"Ponyo!"
She stirred in her sleep, her fiery red hair mangled and tossed around her face. It was coming in long now, almost down to her bottom, and insisted she kept it that way because she liked the way it felt on her shoulders.
"Ponyo! Wake up! It's time for the first day of school!"
She sat up quickly, her deep brown eyes fixated on mine. She rubbed her right eye and yawned, stretching and reaching over to me for a hug.
"Hello Sosuke," she said, letting go. I smiled into her hair.
"C'mon," I helped her up. "We need to eat breakfast quickly and get out of here or we're going to be late."
She sat back down.
"Carry me inside?"
She reached up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I picked her up bridal style into the kitchen where mom was making pancakes and whistling a familiar tune. Ponyo's nightgown got caught on the chair as I placed her at the table, and I struggled to get her to sit.
"Thank's Sosuke," she said, turning to mom.
"Eat up you two!" she said, turning around and placing food on our plates.
We shoved our food down our throats and ran back into our rooms to change. I wore a blue t-shirt with a fish on it and brown shorts to match my shoes. I combed my hair back, because it too had gotten longer, and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
The bathroom only had enough room for really one person, so when I heard Ponyo's footsteps coming closer I turned around to tell her I was already occupying it.
When I turned around I couldn't believe my eyes.
She was wearing a red dress that was fitted at the top but slightly poofed out towards the bottom. The dress wrapped a halter around her neck, and showed more cleavage than I had seen her ever expose. Her sandals were a dark brown like mine, and her hair was up in a sleek, long ponytail with her ruffled bangs on her forehead.
I didn't realize I was staring.
"Uhm, Sosuke? Are you okay?"
I immediately snapped out of it and turned away.
"I'm fine, I was just going to tell you I was in here already."
She smiled.
"That's okay, I'll just grab my toothbrush and brush out here. Do you like my new dress?"
I continued not to look at her.
"Yeah, it's fine," I said, awkwardly walking past her down the hall. "I'll meet you outside."
She watched me walk towards the front and then went straight into the bathroom, shutting the door and freshening up.
I sat down on the front stairs and put my face in my hands, sighing.
What is wrong with me? I asked myself. I have to love her. It's not weird at all that I have feelings for her. What is this?
I dozed off dreaming about Ponyo in her new dress. The sun on her soft shoulders and her curvaceous body and legs…
"Sosuke, you forgot the keys!" said Ponyo walking down the stairs behind me.
I stood up as she handed them to me, getting into the old used car I managed to buy with the mediocre job I had down at the Assisted Living Home with my mother.
I started the car and waited for Ponyo to get in. She shifted in her seat, throwing her book bag in the back and putting on her seatbelt. I pulled out of the driveway in reverse and sped down the hill overlooking the water to our high school.
I still couldn't get Ponyo out of my mind.
