Teen Ink

6

Katie had met a girl at school she thought seemed very nice, they did a partner quiz in math together and this girl, Marisa, talked in a very nice and comfortable way with her throughout the assignment, which excited Katie to open her heart to her. She didn’t have any friends and she was getting lonely, so she was overjoyed to have someone new to talk to. They exchanged numbers for further math help if they ever needed it, but their texts back and forth became friendly discussions, and occurred more and more each day. On this high of confidence, Katie decided to get a kitten from the shelter before they took it off. She took pictures of it and sent it to Marisa; she felt wonderful.
One night, just before they got to know each other long and well enough to be thought of as normal or good friends, Katie proposed a happy thought through a text: “We should hang out sometime! I don’t really know anyone here and you’ve been sooo nice and I just think that if it’s alright with you, well, it would make me really happy  I think we would have so much fun! ^_^”
A few minutes passed and Katie’s mind span and she got anxious, sending another text: “we don’t have to if you don’t want to! D: sorry I brought it up! I mean really, it’s totally up to you ”
Half an hour went by and she was so scared: “I’m so so sorry if I made you mad or offended you or anything, but please talk to me! You’re really kind of making me worried  so please respond! Sorry if I made you mad!”
An hour: “Pleeaase tell me what I did wrong? You’re so cool and I feel awful for messing this up with you, please give me another chance to be friends?  I’m really sorry.”
Katie was nearly in tears when Marisa finally responded: “oh my gosh im so sorry! I was just in the shower and doing some other stuff, your totally fine! Oh my god I feel so bad!”
“Blaaah now I feel sooo dumb! >/./< don’t read those texts!”
“I just did  I feel sooo bad, you are a really good friend! I would never stop talking to you like that!”
“Well, thank you so much, you made me feel so much better! :’)”
“Oh good! Man you really freaked out!”
“Yeah I guess I get, attached easily :P”
“Aww that’s cute”
“Haha thanks ^_^”
In the days following they hung out with Marisa’s group at lunch, talked on the phone and in class a lot; their friendship blossomed for months.
Katie had signed up to take college courses for free, qualifying for such a scholarship. She notified Marisa immediately, through a text: “Marisa! I signed up for night classes at the community college, so I might be kinda busy  but I mean they won’t last that long, and I just wanted to let you know, okie doke?”
“Oh”
“ what?”
“Nothing”
“I really am sorry! It’s just that I want to get done with school as fast as possible! You know? And if I take enough and pass them all, I won’t even have to do second semester because they count as honors classes for high school which is cool  so then we can hang out all the time at winter and after and stuff, okay? ”
“I dont know, I lose interest in people really quickly if they stop texting me”
“Well, some friends go years without talking and jump right back into it ”
“Yeah”
“Hey, you’re so nice and we have so much in common, you’ve been such a good friend! And we can always be friends! I’ll just be a little busy now :P”
“Okay”
“Wellll okay, I’ll talk to you in a bit  have an awesome day!”
“you too”
Her monotonous tone really got to Katie, but she decided it’d be wise to end their conversation at that for the day, letting Marisa cool off. It made her feel bad though, and she couldn’t wait for tomorrow, when she could try and cheer her up.
“Good morning! =D” Katie sent first thing.
“hi”
“ I’m sorryyyy”
“its okay, how are you”
“I’m good! You? ”
“pretty good”
“Did you do the homework?”
“ya you?”
“Mhm! ^_^”
“cool”
“Alrighty, well I’ll see you at school ”
“bye”
Things slowly progressed from there. Katie’s classes went smoothly, come winter however, her cat got out of the apartment and into some trouble: a potted plant from a second story balcony fell on her, she almost made it, but it hit her front paw and cut it open deeply. The cat ran back home, blood stained the carpets and in seeing the deep cuts, Katie took her to the emergency vet immediately. It was $150 for the first night of cleaning the wound; they put her on morphine and told her to go to the standard vet the next day. She called in, but they were booked; she would have to wait a week, and stay with the cat to keep an eye on her. She had to be given medicine twice a day, and kept in a cage Katie had to go out and buy.
Of course, Katie notified Marisa of this incident immediately as well, and of course it only drew Marisa farther away. She pleaded with her and said she could come to her apartment and hang out with her and the kitty, but Marisa said that was a rude suggestion, then Katie apologized uncontrollably. Soon after she paid $300 at the vet for a procedure that would stitch her paw back together, but days after the flesh died and Katie took the cat to a better vet. They cleaned the dead flesh off and bandaged her, stitched it all up and it was finally good to go, for $500. She was instructed to stay with the cat for a couple weeks more, in perfect time for the start of second semester.
She still texted Marisa, their conversations were pleasant but obviously forced by Katie. When school came, Katie went with her cat for a final check-up, and in her recuperation a cancerous lump formed. Katie informed Marisa: “They just found out my kitty has cancer  she’s only 2, I don’t get it…”
“Oh noo! Not kitty!”
“Yeah  they said they can try and take it out but it might be too late, and it’ll be a lot of money and I don’t think I have that right now :/”
“I’m sorry!”
“It’s oookay. I guess I’ll just let her live out her remaining months, they said that would be a good decision. Still she’s way too young. I don’t get it ”
“Ya that makes sense”
“I’m sorry to bother you with this, I just needed someone to tell to make me feel better :P”
“why are you apologizing? I like it when you tell me about your problems”
“Oh good! Sorry, I was just making sure, like, I guess it makes some people uncomfortable :P but thank you so much!”
“you always do this”
“What?”
“Apologize for dumb stuff. Now I feel stupid.”
“Oh I really didn’t mean it! I just wanted to be real sure it was okay with you! ”
“go away”
“Marisa.. :/”
“go away!”
Katie did not understand this reaction at all, but she did stop texting her for the day, and a few days after that. Slowly, because of partner work mainly, they started talking again, and Marisa sent the first text: “hey ”
“Hey! How have you been? =D”
“Goood, you?”
“Really good  I miss you!”
“I miss you too!”
“We should hang out sometime!”
“yeah”
“So what have you been up to?”
“Hanging out with my boyfriend  you?”
“Oh, well, congratulations! That’s so wonderful  I’ve been working on choir and trying to get back into theater >/./< I need to work on my stage fright, haha.”
Hours passed and Katie sent another one: “Did you ever do choir or any music classes?”
No response, late that night she sent another: “Alrighty well I hope you have a really good night! Text me whenever you feel up to it  let’s hang out!”
A week passed and still she got no response from Marisa. The choir performed a song that Katie was brave enough to accept a solo in. She sung it beautifully, and the act was posted on the internet. Everyone said she did an incredible job. She was so happy she wanted to show Marisa, so she copied the URL and sent it to Marisa with a message: “Hey check this out! I did a solo and everyone really liked it! =D so I just wanted to show you ^_^”
“You dont talk to me for weeks and then you ask me to go watch you sing?”
“ I texted you a few times, you never responded, and I’ve just been so busy with stuff  I’m sorry!”
“I liked you better when you were all clingy”
“Well, people said that that could get kind of annoying, so I tried to stop :P”
“Well I liked it better”
“Well I’m sorry!  let’s hang out!”
“gtfo”
“Whaa? ”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore”
“Marisa, I’m real sorry, I promise I’ll text you more!”
“gtfo!”
Katie was too exhausted to try anymore, and tossed and turned in her sleep, totally unable to comprehend people. Marisa seemed so nice in the beginning; how could she grow attached to someone and suddenly break it off like that? Just a handful of pleasant words exchanged and Katie felt in debt to a stranger forever. She wanted to stay soft, but the world was pushing her another way. A way that, to her, seemed horrifyingly dull.