Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 10: Joy Ride

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language 

"Lo'ak!" Ja'lia whisper-shouted at the teen she had been lying on top of. They were supposed to be sleeping, but she was wide awake, and her mind was pleading with her to go ride her ikran.

The girl had been trying to wake Lo'ak up for a couple of minutes, but to no avail has she succeeded. Lo'ak had always been the hardest to wake up out of all the Sully children, and that night was no different from previous ones.

"Lo'ak!" She murmured, shaking the boy's chest.

At the sound of his name, Lo'ak peaked through his eyelids and saw a dark figure hovering over him. Normally, an unidentified figure that hovered over him would have completely freaked him out, but he knew it was Ja'lia.

"What, Lia? I'm trying to sleep," He whined, opening his eyes to get a clearer look at the girl.

"I can't sleep," She whispered.

"So, that means that you have to wake me up?" Lo'ak said with frustration laced through his voice.

Ja'lia felt bad for waking him up because this was the first night in a long time that they would get to sleep in.

"I'm sorry. You can go back to sleep," Ja'lia said, and Lo'ak immediately regretted his words when he saw her stand up and move away from him. "Wait, Lia. I'm sorry. What did you want to do?" He said softly.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to go ride our ikrans, and then we could stargaze," She mumbled, and Lo'ak's lips quirked into a small smile. "Okay," Lo'ak agreed, and Ja'lia's eyes lit up like the sun.

As soon as Lo'ak agreed to go with her, she instantly grabbed his wrist and briskly pulled him out of his family's Mauri pod. They both burst into a sprint when they exited and did their best to contain their laughter as they ran past other families' pods.

Once their feet hit the cool sand, a shiver run down their spine as they realized how cold it was outside. However, that didn't stop their mission as they continued to walk toward the forest they had been forbidden to go in.

When they went inside the forest, a wave of nostalgia hit them like a ton of bricks. This forest was exactly like the one back home, so why were they forbidden from entering it?

It didn't make any sense to Ja'lia or Lo'ak, but obviously, they weren't going to listen to Tsireya's warnings.

They grew up in the forest, and while they didn't want to be considered mean or rude, they weren't going to let a water Na'vi tell them what to do.

Both Lo'ak and Ja'lia ran through the forest, teasing and nitpicking at the other. They were climbing trees, jumping from branch to branch, and pulling each other's tails all at the same time.

After both teens were done teasing each other, they searched for a clearing and eventually found one where they would be able to call their ikrans without anyone hearing them. Ja'lia called Tarya, and Lo'ak called for his ikran.

While they both waited for their ikrans, Ja'lia placed her back up against a big rock, and when Lo'ak tried to do the same he somehow fell through.

"What the hell!" He yelled, and Ja'lia looked over to see that her best friend was no longer in the spot he had just been standing. "Lo'ak?" She said, confused as to where he could have disappeared to.

"I'm down here," He grumbled, and the teen girl still had no idea where he was until she looked down to see his feet peaking through some vines.

Ja'lia gently pushed the vines aside to see Lo'ak lying on the ground with his arm over his face in embarrassment. "Are you okay?" She asked, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing.