"TICK, TICK, TICK."
Paul sat at the back of the classroom watching the seconds slowly pass by until Winter Break would begin, not that it would really be a break for him since he had to stay in town and work, but at least he would be away from campus for awhile.
"TICK, TICK, TICK."
Paul had hoped that when he had started college things would be different in his life but soon found that the cliques and groups ran the social events of the college just like they had in High School and that he didn't fit into any of these groups.
Paul was 6 foot tall and weighted just over 150 lbs. His hair was medium brown and he dressed like most other students on campus. In fact, he appeared to be just an average guy in every way possible until you looked him in the eyes.
Years before Paul had been involved in a household accident that changed him for life. The accident had caused his left eye to become a bright sky blue while his right eye had remained a deep chocolate brown. People seemed to be interested in the uniqueness of his eyes at first but they soon drifted away to join the cliques that found his difference to be disturbing and referred to him as: FREAK, GEEK, NERD, Half-breed, etc. and banned him for their groups.
After awhile, Paul built emotionally protective walls around himself and, like today, waited for the day to end so he could get away from it all.
"TICK, TICK, TICK."
Sitting there staring at the clock, Paul suddenly realized that someone was calling his name. "Paul ... Paul ...
Paul
."
Shifting his gaze he looked at Cindy, the class teaching assistant. Cindy had been the one bright spot in the semester and he had frequently daydreamed about what it would like to have her as his friend. She was a just over 5-foot 7-inches tall with dark brown hair that she wore pulled back into a pony-tail and her eyes were hazel, but it was her figure that continuously drew Paul's attention. Paul estimated that her figure was a 35-24-34 and her legs seemed to go on forever, while her skin had that continuously tanned look that people of Mediterranean ancestry have.
Seeing that she had his attention Cindy continued, "Considering the fact that you can't seem to stay focused today, I'd like to see you immediately after class is over. Now who can answer the question?"
Several students in the class snickered while Paul groaned to himself.
"TICK, TICK, TICK."
Time seemed to drag on and on but finally class ended. The other students hurriedly left the room leaving only Cindy and Paul. "Okay, Paul. What's going on? I've noticed your attention slipping more and more often in this class and I'd like to know why."
"I'm sorry. Cindy, but things really aren't that great in my life right now and it's hard to concentrate on classes when everything else sucks."
"C'mon Paul. It can't be that bad. I mean you seem to be a pretty nice guy and you definitely have the brains to do whatever you want ... when you apply them that is," she replied laughing.
Something deep inside seemed to snap when he heard her ridicule him and his anger boiled over as he responded. "Ya, I've heard all that before, but do you have any idea what it's like to be constantly alone? Or to be the brunt of the jokes anytime you try to join a group? People like you judging others because they're different. All you 'beautiful people' staring down your nose's at someone just because they look different, or dress different, or have to work to get through school because their parents didn't have the cash to pay your way. You have no idea what it's like but it's what I live with on this campus every fucking day!" The emotional walls that Paul had built crashed and all the pain and hurt he had felt for a life-time poured out at Cindy who continued to sit there and listen. When he finally stopped tears were slowly running down his cheeks.
'Now she'll think I'm some weird cry-baby,"
he thought to himself. But when he looked up the look in her eyes told him something entirely different. Time seemed to stand still before he finally broke the silence, "I'm sorry. You didn't need to hear about all this shit. I'd better get going. I'm sure you have better things to do with your time."
Reaching out Cindy gently placed her hand on Paul's. "Actually I'd like you to stay for awhile." Suddenly nervous, Cindy stood up and began to walk around the classroom doing small, meaningless jobs. "You know I wasn't the most popular person on my campus either. In fact, I was pretty lonely too. I was never one of the 'beautiful people', in fact I was an 'ugly duckling'. The problem for me was my weight ... and my IQ. I was the typical 'fat girl' on campus which was bad enough but having a near genius IQ just made it worse. It wasn't until I made some drastic changes in my life that I got any better."
"Like what?" Paul asked with a slight tone of disbelief.
"Well for one I lost about 50 pounds, but more important I landed up getting involved with ... ... well, who I got involved with isn't important, but I got involved with someone who made realize that I was a very unique and beautiful person in my own right. He helped me to realize that what I thought of myself was more important than what others thought of me."
"Ya, like that's ever going to happen to me."
Cindy had quietly moved up behind Paul and answered in a whisper, "I happen to think you're a very special person."