A New Friend

 Growing up I never had luck making friends.  I'd have one person who would sit next to me in a class that I'd talk to every once in a while, but once classes or seats changed, that person practically never existed. I didn't mind though, I was too preoccupied with drawing in my notebook to really care . There was only one thing that actually did care about.

I never liked people looking at my drawings.  A long time ago a classmate had taken my notebook  and laughed at my drawing. He said it looked stupid, and no one would like it. Looking back at it, it's dumb to be upset over it, but it stuck with me for a while. I always liked drawing, so it never stopped me, but I was never let anyone look at my drawings again. It was  probably why people didn't want to be friends with me in the first place, all I did was draw and never let anyone see them.
 I had gotten use to it not long after and spent all of my time by myself, I was pretty content with not having any friends.

  Until I met her.

 It was nearing the end of the elementary school year with only one week left before summer break. The school was preparing us for the summer, so there was a festive atmosphere in every class. They'd ask us if we were excited, and if we'd miss our friends. They even gave us a small little booklet to have our friends sign their name and write messages to wish them a fun summer. During recess, while everyone else was scrambling among each other to get their booklet filled, I sat alone under a tree in the playground, drawing some costumed hero from a tv show. Occasionally someone would come up to me to get them to sign their book, which I did, only leaving my name in small print on the corner of a page. I looked around at everyone running, getting happy for having their booklets signed and at the same time getting sad for not seeing them again until the next school year. I turned to see my own booklet next to my backpack, completely empty.  It didn't bother me much, but I couldn't help but feel a bit sad seeing it, was I really that alone?



"Heya!~" a bright voice came from behind me.

I jumped, almost dropping my notebook and turn around to see a girl with bright blue eyes and a red bow on her head looking at me. I've never seen her before, but she had a smile on her as if she'd seen her best friend.

"Um, Hi?" I say flatly.

"What are you drawing?" She asks, peaking at my notebook.

I quickly close the book and face away from her.

"It's no one." I tell her in an irritated tone.

I sat there, staring at my backpack, wishing she'd go away. Tears starting swelling up in my eyes, imagining her laughing at me. I could already see her running to her friends to tell them about the kid making dumb drawings.


"Was that a superhero? I think he looked cool!" She said in an excited tone, breaking my train of thought.

The tears stopped and I gasped a bit in shock. Did I hear that right? I lightly turn my head towards her.

"Y-you..you do?" I ask her.

She happily nods her head.

"He looks like he's really strong and fast, and saves a lot of people!" she said in the same tone as before.

"He is! He can fly super fast and can lift a whole car with one hand!" I say in an excited tone. I hadn't realized it, but I had never been this excited before unless it was watching tv, or reading a comic.

"That sounds awesome! Can I see it?" She asks me.

"Um, sure." I say somewhat confused.


What's going on? I'd never let anyone see my drawings, no matter how hard they tried, but all she did was ask and I'm already opening the book eagerly to show her.

I point at the crudely draw man in costume, explaining his powers and how he fights bad guys. She looks on happily, nodding her head at each detail.

"Wow, he has a lot of cool powers!" She says as she looks at me, a smile shining on her face.


She looks over at my backpack.


"Is that your booklet?" she asks pointing at it.


"Oh um-uh" I stammer as I try to find the words to say, my head had felt like a jumbled mess trying to figure out what to tell her.

"Can I sign it?" she asks in a curious tone.

I'm at an even bigger shock, she wants to sign it? She doesn't know me, why would she want to sign it? Wouldn't she rather sign someone else's booklet? You know, someone with friends?  If she didn't think I was lame before, she will now, seeing that I had no one sign the booklet.


"Is that okay? She asks again, breaking my train of thought.


I still hadn't came up with the words to say to her, or any words for that matter. All I could do was nod my head.


"Yay!~" She cheered as she got up and grabbed the booklet, she opens it and stares at it for a second, a quick frown appeared on her face before it was replaced with a big smile. She clicked her pen and starting writing.

All I could do was stare at her, seeing how her eyes matched the sky, and how red her bow was.


"There! all done!" She hands me the booklet.


Suddenly the bell rung, recess was over and the classes starting heading back to the school.


"Oh time for class, bye bye! Thank you for letting me sign your booklet!" She yelled as she waved at me, running back to the school. I sparsely waved back, still in a confused daze from the entire event.


I look down at the booklet and open it up to the first page.

In the center of the book was a message, written in a pinkish red color.


"Thank you for showing me your superhero!
 He was really cool!
 I hope you have a nice summer!" with a smiley face next to it.

Under it in pretty cursive.

"Sayori" with a heart on the "i".

I look back up to see if I could still see her, but everyone was crowded around the entrance to the school. I sigh a bit in disappointment, until something catches my eye.

A bright red ribbon.


"Sayori" I say quietly to myself as I stare into the bright blue sky.




I'll never forget that ribbon.


_______________________________________



Finding that girl again proved to be a challenge. I looked everywhere, but I failed find the one thing that made her stood out from a crowd like a sore thumb; her ribbon.  That day would of gone like a blur  like any other, but because of her that day is forever ingrained in my mind.  For three days I didn't draw at all, in case I missed a chance of seeing her. She wasn't in my class, but maybe I passed her in the hallways, or maybe she had to deliver something to one of my teachers, there had to have been a way to find her. I stood under the same tree during recess everyday, hoping she'd appear there again, but was met with disappointment. I honestly wondered if she was a dream, that I came up with to cope with my not having friends. You know, like an imaginary friend, lots of kids did that, maybe I was no different.

 But it seemed all my efforts would pay off halfway through the week.

I was tasked by my teacher to deliver something to the principles office, putting my search for this elusive girl on hold. I had arrived at the office to dropped the paper off, the secretary wanted to give me a reward for delivering the papers so she asked me to wait while she went into the back to give the papers to the principle and get me some candy or a sticker. I turned to go sit in the waiting chairs and was met with a girl with a red ribbon sitting on the chair, swinging her feet as she ate away at her lunch, a bright smile on her face.

Wait what?

It's her, the girl I've been looking for this whole time, I finally found her.  The sudden discovery blew away any idea of what I was gonna say. I approached  her and finally spoke up, making sure I actually said something worthwhile this time.

"Hey um, you're Sayori right?" I speak with a stutter in my voice.

Her ears  perked up at hearing the name and when she looked up and saw that it was me, her smile becomes even bigger, it was like the sun decided to shine in that office right infront of me.

"It's you! Hi!" Her voice sung out.

That level of confidence caught me off guard. She had the same demeanor as before, like seeing an old friend after a long period of absence.

"What are you doing here? Are you sick? Are you going home?"

She giggled a little bit and put her food on the chair next to her and stood up to face me.

"No, I'm okay, I just eat lunch here" She hummed.

Why would she eat here, instead of the picnic area or cafeteria?

"Oh you two know each other!" A older voice came out behind us.

The secretary walked out holding a small bag with various candies and placed it on her desk.

"Sayori, you didn't tell me you had a friend"
"Yeah he's really nice! He let me see his drawings!"

My face goes red as I look at Sayori proudly talking about my drawings

"Oh really? Aren't you nice? Did you like them?"

She nods her head with audible "Mhmm" through her mouth.

"He drew a cool super hero!" She goes on to describe the drawing I showed her in detail, making appropriate motions.

The secretary laughs at Sayori's presentation of my drawing.

"Sounds to me like he drew something very nice, and he was kind enough to share it with you, weren't you?" She says as she turns her head to look at me.

The embarrassment was a bit too much for me and a goofy smile formed on my face as I looked down.

"Uh, I.." was all I could mutter out before a shy laughter took over.
The secretary laughed softly  and I could see Sayori had a small smile on her face looking at me.

I finally managed to shake off the embarrassment a bit to get my composure and I could finally form a coherent sentence.

"Why do you eat lunch here?" I ask Sayori.

"Oh I don't know where else to eat, so I come here, they let me eat here as long as I don't make a mess."

"Why don't you eat at the cafeteria with your friends?"

Sayori looks at me a bit confused.

Before she could respond could continue, the secretary chimed in.

"Sayori is a transfer student, she just came to the school last week, so she hasn't had time to make friends. She decided to eat here until she feels more comfortable making friends."

That explains why I never saw her before, she's new. She wasn't a dream or my imagination, she was just a new student. That explains why I haven't seen her since I met her as well, she spends her time here. This is honestly the last place I would of found her, but I'm glad I did. That does leave one question I can't seem to answer myself.

"Then how come I saw you at the playground the other day?" I ask her.

Sayori looks at me puzzled for a second before the realization hit her.

"Oh! Well, they said I should go see if I can make friends during recess, so I went to try and meet people."

Her face turns a bit red as she plays with her fingers, a small pout forming on her face.

"But everyone looked really mean, so I was too scared to talk to them."
Seeing her shy was a bit of a surprise to me, she was so bold when she talked to me the other day, I was sure she was a popular girl, but she struggles to make friends just like me.

"So what made you want to come up to me?" Curious to know what it was about me that made her want to approach me.

