Jacklyn Baker (called_jack) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-06-17 21:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 09, jacklyn baker, john james searle, | jack and searle, ~ series: traders |
Week Nine -Friday
Characters: Jack, Searle and special guest star Nevaeh
Location: The pool
Summary: When they see a trader girl their age, Jack and Searle go make friends. In some cases, real good friends.
Rating: PG
“Hey, Jack, look.” Searle was holding a glass of iced tea and motioned with it, across the room, at a girl with red hair and coiled dreadlocks. “Think she’s around our age?”
Jack munched on a piece of bread and looked over at the girl. “Yeah. Older’n me, I think. Maybe fifteen like you?”
“Maybe,” Searle agreed, combing his free hand through his hair. If he’d known a new girl around his age was going to be coming over, he probably would have tried to find someone to cut his hair. “Wanna go talk to her?” he asked, not looking away from the redhead. Even though she didn’t look much like her, she reminded him of Lily.
“Yeah.” Jack wanted to meet anyone who was their age. There weren’t very many left. “C’mon,” she said, leading them over.
Most of the traders and colonists were talking or eating around the tables by then, but the other girl had pulled back and was sitting near the deep end of the pool, her feet in the water and kicking lightly. She had a book open in her lap and was leaning back on one hand, and was angled so that the sun hit the book and not her straight in the face.
Jack was still in front when they walked up, Searle following behind her. “Hi,” she announced. “I’m Jack and that’s Searle.”
“Hi.” Searle lifted his hand in greeting. The girl smiled in response, though her brow furrowed briefly when she looked at Jack.
“Hi,” she said at last. “Evie didn’t tell me there’d be other kids here.”
“We didn’t meet with your group last time you came,” Searle explained, “she might not have known.”
“Yeah, they kept us inside. I dunno why,” Jack agreed. “Um, what are you reading?”
“Negima,” the redheaded girl replied, turning the cover up. It was brightly colored, with two Japanese-style characters grinning upward at them. “I used to watch the anime.”
“Never heard of it.” The cover of the manga looked cheerful, though Searle couldn’t see it too well from his position because of the sun’s glare. “I had a friend who was obsessed with anime. She’d try to get me to watch all this stuff, but I always hated reading subtitles.” He forced out a small laugh, but decided the memory wasn’t altogether pleasant; it made him think of how she must be dead now.
“I’ve never watched any.” Jack decided to try her luck on something that wasn’t Japanese. “Do you know how to skateboard?”
The girl shook her head, frowning a little. Looking up at the was starting to hurt her neck, and she shifted her hair so she could put her unoccupied hand on the back of it. That meant she couldn’t lean back anymore, but at least she didn’t have to pull her feet out of the water. It felt really nice.
“They make English dubbed ones,” she told Searle. “Sometimes the translations are funny.” She paused briefly. “I wish I still had a swimming suit. I haven’t been swimming since we were at the Gulf.”
“Maybe one of Jack’s would fit you,” he couldn’t help but suggest, “we’ve got tons of pool toys.”
The redhead once again moved her eyes to Jack, only this time her brows were arched a little. “You’re a girl?”
Jack shifted on her feet a little. “It’s short for Jacklyn. I don’t like attention from strangers for being a girl.” She shrugged. “But I’ve probably got an extra suit you can borrow. You’re taller than me but I think it’ll be okay.”
“Is it a two piece?” she asked. “Or a one piece? Actually, I could probably just wear a big shirt.” She pulled her feet out of the water and pushed herself up to stand. While she certainly hadn’t filled out yet, she was far from awkward-looking, with long legs that were as farmer’s tanned as her arms were. Searle checked her out as surreptitiously as possible.
“I probably have a shirt you can wear,” he said, though turned his eyes to Jack. “Your call, Jack.”
“I only have one pieces,” Jack told the other girl. “You can try it if you want.”
The girl tilted her head thoughtfully, one hand coming up to tug on one of her dreads. “I guess I could try,” she said. “Lead the way.”
“I’m gonna go get in my suit while you guys get yours,” Searle said, with newfound energy. “Meet you back here?”
The suit hadn’t worked. Jack was in her usual black one piece with tiny white polka dots but the extra suit she’d dug up hadn’t fit the older girl. Jack was small for her age and not even the elastic in a bathing suit had been able to stretch far enough to fit. They’d had to go climbing up a level for a shirt. “Searle!” she shouted at his door. “We need you!” She turned to the redhead. “If this doesn’t work, I’ll get a shirt from Jed. That should be big enough.”
