Information

Carrietta
Legacy Name: Carrietta

The Nostalgic Illumis
Owner: dolly_398

Age: 13 years, 7 months, 1 week

Born: September 6th, 2010

Adopted: 12 years, 6 months, 1 week ago

Adopted: October 8th, 2011

Statistics

• Level: 5
   
• Strength: 10
   
• Defense: 13
   
• Speed: 10
   
• Health: 11
   
• HP: 10/11
   
• Intelligence: 8
   
• Books Read: 8
• Food Eaten: 0
• Job: Stock Worker

Laughter rang across the cafeteria, originating from a table full of high school students. Carrietta joined in the merriment with a wide smile displayed on her face.

Among all of her Japanese classmates, her light skin, light blonde hair, and large, blue eyes made her stick out like a sore thumb. She was like a walking game of "guess who wasn't born here" and ding, ding, ding! There's always a winner.

For a long time, though, the winner wasn't her.

Her family had moved her to Japan shortly before she entered high school. Her parents' business had been thriving, and they had decided to personally oversee the opening of a few new branches in Japan. The business hadn't had a strong Asian presence in the past, and her parents were anxious for this development to do well.

"It is an exciting new opportunity!" they were constantly telling her, as if that would make the change in schools any easier.

Although she had already known Japanese before the move -- part of the preparation for the transition -- being taught a language in an academic setting was quite different from using it on a daily basis. It took a little while to pick up all the slang and to be able to easily follow what everyone said. And when she did finally master that, her accent reminded people that she was a foreigner, and they shouldn't forget it. Her language skills were only amplified her other decidedly not Japanese attributes, like her naturally shy personality, and her fondness for sweets and stuffed animals.

Therefore, it didn't seem to matter what she said. In every little thing she did, the message she always seemed to communicate was, "I don't belong."

Her first few months in Japan were, as a result, very difficult.

She tired of feeling homesick and out of place. So she decided to fake it. Confidence, that is.

Any time she was mocked, she plastered a smile on her face, and acted like the jokes were something she was in on. She forced herself to be outgoing and to talk to people, even if her accent embarrassed herself or sounded weird compared to theirs.

Eventually, they found her attitude to be sort of an eclectic foreigner thing that maybe wasn't so bad after all. It worked out. She made friends.

Although they let her in, she wasn't sure how to return the favor and let them in to her world. Once she found a place in her school, she didn't want to let it go. So she was optimistic and outgoing for the sake of belonging, but she was afraid of really putting herself out there. To share her tastes would make her vulnerable. What if she went back to being the weird foreigner who was mildly tolerated, because they had no choice but to put up with her?

It was this thought that raced through her mind as she sat at lunch. The lunch bell rang interrupted, though, signaling that it was time to return to class. As she cleaned up and put her belongings away, someone grabbed her arm.

"Hey, Carrietta!" the girl said warmly, though Carrietta couldn't place her.

"It's me, Hanabi. We used to go to school together. I guess I moved here before you did, huh?"

Peering past the more mature look her old classmate had developed over the years, Carrietta realized that she really was familiar. "Oh, hey!" she smiled back, and they hugged. They hadn't been best friends, but it was odd how relieved she was to see a friendly face. She had been in Japan for months already! Surely, she shouldn't feel quite this glad to see someone she knew from years ago?

"I know we have to get back to class, and we aren't in the same classroom together, so I'll make this quick.

"I just want you to know that you don't have to be so afraid."

Carrietta paused. Her worries were that obvious? Had they become imprinted on her face over time, due to all of the hours she had spent devoted to dwelling on them?

Hanabi seemed to understand, and she laughed. "I don't think anyone else knows you well enough to notice, but isn't that exactly the problem? You can tell them more about who you are. They already like you, and they aren't bad people. It's okay to be yourself. It really is."

A girl called out for Hanabi and tapped her wrist, as if to say, "Time to go!" Hanabi nodded, and turned back to Carrietta.

"You'll be okay!" Hanabi promised before she offered a quick hug and trotted away.

When Carrietta sat down and entered the classroom, she took a deep breath. It couldn't hurt to take Hanabi's advice...

"Hey," she turned to the girl who sat on her right. They'd sat next to each other for these past few months, and Carrietta was pretty familiar with her. "I was thinking of doing a Disney princess movie marathon this weekend. You know, Tangled, The Little Mermaid, that sort of thing. Want to come?"

Her friend nodded, and responded, "I'm not super familiar with the movies themselves, but I know the stories. So sure! See you Saturday?"

Carrietta smiled back as they exchanged phone numbers and promises to meet up. When the instructor began the class, Carrietta leaned back in her chair and mentally answered Hanabi.

"Yeah, I'll be okay."

profile by User not found: nineinchnails
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