I knew this girl; you know she wasn’t like other girls our age. It wasn’t all about drugs or money or even sex, though she once told me she enjoyed it, that wasn’t what she cared about, that’s not what she wanted. She was into art, skateboarding and everything else found uninteresting to other girls. She was something out of the ordinary and I wanted to make her mine…that is until we died. Of course dying wasn’t part of our plan, but when I saw her on the other side of the bridge about to fall…
I was fourteen when I met her; she was fifteen, only days away from being sweet sixteen. Of course I came to fall in love with this magnificent being, but it wasn’t her looks that got me to notice her, though she did look like authority could be the last thing on her mind, decked with tattoos running along her veins like little vines of different colors. Piercings to the max, they weren’t covering her whole face, but some she could do without. Maybe it was her face that got me hooked, you know, that look they naturally have that says they could kick a truck driver’s a** in a second. Her name was, Nixie, of course I wanted to know what kind of name that was, so I looked it up; it was elfish for a water sprite. Either her mom liked elves or she was a hippie, but it fit her perfectly, especially when it came to her eyes.
Her features were the second best thing about her, her personality being first, she had eyes as blue as a clean ocean I’d once seen on the National Geographic Channel. She was lean, and a little muscular, I’m guessing from all the skateboarding, she wasn’t very tall when it came to the other girls, but she wasn’t far behind. She had short dark brown hair that covered most of her face, only her mouth and nose were exposed, in which you could see her six mouth piercings and her nose ring, but at just the right angles you can see her eyes through the cracks in her hair.
She was alone when I first saw her; she was on the front steps of the school looking in. Skateboard in hand and papers in the other, no backpack, guessing she didn’t need one. When I looked around I noticed all the dirty looks the other girls were giving her. It seemed she didn’t notice. I also saw Mika, the skater gang’s leader of sorts, walk up to Nixie with his own skateboard in hand. Mika was a junior, he was once a nerd back in elementary but since he was two years ahead of me, I haven’t seen much of him since I was in third and he in fifth. I also moved in middle school then came back just in time for high school, so I never really grew up around him. Mika had sun bleached blonde hair, and thick eyebrows to match. He himself sported a few tattoos and piercings of his own, not as much as Nixie though.
I was really good at reading lips, but something about Nixie’s made me forget how, so when Mika asked for her name, all I could see was her lips, not the shapes they made when she spoke. He smiled that stupid goofy smile he thinks girls can’t resist, when really he needed a dentist bad, he smokes too so that could be a contributing factor to the whole teeth thing going on with him. Nixie didn’t seem to be buying the whole, let’s be good friends vibe Mika was putting on.
She looked down and pointed towards his skateboard. He smile his smile again and answered “It’s a Girl, you know the brand right?” I hated reading his mouth, the way he shaped his words where sloppy, and unorganized, he stuttered sometimes, maybe it was the drugs that were messing with his nervous system, because back when we went to the same school, he never stuttered. She smiled, and answered, I couldn’t read what she said, but it must have been a smartass remark because the look Mika gave said it all, he liked Nixie, and he wanted the same thing I wanted, he wanted her to be his.
This angered me, so I decided most likely he’ll have her. I stomped on by them but I couldn’t help but look back at her once I was inside the cool air of the school. She was looking my direction, at least that’s what I thought. She pointed towards me too, but I had no clue what it was she was directing at, but I didn’t want to find out either. I just turned around and walked away, hoping and praying that it wasn’t me she was pointing at, but at the same time, I wanted for her to notice me. Most likely she was just making fun of me if it was me she was directing at.
I don’t have the best reputation. I’m not a nerd, or a jock, or a Goth, or anything really, I’m not a loner either, I have friends, lots of them, but I’m not popular. I’m me, I’m the other. I choose to read or write then throw a football around. I’d pick art over athletics any day, and in fact I did. I wasn’t the greatest family kid either, but I was good at hiding it.
My parents had split when I was a baby, and I’ve been with my Aunt ever since. She was more like my mom then, well lets face it, my mother had ever been. Sure I get a phone call once in awhile, but that’s it. My Aunt was in her early twenties when she took me in, I call her Mymsy, a childhood nickname we had made back when I was five in a game we used to play about these two water spirits that couldn’t get along, one was named Mymsy, the other Niskli, which is were my nickname came from, Nis.
My real name is Nisei, I don’t know what the origin is or what the meaning is, I’m thinking my parents just came up with whatever and named me. In a way I like it, but I do get a lot of s*** for it when I go to new schools, but Mymsy assured that we wouldn’t be moving anytime soon, which I’m thankful for.