I hate my name. My full name is Magenta Burgundy Rose. My mother tells me that, “I am a pop of color that everyone needs in their dull and dry lives.” But, I don’t think that I am a pop of color, I think I am a grey dot. That is why my name is composed of a profusely amount of different colors.
I am not a jock, cheerleader, drama person, band geek, goth, punk, or skater at my high school. I am someone who attends Riverbank High School, home of the Beaver’s in Riverbank, Ohio. I only have one friend. This is my long time friend, Liam Rosenberg, who has lived two doors down for the past 17 years of my life. His mother and my mother are best friends as well.
Liam is an absolute player, he is the lead baseball stud of our school, and every girl wants him except, of course, me. He has been there for me since day one, and I have done the same for him. We have been down some rocky roads where he tries to make me expand my bubble but I don’t budge. For example, in middle school Liam began his stud days and was one of the most popular people in school. I envied him because he is so relatable and easy to talk to.
When I try to talk to someone, words don’t come out, sounds emerge from my mouth and awkward faces appear. The side effect of that is I try to avoid all social interaction what so ever except around the people who will not judge me, Liam.
Today is my first day of senior year, I am nervous, but honestly why do I care. I have been told that I have transformed over the summer. Being lonely all summer because Liam went to so many college baseball camps, gave me time to do my own things. To help with expanding my social interactions, I attended many scholastic and social camps. I met a bountiful number of people, including my close friend Adira Johnson.
The first day I attended the Social Group for Girls camp in the beginning of the summer, Adira and I clicked. She lives in Florida. The long distance of our friendship does not affect us because we talk every single day. Going into my senior year knowing that I have a friend like her makes me feel wanted.
Not just my social skills but my style has improved over the summer. Reading fashion magazines actually helped my fashion crisis, instead of being a cliché. I still wear my sweaters and crewnecks, but now they are a variety of colors. Also, skirts and dresses have found a way into my closet because Adira influenced me by spreading the secret that they are quite comfortable.
Walking into the front doors of Riverdale High School that have our Beaver on it never gets old but thank the lord that this will be the last first day of high school. I am confident that this will be the best year of my high school career; my grades will be right, my style will be better, and hopefully I can be more sociable. After all, that is what I have been working on all summer.
Heads turn as I walk into the hallway, and people are whispering “Who is that?” I wouldn’t say that my transformation was a whole 360 but I would say it was about a 180. Today is the day that my hometown will see me as the new me, including Liam.
I walk to my locker and a girl that I never had the guts to talk to before, walks up to me. I believe her name is Jennifer. Jennifer is Liam’s ex from junior year, who I believe hated me. She probably hated me because I am the only girl that has been a part of Liam’s life for a long time, except his mother.
Jennifer begins the conversation with her gum popping, “Hey, Magenta, look at you. You look different.”
I respond, “Thanks, I think. How was your summer?”
“Anyways, have you seen Liam anywhere? I really need to talk to him,” says Jennifer.
“No, I have not seen him but I will let him know you asked,” Jennifer doesn’t seem too pleased with my answer and walks away. Honestly, I was wondering where Liam was too, but I was not going to tell her that.
The bell rings and I walk down the hall to my first class. I was about to walk in to the class room when I saw a familiar head, then that head turned. I power walked and then started to pick up my pace, somewhere along the way I dropped my bag, and I flung myself into Liam’s arms. He automatically responded by picking me up, twirling me around, and finally hugging me. He had a puzzled look on his face but once we straightened ourselves he got a clear look at me. His face brightened and I got a good look at his beautiful smile.
“Hi,” he said a little breathless.
“Hello,” I whispered back, and then repeated trying to find my own voice.
He was about to say something but then the bell rang signaling that we should be in class. He picked up his book bag, and walked me over to my bag to pick it up, while doing this he looked at me cautiously. Almost, as if he was making sure I was Magenta. Walking into class I asked “Are you okay?” and he responded with a nod.
Throughout the day I saw glances and glimpses of Liam but we never got the time to have a full conversation. I wanted to know how his summer went, because I had not seen him since the first week of summer.
