The Albino and the Blind Girl

There was a new girl at school today, her name is Terezi Pyrope and she’s blind.

That’s really all I know about the red-haired girl. That and she was pretty cute, not that I’d admit it out loud even if I had friends at this school.

I transferred here, Prospit High School, a year ago. My old school’s district lines adjusted and a bunch of us got sent here. Prospit High was known to be full of assholes to anyone who was “different,” but I wasn’t prepared for how much of an asshole the students could be.

I didn’t have friends not only by choice, but because no one wanted to talk to the Albino kid anyway.

The new girl got shoved into a locker today, and almost got suspended for decking the person who shoved her.

She barely wasn’t caught, hence why I say almost, but the guy is probably going to have a black eye. He had shoved her into a locker as the people passing by laughed, stared, and mocked. After the initial impact she shoved herself off the locker and got a lucky shot to his face.

He claims that he’s gonna get her back, but she stuck her tongue out at him and told him to kiss her ass before storming off to class. At least in the classes I had with her, which were a few, people were still teasing her.

I understood how that went, people do it to me too. Speaking of which, some girl told me that I’m a waste of space and no one is going to love a white-haired freak when I accidentally bumped into her. It was a complete overreaction on her part and I told her to go fuck herself.

A few days pass, and I see her get bullied more and more. I got shoved into a locker a few times, but she was getting the brunt of everything because she’s new. Part of me wanted to defend her, but most of me didn’t want to get my face smashed in.

So I stood to the side and watched her get shoved against lockers and tripped in the hallways. I watched them make fun of her, watched them threaten her when she fought back, and watched the teachers turn a, no pun intended, blind eye.

Today I was sitting at lunch, by myself like always, and I had picked a new spot today near the windows. I looked over and a few tables down Terezi Pyrope sat by herself.

I hadn’t known what part of the cafeteria she sat in until today. I’ll admit I was curious, seeing as I had been trying to not creepily observe her the last week and a half. I understood what she was going through, and was contemplating going over and introducing myself.

If she was anything like me though, she’d be skeptical of my intentions. I hadn’t said anything before now, nor hadn’t come to her defense. I wanted to, because I would have wished someone have done the same for me, but I also didn’t want to get the hell beat out of me either.

After a few minutes of contemplation, I internally kicked myself in the teeth, got up, and walked over. I slammed my tray on the table across from her, but got no reaction. She just sat there, chewing her food.

“Terezi right?” I asked. “My name is Karkat, the other kid that sticks out like a sore thumb in the back of the classroom.”

She lifted her head and I almost thought she was looking at me, “Hello Karkat, and please tell me how you also ‘stick out like a sore thumb in the back of the classroom?’”

I sat down, “I’m Albino, my hair is white, my eyes are red, and my skin is as pale as the snow outside. Most people don’t have white hair.”

She grinned, “That’s a fun mental picture.”

I raised an eyebrow, “How would you-”

“I wasn’t born blind you idiot, I lost my sight in an accident. Not every blind person was born that way,” she interrupted. She didn’t sound mad, she looked more amused than anything else.

“Okay,” I shrugged. “I’ve seen the way people have been fucking with you. They do that to me usually, but you’re new.”

She laughed, “Oh this is nothing, my last school was worse. My ‘best friend’ shoved me down a flight of stairs so we transferred me to this school.”

“Where’d you go before?”

“Skaia High.”

I stared at her, wide eyed, “Jesus, that’s the other side of town. You have to commute this far?”

“Yup! Good thing my mom’s rich.”

I stared some more, even though I knew she couldn’t see it, “Pah, lucky. My dad’s a goddamn pastor and doesn’t make much.”

She grinned again, “My mom’s a prosecutor and she’s damn good at what she does.”

“Well shit, maybe she could jail some of the fucking wastes of breathing organisms here for assault,” I stated, grabbing the apple off my tray and taking a bite out of it. This one didn’t suck, what do you know.

“She could, but they’re not worth my time let alone hers,” she shrugged, taking a bite of the pizza in front of her.

“Touche, they are a bunch of asshats really. I’ve been shoved into lockers ‘cause I’m small enough before, locked in too,” I muttered irritably.

“Are you that small? Ha!” she laughed. “But in all seriousness, they do this shit to you too?”

“Normally, but again you’re new so most of their focus is on you right now. Give it a month, it’ll die down. Happened when I was new, ‘cept I’m the only quote unquote ‘outcast’ here,” I stated, rolling my eyes.

“Now you’re stuck with me!” she laughed, smiling with all her teeth.

“I guess I am,” I mumbled. I didn’t mind much, even though I had a feeling she was going to annoy the living hell out of me eventually.

She leaned forward, smiling, “Safety in numbers right? There are now two outcasts here!”

I huffed, “At least now if one of us gets overwhelmed the other can jump in and start decking the slimy, disgusting sacs of bile.”

“You have a colorful vocabulary Karkles,” she snickered.

“Don’t call me that,” I snapped.

“Too bad! I’m doing it anyway!” she laughed and laughed and laughed.

I buried my head in my hands to hide a smile from the blind girl.