Her bashful look quickly changed as her bright smile returned.

"You looked nice! When I saw your drawings of that superhero I thought "Someone who likes superheros like this can't be a bad person" and I was right! You weren't a bad person!"

Hearing that felt as if she fixed a problem I wasn't aware existed in the first place. My reclusive and anti-social nature made me come across as unfriendly. People actively avoided me for a while, it made me feel misguided, as if there was something wrong with me. But now that I heard those words, I was filled with a warm sense of joy, bringing a smile to my face. Sayori noticed this glee on my face, because she giggled a bit.

"I have an idea." The secretary spoke as she walked up to us, a bag of candy in her hand.

"There's still plenty of time fo recess, why don't you show Sayori around?"

"Uh Sure!" I stammer, trying to feign confidence to hide my nervousness.

"Would that be okay with you" The secretary says as she looks at Sayori

Sayori jumps a bit and nods her head quickly.

"Yes! It'll be like an adventure!"
The secretary laughed as she handed me the bag of candy.

"Okay, along then you two, and be careful!"

We both give her a nod and head out.

"So what is your name?" She asks as soon as we step out the office.

"Huh?"

"You're name silly! You still haven't told me your name." she giggled

"Oh it's Anon" I tell her somewhat flustered.

She giggles a bit more.

"Well it's nice to meet you Anon!"

"You too!" I reply back with a small crack in my voice, causing her to giggle more.

We walk around the school, as I explain where the various classrooms are and which teachers are in there, while Sayori happily listens and occasionaly asks me questions. Our quick walk almost turns into a skip as we both talk about the superhero I drew and make up silly scenarios about him.

"So what why did you come to this school?" I ask her, now that the conversation was slowing down.
"My family moved here from another city, and this is the closest school to our new house!'

"Do you like it here?"

She nods her head a bit.

"It was scary at first, everyone looked like they we're gonna say something bad about me, but then I met you and now I don't have to worry anymore!"

I found it a bit ironic that despite my off puting manners she sees everyone else as rude except me.
"Don't you want to make more friends? You might have a hard time if you're friends with me, no one really likes me here." I somberly say.

"That's okay! If you're my only friend I don't mind! I really like being your friend so if that means I might not make other friends then it's okay!"

"Are you sure? You might think I'm boring"

Sayori pokes my cheek and pouts

"Don't say that, silly! You draw superheros, how could that be boring?"

I rubbed my cheek where she poked me, unable to come up with an answer.

"See! You're not boring so don't say that about yourself!" she exlaims,  her  eyes somewhat glassy.

"Everyone else thinks I'm boring, so I thought you would too."

She pouts even more and pokes my cheek again.

"Not this time! I'm never gonna stop being your friend you dummy!" she cries.

"Okay okay! I get it! I won't say that anymore."

A soft smile of releif forms on her face.

"Good, I don't want you to be sad, it's not a nice feeling." She explains

Suddenly, the bell rung.  Sayori and I jumped and looked at the clock, time for class.  A frown formed on both of our faces as our fun time came to an end.

"Aw no I don't want to go back to class." She said cheerlesly.

"Me neither" I agree as I look at her. Sayori looked completely deflated, it honestly made me a bit sad just seeing her in that state alone. I look at the bag of candy we'd been splitting in my hand, still somewhat full.

"Hey Sayori" I call.

When she looks up I hand her the candy.

"Take it."

Her eyes shine for a second as she gasps a little.

"What?"

"Here, I want you to have the rest, it'll make my stomach hurt."

"And I don't want to see you sad.." I say more quietly, but still loud enough for her to hear it.

Sayori looked at me in confusion for a second more before a warm smile formed on her face, her eyes still glossy. Before she said anything she jumped towards me and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tightly.

"Thank you Anon! Thank you so much!"

"I-it's nothing! Really, don't mention it!" I stammer out, face deep red. I attempted to try and hug her back but I wasn't sure how to go about it, and had my arms awkardly hanging halfway in the motion of a hug.

The hug continues for a few second more before she lets go and takes the bag.  I stare at her still trying to gain my thoughts. She giggles pokes my cheek, bringing my head back to reality.

"We got to get to class silly! I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

"Yeah! I'll see you tomorrow!" i say excitdely.

"Yay!~Bye!" Sayori runs off down the hallway waving at me, so which I give a more firm wave back this time. I stare off at her before she turns the corner, gone from my sights.

"She really thinks I'm a good friend?" I ask myself, remember all the nice things she said abiut me. These days don't feel so bland anymore, now that I have something to look foward too. I head off back to class, a bright smile beaming on my face.