Tobias POV
The ferry horn blows loud and clear and the cool evening air nips at my face as I step onto the dock of Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard. As a 20 year-old, I guess I'm a little young to be living on your own in a brand new place, especially when that brand new place is thousands of miles away from your closest family member. But when your 'family member' is like my dad Marcus, then thousands of miles away is a lot safer. Marcus abused me all my life in our little home in Chicago and my mom left us when I was nine; so I decided to drop out of the University of Chicago and move to a vacation island and pray to never see Marcus or Evelyn again. I don't even have a car, my stuff got shipped to the small house I hastily bought a few weeks ago, and I have no idea where it is, only a piece of paper with my address on it. I've got my backpack slung over my shoulder and I feel the soft, cool breeze blow through my jeans and black sweatshirt; I should have dressed a little warmer.
People rush past me while I take in the view of Oak Bluffs and breath in the foreign smell of the ocean. Shops, restraunts, and cafés croud the streets and people walk on the small sidewalks while motorcycles and cars roam the streets. I know that most people come here in the summer, and seeing how it's only early May, there aren't many people here; just the ones who live here year round.
My thoughts interrupted by a sharp pain in my foot and Iook up to see a small teenage girl trying to hold back laughter. She's got her blonde hair in a messy French braid and eyeblack is smudged on her rosy cheeks. Her black Nike sweatshirt is too big for her and I notice her black softball pants and socks that she's wearing over small but muscular legs. She's got a longboard tucked under her arm with a softball backpack on her narrow shoulders, with two bats sticking out from the sides. Her cleats are covered with dirt from a softball field, as are her small, calloused hands. Her eyes are big and are the same color of the ocean behind me; a stormy blue. She smiles a crooked smile, not showing her teeth.
"Sorry! I wasn't watching wear I was going," she says in a voice that doesn't sound the least bit sorry. Her smile turns into curiosity as she looks up at my face.
"Are you lost? You look lost; I know this island like the back of my hand, I can show you around," she says, giving me a small smile. I'm surprised by her offer, considering I'm a complete stranger and she's just a child; well a teenager.
"Yes, actually. I'm looking for this address and I've got no clue where it is," I say to her, a bit sheepishly, handing her the slip of paper with my address. I see her big eyes widen and she looks up at me and smiles a crooked smile.
"This is right next to my house in the village. You actually bought a house in the village? Usually people just stay in those for the summer," she says with curious eyes.
"You live there," I say simply which gets me a dazzling smile from the girl.
"That I do! Come on neighbor, I'll show you around!" She says, and without waiting to see what I say, she turns and starts walking off towards the town, her board still tucked under arm. I sigh a heavy sigh and speed walk to catch up to the small girl.
"So, what's your name? I'm Tris," Tris asks. Back home, everyone called me Four, because that was my football number, but that seems pretty stupid now and no one here will know Marcus anyway.
"Tobias Eaton," I say.
"My parents were friends with an Eaton once," she says thoughtfully, "But I never met them." I just nod.
"How old are you?" I ask curiously.
"I'll be 18 at the end of March, I'm a senior in high school. What about you? You look about 20," she says, as we turn a corner and waves to someone across the street.
"Yeah, I'm 20. Dropped out of college, from Chicago," I say, and I surprise myself, I'm telling a stranger about myself, something I never do. We pass a tall hotel and enter a village of crowded houses and small, narrow streets. All of the houses are narrow and old looking, most are colorful and truly look like gingerbread houses. I follow Tris as we walk further into the large village of colorful houses and pass a park area with a large Cathedrial. Finally, we reach one of the smaller houses and Tris stops. I look up at the house. It's white and navy blue with a small porch and a rocking chair with boxes piled up.
"Here you go, home sweet home," Tris says brightly. "Let me change and Caleb and I can comeover and help you unpack." Before I can deny her help or ask who Caleb is she runs to the house next door and enters the tall, narrow, gray and light green house, slamming the wooden door behind her. I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my dark hair and, for reasons I wasn't sure of, I smiled, before unlocking the front door with the key that I was sent last week and walking into the house. I explore the house a little and find a small kitchen and a living room with large windows, a small couch, small T.V. and circular coffee table. There's a tiny bathroom next to the kitchen and I notice an outdoor shower as I look out the small window. The upstairs has two bedrooms, both with a bed, a night stand, and a dresser. There's a bathroom with shower, a bathtub and a large mirror. The person I bought this house from left all their furniture becaus they rented it out during the summer and didn't have a use for it once they sold the house so they just left it for me. I then hear the opening and slamming of the front door then a voice I don't recognize.
"Beatrice, you can't just barge into a stranger's home without at least knocking on the door," says an agitated, male voice. Who's Beatrice?
"He isn't a stranger, Caleb. And besides, he's our neighbor and I'm not barging in. I knocked, he just didn't answer," I hear Tris, or Beatrice, say. And with that I walk down the stairs to see Tris in sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt, barefoot, moving boxes from the porch to my living room, humming an Imagine Dragons song. Her dirty blonde hair is tied in a messy bun and her cheeks are rosy from where the eyeblack was. I then see a tall boy with light brown hair and green eyes who looks to be a little older than me come in holding one of the bigger boxes into the house, he must be Tris' brother, the one she called Caleb. I just kind of stand there, shocked that a girl I met a half hour ago and her brother are walking in and out of my house, helping me move in like they've known me for years.
"Tobias," Tris says as she sets down the last box and starts to open it with a red pocket knife she pulled out of her pocket, "Considering the fact this your stuff, it'd be nice of you to help unpack and tell us where you want it to go."
"Oh right, sorry," I say walking over and grabbing a box filled with books and start to stack them on the bookcase near by. Tris takes a box of bed sheets and a comforter and heads upstairs to make the bed. Caleb and I are left in awkward silence.
"So Tobias, you need a job?" Caleb says as he opens a box of clothes and sets it aside.
"Yeah, I do actually. I've got a small amount of money from my last job in Chicago but it won't last forever," I say sitting down on the couch. I don't have many possessions or personal items, just clothes and books, so we've already finished unpacking.
"I own a restaurant on Circuit Ave that Beatrice and all her friends work at, it used to be my parents' place before they passed a couple years back, but there's a job opening and you're gonna need the money, the island's expensive, so would you like a job?" Caleb asks and holds out his hand.
"I would love one, thank you so much," I say and shake his hand with a grin. Just then, Tris comes back down the narrow steps, jumping to the floor from the third step up, and smiles a crooked smile.
"Did he give you the job?" She asks as she sets the now empty box with the other empty ones and leans against the wall.
"He did," I say, giving a Caleb a raised eyebrow. He just shrugs. "She knew you would need the money and that we needed the extra help around the restaurant. You start tomorrow at 11:30, Bea'll show you the ropes," He says with a smile. With that they bid me a friendly fairwell and walk over to their house and I watch them from the window. Caleb ruffles Tris' hair and she elbows him in the ribs. They start pushing and shoving each other until they reach the front steps of there porch. Tris runs inside and comes back a few seconds later with flip flops on and tosses Caleb a wallet and tye start to walk towards town, most likely to find something to eat.
Not feeling very hungry and being too tired to do anything else, I head upstairs and into the bedroom that Tris made the bed and collapse into the white sheets and soft, black quilt. I strip of my clothes, leaving my self only in mid-calf socks and boxers and close my eyes. It's only a few minutes of listening to the new sounds of Oak Bluffs before sleep takes me.