Kim's Short Story

“I disagree with your interpretation of the main idea.” Kim said to Austin as they sat on the cement stair in Austin’s backyard and discussed about their short story analysis work from English class. It was just after rain, the sky was still filled with gray clouds, but at least the temperature had cooled down a little bit.
Kim secretly felt bad for Austin, that now he was stuck with her for this “working buddies” thing in English. Why would someone stupidly arrived class late and became my deskmate, and then stupidly saved me from an awkward situation between my ex-best friend and me?
“Why?” Austin asked, looking puzzled.
“First of all, the main idea of the story is often linked to the realization of the character. Nobody in the story realized
Of course getting a sixty-eight didn’t feel good, and Kim probably already knew that her friend had always felt this way. Why did she show off her marks the way she did then? She wanted other people to compliment her, to acknowledge her existence, that was why. Showing off her marks was the only way because, well, that was the only thing she had got. She didn’t have an outstanding appearance, but that was nothing compare to the fact that she didn’t have good personalities either. She was worthless to be anyone’s friend. She could do nothing but hurt other people.
“I was too angry and jealous of you when I said that. Please forgive me. I am sorry. I am soooooo sorry.” Caroline had texted Kim on that day, but Kim never texted or talked to Caroline thereafter.
“Are you awake?” Austin’s voice snapped Kim out of her daze. “Nothing?” Austin questioned, obviously unconvinced. “All right then. I’ll ask Caroline tomorrow and…”
“No!” Bawled Kim, tears bursting out uncontrollably.
“I’m… Sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Austin looked frantic as he tried to make Kim stop crying. “Hey, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I won’t ask Caroline, I promise. I was just trying to help,
“I deserve nobody to like me. I deserve nobody to be my friend.” She paused. “Especially not Caroline. She is a nice person. She deserves better friends.”
Austin was quiet for a moment as he looked down at the cement stair.
“Don’t ever let yourself believe that, okay?” Austin said, looking back up at Kim. “It’s good that you were able to realize your mistake and take other’s feelings into consideration. But that shouldn’t be something that stops you from interacting with other people, because you are an amazing person. You are kind, smart, and insightful, and that’s only what I know of.” Austin paused for a second. “I definitely want to be your friend, and so does Caroline.”
Friend, Kim swallowed hard. She had always longed for one ever since May but felt not qualified of having one. Now someone just said that she was amazing and wanted to be friend with her. She felt happy from the pit of her heart, a feeling that was different from the one she got when people compliment her marks, something more pure, real, and natural. Maybe Austin was right. Maybe she was an amazing person and was capable of being a good