“Who’s that?” shouted the curly haired kid asked. He pointed to me. He was shirtless and wearing camo shorts that looked ripped and old. His ribs stuck out. He wasn’t sickly, just thin.
“That’s Sang,” Nathan said. “She’s with the family that moved into the new house.”
“Yeah,” Derrick said, his dark eyes lighting up. “Are we allowed to come over and play basketball yet?”
I blushed. I glanced at the others. Little did he know he couldn’t ever come over.
“We’re working on it,” Nathan said, his hand finding mine and he squeezed gently. “Her mom’s a little shy.”
Relief washed over me. At least they weren’t going to tell everyone about what happened.
“I know. Her sister mentioned it,” he said. He pointed toward where we had come from. “You all heading this way?”
“We were thinking of seeing where this main path ends,” Nathan said, nodding his head in the opposite direction.
“There’s nothing out there,” Derrick said. “It goes on for about two miles and then cuts off against a line of trees.”
Nathan looked disappointed. “Why build this thing in the middle of nowhere?”
“Why clear out the trees and leave that saw dust hazard?” Derrick asked and shrugged. “Who knows? They probably meant to make more developments but ran out of money.”
We started heading back the way we came. I wondered why Derrick wasn’t part of their circle. They seemed friendly enough with each other and he was our age.
The younger boys were talking to each other in hushed voices.
“Who are the other two,” I asked Jessica quietly.
“The blond is Micah and the dark haired guy is Tom,” she said. “They live in the houses across the highway.”
“Do they go to your school?”
“No, they go to the public school.” Her eyes kept drifting to them. “They don’t really like me, though.”
“Why not?”
“I’m a girl.”
I laughed. “I’m a girl, too.”
“They might not like you either, then.”
We followed the guys to the trail with the higher grass. We stood together in a big circle. I felt the eyes of the new guys on me as if trying to weigh out who I was and if they could trust me.
“How old are you?” Derrick asked me.
I blushed, looking at Nathan. Nathan shrugged, his face suggesting it was okay to talk. Why was I turning to him as if he was going to answer for me?
“We’re in the same grade,” I replied. Maybe it wasn’t a direct answer but I thought it should be obvious.
“I know,” he said. “I wasn’t sure. You look younger. I thought maybe you skipped a grade.”
“It’s those clothes,” Micah said. “You look like you belong in third grade.”
“Hey,” Gabriel said loudly. He hooked an arm around my neck and half leaned against me. “What’s wrong with her clothes?”
“They’re all...” Micah started, but he fumbled his words and pointed his hand toward me as if just looking at them was enough to explain it.
“Like girl clothes?” Gabriel snapped at him. “Sue her. She is a girl.”
“Stop it, Micah,” Derrick said. Micah shot him a look but Derrick had turned to Nathan. “Did you show her the barn yet?”
“I wanted to make sure there weren’t any wasps,” Nathan said. “I haven’t been back there in a while.”
“We were just there,” piped in Tom. He seemed happier than his friend. He smiled at us. “There weren’t any.”
“Let’s go through the woods instead of taking the long way,” Derrick said. “We’ve been trying to see if there’s anything else through this mess here. Like any more secret barns in the middle of nowhere.”
Micah grunted and started walking toward the trees. “Let’s get this over with.”
Micah led the way. I looked at Nathan, awaiting confirmation that this was a good idea. He shrugged, hesitating but Gabriel and Luke were already following Derrick and Tom into the woods. I did a short sprint to catch up with Gabriel. Nathan fell in behind me, Jessica behind him.
We walked in a line because it was really the only way to make it through. The woods were thick and there wasn’t a specific trail. The underbrush swiped at my legs. The heat and humidity seemed to intensify as the trees enclosed around us.
The sunlight filtered down to us thinly through the crest of leaves overhead. The area took on a heavy haze of green.
Micah wound his way through the trees with Derrick occasionally pointing a direction out to him.
“Why do you keep telling me where to go?” Micah asked. “If we take a straight line we’ll get there faster.”
“Just cut through here,” Derrick said. He pointed to where there was a break in the trees. “There’s a big open space there. I want to check it out.”
We spilled out into a natural circular clearing. The leaves above us appeared thicker and blocked out the light. It was almost like a dome over our heads. Two huge live oaks sat in the middle, gnarled into each other as if in an ongoing battle for dominance of the space. The roots twisted above the ground surrounding them.
We moved forward as a group. The trees were really beautiful, with thick branches dripping with moss. The air was thick with the smell of green and pollen and I let it fill my lungs.
My legs itched and I lifted one high for a moment to scratch. I wondered if I was getting bit by mosquitos.
“You okay?” Nathan asked, his eyes on my fingers scratching.
“Just a bug bite,” I said. I conti
nued to try to scratch at it. I felt one on my other calf, too but I ignored it while he was watching so he wouldn’t worry. “Remind me to spray for bugs before we do this again.”
“Welcome to the south,” he said. “The bugs will eat you alive.”
We were halfway toward the two trees when Jessica shouted behind us.
“Stop!” she said. I turned around to see her waving her hands in the air. “Don’t move!”
“What?” I asked.
“She’s just going to tell us there’s some rare bug or some crazy wild flower,” Micah complained. “Who cares?”
“No,” she cried out. “There’s stinging nettle here.”
We all froze, eyes surveying the ground around us.
“What’s stinging nettle?” I asked. In my mind flashed images of tiny wasps. More southern bugs?
“It’s the plants,” she said. She carefully stood on one leg, bringing her other foot up high so she could unfold the hem of her khaki pants over her shoes to make sure her socks at her ankles were covered. “If you touch it, it’ll sting your skin.”
I looked down. In the underbrush were some prickly looking plants about up to our knees.
The whole area around the two oak trees was covered in the same sticky little plants. The leaves sashayed easily against a breeze that picked up around us.
“It’s all over,” I said.
“If you have pants, you should be okay,” Jessica said. “Sang’s already been stung.”
She was right. The outside of my legs were red and splotchy. I could have mistaken them for a hundred tiny mosquito bites. I hadn’t really looked at them before but now spotting it, my legs itched like crazy.
“What do we do?” I asked, squeezing my legs together in an effort to subdue the itching and become as thin as possible to get away from the plants around us.
Nathan stepped forward as if testing out the area. When it seemed like he wasn’t getting stung, he marched toward me. He turned around and crouched. “Get on my back,” he said.
My heart smashed against my rib cage. I wrapped my arms around his neck. He scooped up my legs under the knees and hauled me up. His muscles flexed against my chest and stomach as he stood.