Free Jungle Crossing by Sydney Salter

Life seemed so slow out here.
    Too slow. All that giggling. I swear I kept hearing my name. Oh, how I just wanted to get this day over with! I pressed my journal to my chest as we passed a small white cement-block building with Spanish words written all over the outside. A sign advertised COLD COCA COLA. Just when it seemed like we were traveling through some ancient period in time, something like that Coke sign would pop up and remind me of home. Would things even be any better at home? Or would I just exchange Talia for Fiona? I shoved my journal into my backpack. My drawings were stupid anyway.
    We passed another small building. In the dirt yard, children dressed in blue shorts and white shirts ran around playing soccer.
    "What's that?" Barb asked.
    "School," Nando said.
    Barb crinkled her nose. "It's so small."
    "It's a small village." Nando looked back to watch the kids as the bus sped up again. "I went to a school like that."
    "Shouldn't you still be in school?" I flew up from my seat as the bus hit a bump in the road. My fingers brushed Nando's shoulder as I grabbed the back of his seat, but I quickly put them in my lap. But not before Talia made some comment about me and
amor.
    "I had to drop out," he said. "To help my family."
    "My dad says we have to go to college," Barb said. "That's like going to school forever." She frowned. "I'd rather go exploring all day like you."
    Nando's jaw tightened, so I gave Barb a warning look, but she ignored me as usual.
    "You should be a teacher," she said. "You'd be really good at it. I'm learning so much from your story." She clapped her hands together. "Tell us more now, please?"
    Nando sighed long and sad. "Where did we leave off?"
    "Who cares?" I looked out the window at a tree bursting with orange blossoms—it was pretty, but it totally looked out of place in the mass of green plants. Just like me. Minus the pretty part. "It's just a dumb story, Barb," I said, loud enough for Talia to hear. Maybe she'd shut up about all the boyfriend stuff.
    I glanced at Nando, ignoring the hurt look in his dark eyes, and stared back out the window. The orange tree was gone, and the rest of the jungle conformed to green, green, green.
    "Don't listen to her. She's just being hormonal. Mom says."
    I kicked the seat hard. "Shut up, Barb!"
    Nando narrowed his eyes at me.
    "Please, Nando.
Por favor.
" Barb actually put her hands on his cheeks and moved his face to look at her. "Muluc had just seen a shimmer of green," she said. "It has to be an island, right? Is it Cozumel? My mom and dad might go there and—"
    "No." Nando took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders, and said, "It's just a small island on the Gulf side of the Yucatán. Not a tourist place."
    "What's it called?"
    "Isla Cerritos."
    "Ooh! That sounds so pretty. If I get that stuffed turtle at the gift shop, I'm going to name it Cerritos. Okay, tell the story."
    Nando leaned back in his seat with his shoulders slumped. "It was the day called Eb."
    ***
T HE D AY 2 E B
    Rain and Storms
    White clouds fluttered across the sky as Muluc's canoe landed on an island just off the shore of the peninsula. A flock of long-legged birds flew over the boat in a rush of pink. What strange land had she entered? Canoes lined the beach like big, lazy crocodiles, and crude thatched huts crowded together. In front of one hut, which was piled high with baskets of fluffy white cotton, two men argued. One pulled a flint knife and jabbed at the other man. Other men held them back, and they quieted. The man left without the cotton.
    Muluc had never seen so many different kinds of people: men and women with tattoos and different markings on their faces; women with painted yellow skin; men with red skin; men wearing great capes; men with shaved heads; men with long hair; women wearing clothing with unfamiliar patterns in every color. Many wore coarse cloth, but others dressed in colorful stitching as elaborate as a king's tomb! And one woman's dress had