Note: The reason I say just the South is because I don't want to specifically say what state I come from. Thank you.
Lilo blinked in confusion. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?" she asked.
I held the letters out. "I'm your pen pal from the South!" I said.
She examined me carefully, and recognized me from the pictures I had sent. "You ARE Jessica!" she cried. I stooped down, and we hugged like we had been friends forever. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"My family had to move here because of my dad's job," I replied.
"That's great! Come on inside!" Lilo offered, gesturing towards the living room.
"Lilo, who's at the door?" a voice called. A young woman walked in. She had the same skin, hair, and eyes as Lilo, though much older. Early twenties, perhaps. That must be Nani, I thought.
"Nani, this is my pen pal, Jessica!" Lilo introduced. "Her family just moved here." Nani smiled and we shook hands.
"Aloha! Lilo has been talking so much about you. Make yourself at home!" She turned towards the kitchen. "I just baked some-STITCH!" Lilo and I rushed in, only to see Stitch devouring an entire tray of coconut macaroons, followed by an ear-splitting burp.
"Pardon our…mischievous little dog," Nani said, trying not to grimace. I had to laugh.
"So this is the famous Stitch you've told me about, huh?" I asked Lilo.
"Yep!" she answered happily. "He's the greatest dog in the world!" Stitch at that time realized there was company. He hopped down from the counter, sat in a dog-like position, and wagged his stubby blue tail.
"Bark! Bark!" he cried.
"He's cute, too!" I added, and pet his head.
Nani began to scrub the tray in the sink and said casually, "You know, for someone from the South, Jessica, I was expecting you to have an accent."
I shrugged. "My family has it, but I talk out of it, so to speak." I added jokingly, "I feel like I'm the only one who tries not to use 'ain't' in my family." But then I thought how that sounded, and it sounded like my family were hillbillies. I said quickly, "Not that they're uneducated, but they just don't think about it, you know?"
Nani smiled. "I know what you mean."
"THERE'S our little pride and joy!" a high-pitched voice rang out.
"Oh no…" Nani groaned. Suddenly Lilo was scooped into the skinny arms of who I assumed was Aunt Pleakley. She had short black hair, a sunhat (who wears a sunhat on the inside?), a blue muumuu with green leaf print, and white heels. She had what must've been a pound of blush on her cheeks and lipstick so bright you'd need sunglasses to look at it.
Aunt Pleakley hugged Lilo so tightly I thought Lilo's eyeballs would pop out any minute. "Aunt Pleakley…please!" she gasped. "My pen pal is here!" Aunt Pleakley finally let go.
"Oh! Is this the marvelous Jessica we've been hearing about these past weeks?" She turned to me and held out one of her noodle-like hands, which was draped with three different bracelets. "Auntie Pleakley. Enchante." She didn't seriously expect me to kiss it, did she?
Instead I just shook it. "Charmed, I'm sure," I said, trying to sound as sophisticated.
"Uncle Jumba!" Aunt Pleakley called. "Hurry! We have a guest!"
Nani must've known something I didn't, because she said, "Umm…I think there's something in the dryer I forgot!" She escaped to the laundry room just as a very large man hurried into the kitchen.
"Wha-where are they?" he asked. He was wearing sunglasses that weren't pushed up all the way on his eyes, a yellow Hawaiian shirt that could've been used as a curtain, a small tan hat, and he had a small red bit of a mustache situated between his nose and mouth.
"Right here, darling!" said Aunt Pleakley, pointing towards me. "This is the Jessica whom Lilo's been writing to! She seems simply fascinating!" I had to blush. I am a modest, shy person, and I get uncomfortable with praise sometimes.
Uncle Jumba smiled at me and stuck out his hand. "How do you do?"
"Just fine," I responded. But when I stuck mine out, I couldn't help but notice the proportions. Uncle Jumba's hand was twice as big as mine. When we did shake hands, I kept thinking, OH, SWEET MERCY! It was like shaking hands with a gorilla, and I thought my hand was being crushed.
"So, Jessica, how long will you be staying here on our humble little island?" asked Aunt Pleakley as she poured some lemonade.
"For a long time, I'm assuming," I replied. "This is my new home now."
"Oh, splendid!" she gushed. "You and our little Lilo will make the best of friends!"
"Indeed!" added Uncle Jumba. "Little Girl-I mean, Lilo-is very effusive, sociable, and exuberant girl."
"Uncle Jumba, use words we can all understand," Aunt Pleakley suggested.
