Chapter 380: Story of My Life
After taking a few minutes to really relax and let the 'water' soak into her body, Kat started thinking up questions for Kamiko. Most of them revolving around why the girl didn't have friends. *It just doesn't make sense? She seems so nice and sweet, and I really can't believe nobody wanted to be friendly with her. Should I just ask? Maybe I should share first?*
"So, would you like to hear about my own schooling? I didn't mention it before but I didn't really have friends for a long time either" said Kat.
"Oh? That's a surprise" said Kamiko as her relaxation turned to confusion, and a slight sadness. "I'd have thought someone as cool as you would have easily managed to have a whole group of friends. And you were able to so easily ask for my friendship"
Kat sighed. "Yeah… it was a combination of a couple things really. The first and biggest one was that when I was younger I had a few friends for a short amount of time before they got adopted and left the area completely. I… I wasn't really as sad as I thought I'd be when I saw them leave, and now I hardly even remember their faces. I was very young.
"I'm also sure that they wouldn't have actually been the first. I'm sure I had some at the orphanage before that but… I only remember the first few very vaguely that went to school with me as well for a time. Seeing them leave, I started to think, 'that's just what friends do' 'they leave before chances to grow close happen if you weren't meant to be friends'. Not sure how I rationalised that as I child but that's what I thought for a while.
"Eventually, I started to gather acquaintances, mostly at the orphanage. I'd simply do my work in class and relax afterwards. I'd do all my homework at lunchtimes so that at the end of the day, when I went home, I could help the other kids. I make the distinction, with helping them and not playing with them because really that isn't what I did.
"I'd just… go around interacting with people you know?" asked Kat as she ran her hands through the water leaving slight ripples in their wake. "I'd never stick around with any group for long, always moving on to help the next lot. Didn't matter who I helped. Younger, older, same age? I helped as many of them as I could.
"It was because I think I still wanted friends, but didn't believe that I could make any that would stick around. Now sure, I could have befriended people at school, ones who wouldn't leave but… there was this group of three girls, they actually followed me all through schooling, and they made it clear they never understood me, and liked to make fun of the fact that I lived in the orphanage.
"I was a little more stubborn as a child… ok maybe a lot more, so I was more than willing to defend my home against them… and all the other kids. See in my young mind, like… I was maybe six? Seven? Or something at the time, so I didn't really know, but I thought it was us orphanage kids on one side and everyone else on the other.
"Eventually, I got really used to that. I'd help people at the orphanage but never get friendly, I'd just sort of exist at school, mostly keeping to myself. And this was fine. I settled into a routine, and got used to it. Some of the people from the orphanage would be in my year and I'd talk to them a bit at school but not much.
"That was… until I met a girl called Lily. It was in High school, which is near the end of our education in my dimension. Remember those girls from earlier? Well, it seemed they found another target. I'm not sure if they tried to bully anyone else over the years, they always picked on me but…
"I never really cared. They called me mean names, but I knew they weren't true and they just… didn't hurt me the way I'd heard words were supposed to so I kept ignoring them. Then they tried to do physical stuff but… with all the work I did helping around the orphanage, and walking back and forth from school every day, I was much fitter and stronger than them, so if they tried to push me I could dodge or push back twice as hard.
"So then they tried to do other things. Like wetting my clothes or getting dirt on them, or one time I ended up with glue in my hair… but honestly it was too little too late. I mentioned I helped around the orphanage, right? Well, these were regular occurrences from various accidents I had overtime you know?
"A kid spills juice on you during breakfast so you clean it up quickly. Cleaning out a particularly nasty cupboard and the shelf falls on you covering you on dirt? Happens when you clean if you aren't careful, nobody's fault really. Helping the much younger kids with art projects? Honestly if nothing was stuck in my hair at the end it was would have been counted as a small miracle."
Kat let out a long-relaxed sigh, appreciating the chance to talk to someone who wasn't Lily. Not that she didn't love the girl, Lily was a great best friend, but Kat knew, intellectually if not in practice, that she couldn't talk about LILY with herself. That would be weird, and going over the rest of it again was actually quite nice.
"So, when they ran out of ideas and a new student transferred in, whose name was Lily Furos, a shy little bookworm with… MASSIVE glasses. Honestly, that first year, I do wonder why her parents even let her buy them. The lenses on them were huge, easily the size of the balls you do your hair up in." Kamiko let out a gasp at that.
"Yeah I know! She's such an adorable shy thing even though we were in high school. Anyway, the trio of girls decided she was the new target. Well, I wasn't standing for that. I… took a more… let's call it proactive role in defending people from their bullying. Now that 'people' included more than just me."
Kat spread her wings and did a full body shrug. "Not that it really ever evolved past the two of us anyway, but we settled into a bit of a stalemate that way. Lily always asked me not to get in trouble for her. The trio never picked on Lily in class or while I was around, and they would make a few attempts at me I'd never thwart.
"If I found them picking on Lily and it was over the line… which I'll admit I wasn't the most consistent with, I'd beat them up. Nothing serious, but major bruising surely. I… honestly looking back on it I may have been a bit rough on them, but they never complained to anyone if we weren't caught fighting and I never went for the face or anything.
"I like to think… we got to a weird source of truce with those three. We all roughly understood where we all stood and established the rules of the… game? Perhaps? And we all came out happy. Lily and I both got a real friendship, they got a target for bullying that was… perhaps unsatisfying but didn't fight back, and one that was satisfying but would lead to physical consequences."
Kat let out a long breath of air, head dipping slightly further into the water because of it. "That's how I met my first friend. I guess… I didn't really tell you much of what she's like but I guess that's enough from me for now. I just thought I'd share before asking about your own troubles I guess."
Kamiko bit back tears. She could empathise with Kat, and did wish to share her own childhood with Kat, but for now, she was fighting off the desire to cry… mostly successfully. Of course, the fact that she still cried tears of proper water did help as any water that left her froze once it left her eyes leaving nary a trace with the thick mists that shrouded the room.
"Thanks Kat" said Kamiko. "It… I don't know how much it means to you but… thanks. I've never really heard a story like that. I… I've only really had my family and… a lot of their stories feel… so disconnected from me, taking place such a long time ago or… or I LIVED the event from my own perspective so… it just isn't the same if that makes sense?
"Like… I can properly see myself in your place, and… I'm a little shocked at how much I can relate" said Kamiko.
Kat sent a wry smiling directed at the ceiling. "Well, I do appreciate it. And it feels nice to talk about. Did… you want to share your own story?"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel