Seeing in Color

Seven

Katie

No one notices me.

Just like no one notices the silent trees along the roadside as they drive into an unfamiliar town in a car with unfamiliar people, or the unclipped blades of grass here and there on the lawn of a stranger's house. No one notices the tiny yellow flowers growing along the sidewalk to an unfamiliar school, or the tree with cascading branches next to the crowded stairs to the ugly metal doors.

Only I notice those things, and they seem to be the only things that notice me. As I sat in the uncomfortable seat of the stuffy van on the way to this strange city, I noticed the beautiful trees, swaying in the wind as if saying a solemn goodbye. I noticed the blades of grass the lawn mower missed as I hesitantly walked up to the three-story house that I would have to call home, where a man in a wheel-chair waited at the doorstep. I noticed the tiny yellow flowers along the sidewalk of my new neighborhood, where I made my quiet, lonely walks in the cool mornings, humming a song my mother used to sing me to sleep with.

And as I stepped off the crowded bus behind my two foster siblings, a girl with bright green hair named Kayla and a dark-skinned boy named Austin, I blinked sunlight out of my eyes and almost immediately spotted the tree.

It was shorter than the few trees on the lawn of the school, but its branches were wide and hung low over the grass. It stood a few feet away from the school doors. I glanced at it a few times as I silently followed Kayla and Austin down the sidewalk, which had no little flowers, over to a set of burnt red tables.

Kayla approached one table, where a boy with dusty blond hair and pale grey eyes was reading a thick paperback. The boy looked up and moved his backpack so Kayla could sit next to him. Austin shrugged and sat across from the blond, whipping out his phone and taking a selfie. He always did that. Well, and break out in song. I'm glad he chose the selfies, not solos.

I stood silently by the table wondering if I was invited. Kayla had lived here all her life, with her foster brother slash secret crush Cecil, and knew just about everyone. Austin liked to hang out with Kayla the past summer, and probably knew all her close friends already.

I was just about to sit down when I heard someone behind me.

"Hi, are you new here?"

I spun around, my backpack just barely missing the shoulder of the girl before me. She gasped slightly and backed up a bit, her hands out.

"Sorry!" I tried for a smile and pulled the strap of my pack back over my shoulder. "I – uh, didn't see you..."

"That's okay, it wouldn't have been the first time I've been whacked by rebellious backpack," The girl looked around my age, with long reddish-brown hair that was just staring to grow a darker shade of brown at the roots. Her skin was paler than mine, but not nearly as light as Kayla's Irish complexion. A blanket of freckles stretched underneath her eyes like a garden of brown dots under a window of hazel. She smiled, displaying green braces. With a shy gesture, she held out her hand.

I tensed up. This was the first girl I've met today. Would she be nice? Would she laugh at my strange hobbies?

Before I could decide, she introduced herself.

"I'm Miranda, Miranda Gardiner. With an 'i'."

I nearly collapsed in shock. Blinking a few times to clear my head, I let out a soft laugh.

"My name's Katie, Katie Gardner, without the 'i'."

Miranda burst out laughing. She clutched her stomach and sat on the grass. She looked up and smiled at me. "No way! That's hilarious!"