Natalia: The Origami Thriller

Bitchin'! Finally lunch time.

It was amazing how much you could learn by just looking at where people sat at a cafeteria at lunch. Audrey was of course sitting with the other cheerleaders, and some jock kind of guys. One of the guys was flirting real hard with Denise, and she seemed to be reveling in it. Some other dudebro tried to flirt with Audrey as well, and she was very obviously trying to reject his advances. He didn't know the reason for why she would try and reject him. I knew. That made me feel a bit weird. This was a secret for some of them. I was pretty confident that Kate wasn't hiding it, but it wouldn't have surprised me if the very hetero-normative group that Audrey associated herself with weren't exactly the best people to open to.

Most of my group were kind of just sitting by themselves. Leslie and Eileen were nowhere to be seen. Figures. Kate was having lunch with some nerdy guys. They seemed like they were having fun. Delia seemed to be... asleep. With her headphones on and everything. Better not disturb her then. If she was still asleep by the time lunch was over I would wake her up. But for now I should just let her sleep.
Rachel was sitting completely by herself, which seemed oddly harsh for a kid in a wheelchair. Despite that she was happily talking away... to herself.
Well, time to start my first one-on-one session.

"Oh, hey Natalia." Rachel looks up from her juice carton once she realized I was seating myself across from her.

"Hey Rachel." I smiled towards her.

"How's your first day been so far?" she asked.

"A bit of a headache." I said, rubbing my temple where the physics book hit me.

"Oh, right... sorry about that." she said looking down.

"Don't be. You didn't throw the book."

"No, it's just. You were so obviously trying to start discussions and being friendly, and we... we didn't really help you out."

"Hey, it's okay, I'm used to shit li-"

"No, it's not right. You are new. It was supposed to be us taking care of you, not the other way around."

"Alright, alright. You are a shit person. There... feel better now?"

She laughed: "Yeah."

"So, why the shyness?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I'm usually just not that good at the whole speaking to gi- people. I zone out a lot."

"Yeah, I noticed you talking to yourself."

Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "O-oh... you saw that, did you? Conversations are just kind of easier when you know where they lead."

"Are you uncomfortable now?" I asked with concern.

"Oh no. No no. It's just... I'm not as confident in doing so."

"Well... we can practice a bit if you like."

She beamed at me. "S-sure."

"So, you said you liked art? Like painting and stuff, right?"

"Oh not painting. It's really dull. I mostly make paper crafts."

"Like origami?"

"Well that mostly just consists of folding paper. What I do requires scissors and glue and stuff like that."

"Right. Anything else?"

"Well, my mom also runs a small glassblower's place. My arms are a bit too weak to do most of the work, but I do help with the designs from time to time. I also want to try sculpting but to do that I need to have a bit more..." she pointed towards her lower body.

"... mobility?"

"Yeah."

I nodded in understanding. A small while of silence passed through the conversation.

"You haven't asked yet."

"Asked what?" I looked at her confused.

"About my condition." she answered: "It's usually the first question most people ask."

"Well, I didn't want to be rude, and if I'm honest it's not the part of you that interests me the most."

She looked at me with a very warm-looking expression. It was nice to see the poor shy sod smile.

"Thanks." she said.

"For what?"

"For saying that. Most people always try to be mindful of my muscular dystrophy. I know they mean well, but it's kind of annoying to always have your physical condition define you."

That did sound rough.

"Then let's just forget all about it, and go back to talking about art or anything else you'd like." I gave a confident smile.

"Yeah, you said you liked photography, right?"

We talked about photography and other forms of art. Rachel seems to be mostly enthused about abstract art and minimalism, and so the conversation fell into that category.
After a very pleasant conversation the bell rang, signalling us back to class. I quickly woke up Delia, and then I pushed Rachel's wheelchair to our next class.