Dawn and Dusk and Dawn Again

Optimist & Pessimist

    Though me and Angelette bonded over many common interests, the most prominent ones being our shared love of the English language and books in general, I soon discovered that we also greatly differed from each other. It was kind of surprising, which was surprising in its own. I didn't think that I could understand and relate to a person so much.

    One day, she said to me, "You know, you're so positive."
    I almost choked. On what, you ask? On air. It was the first time I've heard that. It was funny, but I didn't think about stuff like positives and negatives. I'm a dreamer, someone who looked at the world through a special pair of glasses. That was quite fitting, since I do wear glasses. I try my best to make some daunting scenarios seem less scary, and maybe even a bit funny by doing awful bookish (you can also say nerdy) takes on the situation or by mocking myself. Or both. It depends on the gravity of the event.
    "Ha, I am not. You haven't even heard how many times I say 'I hate my life' a day." That was true. Most times I didn't mean it, but really, the amount was staggering.
    "Well, you don't know how many times I say it, either," she said. "And you are positive. You haven't cried once in school, and you smile a lot."
    "Ah. Huh." Yeah, not really. At least, I wasn't conscious of it. To be honest, I'm not even sure who I hung out with before I got to know Angelette. There was someone, but they are but a blurry image in my mind now. I certainly didn't "smile a lot". Did I? "Nah, not really. And I didn't really have a reason for crying... so."
    "Yeah, but I cry because of everything. I'm really negative." She said this in a matter-of-fact tone, which kind of threw me off. What was I supposed to do? Comfort her? Deny it? Go along with it? Make a dad joke and make sure it was corny enough to steer the conversation away to the point of no return? Pull the oldest trick in the book and say, "Look behind you!"? Gods, I didn't have conversations like this with my old friends. We just joked around!
    "Uh, well," I looked around randomly as if seeking for inspiration amongst the dirty brick walls and dull gray cement. Some small trees stood near us, their thin branches swaying in the summer breeze. I wished some dryads were here. Most of them appeared as gentle, caring, considerate creatures, at least when they weren't running away from gods. Maybe they could coach me in the art of conversing properly. Maybe they could write a book called The Dos-and-Don'ts of Discussing Serious Topics. Lots of people would buy it, right? Right?
    "Negativity isn't necessarily a bad thing," I blurted out. Then, I realized I didn't really feel good about encouraging people to be negative. "I mean, it's not like it's a great thing, but you know those people who're blindly optimistic, so much so that they don't really assess the risks of the situation before hopping merrily into it? At least negativity doesn't make you one of them. And plus, people change over time, and though some change for the worse, I'm sure you can be more positive in the future. After all, we're still very young. And hey, there are a lot of characters who are the brooding, pessimistic type, and fangirls still obsess over them." Wow, I was ranting. And yes, I was and still am one of those fangirls.
    "Oh, yeah I guess you're right. Okay, then." Angelette looked untroubled by this, even though inwardly I was cringing so hardly it was like... well, like GAH. Real poetic, I know, but it was the best way to capture the feeling. Yeah, I definitely needed those coaching lessons. I wondered how much the dryads would want for a 1-hour session. Would I get a free trial first?
    Plus, I thought, since I was so "positive", maybe I could influence her a bit. Angelette looked cool about the idea of being negative, though. I didn't get how, or why, but either way it was okay with me. I've always heard about this idea of friends balancing each other out. I didn't see how that could happen in my real life, but now, I did. Later, we often used the idea of opposites attract. Again, the oldest trick in the book, but it didn't get old.