Besties’ Reunion
To me, life is an endless journey with unexpected adventures. That’s why life is interesting, I don’t mean to curse anyone now, but who knows, perhaps one of us may die on the day after today. We never know how to seize the time or the rare and precious chances well. It’s often too late when we realized we had missed the boat.
Perhaps I will wake up with amnesia tomorrow. Perhaps this world will turn upside down next second.
The summer before our freshman year was too rad! I walked into her house. Wait, no. I think I had entered a wonderland. I felt the waves rushing toward me as I stepped toward.
“Oh my gosh! Why isn’t your house flooding? I just saw the waves coming violently toward us!” I pointed to the artwork on the wall, almost freaking out.
“C’mon! My lovely M&M chocolate, your jokes you made when you were three were funnier!” giggled Abigale.
“Seriously? Wow! Thanks for telling me that, because I didn’t realize I was going through a degradation.” I replied sarcastically.
“Undoubtedly, you are tricked by an illusion I made by using my fingernails,” She smirked.
“You love to act with me. Don’t you? You smarty, as talented as usual.”
“Looks who’s flattering me again? She should look at herself! ” She rolled her eyes.
“I’m not! I’m just telling the truth!”
We chatted for the whole day since we hadn’t seen each other for months.
Well, do you ever have this kind of feeling? When your friend is just too extraordinary, you feel low, because you know you’ll never become a better person compare to her (or him), but you still seriously admire her (or him).
I admit. That’s how I feel while having Abigale Naylor as my friend since we were three. However, we never went to the same school until we coincidentally applied to the same college, Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design of University of Arts London.
I remember how I felt at the night before college life started. It was the summer of 2010, but I could feel water freezing into ice inside my body. It was a night full of bustling noisy cars, but my surrounding was hideously silent. I couldn’t close my eyes although I was safe and sound.
Then the next day came.
A Likely Heaven of Designers’ Dreams
Abigale Naylor, standing at the front gate of the academy, hung a big smile and shouted, “M&M!! Where’s my favorite chocolate?”
“I’m here! Woohoo! I was too excited to sleep, so I stayed awake and went crazy! Our freshman year is starting, aren’t you excited?” I yelled back as I rushed toward her after I got out of my mom’s car.
“Yup! You talk too much! Let’s go!” She grabbed my hand and rushed into the academy.
As I was staring at the academy, I knew my life would become a pure enjoyment with arts. Everything was fresh and stylish. Intimidating high heels knocking with a neat beat were a symbol of a new life. It would be a heaven of designers’ dreams, but it was also the start of a distinct and fresh life without knowing. It was college, not middle school nor high school. You were the person that determines your future. Everyone dressed in a fashionable way, which is bold, creative, and as well as fascinating. Confidence flowed within the air. I was unusually excited and totally amazed.
The first morning was great, but I was worried about Abigale. She is an insanely intelligent girl that speaks in a natural British accent. She came from Birmingham. I would say that she’s a lucky person with an unfortunate life, because she was born with some unpredictable illnesses. She has ugly birthmarks all over her body, but I personally think she looks gorgeous and professional with her straight, long, and brownish hair tied up neatly. She doesn’t even care about public reputation, but she’s always sad to find out someone talking about her. She is the Sun that gives you warmth during the coldest winter days and the marshmallow that brings people sweetness and happiness. People always judge her through her looks, which is totally unfair!
I found out someone talking about her during lunch.
“Did you saw that girl in our department?” An Asian girl with an unknown name said.
“Yep! She looks so retarded and ignorant!” Candace Marks, a niece of a professor, replied.
“Yeah! I wouldn’t like to approach her! Are those birthmarks epidemic? Ew! And her name is spelled incorrectly! A-b-i-g-a-l-e? Seriously?”
“Shh… maybe she’s nearby here.”
For the whole time, I stood behind a column, being a polite and respectful listener. That conversation was predictable, pathetic, and true.
“Mirabelle, what are you doing?” Athena Sierota, a new friend of Abigale and me, asked.
“Haha! Nothing! Are you going for lunch?” I was actually frightened by Athena.
“Yeah! How about Abigale? Our professor told me she was in the dormitory,” Athena said.
“Oh, she’ll be fine.”
“It seems like you know her very well! What’s wrong with her?” Athena asked.
“She was born with cancer and congenital melanocytic nevus, which left birthmarks on her skin and face. We were homies since a few years ago. We applied to our dream college, here.”
“That’s why you were standing here, eavesdropper!” said Athena with a creepy smile.
“No! I just passed by. Meh, whatever,” I shook my head, and we headed to the cafeteria.
The first day passed quickly. People were nice. Well, most of them are nice. At least I didn’t have my lunch in the toilets like I did in high school. The reason was my classmates thought I’m a weirdo that visits the woods almost every day, and actually I am. Anyways, I bet Abigale’s first day was awesome as mine although I knew her symptoms recurred today. Sometimes she got wild imaginations from her mind, and that’s also when she make masterpieces. It’s like she had LSD, a kind of drug. It’s actually incredibly terrifying and amazing. I heard that she impressed a professor on the first day! Anyways, after this symptom recurred, she often fell asleep. Here’s the problem; she is bright, which makes her outstanding in a good way. However, because of her illness, she got since her birth, people disdain her. They don’t have beliefs about her taste of fashion and aesthetic.
They ARE wrong. I knew someday Abigale will prove them.
Although things got worse through time, I still had my strong belief. It didn’t change at all.
I remembered the date clearly. On October 21, 2010, a bunch of girls called her a monster that went through mutation. Abigale didn’t even look at them. Instead of a counterattack, she used her shield of coldness and negligence to protect herself from their sharp words of knives and arrows.
Years passed. Seniors were preparing for their exhibitions as we knew it would be our turn next year. Professors from other art universities, reviewers, models, and judges would leave comments on each senior’s work and chose the top 10 exhibitions. The chosen students got a chance to attend a major fashion show that was held at Milan every year for internship. While the seniors were preparing, the exhibition hall should be empty. However, something unbelievably wonderful happened.
We used to have an assembly every two months. Before the preparation for the seniors started, our principal, Mrs. Waters, announced something never happened in Central Saint Martins, or CSM. A junior was going to use the exhibition hall for the whole month for her own design exhibition! Unsurprisingly, that junior was Abigale.
I was proud of her, but I got an empty feeling. What was I doing these months? I wasn’t fooling around. The professors loved my work. Was it because I was too normal? I convinced myself not to rush so quickly. After we were dismissed, I strolled back to the dormitory slowly and lonely.
I heard something as I entered the dormitory.
“Viola! I love your hair! Oblique short hair in purple, turquoise, and black? Amazing!” a beautiful Chinese sophomore said.
“I know right! I’m the flawless fashion queen!” Viola Div bragged.
“Yes, you are the fashion queen forever!” that Chinese girl was apple-polishing again.
“Yeah! How could that arrogant ugly freak have her personal exhibition? Are our professors blinded? She’s a junior!” Viola screamed dramatically.
Viola Div, no offense to her family, but her last name sounds like ‘devil’, which fits her very well. She was bold, devilish, and conceited. She was also an ambitious senior that wanted to win the chance for an internship. She was frustrated to hear the announcement of Abigale’s exhibition.
So this was what she’s done.
Her cousin, Athena, which was different from her, share her college life with Viola just for fun. Abigale, who live with me in the same dormitory with Viola, one day found out her computer stolen by someone. It was the due date of our research project. Abigale finished her project with effort. Everything was detailed and was in her own words. However, before we found out the truth, Abigale was almost expelled and her exhibition canceled. The reason was because the professor checked out our turned-in project and Abigale’s work were copied and pasted from the Wikipedia. I spent the whole time with Abigale while she was having a conversation with Mrs. Waters. As the principal talked about she being expelled, we exchanged our sights and smiled shallowly, because we all know who did this. We stayed cool and calm, which shocked the principal.
Thanks to the monitors hung from the ceiling of the hallway of the dormitory. We found out who stole the computer. It was Viola. We checked out the records of the monitor. We explained what happened and showed our evidence to Mrs. Waters. Viola had no way to deny, but she sincerely begged Mrs. Waters not to expel her. Since that school year was ending in two months, and Viola had been a hard-working student, she secretly said yes.
I felt glad that these terrible conflicts had been solved. Everything all came back to the very beginning. I still didn’t know why she caught everyone’s attention. She was way too special and excellent. Mirabelle, you were not as good as her, so let’s just don’t take this too seriously. It’s fine. You had always been hardworking. You were always calm and nice to people.
After all of these challenges and conflicts Abigale encountered, her biggest fear had never disappeared; because of cancer, she could die anytime, like I mentioned. As you can see, she never gave up and lived her own marvelous life. Time flew. We made through our senior year. Our exhibitions were prepared and were starting tomorrow. Tomorrow, the day we would be chosen.
“Seniors, listen up! The people that got the chance for the internship are Athena Sierota, Candace Marks, Mirabelle Mitchell…and… ,” Mrs. Waters started her speech. Yeah! There’s me! Nine people’s names were announced, but she didn’t continue her speech, instead, her eyes were on Abigale. An awkward silence covered the room like a snow storm at a desert without rain for a year. “…Abigale Naylor! In addition, Abigale was invited by a famous model, Kayla Delevingne, to go to her personal fashion show in Paris and was asked for an internship of the designer at Gucci! Congrats!”The assembly was like the celebration on the fourth of July. How amazing it was!
“Dismiss!” Mrs. Waters walked back to her office. I saw the smile and the tears on her face.