Opening my locker at the end of my day, a note flew out. I opened it to find the scrappy hand writing of Liam. It said “Meet me in my backyard, to catch up @5.” I wonder what he had to do for an hour and a half before that. I cleared my mind because it is not my job to wonder but I really did want to know what could be more important. I got in my car and went home to count down the minutes.
At 5:55 I walked down to Liam’s house. I was about to ring the door bell, but the door flew open and his mother was there. Mrs. Rosenberg was absolutely gorgeous, and had a 100 kilowatt smile. She welcomed me into her house any time, and is like a second mom. She said “Oh Magenta, Liam is waiting for you in the backyard.”
I said “Thank you, and see you later,” and walked through the house to the glass sliding door. Taking a deep breath I opened the door, and walked through. Liam was waiting on the steps down from the house.
“Hey,” I said so he would acknowledge me.
“Hi,” he responded, and then returned to fidgeting with his hands.
“So, how was your summer?” I asked.
He returned by lifting his head and leaving his gaze on mine for a couple of seconds and saying “Mine was fine with baseball camps, but I want to hear about yours because you’ve changed.”
I was shocked by how straight forward he was being. This emotion must have showed on my face because he quickly added “In a good way not a bad way.”
I said “Oh, well my summer was pretty good I went to some camps of my own. Such as scholastic camps, social camps, you know things like that.”
He replied “Well you look really good.”
“Thanks, fashion magazines do help,” Liam smiled at that.
“Sooo…. What now?” I asked.
He said “I don’t know why we can’t pick up conversation like we used to?”
I truthfully had no answer, so we sat there and stared at each other for a while. After about an hour I said I had to go home and do “homework.” When I actually had nothing planned, I finished my homework when I was waiting for 6 to see him. We said our goodbyes and I walked down to my house.
As I was lying in bed that night, I realized that Liam and I are kind of awkward now. We don’t pick up conversation like we used to and there is this weird air around us because neither of us know what to say. I am hoping that a summer away from each other did not alter our relationship or change it.
I also, noticed that Liam looked kind of different, or maybe it is the way I see him now. Liam looked more muscular, and maybe more attractive. His hair color is a little lighter probably because of him being in the sun all summer. I began to wonder if he met any girls over the summer, he most likely would have told me about it.
The next day at school was the same as the first. When I was heading to my car Liam was sitting on my hood. When I approached he got up and said “Let’s go to the lake.”
The town lake is a 15 minute drive from the school. On the way there, I noticed Liam was very fidgety. I pulled into the lake parking lot and barely anyone was there. He got out of the car, closed his door, came onto my driver’s side, opened the door, turned off my car, and grabbed my hand. He pulled me onto a bench, and turned to look directly at me.
He said, “Magenta, I’m sorry for being so awkward yesterday. I honestly didn’t know what to say, you were so breathtakingly beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, I thought you were beautiful before but now that you have broken out of your unsociable skills, you are the person I believed you could be. You open up yourself to me, but no one else. And I am so proud that you are letting other people hear your beautiful voice just as I have.”
I was breath taken; I thought I heard a sharp intake of breath when he was saying what he needed to say. I was flabbergasted by what he said because I did not know he thought of me like that. And then he continued.
“I 100% believe that you are the most amazing person I have ever met. I do not want to ruin this amazing friendship, but I think that maybe we could be something more. I mean I’ve liked you since the first day I met you. You are kind, genuine, beautiful, and sweet. Will you be mine Magenta?”
I must have looked shocked because he flashed a 100 watt smile at me and I stumbled for words. “I think that we need to take this a little slow. I am not saying no, I am actually saying yes. I do not want any of this awkwardness, and we can catch up. Then, let’s take it from there. I think you are absolutely infallible, you have a bright future, and we could be something more. But this is my first time doing anything like this or at least having a boyfriend, so we are going to have to take it slow.”
He began to smirk, and by the end he smiled. He raised my hand to his lips and gave it a kiss. Then, he asked if he could kiss me. I shockingly said yes. He leaned in and not knowing what to do I followed. This was my first kiss and was definitely not going to be my last.
“You are perfect, your change didn’t change that, but it helped you become who you are now,” said Liam.