Like A Boy
Chapter 1 Where am I?
I was doing what I usually did after school, going to the pool for a swim. There was nothing different about it. The bus would take me to the Y and I would swim for a few hours. Nothing wrong with that. Lots of kids went to the pool after school. Especially if their parents are away on yet another five year business trip and it is hundred something degrees outside.
I continued to stare out the window of the bus and watched people walking wishing they had bus fair. I could hear some girls giggling in the back of the bus. The flash of a phone camera caught my attention and I turned around. They began to giggle again when they caught my eye. I smiled, waved and turned around.
Kami-sama, why did you have to torture me so? Why did you have to make me look like a boy? I was sixteen, short brown hair that I had decided to dye blue and eyes that weren't exactly the same color all the time. My black wire glasses were even meant for guys.
My friends say I look cute in dresses and skirts but they make me feel so uncomfortable. I felt almost sick wearing them. So I stuck with my camo-cargo shorts and big t-shirts. I wore high-top converse but if it wasn't for the no shoes, no shirt, no service gig, I would rarely ever wear them.
Yeah, I was also stuck in Sin City California. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I mean Los Angeles. My parents were a famous actor and director. They also happen to hate making scenes so when they need a different setting, they go find it. Even if it is in Africa.
That means I'm usually stuck at home. They had wanted me to be a famous 'child actress' but I had clearly said no. I would rather not have the paparazzi at my door and watching me take a shower. It's hard enough with them following those two.
Though I still had to deal with it. Luckily for me, I know the manager of the Y I always go to and they said that if the paparazzi even step foot on Y property, that they will have the cops stalking them instead. I got off the bus and walked into the large building.
The indoor pool made the room smell like chlorine, but it wasn't that bad. You get used to it after a while. I went into the girl's locker room. This had freaked out a lot of people at first. I had to prove I was a girl which was really disturbing. I had gotten smacked quite a bit as well.
I put on my bathing suit which was boy's trunks and a t-shirt. I kept my bag with me and had my towel on my shoulders. I went to my usual seat and quickly did some stretches before jumping in.
Swimming was something that always made me happy. It felt good being in the water. A lot of people said it was restricting being under the water, that there was a lot of resistance and that you couldn't get far, but if you learn how to swim right, it was like swimming in air.
I went to the bottom and turned on my back. The water was clear and I could see people swimming over me. Some would wave and I would wave back. I didn't know them personally; it was just to be polite. I came up to the surface for air and looked at the others swimming.
Most were here with their kids or just by themselves. I swam to the edge and grabbed my towel. I moved my goggles to my forehead and dried my hands. I had reached for my waterproof bag to look for something to eat when I began to hear screaming.
I don't know what made me do it, but I pushed my towel into my bag and closed it. The water around me began to turn. I didn't try and get out. I simply let the water pull me under. It felt somewhat nice. Almost like the water jets in the lazy lagoon. Just gently pushing you through the canal of water.
I looked at the people who watched me go under. A small smile came on my lips as I went under. I hadn't gotten in a breath of air and my bag was the only thing allowing me to float. I felt the rush of the water going pass me and soon I blacked out.
I saw nothing. I could feel the water on my skin, but I couldn't see anything. No, I could see black. So I could see something but it was dark. Someone was shaking me. There was pressure on my stomach. It kinda hurt. Someone said something. Another person said something but it was louder. Like a yell almost.
I felt something hitting me in the head. That was my head right? Another yell and something even more painful. It hurt. It hurt a lot. It was too much pain.
"THAT HURTS!"
My fist contacted with something. Something hard but defiantly alive. Whatever it was wasn't where it used to be. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was sitting on a wooden floor. The Y didn't have a wooden floor except on the patio. Wasn't I inside? This should be cement if I was saved. I looked at the crowd around me. They defiantly weren't from the Y.
"Damn, that actually hurt." I looked at someone who had come out of a hole in the wall. It was directly in front of me. Did I really hit him that hard?
The man looked at me. He wasn't wearing a shirt and had on an orange cowboy hat. He looked so familiar. "You know for a scrawny boy, you can punch." He said putting his hand out. I took it and let him help me up.
"Girl." I corrected looking at him. He had a, well I guess it could be called a 'huh' expression, but it is kinda hard to tell.
"I'm not a boy, I'm a girl. Always have been and always will be." I said picking up my bag. I opened it up and made sure nothing was wet. "Where am I?" it took me a while to remember that I wasn't in the Y.
"The Grandline." I looked at the man who said it. He was old, and rather large. Defiantly not the size of a normal human. I guess you could say he was the size of a giant. It was hard to tell for I had never seen a giant. He set down his barrel of smelled like rum.
"You fell down into the ocean from the sky." He nodded his head up. I looked up and noticed a cloud in the shape of a funnel. Almost like a whirlpool but a bit different.
"So that's how I got sucked out of the pool." I said without thinking. The one in the cowboy hat cocked his head to the side.
"There's a pool up there? Does that mean you came from a sky island?" he asked with a grin. I looked at him with a frown.
"I don't think I even came from this world." I said honestly. I wasn't sure what to do. The moment he said Sky Island, I knew exactly where I was. What I didn't know, was why I couldn't remember anything about the place.
"What do you mean not from this world? Isn't this the only world there is?" another said walking up to me. He was slightly tanned with sandy blonde hair.
"Uh, well I was swimming in a pool, got somehow sucked into a whirlpool and fell out of a cloud onto a ship in an ocean that doesn't exist where I am from." I said crossing my arms and looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "I think that is the definition of going to a different world."
"Heh, he's got spunk." The one in the cowboy hat said. I rammed my elbow into his gut and he keeled over holding it.
"I told you I'm a girl." I said looking down at him. I then noticed that the circle around me was gone. Everyone else had other things to do. The only ones watching me were the blonde, the black haired man holding his gut and the rather large what I hoped was human man.
"What's your name, gaki?" the larger man said looking down at me. I puffed my cheeks at being called a brat but stopped. When he asked for my name, I couldn't remember anything.
"I can't remember." I said becoming depressed. It was stupid, I know it was, but for some reason I couldn't even remember my own name. I could remember what my family did, where I had been, what I thought about my life, but I couldn't even remember my name.
The blond raised an eyebrow at this and looked at me. "That's pathetic." The black haired one said looking up at me. I looked down and stepped on his back making him go flat on the deck.
"Shut up." I said looking at him. The blonde watched as the black haired man stood up glared at me.
"Would you stop hitting me!" the black haired man said glaring at me. "You stupid boy!"
"I told you to stop calling me a boy!" I said hitting him again. He put a hand to his stomach and then slammed his forehead to mine. I glared up at him. He was taller than me by six inches.
"You can't even remember your name, yet you know your gender." He said pushing down. I pushed up.
"Of course I know my gender; I can remember pretty much everything about my life. I just can't remember my name." I said continuing my glare.
I heard the blond chuckle and say something about the air being colder. "I think they like each other." the man said to the one in the chair.
"Like hell!" we said at the same time.