Quit Bugging Me

Chapter 6

The cluster of kids buzzed with activity as they watched centipedes, beetles, and all sorts of other bugs scramble through the leaf litter. A girl with ebony skin and long, braided hair laughed as bees tickled her face, and the pale, reed-thin boy next to her ran his fingers over a chunk of wood teeming with termites as he tried to follow the half a dozen conversations surging around him.

Taylor fidgeted nervously as Lydia introduced her to everyone. "Hey, guys. This is my cousin, Taylor." Lydia nudged her forward before running toward the creek. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to catch some fish for Gus's dinner!"

Taylor looked after her like a castaway watching a ship fade into the distance.

The girl with the bees thrust out a hand and shook Taylor's so hard her shoulder cracked. "Nice to meet you. My name's Anna. Don't mind the bees. They won't sting you as long as you don't scare them."

"My friends call me Tay," she muttered. "I hope you don't mind my flies."

"No worries, Tay. They don't bug me." Anna smiled at her own pun and jabbed a thumb toward the boy next to her. "This is Mason. He's pretty quiet."

Mason smiled gently as his eyes drifted slightly to the right of Taylor's. "Would you like to see my termite mounds?"

"Sure."

With a sigh of relief, Mason put the chunk of wood into his pocket and separated himself from the rest of the group. "Thank goodness."

"He's not a big fan of crowds," Anna whispered as Mason led the way to a sunlit clearing. The flies hovered around her almost as intently as they did around Taylor, especially around her backpack.

The craggy mounds towered over the clearing like castles. Swarms of termites flew around the spires.

"Wow!" Taylor craned her neck to admire the mounds' highest points. Her fingers itched to paint the termites' castle piercing the sky alongside the trees. "You got them to build all this?"

Mason blushed. "They don't need my help to be cool. All I do is make sure they have plenty to eat." He nodded over to a heap of broken branches piled off to the side of the clearing before sitting down and leaning against one of the mounds. He ran a hand over the rough, bumpy surface. "They especially like oak, which is great since lots of other people's companions eat the acorns. A full companion is usually a quiet one, thankfully."

"My bees are the same way. All I have to do is show them where the flowers are," Anna said. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I wish I could bake stuff that tasted half as good as their honey."

Mason rubbed the mound at a faster pace as he said, "I think your cookies are pretty great, at least when you don't put raisins in them. Even you can't make raisins taste good."

"I promise anything you guys can do is a million times better than what my flies and I can do." Tears burned in Taylor's eyes. "We aren't good for anything."

Anna put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you seem nice, and I like hanging out with you. That counts for something, right?"

Mason patted the ground next to him. "Sit here." He avoided Taylor's puzzled glance. "It helps me relax."

Taylor gave it a try. She shuddered as termites crawled over her neck and the hard mound dug into her back. At least thinking about how uncomfortable she was beat dwelling on her stupid flies. "Thanks for letting me do this," she shook insects out of her hair like a horse tossing its mane, "but I don't get why you like it."

Mason shrugged. "I like rough things. What I don't get is how people like smooth stuff. It feels so," he paused to rub the mound again, "wrong. It's hard to explain."

"No worries." Taylor scowled as her flies coated Anna's backpack in a thick, shifting layer of black specks. "Speaking of unexplainable things, sorry about the flies. I don't know why they like your backpack so much."

Anna laughed. "They must smell the cookies. Want some?"

"Of course!"

The perfectly gooey chocolate chip cookies disappeared within seconds, leaving Taylor licking stray specks of chocolate off her fingers. She left a few crumbs for the flies and smiled as they clustered around them. "These are so good!"

"Thanks! My grandpa helped me make them from scratch."

The three of them sat in the shade of the termite mounds chatting about everything from their favorite desserts to what they did over summer break. Eventually, the topic of the companion showcase came up.

"I think I'll bake something for it," Anna said. "I still need to narrow down what to make though. Maybe cookies or cinnamon rolls or brownies or—" She threw up her hands. "Anything I can work honey into somehow. What about you, Mason?"

"You know how the mounds help me calm down?" Mason leaned back and caressed his companions' home. "I want to find out how to use them all the time, not just when I'm here." He rubbed his reddened fingers. "That would beat getting splinters any day."

"You guys have such cool ideas," Taylor said, "I have no clue what I'm going to do. I don't think Mr. Woods would be happy if I raised a bunch of Venus flytraps."

"No, but the plants would be," Mason said.

"You've got plenty of time to figure it out," Anna said with a smile. "In the meantime, do you want to eat lunch with us on Monday? We sit by the library so we can get some peace and quiet, but we wouldn't mind chatting with you."

Warmth spread across Taylor's cheeks. "Are you sure? People have been pretty mean to me lately. I don't want them to bug you too."

Anna's bees buzzed in irritation. "Of course. I'm not going to let a bunch of jerks keep me from hanging out with you."

"Thanks." The flies buzzed softly as they drifted in the direction of Aunt May's. Taylor's eyes widened as she caught sight of the setting sun. "Oh man, I'd better head to dinner. See you guys Monday!"

Taylor skipped to Aunt May's, and that wasn't just because Aunt May's freshly fried beignets filled the air with the scent of cinnamon. Aunt May smiled as Taylor and her flies practically danced to the table. "Somebody looks happy!"

"Sorry for ditching you earlier," Lydia said as she piled a heap of Andouille onto her plate. "Gus gets cranky when I don't feed him on time."

"No worries. Anna and Mason are super cool," Taylor said.

Throughout dinner, Taylor was happier than she had been in days. Not even her flies zipping down to taste the powdered sugar covering her beignets could dampen her mood.