I'd always been one to adore the abnormal. The unconventional. The things that didn't conform to the laid down pattern of what was or what was supposed to be. The oddity.
Oddity.
There was a way it sounded that was wrong but was also right in its own way. Imperfectly perfect. That was how I felt the moment I saw you. So wrong but yet so right. I don't know what it was but the moment I saw you, that was the first word that came to my mind.
Oddity.
You had the brightest smile on your face, with your teeth all shining even though one of your incisors were chipped, even though your clothes had to be the weirdest I'd ever seen on a girl. It was like you were opting for the look of fashionable cowboy or was it cowgirl but you had it jumbled so wrongly. A red scarf on your neck, a hat that blocked half of your face, a colourful plaid shirt that could have been at least two sizes bigger than you, a brown, maxi-size corduroy jacket, denims so faded that they were nearly white, and to complete the ensemble, worn out workboots.
You had the beaming smile plastered on your face even when the other kids had started snickering while the Miss Connor, the English teacher introduced you. I guess I didn't catch your name with all my staring till you plopped down on the seat next to me and said, "Hey, I'm Tracy. Would you like to be my friend?"
I noticed that the class had gone silent and I could feel the threatening glares without looking around. I was already a social misfit trying to blend in with everyone else. I'd always wanted them to like me and they never did. But now I could feel without looking at them, the silence that spoke volumes.
They wanted to see what I would do. Whether or not I would destroy my already non-existent social life by answering positively to your request. And looking at how much I wanted to not be the odd girl, the social misfit with the too big, Harry Potter glasses that kept slipping down her nose. To no longer be Miss Smarty Pants Harry Potter Wannabe as they always referred to me as, I could have given in and rejected the request.
But then I looked at you.
You still had the smile but there was now a quizzical stretch on your eyebrow as you probably wondered if I was okay in the head. It was obvious to me that you were oblivious to the silence and the looks all around you. The thought alone made me smile. Little miss oddity in her own world. So, I smiled and took your hand which was surprisingly soft in a handshake and said, "Nice to meet you, Tracy. I'm Cassidy. But everyone calls me Cass."
You returned the handshake excitedly and with a smile even brighter than the previous ones, said, "Cassidy sounds much more melodious. Can I call you Cassidy?" At that point, with the sunniness of your smile fixed on me alone, I could have let you call me anything. But thankfully, I wasn't too overwhelmed in awe and managed to produce something that sounded like "yeah."
Miss Connor called us to order then and asked us to concentrate on class. I did not need to be told that I'd lost every hope of ever being friends with the other kids but as you whispered animatedly to me while making elaborate doodles on your notebook paper, it felt worth it.
I knew then that I wouldn't have to ever worry about you seeing me as odd when I told you that my favourite pastime was to crochet dolls with name tags of the people I didn't like and then sever the dolls' heads secretly with a kitchen knife imagining it to be their actual heads, or if I showed you my little black notebook where I'd written the names of the people I hoped to brutally murder someday.
You were odd like me, so you would understand. Wouldn't you?
Inspired by the Freewriters Community Daily Prompt.
Image created by Meta AI.
