Altogether unusual

A social gathering

'I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that

handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy.

Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun.'

Charles R. Swindoll

Eve and I became friends easily. I didn't even realise how she dug her way through my strangeness, all the way to my heart. Which you'll see it's there. I know. I was amazed to find it too.

We moved from talking all kind of nonsense in the lunch break, to hanging out during breaks and even go out some evenings. Most of those implied Jonathan too. Which made me see his real attachment to her. They were not together, but indeed very good friends. Eve was great to help me feel the social pulse of the city. She literally knew all the pubs and clubs in the city. That's how I found out about some places where I could stay and draw listening to good music. My type of music. I didn't even realize when I started to like her that much. One moment I was this lonely girl, the next one I was hanging out with friends, listening to gossip and receiving texts, for crying out loud. Pointless to say that my parents were happy with my change, and mother wanted me to invite Eve over. She came several times, enchanting my parents with her bubbly personality, but she never agreed to a sleepover. When my mother offered to talk to her parents, since she seemed to wish to stay very much, she had to confide to us. Her mother had died in childbirth and she has been raised by her father. He was a minister and wanted his daughter at home as much as possible, to shield her from harm. Of course we were very sad to hear the story and we apologized for insisting. But somewhere in my head there were things I couldn't understand and tie together. Eve was not only the sexiest thing ever. Like the dream of any boy in the world. With that body she could have had anyone, but she also dressed to kill. I wondered why her father would let her dress like that, but not to have sleepovers. Then I just imagined she would sneak out in dull clothes and dress differently on her way to school.

Eve knew everything about everyone. I mean the gossip was not a thing I enjoyed, but she poured it on me and Jonathan anyway. That's how I found out that Sylvie went to tell the principal how I had beat the crap out of her. And how I knew Ms Barton would summon me in her chambers for a talk. But that's another story.

I think I was attracted to Eve because she was my opposite. Not only because she was beautiful and well dressed, but because she was positive and happy all the time. We were a weird bunch. A beautiful eyed grump, a black witch and a princess. Eve was never upset or resentful. Frankly, I wondered why was she not part of the popular people group, because she would have fit in like a glove. She could have ruled it, if you ask me. The boys in school were like puppies in her hands. I saw the way they looked at her. She used to make fun reading us the letters she would find in her locker, from admirers. One time, one of them promised her diamonds and a flight with his own helicopter, if only she would be his girlfriend. He was probably so excited that he wrote his telephone number incorrectly. How did she know that, you ask? Well, there was only one guy in school who was that obviously rich, Eric Shall. Eve had his number, as she had everybody's number. She had compared them and she realised that the number was mistaken with one digit. As friends, we never talked about boys as normal girls do. I never had a boyfriend to talk about and .....I don't know. She didn't seem interested. At least not in the boys in our school. And she never spoke of others. It was impossible for me to think she didn't have a guy, but I never wanted to put pressure on her, with her dad issues and everything. We did talk about Jonathan sometimes. She had told me about his writing passion. How he actually writes in his head and is able to remember everything later, when he's in front of a computer. I found out about the eating-him-from-the-inside thirst of words. That nothing was as important for him as being a writer. How he is so modest when talking about what he does, but how appreciated he is by the literary circles. I realized that there were times when his eyes had a specific burning, and I started loving the beautiful creation which took place inside this beautiful man. I found myself thriving on it. His light gave me light. I stopped being bothered by his lack of attention because what he thought was much more important, just less obvious than my thing.