Contrary to popular belief at this school, I actually speak perfect English. See? I have a bit of an accent, but I play a pretty good North American. Lots of people seem to think I’m an exchange student, but I’ve been living in this country for nine years, so no. I kind of feel like a sitcom token foreign character, where when I say something, people just laugh and pretend I didn’t make any sense. This happened so absurdly often when I first moved here that I eventually gave up trying to connect with most people. I have my small group of friends, who all know me well, most of whom are in different grade levels, so I don’t really need anyone else’s validation anymore. I will say that Viola was one of the few people outside my friend circle who got that I’m an immigrant. I have full citizenship, as do both of my parents, and we didn’t even have to climb a wall to get it. I was born in Italy, but my family is very whimsical and spontaneous. We didn’t plan on coming to Blast City, per se. But after spending years in the city, our paperwork went through, and we felt we needed to make another decision. Since no globe would have a town this small on it, we couldn’t spin it like before, but my mom did close her eyes and point randomly on a map. So yeah, that’s how we ended up here. I think they wanted to leave again, but were worried about destabilizing my education, so that will probably be happening sometime next year, or even near the end of this year. I’m not going to college, which is one thing Viola and I had in common. You asked for a specific defining moment between the two of us, but there wasn’t really anything like that. She greeted me in the halls, and asked me how my cat was doing. She learned a few Italian phrases, but unlike others, who just want me to teach them curse words, she was doing it out of genuine interest. I think that’s probably why so many people think they had some kind of special connection to her, and maybe it’s even partly why someone killed her. She went out of her way to find common ground with everyone she met, even if it meant fabricating something that wasn’t there before.
Fabricating isn’t the word I’m looking for. And again, that’s not because English is technically a second language; I’m just not articulating perfectly.
Devising; that’s a better word. If for instance, she encountered someone who liked tennis, she would put on a pleated skirt, and give it a shot. She may not like it, and she may never do it again, but she will always have that bond with that other person. I guess, she doesn’t have it anymore. We do, though. We remember her, and we each have that one thing that she made us feel isn’t stupid, or uncool. In the end, I’m glad we weren’t really close friends. The light from a person like that belongs to us all, and I wouldn’t have wanted to bogart that.
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