March- Hm? Oh no, not you!"
"Trever?" Well, this was... kind of an unwelcome surprise. Hilda did her best not to glare, but that was proving to be more difficult than she thought.
He was one of the first kids she had met when she moved in, he and his gang seemed welcoming and friendly at first, but then she saw how they truly behaved when no parents were around. Their idea of fun had been playing pranks and hurting animals. (One said animal now being your new friend.) And she just couldn't stand and let them do that, she had scolded them and left. She knew it'd be best for her to stay away from kids like them from now on.
But she isn't able to avoid them all the time though. They go to the same school, even share some of the same classes, but luckily they seemed more polite at school, most likely in fear in case a teacher might be watching. It still got on your nerves though.
Trever's expression turned from annoyed to fearful pretty fast. He started shifting his eyes from left to right like he was expecting something to pop out at him. "Um, is your bird around?" He asked.
Oh, right. "No, the raven's not here." Ever since the night of the bird parade, he seems to have gained a fear of birds. And you may or may not have been responsible for his new phobia, on the bright side; the birds must feel a little bit safer sitting in their trees now.
"What are you doing here?" She asked. That seemed to put a stop to his anxious eye movements.
"Uh, my house is right over there." He furrowed his eyebrows and pointed to the back of a small red house behind the trees he just stepped out from. "You're basically in my backyard."
It was her turn to look anxious. "Wait, I'm on private property?" Her mum had warned her about that when she had seen her trying to climb over someone's fence. She could be in big trouble right now.
Trever walks past her. "No, but it's where I like going to be by my self, so go!"
Again she was having trouble controlling her stink eye. "I shouldn't have to leave a public area if I don't want to." She crossed her arms and gave a small pout. Twig sat firmly next to her to help make her case.
Trever is clenching at his fist at this point. "It may not be my property, but I can still get my mum to call the police and get you arrested for loitering."
Hilda wasn't sure if that was really true. So she and her furry friend continued to stand there ground. Not moving an inch.
Trever gave them one more cold stare then turned his back to them. ("Did he give up?") she thought. While waiting to see if he was going to make another snarking remark, she wondered what he was doing.
He walked into the shallow waters, kneeled down and started digging through the small patches of sand. Was he looking for something? Her and Twig gave each other a glance of confusion then back to the boy.
He finally pulled his hand out of the puddle and what he held in it was... a rock?
And he was just studying it. ("Did he have a collection as well?") That's a weird thought, the idea that you and him, having the same interested. Though she supposed it wasn't too hard to believe, during the few hours she spent with him and his goons, he showed that he at least knew a good rock when he saw one.
A small amount of dread ran through her. She thought in horror. ("Was he going to start throwing rocks at HER now?') She was getting in a position to run, but that idea came to a halt.
He got up, walk to the nest large puddle and did the same thing. Over and over. Dig, inspect, repeat. Until he had an arm full of them. She was more confused now than ever. She thought back to the collection theory again, but all the rock he was picking up were kind of similar. They were all gray and flat.
He walks over to a patch of land the stretched out far enough into the bay where the water was deeper and still. She followed behind quietly.
He gripped one of the stones in his hand, throw it. What she saw astounded her. It didn't just drop into the water like she thought it would, it looked like it was jumping. A rock jumping on water! It even left multiple ripple rings, how is that possible? He turned his head, eyes on her dropped jaw and wide eyes for a second before focusing back on his words.
"Your still here? I told you too-" before he could finish his sentence she cut him off. "How did you do that?" she asked. "Uh..." He started to stammer a little, feeling a little uncomfortable with his lack of personal space. "Do what?" He asked, taking a step back. Hilda pointed towards the open bay were the ripples he made were starting to dissolve. "That! That thing with the rock! Is it some type of magic?" She had meant to keep that last question in her head.
His face scrunched up into a very muddled look. "What? No, I'm just skipping stones." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. It definitely wasn't to her. Through all her time in the living in the wilderness, near many lakes and ponds, she hadn't seen anything like that.
Her eyes still filled with curiosity, still waiting for the answers to her other questions. While Trever was just feeling awkward and irritated. "Uhg! It's not magic!" His voice raised a little. "You just pick up a rock a throw!"
