That Girl

PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

She is different. In a good way. The kind of different that attracts people like me. She isn't exactly an outcast, because she deliberately decided to have no friends and be alone. Trust me, she could have anyone she wants as a friend or significant other, she just doesn't want too. She is different.

All the other girls I know are different from me. But they don't quite get to her level. Actually, they aren't like her at all. Most girls I know love the same things and talk about the same things and eat the same things and do the same things. It seems to me that they are all the clones of one person; they are all certified copies of the leader of their group, their newest idol or even their mother. Most of them are like that, but not her. She isn't the copy of anyone else, she is an original. When I think of her, the first thing I think is that she's like an original painting that everyone wants to buy, but the price is way too high.

She created herself. She doesn't seem to base herself off of anything else than, well, herself. And by that, I don't mean that she's self-centered, not at all. I mean that she didn't inspire her lifestyle by looking at one those superficial popular chicks. She doesn't need to inspire herself, she's the one who inspires everyone else. Trust me, some people have tried to dress like her, walk like her, and talk like her, probably to get her attention. But no one ever gets it right. She cannot be copied, her creator made sure that she'd be unique.

I know she observes everyone and knows every single one of everyone's little mimics and tics. Sometimes, I catch her while she imitates a boy's tendency to scratch the top of his desk with his ring finger when he's nervous, or another boy's tendency to fold every corner of her exam sheets before unfolding them and refolding them again on the other side of the sheet. But everything she does, even if she is copying someone perfectly, seems to be done with an infinite softness and calm. She never looks stressed or rushed; she just looks like she's enjoying every single little thing that happens around her.

Her smile is quite enigmatic. Maybe that's why I think of her as a painting: she's got a smile like Mona Lisa's. She never smiles more or less, no matter the situation. She just has that soft, half-smirk plastered on her face 24/7. I'm pretty sure she knows the effect of her smile on most people: it enchants and charms everyone. She's enchanting, she's charming. But she's definitely out of reach.