Different yet Always the Same

Dane knew he should have felt some sort of emotion. He had seen it all over his best friend’s face. As they walked hand in hand towards the beginning of their high school careers, he could see her face riddled with emotions. Anticipation. Anxiousness. Excitement. They were all there. Her hand clenched his a little tighter as the buildings of Downsville – North High School came into view. Dane sighed. The only emotion he could muster up was apprehension. Rachel noticed this.

“What’s wrong, Dane?” she asked worriedly as they stopped in front of the main building.

Dane turned to face her, still holding her hand in his. They had been through so much already but Dane wasn’t sure of himself. He didn’t know what this change in their life would bring. Would it be a good change? A bad change? He should tell her. He should tell her why he was so worried. He didn’t know if their friendship could handle the change.

But for her, he would be a rock. “Nothing,” Dane replied managing a smile.

The wind blew through Rachel’s hair and played with the bottom of her pink knee-length dress. He was lying and she could tell. Rachel could always tell when he was lying to her but she could never figure out why he was. She pulled him in for a tight hug. They must have looked silly together. Dane dressed in his black shirt, dark jeans, and unreadable expressions; Rachel with her flowy pink dress, long brown hair, and unrelenting smile. Two silly freshmen, unknowingly entering the tumultuous challenge that was high school.

“It’ll be alright,” Rachel reassured. “We’ll meet up during lunch like we planned.”

Dane nodded and Rachel turned the corner to a different hallway where her locker awaited her. As he watched her disappear through the throng of students, a knot settled in his stomach. His kind always had a knack for foretelling bad news. He sighed and walked through a mass of students to get to his locker where he deposited his books. It was a mere few seconds before the hairs of his neck stood up. He was being watched.

Dane gazed out of the corners of his eyes to find a girl watching him from afar. Her red hair was cut short at her shoulders. It was nothing like Rachel’s graceful brown locks that cascaded like a waterfall down her back and ended at her waist. No, this girl’s hair was straight edged--to the point. Her eyes were wide with curiosity and Dane could tell that there was a lot of thought going on behind them. Rachel’s eyes were wide too, but it was always wide with excitement. This girl was dressed in a black tank top, covered with a tight dark brown corduroy jacket and sported black cut off jean shorts. Pencils lined her breast pocket and a beat up messenger bag was slung over her shoulder. She could not have been anymore opposite than Rachel.

As Dane shut his locker, she made her way towards him. She walked towards him with a sense of purpose—with an agenda. Dane turned to walk away from her only to have her hand on his shoulder to stop him. Dane gazed at the hand then turned around to face the girl. Curiosity came over Dane when he saw that she was staring at him quite intently. They stood silent for a few seconds, studying each other until Dane cleared his throat. The girl blinked at him in annoyance.

“Sorry,” the girl said, still studying him intently. “I’m Vicky. Vicky Weismann.”

“Nice to meet you, Vicky. Dane,” he replied. “Is there something on my face?”

She shook her head no.

“You’re not like everyone else,” Vicky said seriously.

Dane tensed up. What did she mean by that? Could she possibly know about him and his kind? There was no way. Dane frowned at her. He didn’t have to pretend to be confused.

“Excuse me?” Dane stated more than asked. He tried his best not to seem surprised or even offended. Vicky took a step towards him as if to observe him better. Dane took a step back.

“You’re not like everyone else,” she repeated. “There’s something… different about you. But I don’t know what it is.”

Dane opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted by Vicky loudly sighing.

“You’re probably a good person,” she said. “Most people around here are fake and I can tell a fake from pretty far away. But maybe you’re a good person, which is why you seem different.”

“I’m different?” Dane asked.

“Yes… Not entirely sure how, but I’m going to figure it out,” Vicky replied, watching his reaction closely.

The bell rung, interrupting the interaction they were having. It could not have rung at a better moment for Dane. He quickly darted out of Vicky’s sight and made his way towards his first class. There weren’t many times in the past that Dane had felt uncomfortable but the interaction he had just had with Vicky was one of the most uncomfortable ones.

The hallway cleared and Vicky was left standing alone in the hallway. She gazed off in the direction that Dane had run off to. He was… different. Vicky had told him she believed him to be a good person. But really, Vicky knew that different didn’t always mean good. When he had entered the building she had felt his presence change the air in the room. There was just something about him that she couldn’t figure out. She pressed her palm against his closed locker as if hoping some sort of explanation would seep into her. But none came. Vicky sighed and headed to her first class late.

-

Soon enough, it was lunch time and Dane couldn’t wait to see Rachel. He had suffered through the long looks and awkward ice breaker activities all morning and could really use a familiar face. He turned the corner and headed straight through the cafeteria doors. His eyes trailed to the back of the cafeteria and landed on his best friend who was waving him over. He mouth twitched a little when he saw that she was not alone.

“Dane!” Rachel exclaimed when he finally got to her table. “You’re finally here! I want you to meet some people from my classes. This is Delilah,” said Rachel as she introduced a blond, curly-haired girl. “This is Alice,” she continued, pointing to a brunette. “And this is Kayla,” she ended with another blond haired girl.

“Nice to meet you all,” Dane said politely, taking the seat next to Rachel.

He reached into his backpack and pulled out his lunch from home. The girls started to chat excitedly about their first few classes. Dane pretended to be engrossed with his lunch when really he was just grossed out. Dane learned at a young age that in order to stay under the radar, he had to do human things too—like eating lunch. Eating human food was akin to eating air—useless and a waste of time. But it kept him busy during lunch hours, especially this particular one since Rachel was more interested in talking to her three new friends.

Dane’s eyes drifted around the cafeteria, studying all the different humans there. It was pretty obvious that most people knew where they fit in. He wished it were that easy for him. Dane stopped scanning the room when his eyes locked with a set of piercing blue eyes. Abruptly, Dane stopped chewing and almost forgot to breathe through his nostrils. There she was again—Vicky. She was sitting on the opposite side of the room at a table by herself, watching him intently. What was it that she was hoping to find? What did she need to know about Dane so that he could pretend to be that and she would leave him alone?

Dane didn’t need his secret to be out in the open.

“So like, how long have you two been dating?”

Dane’s attention was brought back to his own table by Delilah’s shrilly voice. Delilah was staring expectantly at Dane. He simply looked at her dumbfounded and turned his head to look at Rachel. She was suddenly very interested in her meal. That’s when Dane realized that Delilah’s question was about him and Rachel.

“Oh!” Dane shouted in surprised voice. He had played and even dreamed of the idea that he and Rachel could be romantically involved as Delilah suggested. But there was no way Rachel could feel the way he felt about her. It was safer too, for them to be best friends. At least, that’s the excuse Dane kept telling himself. “It’s—it’s not like that. We—we’re best friends.”

“Right…” Delilah responded, unconvinced.

“Anyways, I’m in Luther’s algebra class next. Anyone in that class with me?” Rachel interjected, quickly changing the subject.

Dane glanced at Rachel who was looking a little red in her face. He could sense some sort of emotion going on underneath her but he couldn’t tell what it was. He tried to make eye contact with her but it was obvious she wanted nothing to do with him. The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch hour. Before Dane had a chance to say goodbye Rachel had disappeared with her new friends. He watched silently as they disappeared down the hall.