The Difference Between You and Me

Chapter 11

Ammie Brians

That was the only thing that had occupied Josh's mind since he first saw her standing at her locker on her first day of school. She had looked so lost and out of place which made him want to walk over and talk to her, ease her anxiety and make her feel welcomed and comfortable. But then his subconscious decided to show itself and talked him out of it, putting forward logical and sound reasons as to why it was a bad idea and giving examples of how things could crash and burn if he went to talk to her. It was a significant hit to his ego that he, Josh Ferguison had doubts about approaching a girl.

He didn't know what exactly caused him to notice her in the ocean of females that attended Airama Nworb High and the sea of them that wanted his attention. It definitely wasn't because she was 'fresh meat' or 'new blood'. Something about her made her standout rather than fit in as apart part of the mainstream cult that everyone was a proud member of. Maybe he noticed her because she was the single source of silence in all the noise.

Josh had observed her whenever he could and noticed she kept a low profile, no friends, no parties, often just staring into space lost in her own thoughts, her own world. She was always by herself, she did everything alone and it wasn't because no one wanted to talk to her, it was her choice. He would see girls and boys alike approach her and she did one of four things: immediately walk away, stare at them without saying anything, ignore them, or be mean to them.

So because of that, people avoided her. She was completely harmless, just not friendly, and Josh hated that. It was a bit of a challenge when he was accustomed to being approached by females or given the express signal to approach them. Now for him to be completely bewitched by a girl that didn't see him like everyone else did and clearly wasn't interested in what he had to offer, it was a headache in disguise to say the least.

Keeping his distance of course and trying to not be noticed or to attract attention, Josh followed her around. He learnt that she walked to school every morning and back home every afternoon. On her walks she would talk to herself and always seemed to be in deep thought. Josh often wondered what she could be talking or thinking about as he watched her from his car window. He made himself wonder what it was like to be lost in Ammie's thoughts, in Ammie's world.

Though he was good looking with a great body and popular especially among the girls, Josh transcended the stereotype and was in fact a thinker and observer and. He himself would often be found by himself riding his own train of thoughts, detoxing from the daily chaos and drama that made up his life. And so, he knew what exactly he saw different in Ammie, yet he was completely puzzled about the same.

Josh knew he wasn't psychotic, he just wanted to know more about who she was. That day he saw her eating lunch on a bench alone, he felt a rush of courage and decided it was now or never to talk to her, so he did.

He stood beside her and took note of the momentary surprise that filled her eyes upon seeing him before she quickly recovered. He felt a bit more confident that she either knew of him or his gorgeous self blew her away on sight, but he shrugged the thought off and played it cool. As expected, she wasn't friendly at all, she barely spoke to him, was sarcastic the whole time and walked away before allowing him to get to know her. But it wasn't anything Josh couldn't handle, as her behaviour was more so amusing to him now that he had first-hand experience as oppose to what he had expected.

He spotted her in the cafeteria that same week, for the first time ever. He wondered why she decided to eat here, she never did. Jade after a while sat across from her and in a few minutes they both started conversing with each other. He was beyond surprised at this and then it hit him, there was so much to uncover about Ammie Brians, she was a mystery that he was desperate to solve.

"Yo Josh!" Todd, one of his best friends shouted

"Hmm...yeah...what?"

"Dude, come back to earth," he chuckled

"Must be thinking about Ammie Brians again," Luke, his other best friend, chimed in causing Josh to roll his eyes.

"C'mon man not her again," Todd whined, "you have girls drooling at your feet. Why do you keep thinking about her?"

"Because she is...different," Josh sighed, whispering the last part

"She is what?" Luke spoke up

"You wouldn't understand guys. I have to go,"

And with that, Josh left. The guys couldn't understand how he felt because they were so accustomed to toying around with girls, and they were blind to everyone else except those who were easy lays for them. But at some point, that kind of stuff gets boring and you just want a taste of the real thing. You can't help but wonder what it would be like if you got that. Josh believed that somehow, he could have that with Ammie, and he craved it more than anything else. He didn't know her, yet, but he already found peace in her vibe.