Chapter 3.2 ~ Introductions

“.. And this is Zuli. That’s our little group.” Candy finished off the introductions, to a very overwhelmed looking Mango Squash. I twitched my hand, in an awkward attempt at a wave, before lowering it back to my side where it looked less like a dying fish.

 

“Well, hi there.” he greeted us, voice not quite broken yet, making him appear even younger. His face was kind of blank for a moment, before breaking into a brilliant smile.

“Hey.” Eggshell offered, the awkwardness in the air so thick it was choking me. Two shy people paired with one new person who seemed just about as shy? Yea, how did I ever think this was a good idea?

“Is that Berry Simmer and the Goblet of Sugar?” Mango suddenly cried, picking up the book I’d set down moments ago.

 

“Yea, it is.” I replied, smiling as I always did when I found another fan of the Berry Simmer books.

 

“I love this one! Not as much as the Half-Baked Pie, but still a brilliant read.”

“Definitely. I love them all, so I can’t pick a favourite, but this one is absolutely up there.”

 

“For sure! You’ve read them all?”

“Of course!”

 

We then shared one of those rare, bookworm, Berry Simmer fanatic moments that are so rare, they are burned into your brain forever. I now looked at this beautiful, mysterious boy in a new way, as a really cool guy, who loved books and could end up as a brilliant friend, and with that, my nerves were washed away.

 

“Right then. Now the introductions are over, lets get to know each other! I say.. Ring-A-Round-The-Questions?” Candy suggested, after a hushed conversation with Sugar.

 

“Okay.” Mango agreed, sitting down on the bench, an action soon mimicked by all of us.

 

“Mango.” “Tell us about you.” Candy and Sugar prompted.

“Uh, kay. My name is Mango, and I’m an alcoholic.” Silence fell upon us, shock overtook us. He didn’t look like an – “Joking! That’s just what this feels like, an AA meeting. Haha, nevermind. Seriously though, I was born and raised in Twizzlerbrook, by my Mom. I have one sister, who’s five years younger than me, and my Dad and the two following step-Dads have walked out on us. We moved here for a fresh start, and yea. I love reading.” He shot a glance at me “and I love music, the bass specifically. Other than that, I am really just a total geek, and work a lot with computer programming.”

 

I smiled at him kindly, but my mind was reeling. How must he feel inside, losing not one, not two, but three Dads? I mean sure, I lost two sort of, but I knew that losing another would break me. How was he so whole?

“Your turn to ask!” Sugar and Candy announced, the latter poking Mango’s elbow.

“Okay. Uh do you two always talk at the same time like that?”

 

I giggled despite myself. “Yes. Yes they do, all the time. I’d like to say you get used to it, but you never do.”

 

He laughed, shaking his head which caused his violet hair to go cascading over his eyes, making him push the loose strands behind his ear.

 

“Shelly, your turn” I said.

“Okay. Well, no use me asking any of you three a question, I already know you too well.” she joked. “Uh, Mango… do you work?”

 

“Not yet.”

 

“Kay. Zuli?”

“Mango… have you ever watched that TV show, Marshmallow? About the wizard Marshmallow, and the Prince Artichoke?”

 

“Oh my Berry. You watch Marshmallow?!” He cried, eyes lighting up. “Where have you been all my life?”

 

I laughed out loud, and the girls rolled their eyes. “I’ve seen this before. She finds one person who’s ever seen that Berry forsaken show, and all hope is lost.” Shelly said.

 

“Hey!” Mango and I cried in union at the put down of our favourite TV show.

 

“OMB. I’m not sticking around for this nerd fest, see ya in science Zuli, come on girls!” Shelly joked, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she scampered to her next class.

“Right then, there; only one more question to ask.” Mango drew my attention back, twisting his mouth into a suggestive smirk, and I felt my face flush. “Do you have ll the box sets?” he finished, smile breaking out over his face, and I laughed despite myself.

 

“Of course I do, stupid.”

 

“Hurtful! But, the box set calls my name. Wanna meet up and have a ‘nerd fest’ this weekend? “

 

“Sounds awesome!” I cried, a little to enthusiastically.

 

“Well, you call me then, yea?” He said, scribbling his number down on a scrap piece of paper.

 

“Yea, okay. Call you tonight?”

 

“Okay. We can plan then.”

 

“Right, okay. See ya.”

 

“Yup, see ya!” he waved, walking away with a goofy grin on his face.

 

“Yea.”

 

That night, once all my homework was completed and neatly filed away into my books, I held the phone loosely in my hand and looked at the number that has been quickly scrawled on a piece of paper, and punched the digits in. I waited for the nerves to grasp a hold of me, wrap it’s icy fingers around my heart, but instead I was greeted my the warm voice of a new friend, and no nerves made their way in.

“Hello?”

 

“Mango? It’s.. Lapis Lazuli, ah, Zuli?”

 

“Oh! Hi!”

 

“Hey” I chuckled quietly, shaking my head at how young and adorable he sounded over the phone. His high voice could have let him pass for twelve, not almost sixteen.

 

“So about that tv fest…” he began, and the smile that was lodged on my face planted it roots deeper, and I couldn’t help but thing that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship .

 

 

 

*Note: ‘Berry Simmer’ is a referent to Harry Potter. Marshmallow is a referent to the hit BBC Merlin series.