FINDING GOOD COMPANY

" Please ! " Peter said , suddenly very red in the face.

" Don't use that kind of a language in front of Lucy , she's only 15 . " I looked at Lucy , who was quite fascinated by the whole turn of events.

" So what ? I'm 16 " I said to Peter.

" What ? I thought you were 12 or such " , Edmund said , a smile spread across his face. Lucy giggled and Susan tried to hide a smile. Peter shushed them with a glare while I got over my embaressment.

" Anyway , " I said , glaring at Edmund , " My point was that , its pretty common to use such ' abusive ' lanuguage because its what makes you fit in " I told them. Again the thought entered my mind , that if I'm not on Earth anymore .. why am I trying to fit in ?

" That's ridiculous . " Peter said , brushing it off with a wave of his hand. He thought for a moment , then he asked me , " What year are you from , Riva ? ". Edmnd scoffed. I rolled my eyes.

" You're kidding. " I said , a smirk on my face.

" What year are you from ?! " Peter asked again , only this time in a firmer tone.

" Alright , Alright , I'll play along. I'm from 2014 . And let me take a guess , you're from the 1950s " I said in a playful tone.

" The 1940s , actually . " Susan said from behind me .

" But we've only spent around 7 years in Narnia . Is it possible that 70 years have passed on Earth ? " Lucy asked Peter. Peter seemed to be in deep thought. And I , well , I was utterly confused. So I decided to change the subject .

" You guys are siblings ? " I asked them in general.

Peter didn't answer. Edmund did.

" Yes , how'd you guess that ? "

" Mostly because you're not couples and partly because you resemble a bit. " I replied. Susan's face twisted into a weird one. She must have visualized her and Peter as a couple .

" Well, you're one for making weird but correct observations. " Edmund said , smiling at me. I did not return that smile. I don't smile at boys. I don't like boys. The whole idea of romance and flirting stinks to me. And I'm also not the one to lead people on.

" Lucy , you might be right. That's why she's so tiny and outright rude. She's from the future. Well , the future for us anyway. " Peter said pointing at me.

" Hey ! I'm standing right here ! " I said , aghast .

" Sorry , heat of the moment . " Peter murmered . He sure does talk weird.

" Anyways , am I with you or not ? " I asked them.

" Sure . " Peter said. Lucy smiled at me and this time I returned a smile. Peter called all of us forward and discussed what to do. He offered a plan. That we take a good drink of water from the pond and then set off forward . He had this thing in which he carried water . So did the other siblings. He said that If we don't find anything before the water runs out , we'll turn back. We all agreed to this. He asked me if I had anything valuable and I told him I had my IPOD , Cell and my headphones. He just looked at me blanlkly and muttered something about useless inventions of the future at which I rolled my eyes. He , however , did not ask to see them . Edmund asked some questions out of curosity but I brushed him off with answers consisting of only ' Yes' and ' No.' We all took a good drink of water and splashed it on our faces . I was kind of getting used to the darkness around me and could see black hills rising from the horizon. If there was one.

" Wait , I don't have a shirt . I don't think it would protect me from the weather. " Edmund said.

" There is no weather. " I pointed out. It was true. I felt nothing , not cold nor hot. Even the water from the pond had no particular temprature. Everything was raw and real. Atleast it felt real.

" But , I need a shirt . Who knows what's out there. " Edmund muttered , a little uncomfortable now. I sighed. I had to do this , to earn their trust and whatever. I was wearing a sleeve less light purple undershirt. It was approriate wear. But one could see my bra's straps . But that's alright I guess.

" Wait. " I said to Edmund. I went behind a big rock ( Where was this rock when I was trying to hide ? ) and took off my red dress. It only came up to my thighs . So , I ripped off the frills from the bottom and the sleeves. It looked pretty much like a T-shirt now. I adjusted my undershirt. Made sure I had no under-arm hair. ( Hey , its important. ) . And let my hair down so it could cover my shoulders. I should look appropriate. I mean , the skinny jeans were a bit short but OK I guess. I came out from behind the rock and Lucy gasped. Susan and Peter turned red. Edmund just stood there shocked and staring at me. Now , I felt uncomfortable. I walked toward Edmund and handed him the shirt and avoided his gaze. These people weren't probably used to skin exposure. Just look at the way Susan and Lucy are dressed , its a wonder how they can breathe in those tight dresses covering them from shoulders to ankles. I shuddered at the thought. Nobody said anything. So I just decided to start moving along. They quietly followed and I could feel their eyes boring into my back. That was the last straw , I snapped.

" You know , its rude to stare . " I said matter-of-factly . Fancy that coming from me. But after saying that I felt a bit better.

I risked a glance behind me , Susan and Lucy were walking behind me . They were talking in hushed tones but it didn't seem they were talking about me. Peter was walking behind them , staring at Susan and Lucy's feet. Edmund was walking beside Peter. And we made eye-contact but he quickly broke it. he was wearing my red dress/shirt now. Let's just say it looked better on me.

The way ahead of me got steep , it was like we were hiking and it became difficult to climb up.

" Peter , I suppose , you want to lead the way ? " I said after 20 or 30 minutes of silence.

" Yes , yes , I was just going to suggest that . " Peter said quickly . Too quickly. I looked at him suspiciously and waited for the rest of them to catch up. Peter nodded once at me and began walking again. I groaned.

" This is boring ! " I said after a few minutes. Lucy laughed and suggested we play a word game. I was so pathetically bored , I agreed. The object of the game was to make a word from the last letter of the word given.

" I'll start " Lucy said. " Dark " . She looked around and shivered.

" Kitchen " Susan said.

" Noise " Edmund said.

" Elephant . " Peter said smiling and lucy laughed. I wondered what it would've been like if I had a sibling. I could've shared all my problems with him/her and made fun of the Drama queens and attention seekers . And then we would do all sorts of silly sibling stuff . And play pranks on each other. Like in Zack and Cody. It was a chidish but entertaining show. I missed it.

I didn't realize but everybody was staring at me . Again.

" What? " I snapped at them . Probably jealous at that moment.

" Its your turn . " Lucy said. she looked a bit hurt.

" oh. I'm sorry , I didn't realize. " I offered her a smile and she smiled back.

" The word was Elephant . " Edmund told me. I took no notice .

" Umm.. turn ? " I said , smiling at Lucy again. She giggled. It was her turn. She thought for a moment. And then looked at me.

" Naked. " she said really carefully. And then looked around. I started laughing and she joined me , later we were all laughing and holding our stomachs . It all just seemed to break the tension.

" I'm sorry if this unsettles you " I said , guesturing to my outfit. " But its pretty normal back in Twenty-Fourteen. " I told them atlast.

" Its no issue. We over-reacted. " Peter said to me.

" And getting used to it. " Edmund said coming up from behind me , a smirk on his face. " And by the way , thanks for the shirt. "

" No problem. " I said to him and moved towards Lucy and Susan who signalling me to join them. I walked with them behind Peter and Edmund. Lucy occassionally poking Edmund on the back and blaming it on me. But I had to admit, theses people were better than my friends at home. And just for a few moments , I forgot the trouble I was in and enjoyed some good company.