A Strange Girl

A story about a girl that's a bit different
1.
Coming out of my shell

It had been a rough several months. I was almost through my last year of high school. It had been a very trying and frustrating time for me. The school work was almost impossible to understand for a nerd like me. I hated school with a passion!

I had no social life, especially not with girls. I was a book worm and terrified of the opposite sex. I couldn’t talk to them I couldn’t even be around them. It seemed like if any girl in the school would get near me and I would lose my ability to speak. I would stammer, stutter, blush a deep red then go sneaking off the other direction hanging my head in shame.

I made it a point to not go to any of the school dances, parties, or to any of the basketball or football games. I didn’t participate in any of the sports. I was a loner, and I didn’t have any friends. I was known as a weakling and a cowardly woss. I wouldn’t stand up to anyone or fight back I just took whatever they decided to dish out.

All the guys and a lot of the girls knew how I would react and seemed to get some kind of perverse thrill out of taunting me, making fun of me and laughing at me. I wasn’t the one on the bottom rung of the ladder of life, hell I was the one buried underneath the ladder. Damn I was sick of school and life in general. Being the butt of everyone’s jokes and their verbal punching bag was emotionally painful and had worn me down to where I felt like a piece of trash. Needless to say my outlook on life was extremely bleak. Teenagers can be the cruelest thing on this earth.

Sadly there was a girl the same age as I was that seemed to be in the same kind of predicament. Barb was not what you would call gorgeous but she was pretty I thought. She hid in long bulky loose fitting clothes so no one would notice her. Her auburn hair framed her sad looking face and hung straight down onto her shoulders. She was slender and stood about 5’4’’ tall. On the rare occasion when her head was not hanging dejectedly, if I were close enough I could see her beautiful blue eyes hiding behind her glasses.

We never spoke or acknowledged each other even though we had a lot of the same classes. She seemed to be just as shy as I was. A time or two our eyes had met and we both blushed and looked down. I figured she was just about as miserable as I was. Little did I know at the time that she was trying to deal with something that made my life look like a Sunday afternoon walk in the park.

It was Friday afternoon. I walked out of the school building and had managed to avoid all the assholes that seemed to be drawn to me like a magnet drawn to metal. As I walked down the street congratulating myself on evading notice for once I found Barb on her knees very quietly sobbing and trying to find her glasses and pick up all her books and papers at the same time. A block down the street there were four girls still laughing and hurling insults back at her. That did it, I was pissed and at the same time I felt sorry for her. Her books and papers were scattered everywhere, her hair was a mess, her nylons were ruined, she had a scraped knee, and her glasses were lying on the other side of the sidewalk.

Silently I stepped alongside her and knelt to help her. When I handed her the missing glasses she looked up with fear in her eyes and soul.

“What do you want, why can’t you just leave me alone she sobbed?”

“Whoa, sorry; I don’t plan on being like the rest of those puke bags. I just thought maybe you could use some help. I’ve been in this same position a few times myself. I’ll leave if you really want me to.”

By now she had her glasses on and was staring at me with wide eyes and her face was starting to turn red as the tears were still chasing each other down her cheeks. “You ok,” I ask as I began to gather the loose papers up and set her books in a pile.

“I didn’t see what happened but I can guess. Those jerks always seem to get their kicks by causing somebody else misery. I wish they’d grow up and get a life. The guys are always trying to knock my books out of my hands and then laugh as I try to pick them up while they kick me in the butt if I bend over. They all seem to get a big laugh out of me falling on my face.”

We finally had her things picked up and sorted out. I stood and offered to help her up. As she stood she cried out; “ouch, that hurts” and reached for her skinned knee. “Oh damn that hurts, why did they have to do that? I hope they’re happy now they ruined my nylons and skinned my knee” She said as fresh tears of pain filled her eyes.

I couldn’t believe it we were both talking without getting embarrassed and stuttering. What was happening, was the world about to come to an end?

I quickly grabbed her books and tucked them under my arm. “Let me carry these for you. You can’t limp and carry books at the same time. That doesn’t look cool.” By the time we were two blocks down the street we were chatting like a couple of long lost siblings.

I was surprised to find out that she was like I was, an only child and from a single parent home. Her mother (Sue) worked at the same place my mom worked. Both our moms worked the evening shift and didn’t get off work until eleven-thirty at night. She was an almost straight A student while I was just below a straight D student. She liked the challenge of school work and I hated it. I would rather be reading a sci-fi book than studying. Neither one of us had any friends in school. The others shunned both of us I guess because neither one of us was interested in sports, video games, or their so called dances they had. She liked science fiction books just like I did and we both liked the same music.

We walked up to her front door way to soon. I was in heaven, I had found someone that didn’t make fun of me and laugh at me all the time. Secretly I was hoping she liked me. She hurried inside to get her knee cleaned up and bandaged. As I handed her books over to her I hastily scribbled my phone number on a paper. I had severe doubts that she would ever call me but I had to at least try.

I slowly walked, no, I floated home. I had talked to a girl for the first time in my life without being embarrassed, stuttering, or just being so embarrassed I turned away. I was in seventh heaven all the other kids could go to hell as far as I was concerned. I had a friend and it was a girl.

2.
The old mill house

The next day was Saturday. I slept in until almost ten o’clock. Mom was up and doing her thing around the house when I finally crawled out of bed. “Any phone calls for me,” I asked trying to sound casual?

Mom suddenly stopped what she was doing and turned. “Now what’s going on” she demanded.

“Nothing,” I dropped my head in disappointment. Secretly I had been hoping Barb might have called but I guess I had been right. She wouldn’t call. She was probably laughing at me right now just like all the others. I sighed dejectedly as my shoulders sagged and I turned to go out the door.

“Hold it mister. You’ve never asked about getting a phone call before, why now all of a sudden? You aren’t in some kind of trouble are you?”

“No mom honest, I just thought maybe.” With a huge sigh I explained to her about yesterday and that I had given Barb our phone number.

“I think I know who you’re talking about. Does she have long brown hair and wear glasses? She always wears long dresses and blouses that look to big for her doesn’t she? (I nodded). I thought so, Sue works with me at night. A lot of times Barb comes out there and sets around doing her school work and waiting for her mom to get off work. They both seem really friendly and nice. When the weather’s nasty I usually give them a ride home. In fact I’m supposed to go over there this afternoon. Want to come along?”

“Mom, I’d die first! I don’t know if she even wants to see me again or not. What would I say to her? What would we talk about? She would probably laugh at me and tell me to get lost. Besides that’s not the way it’s done now.”

“Teenagers,” mom groaned rolling her eyes up towards the ceiling. “You seem to have more problems than I can count.”

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