The quiet ones. You know them. The kids that sit in their seats before class, not talking to anyone. They ignore everyone. They keep to themselves. You ignore them, going on with your daily lives. Everyone knows they’re there, but they aren’t important enough to bother yourself with.
They are the social outcasts, too different from the other kids to fit in, and too self-conscious to join the other outcasts. They hide in the library. They sit in the corners of the bleachers, hoping to be ignored. Every school has them, and every school treats them the same.
Sometimes you try to talk to them, to be friendly. They end the conversation as soon as it started. You wonder why they act rude. They have no friends. It’s common sense they want friends. But common sense isn’t always right.
They’ve tried many, many times to make friends. But when a person has no friends, people tend to think the worst about them. The people that they try to make friends with send a message, even if they don’t mean to.
The message is this: people are unstable. They will act nice to you as a stranger, but if you try to be anything more than a stranger, you will fail. This is why these people have no friends. Past experience says to never, ever trust someone as a friend. Because sooner or later, they will betray you.
If you insult them, you expect them to shrug it off, and continue on with life. Instead, you find yourself in a full blown argument, with you being the one getting angry, and your target the one in control. This is what they are waiting for.
The quiet kids fantasize about telling off the teacher, but aren’t about to take the risk of punishment. School arguments are what they live for. The chance to be rude, sarcastic, and make people look like fools. These fights are the way they show the world they exist.
They seem almost inhuman, showing no signs of emotion. This is for protection. Showing emotion means showing weakness. And for someone at the bottom of the food chain, weakness means death. They realize this, and they wear these masks daily. They know the risk of not doing so.
The masks are something used over time. First, they are barely used. They have friends, so why use them? But over time, betrayal wins over. The mask settles into place, so that the betrayers will never see how much their actions scarred the person’s life.
The times the masks do come off are usually something of a mistake. They think that maybe, just maybe, this person will be different. Treat them as a friend. But again and again, betrayal comes. The masks settle back into place, as if they never came off to begin with.
Everyone they have ever trusted, betrayed them for more important friends. Once in a rare while, they try again, giving the world a second chance. But every time, they are forced to put the mask back on. This has made them a quiet one.