"It's okay," I laughed. "I know what he means." I could tell right away Uncle Jumba was an intellectual person, and Aunt Pleakley was…well, at least she's nice… Then I remembered what I'd told my mom. "Oops! I just remembered I had to call my mother when I got here. Excuse me…" I took my cell phone out of my pocket and sat down on the couch in the living room. I went to speed dial, and called my mother's cell phone since I hadn't punched in our new number yet.
"Hello?" she said on the other line.
"Hi Mom, it's me," I said. "I'm at Lilo's, and I've already met her family. They are really interesting."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that, sweetie," she said. "You two should get together some time." She didn't have to tell me twice. Being friends with this girl was my first priority. "Can you be home by five?" Mom asked.
"Sure," I replied.
"Okay, I love you, honey. Bye!"
"Bye, Mom." We hung up, and I joined the others back in the kitchen.
"Would you like to join me on my scrapbook tour?" Lilo asked me.
"What's that?"
"My album needs to be filled again, so we need to take pictures around the island!" Lilo explained.
"Awesome! Let's go! I don't have to be home until five."
So Lilo, Stitch, and I headed out the door for our first fun time together. We snapped tons of pictures, but something interesting happened. We had stopped by Lilo's school and snapped some photos, when I noticed four girls the same age as Lilo coming down the street. One of them had red hair and big glasses, and appeared to be the leader. She smirked at Lilo and gestured towards her to the rest of her posse.
"Hey Weirdlo!" she teased. "What-" But then she stopped when she saw me.
"What do you want, Myrtle?" Lilo sighed. Myrtle? Lilo had written that's the girl who made fun of her all the time. I do not care for bullying, so Stitch and I put our guards up to protect Lilo.
"Umm…I, uh…who's your friend?" Myrtle asked timidly.
Lilo glanced at me, then smiled. "This is my pen pal, Jessica. She just moved here, and we're going to be great friends!" I think Myrtle was noticing how much taller (and older) I was compared to her and her friends. She was probably afraid I would beat her up for making fun of Lilo.
"Oh, well…cool! W-we better be leaving. Right, girls?"
"Right!" they said in unison. They walked away very quickly. When they were out of earshot, Lilo and I died laughing.
"Myrtle is terrified of you!" she said happily.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm sure she won't bother you any time soon!" We finished our scrapbook tour, and just as I was about to turn back to go home, the ground shook. "What's that?" I shouted. "An earthquake?" But the shaking seemed to be coming from someone's gigantic footsteps. All of a sudden, a HUGE shark-like creature with a glass container on his back and a gun in his hand burst from the trees!
"Oh my gosh!" I cried. "It's a monster!"
"Oh no, not Gantu…" Lilo groaned to herself.
"Gan-WHO?" I asked.
"Umm…it's no one important," Lilo said quickly. "You might want to go home."
"Oh…okay…bye, I guess." I was wondering why Lilo was so desperate for me to get away from the ugly thing? It was like he was some big secret.
What if he came back? Would I have to leave every time he appeared? Would this jeopardize our friendship? Do I ask too many questions? All of this (except the last one) was whirling in my head like a racecar with no brakes.
For our first dinner in our new home, we had fried potatoes, soup beans (that's our name for pinto beans), and cornbread. That might not sound like much, but where I come from they practically deserve their own food group (along with fried chicken and iced tea, too). I was telling my parents about Lilo and her family, our scrap booking tour, and how I unintentionally scared the pants of Myrtle Edmonds and her friends.
"It sounds like you had a great day!" my mom said. I had to agree on that one, though I was still a little shaken from the 20 foot shark man I had seen (there was NO WAY I'd tell my parents about that).
"When will you see this girl again?" Dad asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "Probably tomorrow."
"Well, you'll have to schedule a time," Mom said, "because you've got school tomorrow." I stopped with a mouth full of beans.
Remembering my manners, I swallowed, then shouted in surprise, "SCHOOL?"
"It'll just be home school," Mom explained. At least I don't have to go anywhere, I thought.
That night, I had a dream of Lilo, Stitch, her aunt and uncle, and me at the beach, when all of a sudden the evil shark dude I saw ran from the trees and…to be honest I don't know what happened after that because I woke up. I looked at my alarm clock. 1: 29 Way too early to be thinking of Shark Man. I slid my sleep mask back over my eyes, rolled onto my left side, and attempted to resume my first night in Kauai.