Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 11: Bruised Egos

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

Bold - sign language 

After Jake and Neytiri talked to Tonowari and Ronal, the two Metkayina parents permitted both of their children to ride the ikrans and learn some customs of the Omatikaya people. The Sully children also wanted Rotxo to go with them, so the Tsahik and Olo'eyktan volunteered to talk to Rotxo's grandmother for the Sully family because she can get confused sometimes.

Thankfully, Rotxo's grandmother allowed him to join the group, and now the Sully children and Ja'lia were waiting for everyone to show up. Tsireya and Rotxo seemed extremely excited to try new things, while Ao'nung seemed pissed off that his parents were forcing him to join the group.

Ja'lia didn't understand why Ao'nung was acting the way he was because she thought they were becoming friends, but when he showed up at the place they were supposed to meet at with a scowl on his face and his arms crossed, her hope deflated.

"Come on, Ao'nung. It'll be fun," Ja'lia tried to persuade.

The boy merely rolled his eyes, and the rest of the group's annoyance with him continued to grow. "If you want to leave, go ahead. No one is stopping you," Lo'ak grumbled.

"No, because if I leave, Tsireya will snitch on me," He snapped, and Tsireya looked down at the ground.

"There's no need to be rude," Ja'lia said, trying to diffuse the growing tension.

Lo'ak and Ao'nung seemed to have a stare-down, while Neteyam, Kiri, and Ja'lia called their ikrans while keeping an eye on the two boys.

"I didn't want to do this in the first place," Ao'nung said.

"Then don't. Don't ruin everyone else's time because you want to be a prick," Lo'ak gritted out before calling his ikran.

The Metkayina boy went to take a step forward, but Rotxo and Ja'lia stopped him while Ja'lia pulled him off to the side to talk with him, "What's your problem?" She whisper-shouted.

"I don't want to be here," Ao'nung shrugged.

Ja'lia rolled her eyes, "I thought we were past your bullshit, Ao'nung,"

"I have better things to do than learn your ways," He informed.

"Obviously, you don't if your parents gave you permission to be here," She fired back, and the boy went to say something but closed his mouth when he couldn't come up with a response.

Once Ao'nung decided to stop pouting like a child, everyone went to who they were riding their ikrans with. Tsireya was with Neteyam. Rotxo was with Kiri, and Ao'nung was with Ja'lia, much to Lo'ak's dismay. Ao'nung was originally supposed to be with Lo'ak, however, after much debate, everyone decided it was a bad idea.

Those two boys did not get along with each other, and it wasn't exactly a secret. Although Lo'ak did claim he could push his distaste to the side if Ao'nung didn't have to ride with Ja'lia, his idea was immediately shot down.

This was going to be the first time the Metkayina teens were riding on an ikran, and no one wanted them to have a bad experience.

"Is everyone ready?" Neteyam asked.

"Ready!" The other three Omatikaya teens shouted.

"Let's go!" Neteyam yelled, and once he was off the ground, Tsireya's squeezed her eyes shut.

Both Kiri and Ja'lia came off the ground at the same time, and the two boys that were behind them let out high-pitched screams. Ja'lia tried to hold back her snort, but she eventually failed as Ao'nung clung tighter and tighter onto her as they continued to fly above the ground.