Ohana Means Family

“You’re probably right. It doesn’t make me feel any less nervous about it though. I’ve never been somewhere without anyone to fall back on.”

“It’s okay to be nervous, my first time here I was really nervous, but I was also happy because there was no one to tease me or make fun of me. I was always the bullied back home..” Lilo muttered softly. “Well if you ever need someone to fall back on, you can always fall back on me, but you may need to know my name. I’m Lilo.”

“It’s alright. Just a little disorienting is all. I’ll have some tea tonight, that’ll have me sleeping like a baby.”

Lilo had her fair shares of rough nights of sleep, so she knew what the girl was feeling. “Tea helps you sleep?” She was curious since she was still having problems with sleep.

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry to hear that. That’s admirable though, working to get over it. A lot of people would just avoid the water.”

Lilo shrugged. “They always are sorry.” It was true though, they always are sorry because they never know what else to say or do. “Admirable? Just because I’m trying to get over my fear of large bodies of water?”

Wendy bounced over and kicked off her shoes before sitting on the edge next to her friend. “It is a scary place, especially since we haven’t explored it very much. I’m sorry you have such a negative association with it. I know how much it means to you,” she said comfortingly. Wendy reached down to give her friend a one-armed hug. She knew the accident was difficult for Lilo to talk about. Wendy always admired her for being so strong despite all that had happened. She wasn’t too sure how she would cope if something happened to her parents. “A fish that controls the weather? You must have had such an active imagination as a kid! You could have helped me tell my younger brothers stories.” Wendy blushed and adverted her eyes. Talking about boys always made her embarrassed. “Oh, really?” she asked shyly.

Lilo placed her arms on the edge of the pool as Wendy sat down. “One day I’ll be able to actually be normal, but until than I’m stuck being Weirdlo.” She muttered the nickname everyone but Nani and Stitch called her. Her eyes teared up at the hug. Wendy was being so nice, no has been this nice except Stitch. Lilo laughed at how silly she must have sound when she talked about the fish. “Yeah, a fish that controls the weather, it’s crazy, but at the time it was what made sense to me. Oh, I would have loved to help tell your brothers stories.” Lilo smiled softly, “Mmhmm, he seems to be able to talk about you without stumbling over his words. I never seen him so comfortable with a girl. I never seen him actually talk about a girl.”

“I know that feeling all too well. We all gotta have bad days though. Some of us just seem to have more than others.”

“And I’m one of those people.. I’m not sure who I am or what I need to be doing Angel.. I’m lost..”

“My bad. You okay, Lilo?”

“I’ve been better. But nothing like working out to get over it.”