• If there was one thing that I wish was never created, it would be loneliness. For example, an isolated chick, or a lost kitten. But of course, I’m not only speaking on the behalf of animal desolation, but for humans as well. When I see a man with no girlfriend, or a girl with no BFFs, I start to wonder.
    There’s this one girl I’ve been “stalking”. She’s mysterious and always alone. And I often wonder if she hangs alone because she has no friends, or she chooses to be that way. I’ve searcher her plenty of times on my PalmScreen. I’ve checked for any profiles on Persona, PopLine and WBlogs. But no luck so far.
    There she is. Forever Blake. The cafeteria of Metallic Waterfall High is teeming with sci-freaks, granola-heads and what not yet she chooses to sit alone. I’ve always mused about what she might be: emo, goth, girly, tomboy, etc. Her enigmatic and taciturn personality just makes me . . . curious.
    I take my fresh capsule in my palm to her table, sit next to her and look at her optimistically. She doesn’t move an infinitesimal bit. She’s staring at her capsule dispenser, as if it might pop one out any second.
    “Umm, hi?” I say. She still doesn’t move. I wave my hand in front of her face. “Do you know I’m here?” She nods slowly.
    “Yes, I do. Why are you here, Echo?” Ah, that is my name. Echo Raikou.
    “What do you mean? I can’t sit with you?” What a pleasant way to greet a new friend.
    “It’s not that. I just noticed that you usually sit with Chaos.” Chaos Kurosawa is my best friend. We shared a love for flashing neon crayons in first grade and shot a commercial for them together.
    “Oh, Chaos-chan broke her arm trying to paraglide.” She’s still staring at her stationary capsule dispenser. I notice she has a wider variety of capsules than I do. Nice upgrade.
    “I see. What about Juniper?” Juniper Bloom is my other best friend. Possibly, she can be Mother Nature’s daughter — if she wasn’t so frightening. She can beat you up with her pinky. That’s why we became friends. Some guys where pestering me about my lightning-shaped birthmark in third grade. I wasn’t as tough back then as I am now. Juniper told them she was going to beat them up if they didn’t leave me alone. They’d merely laughed since they thought a saccharine girl like her couldn’t beat anyone up. She’d gotten so pissed; she weaved them through the jungle gym. Ironically, one of those guys is now our other best friend.
    “She is home sick from pneumonia.”
    “And Clyde?” Clyde Scope. He’s one of the guys. Honestly, I like him better when he was picking on me. He complains because I occasionally make fun of his name. He tears up when he’s thirty seconds late for class. Yet, he’s part of Inferno5, the group of popular boys.
    “Well, he’s irritating to sit with.”
    “Oh. Well, I don’t think it would be a good idea to sit here, but go ahead and stay if you want.” What’s wrong with sitting here? Her hair is long and fiery red, she’s done the smoky eye perfectly and her pallor is quite shocking in this summer heat. She could possibly be goth. I look at her arms; they’re unscathed. Meaning, she’s not emo. I eye her necklace glinting in the fluorescence, then her pale neck. I spot two miniscule silver scars near her clavicle.
    “Hey,” I point to the scars. “What happened?” She looks up at me, her irises crimson. Eye-color laser? I consider silently. She smiles mysteriously, revealing sharp gleaming fangs.