Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 16: Pranks

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

Bold - sign language 

As Ja'lia pulled Lo'ak away from the group of teens that they had left, she had an evil but quite a funny idea pop into her head. Around this time of day was when Jake would sneak back into the pod to take a nap to sustain him for the rest of his tasks, and the only reason Ja'lia knew that he took a nap was that she needed to change her outfit one day, and she could practically hear his snoring from a mile away.

She genuinely didn't understand how no one else heard the man, or maybe they did, and they didn't give a damn that he sounded like a freight train that hadn't run in years.

Ja'lia never usually minded Jake's snoring because she was a heavy sleeper herself, however, Lo'ak inherited that trait from his father as well, and no matter how heavy of a sleeper she was, sometimes the boys snoring pissed her off beyond belief.

The boys snoring had agitated her so badly the one night that she seriously considered stuffing an item of clothing in his mouth in hopes that it would shut him up. But instead, she woke him up and told him to roll on his side, as that had always helped with his snoring. She was thankful that Lo'ak only seemed to snore obnoxiously loud when he was extremely tired which surprisingly, wasn't very often.

Lo'ak cherished his sleep more than any other person Ja'lia had met, besides herself, of course.

Pushing those thoughts away, Ja'lia had to use her other hand that wasn't holding Lo'ak's to stop the laugh from escaping past her lips. Although she hadn't told Lo'ak her plan yet, she knew he would want to help her with it, once she revealed what it was.

He always wanted to know what mischievous acts she was up to, and he especially wanted to join in on them, even if it would ultimately get him into trouble.

It was one of the reasons the two bonded so quickly, other than the fact that their parents were best friends. The first time the two Omatikaya teens had met, they were practically toddlers, but Ja'lia had always been wise beyond her years, and when she saw Lo'ak, she asked him to help her out with a prank she was pulling.

Evidently, Spider had made fun of her poofy hair that she refused to allow her mother to braid, so Ja'lia was seeking serious revenge when Lo'ak approached her.

Of course, their definition of serious between when they were toddlers and teenagers had adjusted itself majorly; Ja'lia still gets pissed anytime she thinks about that mean little boy who told her she looked like she stuck her finger in a light socket.

She didn't even know what a light socket was, but to her, it sounded like he was trying to offend her, so she took offense to it. After Ja'lia pulled that prank, it was the first time she and Lo'ak had been grounded, thus starting the friendship everyone knew them to have today. Sometimes she feels guilty for accidentally setting Spider's hair on fire, and other times, she thinks he deserved it.

Spider, for obvious reasons, had never felt safe around fire when Ja'lia was present, but he wasn't mad at her for what she did. It was supposed to be a harmless prank that went terribly wrong, more so him than her.

Once Ja'lia and Lo'ak got closer to his family's Mauri pod, the girl slowed her pace and turned to look at Lo'ak, only to see that he had already been looking at her. It startled her at first but brushed it aside as they had a small time frame in which they would be able to pull the prank off without getting caught.

"Okay," Ja'lia said quietly, looking around to make sure no one was able to overhear their conversation. "Hears the plan," She started, and Lo'ak placed more of his attention on her, if that was even possible.