Was that it? She had thrown rocks in the water before and they never did that, maybe it 's because the water is different here? She decided to test this out her self. She picked up a rock right next to her feet, threw it as hard as she could and- *PLOOP* Nothing. No skipping, just sinking.
Was Trever just pulling her leg, was it some shtick to make fun of her? She looked back at him too see if he would share such information with her. "You threw the wrong kind of rock." He picked out another one from the pile in his arm and handed it to her. "It needs to be smooth and flat."
Oh! Duh. That's why he had a whole pile of them. Once more she threw her rock and once more the poor thing drowned.
Hilda's frustration was starting to show and Trever tried to hold back a snort of amusement.
"Now you're just throwing it wrong." He sorted through his pile and picks out another. "Like this." She focused as hard as she could on his hand to the point where she tried to fight the urge to blink. Even Twig was doing his best to observe. "You've got to give it a sideways throw; see." The stone flew out above the waters, giving a total of three skips.
"One more time?" She asked holding her hand out. He gave in, giving her one more stone. She held her arm back made sure she was gripping it right this time and threw. It worked! Even though she only managed to make one flimsy skip it worked. "I did it!" Hilda squealed. Trever gave a crooked smile. "I guess, sort of, yeah. Still needs work but it's a start." Even he didn't have the heart to blatantly tell her how sad that throw was.
He decided to give her half his pile so she didn't have to keep reaching over to grab one. For the next 7 minutes, Hilda had made 3 rocks do two skips, 5 make one skip, and 6 sink. While Trever had made 2 make two skips 5 make three and 5 make 4. He was on his last one, this time it made an amazing 6 skips! "Whoa!" Hilda gasped. "I think that was the farthest out of all of them."
He took advantage of the moment to puff out his chest and boast. "Yeah, I'm the only one in school who's able to make six skips." She couldn't help but be impressed. "Really? What about your friends? How many skips are your friends able to make?"
At this, his chest deflated and his shoulders sagged. "They... don't really have a record." His voice starting to dull. She looked at him and saw a small frown on his face. "They're not into stone skipping." He crouch down so she wouldn't be able to see his face, acting like he's trying to find another rock to throw.
Hilda didn't know how to respond to that. Did something happen between him and his gang that involved rock throwing? Should she even get involved with this?
His three friends we're the other first kids she met moving here, along with Trevor. From what she saw, they got along just fine. She was a little worried when she saw them calling each other names and shoving one another at school during lunch.
David had to explain to her that some friends are just like that, some kids just rag on each other for fun. She tried to make herself understand, but a friendship like that was just too alien for her.
Trever gave up and just threw the first stone he saw, and it was the first of his stones that he threw to sink.
Hilda started to feel a little uncomfortable with this long silence they were sharing. Lucky her, Trever broke it for her.
"I'm going back inside." He turned away from her trying to make a brisk place. It left her disappointed. Right when they were actually having fun, she had to make it awkward. She didn't want to leave him on bad terms again, so she called out; "Hey! Can we do this again sometime?"
He stopped on a dime and swung his head around again, his eyes where the widest she's ever seen on a person, the cherry on top was how small his pupils were. She had to keep herself from giggling at his unintentionally funny face. "I want to learn how to do the 6 skips trick." That was the best excuse she could think up, hopefully, he buys it.
He had to swing his head back around again to hide his embarrassment. When she walked closer up to him she heard faint mumbles. "Um, sorry what?" holding up her hand to her ear. He still couldn't face her but he managed to shout; "I said, I guess!" When he got those words out of his mouth, he immediately sprinted back to his house and slammed the back door behind him.
Meanwhile, Hilda was left dumbstruck and a little confused by his spontaneous actions. But those feelings were quickly replaced with joy. He said maybe. She'll have talk to him about it at school she supposed, perhaps he could let Frida and David join too if she asked? She was already planning everything out in her head.
Wait! Is she forgetting something? She looked around and saw her little ball of white fluff curled up sleeping in the sand.
She gave him a gentle shake and Twig slowly open his eyes and yawned.
Come on boy, it's getting a little too cold out here.