Julie and the Jungle Girl

Julie? A Teacher?

"AN APPRENTICE!? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Julie would've socked Kaitan's jaw if she didn't love him so much. Actually, she probably should, anyway.

"Yeah, AND?" she asked while grabbing her right wrist to keep it from reaching out and grabbing Kaitan's hair.

Kaitan couldn't and didn't answer. He was laughing way too hard and Julie wasn't happy about it one bit. So she stomped away, hoping that the sound of her bare feet slamming the wood would drown out her boyfriend's laughter. She was still pouting when she sat down on the reading chair with her legs pulled up to her chest and arms crossed, refusing to even speak to him until he realized his mistake.

Which he did. He stopped laughing and walked over to her to put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry," he said. "I just thought it was funny."

"You didn't have to apologize," she said with an eye roll. "If anything, it's me. I overreacted."

"Did Gina laugh about it?" Kaitan asked.

"A lot."

"Well then, it's too funny not to laugh about."

"I thought you were done laughing about it," she said.

"And I thought you were the one who didn't like when I'm so serious about it," he said, drawing another eye-roll.

"Am I helping myself?"

"Not really," he said. "So... what do you think?"

"Well, I think she should reconsider," said Julie. "I told her she might never see her friends again—"

"Just like what I said," he added.

She opened her mouth to object, but in a way, he had a point, and she thought back to nearly 2 years ago, when she was still new to the place.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"Huli," the wild-haired Jungle Dude repeated. "Are you sure you want to stay?"

"Positive!" she replied without a second thought.

The Jungle dude sighed while the Teo tribespeople went about their daily lives. To everyone else, it was a normal, lovely day, with temperatures in the upper-seventies (Fahrenheit) and perfect, sunny and breezy conditions. It was a good day to go fishing, as some of the men, grabbing spears and nets, were about ready to do with another tribesman announcing the plan for the day. Right next to them, one of the fishermen's wives chopped a coconut in half to take a sip from and hand a mango over to their son, who gobbled the fruit up.

No one really paid attention to the two palemen talking on the edge of the village. In fact, none of them really cared that the newer palewoman was so determined to stay with her Jungle Man that she'd already fashioned a jungle animal skin outfit, even though she's set to return to paleman land within the coming weeks.

"But the semester's almost over, isn't it?" Kaitan asked.

"You don't have to remind me," she sadly said as she turned away from the Jungle Dude and pulled her legs up to her chest and then laid her head on his shoulder. "It's just... I just love this place so much, and I didn't—"

"Didn't expect to fall for me," he said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she replied. "But I want to become a jungle girl!"

"It's not easy," he replied while drawing a circle in the dirt with his knife. The 21-year-old wanted to teach Julie how to live like him, he really did. But a million thoughts and doubts were flooding his mind, most of them having to do with whether or not she really was up to the task, in over her head or acting on a whim.