Rebekah Pulaski, Continuing as Strangers

Continuing as Strangers

REBEKAH PULASKI

I find it strange that you can see the same person every day for months and they can still be a stranger. These were my feelings about Daeun Kim, a talented sophomore in my high school art class. I had never spoken a word to Daeun, but I was completely intimidated by her. This wasn’t out of the ordinary for me though, I’m intimidated by everyone. But, when she sat down next to me on what would be a three-hour bus ride to Hurst Castle, it’s safe to say my social anxiety kicked in.

We didn’t speak much in the first hour of the ride. She was somehow able to fall asleep in the aisle seat which made me envious since I’ve never been able to sleep on the bus. But, after a quick pit stop, we exchanged our first words: “You want to watch a movie with me?” I asked. “Yeah, okay.”

I turned on my favorite movie of all time: Stranger than Fiction with Will Ferrel. I think she liked it, but it was hard to tell. I kept glancing at her to see her facial expressions during my favorite parts or the parts that make me laugh. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish because our teacher wanted to explain to us how we should act during the tour.

While he was talking, we both looked out the window to see miles and miles of open grassland on one side and the never-ending sea on the other. I was startled by the gasp Deaun let out. “Sorry,” she said, “I just didn’t really see a lot of these views in Korea.” She must’ve seen the surprise on my face because she quickly explained that she had moved to Visalia in the summer of 2018, and she had known English most of her life. “No way!” I said, probably too loudly, “I moved here in the summer of 2018 too!” “Oh really?” she asked, “Where from?” Immediately I regretted telling her this information. She just told me that she moved here from an entirely different country, halfway across the world. And now I was going to have to tell her I moved to Visalia from a town three hours away. Nevertheless, I sheepishly described my hometown to her and to my surprise, she didn’t roll her eyes at me.

Soon, we were touring Hurst Castle and I was relieved to not be making conversation with anyone. We were shown a short film in the theatre and to my surprise Deaun sat down next to me. I glanced over at her after it started, and I couldn’t believe it. She was asleep again! The movie started five minutes ago, and she slept for almost an hour on the bus. Who was this girl and how could she sleep so easily?

When the tour was over, we got back on the bus and headed to the spot where we would be eating.

“I had a dream when we were in the theatre,” she told me, “I was Will Ferrel. What is that movie called? I need to finish it when I get home or else, I’ll never stop thinking out it.” My heart filled with warmth. She liked my favorite movie! She didn’t think it was weird!

From that point on, our conversation didn’t stop. We told each other almost everything. She told me about Korea and how different she felt when she moved here. I told her about my family and where I’d be going to college. We talked about people from our pasts and what kind of music we listened to. When the rest of the bus had fallen asleep or fallen silent, she opened the notes app on her phone and we passed it between ourselves, like kids who pass notes in class and aren’t afraid of getting in trouble.

You know what I think is stranger than seeing someone every day and continuing as strangers? Having a day like I had with Daeun, and not continuing as friends.