The Explorer's Apprentice

4: Her Journal

 Alison Lovett 

 Cloudy with a chance of mid-afternoon showers. Windy. 67 degrees.

It isn’t exactly perfect first-day-of-school weather, but Alison Lovett can definitely make due. She stuffs an umbrella in her tote bag and heads into the kitchen, taking out fresh fruit and ice cream for a smoothie. It's nice that the first day of school's on a Wednesday, she thinks, her mind still wrestling out of the last dredges of sleep, it's not as sudden as a Monday. Tuesday would just be ridiculous. Nothing goes wrong on Wednesday.

Marley’s already in the kitchen, sketching a peacock, and she’s so absorbed that she doesn’t look up when Alison enters the room. She has her auburn hair pulled back from her face into a French braid and her head is tilted at an angle. Alison has taken an immediate liking to her cousin.  She’s just one of those people who are easy to be around. You can feel comfortable around Marley without even really knowing her.

“That’s really good!” Alison says from behind her cousin’s shoulder. Each feather is drawn with such careful detail that for a brief moment, Alison half-expects the bird in the drawing to move.

Marley jumps. “Seriously? Thanks! It’s a pretty boring thing to draw, actually. Once you get to the feathers, it’s basically just doodling the same thing over and over again.” She smiles and shuts her sketchbook.

This is why Alison wants Marley to meet Jamie. He draws, too, in his spare time. Not many people know that about him – she only knows because of the art project they did together the year before – but he is good. Like Marley, he also seems constantly laid-back, and Alison has a feeling they will get along. At least, she hopes. Alison will introduce Marley to all of her friends, but ultimately she just wants Marley to feel comfortable, to fit in and find friends with common interests.

“Ha-ha, I know what you mean,” Alison admits. “Strawberry banana smoothie?”

“Yeah, thanks, that’d be great.” 

Marley doesn’t seem it, but Alison wonders if she’s at all nervous. Despite Brock Lovett's odd job, he could never bear to sell the old house, allowing his daughter to stay at the same school for a good amount of time. If they ever went on a particularly long trip, she would be home schooled from the tent or bus or boat or whatever place was available. So, while she’s breathed all manner of air, heard every sort of accent, and met plenty of new people, Alison has never technically enrolled in a new school. What would that be like? Is it like visiting another country? Is it harder? You’d have to learn the language of the new school, the strange new foods, map its paths and hallways, identify the good teachers from the bad, make friendly terms with the locals. And, ultimately, claim your prize. Maybe it isn’t even that complicated.

Then again, Marley is no stranger to moving. Marley’s mother, an archeologist on the hot pursuit of ancient human remains, has crisscrossed the globe several times in her years. The latest trip to a restricted area of Ethiopia is only temporary, but still long enough to send Marley and P. J. to Florida for a few months.

Nothing worries Marley, Alison thinks, as she absently fiddles with her necklace. I bet she’s probably not even fazed.

When the girls finish their fruit smoothies, and the sun just starts to peak out from under the clouds, Marley cranes her neck to glance over at the clock. “We should get going, right?”

“Yeah, definitely! Let me just tell Dad that we’re leaving.”

Marley smiles. Her teeth are white, the incisors slightly crooked. “Sounds good. I have to walk P. J. to the elementary. Meet you in the lobby?”