Haner to Save the Day

According to the stars on this day, Veronica would encounter extremely bad luck from the start of her day until the fateful day in the future she decided her life was over. One part one of the bad luck ensued in the form of her waking up late for her first day of school.

“Shit!” she cursed after running out of the house five minutes before homeroom bell rang. It was ridiculous she was already late on her first day of actual Hell. It was worse that both her parents had already left for work and could not drive her to school.

Once she slammed through the front doors, she looked around puzzled. Everything looked the same and she could not remember where any classrooms were, regardless of being in the building only 24 hours previously. She felt like a freshman again. Ugh, the shivers.

After aimless running and panic attacks, Veronica finally found her home room. The moment she burst into the room, everyone looked her way. It was even more awkward when those eyes remained locked on her as she practically flew to the closest and, sadly, the only available seat left. It was in the first row. ‘Great. Let me just go with my Asian stereotype.’

Luckily, the teacher only handed out the year's syllabus and allowed students to talk to each rather than engage in real work. It was still summer, after all.

Veronica peeped around the classroom, hoping to see anyone wave hello to her. She didn't know why she felt hopeful, knowing that no one ever befriended the new kid in school. That was textbook cliche and boring.

To ease her nerves, Veronica took out her recently used copy of Tess Of The D'Ubervilles. It was not her favorite read, but interesting enough to keep her attention. She could not and would not comprehend how Tess could let men treat her so cruelly; but she was curious to read the novel to the end and see what became of the protagonist.

After reading only one page, Veronica could hear the desk next to her grind its legs against the tiled floor as it slid closer to her. As soon she looked at the person with the annoying desk, he said, “Why aren’t you with them?”

“How about you mind your own business?” she replied with a candy-coated dusting of rudeness. Whether she wanted friends or not was her business and she surely didn’t appreciate strangers’ attempts to dictate her life.
The stranger sitting next to her was Indian; and Veronica knew that much like people who looked like her, there weren’t many Indian people in school. The area they inhabited simply wasn’t diverse enough. That also meant he most likely hung out with only Indian people. It was a race pack thing. She could understand it. It was the power in numbers belief. At her last school, even though there was a surplus of people from all over the world, they always hung out together, never with anyone else.

The guy shrugged. “There aren’t many Asian people here.” The way he said “Asian” indicated he wasn’t quite comfortable or accustomed to saying the word. That showed Veronica just how small minorities were. This was one of many things she had worries about moving to California. She wasn’t ready to feel like an observed animal at the zoo whenever she walked out into her neighborhood.

Veronica couldn’t think of a great comeback, so she settled for, “Yeah.”

“Seriously, all of them here are obsessed with fashion, shoes, and cameras. Hypebeasts. And you don’t look like you’d fit in.”

“I probably don’t. I don’t really care.”

For some unknown reason, he smiled at her and either gave her a friendly or mischievous look. That didn’t particularly matter as he said, “I’m Nishar.”

“Veronica.”

The two spent the next hour talking to each other. It was more of Nishar asking Veronica endless questions about the east coast and about the weather. She didn’t like talking so much about herself, but she was grateful for the conversation. It was pleasant to feel important, even in a trivial way.

And like Nishar said, in Veronica’s next class, she had no choice but to sit next to the Asian crew, mostly because that was the only open table. They were sitting on the desks with their bundles of accessories and fashionista clothes. Everything looked so perfect on them, as though they were models. For once in her life, Veronica felt so inadequate and inferior to people she didn’t even know.

Before Veronica could further dwell on her feelings, Physics class began with the teacher handing out textbooks for the year. While waiting, Veronica found herself reading her book again; and much like with Nishar, a guy appeared in front of her with a closed mouth smile.

“Hey, I’m Merllin. What’s up?”

He was weird. He had a slight Filipino accent and spoke in short bursts.

“Just reading,” Veronica said, placing her book face down on the desk.

“That’s cool, that’s cool. I like your nails.”

Veronica looked at her nails; they were a neon green. “Thanks!” she laughed. “I forgot I did them last night.”

Somehow, the talk about her nails pulled her like a magnet towards the Asians. The best part was that Veronica didn’t feel awkward or out of place as she talked to the girls and boys in the group. Everyone was nice to her and not judgmental to the fact that she was clearly not like them. It felt wonderful to be friends with people who were so different from her, yet so welcoming.

Veronica spent the rest of her day walking to all her classes with Merllin; she had gotten lucky and found out they shared all the same classes. The more that she talked to him, the more she noticed how different their interests were. He had a knack for photography and basketball and spent his free time immersing himself in those hobbies. Meanwhile, she had no idea what her hobbies were. She had always seen herself as a Plain Jane. She didn’t have any cool hobbies or talents she could brag about to others. That thought alone preoccupied the rest of her day, up until she waved goodbye to her new friend once the last bell rang.

“Hey dude!”

Veronica turned around to see Jimmy practically sprinting over to her. She grinned and braced herself for a hug. Of course Jimmy pulled her up into the air, spun around a few times, and placed her gently down on the ground. To finish off his hello, he patted her head.

“Were you hanging out with Merllin?” Jimmy asked as they began to start walking home.

“N-no,” Veronica stuttered. She wanted to slap herself. Why she did lie?

Jimmy looked down at her with a strange look. “He’s a cool guy. Why don’t you like him?”

She didn’t want to lie to Jimmy. She honestly did not know how to answer that question. But it seemed the silence was enough to answer Jimmy’s question.

“You know,” he began, “People have always judged me since I could remember. They either think I’m insane or loud. I mean, they’re not wrong, but I’m happy with who I am.”

Veronica pouted. “I don’t have anything against my own people. I love my culture.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying get to know people for who they are, not what they look like. Let’s be honest; would you really have talked to me if I hadn’t saw you yesterday?”

The two were now in front of Veronica’s house. She didn’t like this conversation. It was uncomfortable for her to talk about her emotions and own up to her flaws. She could choose to run into her house and dodge Jimmy’s question, but that wouldn’t solve anything.

After an internal debate in her head, she looked up at Jimmy and shook her head. Veronica didn’t know what to anticipate. She just knew she was afraid Jimmy wouldn’t want to be friends with her. She had so few, she couldn’t stand to lose any.

Jimmy simply smiled. “Dude that’s okay. Have you seen me? I do look crazy. But I’m cool with myself.”

There was so much pride in Jimmy’s voice, Veronica couldn’t help but to admire him. They were both so young, yet he seemed like he knew his whole future. And here she was, trying to figure out something so simple like a hobby. But really, what did she want in life?