1 the memento in question

I met her at a koi garden.

I woke up to the typical Sunday, but I'll admit, it might've been a little different as the clouds were overcast. The birds were at the park, chirping away at nothing once again. The birds love the koi pond and honestly, I don't know why. None of the regular visitors know either.

The park is located just near the outskirts of my hometown. It's a place that's made for the purpose of being an eye-catcher, to avert your gaze away from the bustle and traffic of the metropolitan area. A sanctuary of peace within the concrete jungle, really. The usual caretakers were out that day as it was the last Sunday of that month.

I just happened to be done will all of my schoolworks. That schoolweek took a toll on me, pulled an all-nighter for a stupid project on Thursday night and needless to say, my eyes were ready to jump out of their sockets by the time Friday dawn arrived. Saturday, got to rest and play games a bit, and today Sunday, it's time for me to get fresh air and sunlight. I don't want to be a vampire, too bad it was overcast.

Who's "her"? She, uhh... she's... I'll try to remember.

She was sitting on a bench near me, or I guess you can say a bench gapped us from each other. She was looking towards the pond, and I was looking at my phone, until I tried to get a peek of her.

"She looks like someone I know from my school... she looks like someone from the other section."

Goodness gracious she almost caught me looking at her but I managed to look away in time, and back into gazing into my phone like an idiot.

I then caught her looking at me. It was awkward, it was I-think-I-know-or-have-seen-you-from-somewhere type of awkward.

Will someone between us say something? Do I say something? Will she say anything? Will a new park visitor sit between us and cut the tension?

That day, we were the only people at the park, at the koi pond. No one followed us.

There was no one who was willing to cut the tension between us that day.

"Wait a minute, I think I've seen you somewhere... Saint Raphael... 12th Grade?" She asked suddenly.

"Yeah, I've seen you somewhere too! 12th grade, and I'm guessing we're the same level?"

"Second floor."

"Second. B. You?"

She said she was C. "Oh, so you're not my classmate, huh."

She still hasn't fully grasped who her classmates are within 8 months? Unless you have a short term memory loss, who doesn't remember their classmates within 8 months?

It was a period of silence, but I decided to be the first one to break it once more.

"So, uhh, hell week. How'd you do this--, I mean, last week?"

It was a Sunday so I said last week for a lack of better interpretation.

"So-so. It was okay, nothing easy, nothing hard. You look like someone who'd pull an all-nighter." She declared.

"You got help from friends or nah?" I asked once again.

"Me? Needing help from anyone? Ridiculous." She boasted and then laughed.

I chuckled. "You don't seem to be the type of person who'd get many friends anyway."

She looked at me. "Pretty rude for a stranger, what's your name?"

"Jake. You?"

Her name was something. I'll remember somewhere along the road, don't worry.

"-̴͚͗̈́̍̆=̴̡̢̡̛͉̦͇̺̭̙̤̮͒̊͗̽̉̓̅̄̇͆̉͝͠͝-̶̡͚̙̬̹̭̩̈͒. Nice to meet you, Jake."

"Nice meeting you too, -̴͚͗̈́̍̆=̴̡̢̡̛͉̦͇̺̭̙̤̮͒̊͗̽̉̓̅̄̇͆̉͝͠͝-̶̡͚̙̬̹̭̩̈͒, I guess." She was bleached blonde, a color you never see in anyone's head in this town, but whoever did her hair at that time deserved an award.

"What are you doing here? Next week will be practically vacation, and the sun ain't here." She asked.

"Well, I haven't been getting proper outside activity this past week so I think that this will be a great change of pace. Mom and dad are on a vacation somewhere overseas and I'm left at home, and you?"

"I was about to go shopping but I didn't bring enough money, so instead of going home, I just went here to chill. No worries, just the koi." She answered.

"How about your parents?"

"Dad's dead." She chuckled.

"Oh. May his soul rest."

"Mom's just at home probably having violent and extremely loud sex with his boyfriend. I fucking hate him."

"Oohh, spicy. How loud are they?"

"Concert loud."

I laughed.

She was wearing plain pants, and a ruffled short-sleeved blouse and they don't look, well, ironed?

"Home problems? You can run away to other relatives you know."

"That's the problem Jake. I would've done it if my relatives learn how to accept me."

"Well, I suffer from a lack of enough relatives if I'm gonna be real with you. Why do they not like you, though?"

Mom doesn't have siblings. Dad has two, one is gay, the other one has 3 children, 2 of whom I don't know, and the other one is a real estate agent, and the same cousin I usually got compared to when it came to discussing life decisions.

"I'm a bastard child, conceived into this world by mistake, and they hate mom even more for that, she's a common street whore, as they say."

"Just have to play with the cards you've been dealt with. So what're you planning to do in college?" I asked her.

"Accountant, definitely. I wanna hold a lot of cash, bathe in cash, hell even eat cash. I think you wanna be a pilot?"

"How'd you even know? And yes, I also pulled an all-nighter this week." I answered.

