The Freak

Chapter 6: Nice To Meet You

Chapter 6:


Nice To Meet You



'I- I'm fine.' I blurt out.

She raises one eyebrow. 'I can see that.' The sarcasm dripping from that sentence surprises me.

'Are you?' I ask suddenly.

She looks surprised. 'What?' She laughs. 'Did you hit your head or something?'

I shake my head. 'No...'

'Good' She grins.

Silence

'I'm Kamira.' I say.

She smiles. 'Nice to meet you, Kamira.'

'Really?' It comes out of my mouth before I can stop it. I'm not used to be treated so nicely by anyone else except my brother.

She lets out a laugh. 'Oh Kamira. Are you sure you're okay?'

I shrug. I allow myself to relax a little more but I don't want to look her in the eye. When she suddenly lies down and looks up to me I'm in shock for a while. She is so friendly and nice to me.

She chuckles. 'Is it just me or are you a little bit socially awkward?'

'Umm.. I don't know.' I respond

'I was joking.' She studies my reaction. 'Or maybe not.'

I don't know what to say.
'I guess you are just a very spontaneous person.' I say

She smiles. 'I guess so.'
She closes her eyes and races her fingers through the grass.

'Why was that woman so mean to you?' I can't help my curious self.

She stops. Opens one eye and looks at me. 'You saw that?' She sighs.
I nod, silently.
'She doesn't like me.'

'Why not?' I ask.

She looks amused. 'What do you mean, why not? It's obvious why.'
She frowns when I look confused.
'Because I'm black.' She states

Now I'm frowning. I race a hand through my hair, thinking. 'Why is that a problem?'

She doesn't respond. I look at her and she's staring at me, mouth wide open.
'Your eyes have a different colour.' She whispers.

Oh no. I grab my hair.
'I don't know what your talking about.' I hastily say.

Unexpectedly she grabs my wrist before I can cover my eye.
She looks intrigued and suddenly smiles. 'That's só cool.'

I'm shocked. 'What?' I look her in the eye. Wrong decision.
So much pain and joy all together fills me. It gets me dizzy.
I need to go home, so I stand up, but I can't find my balance.

'Woah, sorry.' Tae races out and catches me before I fall. 'You need to sit.' She says and she leads me to the bench. I sit down and sigh.

'I need to go home.' I mumble.

'You need to calm down for a moment.' She says, worried. 'I'm sorry I got you upset.' She mumbles.

'I'm fine.' I groan. She shakes her head.

We sit in silence for at least ten minutes until I start to feel better.
'Thanks.' I say.

'For what?' She asks. I shrug and she laughs. 'You are sure I don't have to take you to a hospital?'
I nod.

'But really, your eyes, are those contacts?' She asks.

I shake my head.
'Awesome.' She looks at me.
'You were born with that?'

'Yes.'

'Wow. That's amazing.' She says with a look of pure adoration on her face.

'You think?' I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable. She nods.
'You're one of the first.' I mumble.

She looks surprised but then she understands. 'I see..'

'I still don't understand why people hate you because you're black.' I blurt out.

'Have you ever heard of racism, Kamira?' She asks.

'Yes.'

'Then you understand.'

'It's just so stupid.' I say. 'That's not even a valid reason!'

She smiles. 'Thanks.'

I look up. 'For what?' She shrugs and we both laugh.

'Tell me about yourself, Kamira.' Tae says.

I stiffen. 'My name is Kamira, I'm 21 years old, I have a brother.'

She tilts her head. 'Where are you from?'

'The north. Maybe you know it, Aurora Skies?' I ask.

She nods excitedly. 'Never been, but I heard it's beautiful!'

'I guess.' I say. How would I know? I've never been anywhere else and that town is full of bad memories for me.

'You guess? You lived there! What are you doing here, then? Holidays?' She asks.

I shake my head. 'I'm going to live here.'

'Really? When?'

'When all the paperwork is done.' I respond.

'But, why? Are you coming to SSU?'' This girl is full of questions.

'SSU?' I ask confused.

'Starlight Shores University.' She answers. 'I study Psychology here.'

'Oh! No, I'm not. I have a job in the supermarket.' I say.

She smiles. 'Damn, would've been nice to have you there.'

I smile back.

'So, what are your hobbies? What're you interested in?' She asks curiously.

'Oh, erm. I very much like to read, and write. And... Art, I guess.' I reply.

'You like Art? As in, you like to look at it?'

'Also, but I like making art myself the most.' I say

She grins. 'Me too. You know, we have art classes in SSU. They are in the evening or the afternoon. They're like extra classes for students but also for people who don't study there.
It's really interesting and fun. It doesn't matter if you have any experience or not because you are allowed to do your own thing and it's not even that expensive. You have to buy your own material though.
She suggests. 'Would you like to come?'

I grab the flyer in my purse. 'You mean this?' I ask.
She nods.
'It sounds amazing!' I say smiling. 'But, I don't know if I have enough money for a whole year.'

'You can just try it. You're allowed to come your first time for free, to see what it is exactly. And if you want to continue, you can also just try for one semester if you're not sure.' She excitedly explains.

I smile. 'I'll definitely think about it.'
I yawn suddenly and Tae chuckles.

'Long day?' She asks.

'I just arrived here this afternoon.' I say, tired.

'Oh wow. I can understand that. You're probably jetlagged like hell.'

I nod.

'Well, maybe I should let you go home and sleep then.' She chuckles.

She stands up but I stop her. 'Could you maybe, erm. Tell me how I can get back?.. I have the address here somewhere..'

'You're lost?' She laughs. I look at her. 'Sorry, come on. I'll drive you home.' I want to protest but I realise that I probably have to go a long way and I'm too tired for that, so I give her a thankful look and follow her to her car.

During the drive home, Tae keeps talking. About herself this time. I just listen, it's nice to have someone to talk to.
She tells me she's 20 years old and that she lived with her parents in a nearby village and came to school here. But after some problems at school and at home she changed schools and went to a highschool in another village. She came back here to study Psychology and she lives in one of the bigger dorms with another girl and two guys. The girl, her roommate, is, in her opinion, very annoying. She calls her 'Barbie' because everything she has is pink and because she's long, skinny and has long blonde hair. I laugh at this and then she says she'll introduce me to her once, so I can see what she means.

When we have almost arrived she asks: 'If you're not jetlagged anymore Saturday, would you like to come to our dorm party? The semester starts on monday so we're gonna throw some sort of last party before we have class again.' She explains.

'Oh, yeah maybe. I don't know.' I say. I've never been to a party before in my life.

She smiles. We arrive and she stops before the house. 'Cute house.' She says. I smile. 'Thanks.'
I get out. 'It was really nice to meet you, Tae.' I say.
'It was nice to meet you too, Kamira. We'll see eachother again, right?'
I nod.
'Wait.' Then she picks a piece of paper and writes something down.
She hands it to me. 'Call me if you want to come to that party. Or, if you want to hang out.' She says hesitantly. 'I don't really have friends here.'
I smile. 'I will.'

'Goodbye.' She waves and I wave back until her car is gone.
I go into the house and I sit down on the small couch. I feel happy, I'm glad I found someone to talk to, someone who might want to be my friend. I've never had a friend except for my brother.
I fall asleep on that couch. Smiling.