My teardrops fell like two waterfalls, but the oceans would never be enough for my tears to fill in. Meanwhile, I saw unfriendly glances from the left. There were a couple students glaring at Abigale. I felt proud for her, and this time, for myself, too.
Athena giggled, “You don’t have a facial expression, but you are crying like crazy!”
“God! You’ve known me for almost four years! I look calm and serious all the time, but you guys know that I’m totally INSANE!”
“I had never met such a talkable chocolate! And Abigale! You are incredible!” Athena seemed to ignore my rubbish, neverminded.
“Thanks guys! I think I’m falling conscious, again…I was too excited!” The next second, Abigale felt like a deflated balloon, she was getting softer and weaker. Those students that gave unfriendly glances smiled. My rabbit ears heard they were whispering and judging Abigale again like they did on the first day. More and more haters gathered. Someone even said she could be so honored because her parents bribed the principal. Rumors about Abigale spread quickly in a day, some of them were shocked and believed those words, and others wisely chose not to believe them. Afterward, Abigale woke up about five minutes later, and she was fine.
Take a Turn in Life
The next day, I brought Athena and Abigale into the Epping Forest, which is my second life. The sunlight came in without a sound like an angel sprinkling down happiness and blessings into our lives. It was naturally beautiful. A path between the trees seemed like an entrance to wonderland. I got lost in these marvelous creatures. Phytoncide filled the air, and I never felt this alive in the big cities while we search for lost dreams. I was here again. This would be where my heart had and will ever belong. Unlike college, there was no pressure, and vitality fulfilled this place. The trees were humming with the wind while the birds were singing a sweet tone as usual. My jealous and envious suddenly disappeared at that time. I knew who I am. I wasn’t born to be compared with anyone. We spent the entire day there, enjoyed life, and relaxed. The woods precipitated our sadness and our complicated, unexplainable emotions. We were going to Milan next week.
Time always passed swiftly during joyful moments. We flew to the city of fashion, Milan. Our first fashion show was starting, my heartbeat kept accelerating and couldn’t stop. Well, my heartbeat can’t stop, if it does, I would die. Anyways, we took turns rather preparing and helping the models at the backstage or sitting on our seats and watching professional models walking gracefully on the catwalk. Abigale was as hard working as usual. She wouldn’t stop taking notes. I looked at her notebook and I saw her designs. I finally understood why she was admired by those professors and judges. However, all of these were just a start of her story. Something big was going to happen out of her control.
When it was Abigale’s turn to go to the backstage, she brought her notebook with her. The model she was assisting was Aurelia Zimmer, a worldwide model that was in Viola Div’s age.
“Abigale, where’s your notebook?” I whispered to her after she came back.
“Oops….! But I can’t go get it! It’s your turn! Go!”
During I spent my time at the backstage, I saw Aurelia Zimmer reading her notebook! I didn’t have time to care about that. I considered the backstage as the place where magic happens. Crazy, detailed hair styles, clothes of dareful color and creativity, all different kinds of makeup, and sparkling accessories were all eye candies. When it was my time to return to my seat, Aurelia stopped me and asked me about Abigale. I told her her stories and achievements. She said, “Thank you.” Her voice was as sweet and soft of an angel. I couldn’t wipe it out of my mind.
After the fashion show was over, Abigale and Aurelia finally talked. Abigale was too excited to say a word. A professor waited for her, yet the rest of us went back to our hotel and rested.
“Here she is! How’s our lucky girl?” I asked when she came back with a glorious triumph.
“Aurelia Zimmer said she love my designs, thought my work are masterpieces, and wanted to become friends with me!!” She jumped on the bed, screaming like insane.
A few months later, Aurelia went to Kayla Delevingne’s personal fashion show at Paris with Abigale. They became close friends and had the same taste in fashion.
Years passed. We stayed in touch but seldom met each other after we graduated. We went to catch our lost souls in the world. Abigale worked with Aurelia and became the Chief designer of Gucci. After her success, she finally understood what Lizzie Velásquez, a girl that was called the ugliest woman in the world, said, “You are the one that decides what defines you.” She stopped caring about the criticisms and judges on her looks. She knew what defines her is her thoughts, but not her appearance. What inside your heart is way more important. When a journalist asked her how she passed these tough attacks, she just said a simple sentence, “I chose to smile.”
How about me? I started living in my favorite place, the Epping Forest. I became a hermit, as well as a designer. I created my own brand, and it was approved by the officials. Now, the trees are my friends, because they often inspire me. I’m designing clothes based on nature. Even though they aren’t as stylish and sparkling as those I designed during college, I still adore my new style. I totally dropped my terrible thoughts about Abigale in the past. We should all stop comparing and start living.
Featured photo credits: Paper Fashion (https://paperfashion.net/)
Grammar correction credits: Mr. Matthew Murray & Grammarly (https://www.grammarly.com/)