"Boy, I got intuition. It's my best personality trait." She smiled.

"Are you going to do anything this upcoming week?"

"Nothing. I'll just try to be outside the house and stay away from my parents. How about you?"

"Hang out with my friends and play games with them I guess?"

"You seem to be an interesting fella." She said.

"Pretty straightforward coming from a stranger, or someone who was a stranger."

"Rapidfire questions?" She asked.

I wasn't ready.

"Sure."

"Favorite food? Ice cream."

"Sardines. Spicy ones. Drink?" I answered.

"Strawberry milk."

"Oohh, Orange juice."

"Wanna do this while looking at the koi pond?"

"Sure."

We both stood up and went for the bridge over it.

Yellow, orange, white, black. I symbolize what koi are not about. Lazy, uninspired, aimless. The only thing we have in common is well, fish have pretty poor memory.

"Favorite TV Show? I don't watch TV." I started asking again.

"Candlelights. I like horror. Music taste?"

"Jazz, uhh.. I love Cliff and the Cliffsides, splendid brass work."

"Synthpop, One-eight-call-me-chocolate. Play any games? I don't."

"One-eight-call-me-chocolate... pretty unconventional but not too weird. Me and my friends love playing A.D.S."

It was another bout of stagnation, then she decided to make it more lively.

"How do you feel towards personal questions?"

I chuckled. "I think I'm gonna give that a go but I'll ask first. Is section C your fall from grace?"

"Used to be straight A until mom got this 'prince charming' of hers and you know, problems at home."

I looked at her, an average figure, almsot the same height as me. The bruise on her forearm tells something.

"Arm explains it, huh?"

"Hey, it ain't that much of a secret. I'm gonna get my victory."

"Oohh, edgy, So is that..."

"Yep, tried to fuck me, then I retaliated so he hit back." She explained calmly.

"Let me guess, and mom won't believe you?"

"It's a cookie cutter abuse story so ding ding ding!" She acted out the onomatopoeia. That's something I don't see everyday, not even in fiction.

"You're pretty tough for a 12th grader, I give you that, -̴͚͗̈́̍̆=̴̡̢̡̛͉̦͇̺̭̙̤̮͒̊͗̽̉̓̅̄̇͆̉͝͠͝-̶̡͚̙̬̹̭̩̈͒."

"So what's the deal with you, Jake? How do you place yourself in your class?"

"The very middle, the average-est of the Average Joes. I'm still dead-set on being a pilot, though." I said coolly.

"You sound like someone that belongs in the A-class, section B a step-down from grace?"

"No, just in the middle since what, the beginning if not lately?" I followed up, "You the C-Class Slut I've been hearing about these past months?"

"Yep, that's me."

"So, did you--"

"Nope, haven't had sex with anybody, never made out even once. Section C guys are just plain nasty, they edit me in photos really well and most of my classmates think that it's the real deal."

"Shitty mom, shitty classmates. Well, makes up for a perfectly shitty time."

"You, done any of those?"

"Girl, I wish I had but the truth is I haven't."

"Good, try to be less like my mom." She laughed.

"Got a best friend?"

"Sure, she's on United though, same grade. She's the opposite of you, and a bit more than me, very hyper."

"I got a lot. My real best friend's a sportman. Gary, Jersey 75. He doesn't play often. Real smart guy, though."

"Got a crush? Got none. At the moment."

"Same situation. None of the girls in my section pop out. Just pretty faces, and that's it. No kick, no bang, no thrill."

She chuckled.

We looked at the koi again. Just swimming, no studies or work, just there, chilling.

"God, I'd kill to live like a koi permanently."

"I think I'm starting to like you. I think."

"Jake, I think I'm starting to like you, too." She said calmly.

"So if this was a first date between us, wanna make this the last?"

"Yeah, sure. Make sure no one catches wind in our school."

"I guess it doesn't even need to circulate out of this park."

I extended my hand, asking for a handshake, then she shook back.

She hugged me, and I hugged back.

"So, -̴͚͗̈́̍̆=̴̡̢̡̛͉̦͇̺̭̙̤̮͒̊͗̽̉̓̅̄̇͆̉͝͠͝-̶̡͚̙̬̹̭̩̈͒, best of luck to your accounting. Might invest sometime." I laughed.

She laughed back. "Only if you let me fly in a plane you pilot. So this might be the last time we'll ever see each other?"

"And the first too."

"At least this farewell isn't as painful unlike the other ones," she started skipping away from me as I looked at her from afar, "Good luck to you, too!" She waved.

"Best of luck!" I shouted back, smiled, and waved back.

Surely enough, we never met again, at least for these past 6 years we haven't.

Her name is uhh, well... wait. She said something about it being a name for brave girls, like "brave as a bear" or something like that.

Her name... is...

She looked at me. "Pretty rude for a stranger, what's your name?"

"Jake. You?"

"Bernadette. Nice to meet you, Jake."

Her name was Bernadette.

And it all ended in a koi garden.