Searle looked up from his pile of unsorted clothing where he was searching for a beach towel, and abandoned that mission in favor of answering the door. He was already in his suit, bare chested and foot, and when he saw the girls - one of them without a suit - at the door, he figured they needed one of his shirts.
“Come in,” he told them, moving out of the way. “Sorry it’s messy....” The apology was for the other girl. “My clothes are in my room.”
The girls followed Searle across the living room and into the bedroom, and Searle fished a large Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt out of his dresser drawer, which he handed off to the redhead. “That okay? You want trunks, too?”
“If you got ‘em,” she said, flashing a quick grin. “Sorry to make you.”
“No, it’s okay.” He produced those quickly, too, and held them out. “The bathroom’s over there.” Searle nodded in the direction he meant.
The redhead disappeared without another word behind the door, shutting it behind her. She returned within a few moments, a flash of midriff visible despite the length of Searle’s shirt, though it did the job of covering up as much skin as it should have for modesty’s sake.
“I just hope the chlorine doesn’t fry my hair,” she said, almost to herself. “It took me forever to make these. Okay, let’s go.”
“Okay,” Searle agreed, though let his gaze linger on her for a moment longer. “Should get a towel first.” He looked back at his clothes heap.
Within a few minutes, the three teens were back outside. Searle tossed his towel down beside the pool, then kicked it a bit further away for good measure, not wanting to get it wet.
Jack tossed her own towel on a lounger and climbed down into the pool. She submersed immediately, resurfacing and pushing her wet hair away from her face. “You never said what your name is,” she pointed out to the other girl.
The redhead grinned wickedly, taking a few steps back before running at the pool full tilt. “BANZAI!” she shouted, jumping and grabbing her knees in a canon ball. She hit the water with a huge splash, sending a wave over the edge of the pool and along the speckled concrete. Searle followed her example, leaping into the deep end without any hesitation. However, he did surface as quickly as possible, shaking the excess water from his hair, so he could hear the redhead’s name.
The other girl resurfaced moments later, sweeping her hair easily out of her face. “Nevaeh,” she said. “No nicknames. Just Nevaeh.”
“That’s pretty,” Jack offered.
“I’ve never heard it before,” Searle said, while nodding in agreement with Jack.
Nevaeh simply smiled in answer, her cheeks going a little pink. She whipped her hair back again, sending a spray of water outward from the ends. “So let’s play a game, yeah? How about Marco Polo?”
“Okay!” Jack grinned. “Who wants to be Marco?”
“I will,” Searle volunteered, “and whoever I catch has to be Marco next.” After swimming into the shallow end, Searle closed his eyes and turned his back on the two girls. “I’ll give you a ten second head start.”
It was always best to play Marco Polo with at least three people, simply because it made the chasing part fun. Eventually Jack was it, with Searle and Nevaeh on the evasive. Between seekings, the two older teenagers ended up bumping into each other. Nevaeh grinned, and on the next Polo, she yanked Searle just outside of Jack’s grasp, then quickly leaned in to press a quick kiss to his lips.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered, rapidly swimming sideways to get away.
Jack ended up catching Searle not a moment later, because after the kiss he was left to tread water in a daze as half the synapses in his brain ceased to fire. Even after he was proclaimed the new Marco, Searle was still trying to figure out if Nevaeh expected him to be thankful for her saving him from getting caught or for her kissing him.
But he didn’t want Jack to think he was acting weird, so with an unavoidable flush coloring his cheeks he continued the game, until they’d all been Marco and Polo for several rounds.
“Anyone know another game?” Searle finally asked, in between coughing from swallowing some water on the latest Marco Polo chase and capture.
“Why? Tired of losing?” Jack teased with a grin. “But I don’t know. Do we want to get out?”
“I don’t!” Nevaeh chirped, having moved to float on her back since it was obvious they weren’t going to continue playing anymore. “We could try diving for things. Or racing. Or doing hoop-ball, but that’s only good if there’s more people.”
“Racing sounds good,” Searle decided. “You definitely can’t beat me at that, Jack.”
“Dream on,” the younger girl scoffed. “We can race. I might be able to get Rocky, too. He’s fun. We could throw things for him.”
“You mean in the water?” Nevaeh asked. She moved to let her feet sink to the floor of the pool again, treading water in order to get to a shallower part where her feet touched. “Racing’s better. You both can go first and I’ll race the winner.”
“You be the referee,” Searle told Nevaeh, unable to help a shy smile as he looked her way. “And Jack, do you want to race to the other side, or from here to there and back again?”
“There and back,” Jack decided. “Hope you don’t mind losing.”