I can't remember the day I really met Rita, but I know that before, she was someone I avoided. Everyone did. She didn't talk often, usually only to either to say something to piss off a teacher or to complain about the cafeteria food. Rita never seemed to talk to any other students. I had never seen her walking home with a friend, or hanging out with someone. Lunches she usually spent inside, serving time in some fluorescent lit class room for missing assignments.
Rita was fully aware of the ridicule she received both behind her back, and straight to her face. I don't think she really cared, and that she knew that they only made fun of her because she let it. And to tell you the truth, I think she enjoyed it when the others made fun of her black hair, which she claimed was natural, or her slipping grades, which she'd laugh off and say it was only because her hand writing was unreadable. I had never joined in teasing her, though I understood my stance in the high school might suffer from it, I secretly felt like actually getting to know the girl with big, dark eyes who was often swallowed by a sweater much too big for her.
I'm pretty sure it started in Choir. When we had to sing "Good Day Sunshine" and Rita was the only person who didn't pick up the booklet to look up the lyrics. After class I asked her if she already knew song.
"Of course." She said, as if it was something obvious I should have known, and after a second she looked at me and and said, "You're Richie, right?"
After that encounter, I began talking to Rita more. We had a lot of our classes together, and when she wasn't in detention, she ate lunch with me. Then I began to see her personality, it came through in little sentences that would burst out like seeds that were just exposed to sun and water after being locked away in some cabinet.
Rita liked The Beatles. Scratch that, she loved them. I found her spurting out random facts that I doubt anyone else in the school would have known, and I wouldn't have if she wasn't so enthusiastic. This fact made her even more different from the rest of the "mainstream masses" as she referred the
Rita was fully aware of the ridicule she received both behind her back, and straight to her face. I don't think she really cared, and that she knew that they only made fun of her because she let it. And to tell you the truth, I think she enjoyed it when the others made fun of her black hair, which she claimed was natural, or her slipping grades, which she'd laugh off and say it was only because her hand writing was unreadable. I had never joined in teasing her, though I understood my stance in the high school might suffer from it, I secretly felt like actually getting to know the girl with big, dark eyes who was often swallowed by a sweater much too big for her.
I'm pretty sure it started in Choir. When we had to sing "Good Day Sunshine" and Rita was the only person who didn't pick up the booklet to look up the lyrics. After class I asked her if she already knew song.
"Of course." She said, as if it was something obvious I should have known, and after a second she looked at me and and said, "You're Richie, right?"
After that encounter, I began talking to Rita more. We had a lot of our classes together, and when she wasn't in detention, she ate lunch with me. Then I began to see her personality, it came through in little sentences that would burst out like seeds that were just exposed to sun and water after being locked away in some cabinet.
Rita liked The Beatles. Scratch that, she loved them. I found her spurting out random facts that I doubt anyone else in the school would have known, and I wouldn't have if she wasn't so enthusiastic. This fact made her even more different from the rest of the "mainstream masses" as she referred the
