“Stop! Actually do something to help if you have nothing to do,” I shouted at nisîmis (my brother) the minx was shoving and punching me, we were getting ready to leave to Independence Missouri to start on the Oregon Trail, Mother (my mother) told me that to-day we were to meet a family we were going to be going with, the Driscoll family, I somehow managed to already despise the name. I always struggled with meeting new people, they would usually make fun of me either for the way I looked or spoke- there were so many children in the Driscoll family, apparently, one of them being a few months younger than me. “Listen to kistês (your older brother)” shouted Mother , she was a very strict woman with kind, emerald eyes just like those of nîtisânak (my siblings), I took after Father (my father), who had dark, almost black, eyes. 

“Mingan!” nisîmis (my younger sister) jumped into my arms, I sighed but ran my fingers through her wild curly inky hair, to relieve stress; I always hated travelling for this exact reason. 

“Cheer up, Mingan, we’re out in the wild, you’ll make friends with that boy, what’s his name? Julie, no, Julian? What’s his name, honey?” Father asked Mother, who was far too busy brushing Huritt’s hair, I chuckled at his disgusted expression. 

Mother noticed a kind-looking older lady with auburn hair and began chatting, practically dragging Huritt with her by his ear. I also came up, Mother ruffled my hair, introducing me, she told me that she needed to get something from our wagon and handed me Huritt’s ear, I pulled him into a tight side-hug and made pleasant conversation with Mrs Driscoll, I enjoyed talking to adults so much more than my peers.

Her son and daughter stepped out from their wagon, they looked extremely similar and I wondered whether they were twins even though one of them looked way too young. 

“These are Mingan and Huritt, they are Soka’s sons, they are your ages. Get to know each other and be nice! You will be traveling together for the foreseeable future!” she told them and went to talk to some other lady with ginger hair. Have you ever had a feeling that you hate someone as soon as you see them? Well I felt like that with these twins, the boy was uncomfortably staring at me and I tried to look down at the ground, letting go of Huritt. 

“I’m Julian,” he informed me, I wiped my hands on my ragged cloak.

“I’m aware,” I told him, Huritt folded his arms across his chest and tried to straighten his back to appear more mature.

 “I’m Eliza Jane, nice to meet you, Huritt, would you like to see a daisy chain I made?” the girl spoke up, beaming at Huritt but pronouncing his name wrong. Huritt nodded and she took his hand, taking him to her wagon, leaving me alone with Julian. 

“I like your hair,” he told me, I felt butterflies in my stomach, maybe I was just sick. 

“I like your…” I looked him up and down, I never realised how attractive he was until I actually looked at him. “You're pretty in general,” I admitted, and the boy started blushing, I suddenly felt as if I had done something wrong. Suddenly, someone jumped on Julian’s back and a ginger girl and a brunette, effeminate boy appeared behind the mystery person.

 “I’m Lydia, this idiot’s sister,” the girl who jumped on Julian’s back expressed, pointing at him and getting off his back. “I found the twins again, this is Billy and Rose, they’re the Clancy’s kids, Ma and Papa’s friends,” she pointed at the boy, he was shorter than me and had baby blue eyes and brown hair.