Chapter 28: Dumbasses
She was crying, but smiling at the same time. It was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen, and I had no idea what to do. I just sat there.
She sniffled and wiped at her eyes with the back of her other hand, and a shaky little laugh came out.
"God, I’m a mess," she said. "And you... you really are a dumbass, Kofi."
’Yeah,’ I thought. ’I guess I am.’
"It’s okay," she said, her voice getting a little stronger. "I mean, it’s not okay what happened with your friend. That sounds awful. But it’s okay to be scared."
’Scared? I wasn’t scared. I was being smart. Safer.’ But hearing her say it... yeah, maybe she was right. It did feel like being scared.
"You don’t have to be, though," she continued, leaning forward a little. Her eyes were so focused on me, it felt like we were the only two people in the whole café. "Not anymore. Those people in class, with their phones and their whispering... they don’t matter. They’re just background noise."
She took a breath. "So what if they stare? Let them. If you’re with me, you don’t have to worry about them. I’ll be your pillar, or something. I’ll be the one to block them out. We can do this together, and you can learn how to deal with all this... society stuff. I can help you, if you want me to, of course."
’A pillar?’ The word sounded like something out of one of the manga I read. ’Is she for real?’ I thought. Nobody just offers to do that. There’s always a reason, something they want. I just watched her, trying to figure out what her angle was.
"And I don’t care what they say about me," she said, her voice firm now. "I really, really don’t. Not anymore. I’m so tired of trying to be what everyone else wants me to be."
’....’