But You Can Call Me Gotham (#JustWriteIt #FreshStart) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 3: Different and Friend

It's amazing how judging works.

Gotham didn't want to talk to Simon, for fear that this might all be a joke. Maybe he was one of them and was just pretending to be one of The Others to embarrass Gotham further. She didn't want to trust him.

So she got up without saying a word, and climbed up her tree.

"I never got your name," Simon called to her.

"And you may never," Gotham replied.

Simon laughed. "You're a mysterious girl."

Gotham was confused. Where were they? Usually they come and take The Others away from her before they can get in too deep.

Why was he so different?

"Well you've got to answer me some time."

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Gotham shot at him.

"Wow, you can be a pretty tough muffin."

Gotham subconsciously nibbled on her berries.

"But I think I can scrape off that burnt stuff and get past the surface."

"Are you...comparing me to a burnt muffin?"

Simon laughed for a while. "Yes."

It was a pretty good metaphor for Gotham, but she knew there were better ones. She had once been compared to the deadly nightshade. She liked that one very much.

Gotham tipped her head to the side and looked at Simon. "And how do you plan on doing that?"

"Oh, I have a couple tricks up my sleeve," he replied.

Gotham was getting terrified. She didn't know what Simon had in mind. She didn't converse with people. She only knew that they liked to judge people before they got to know them.

Simon started climbing Gotham's tree. He had a grin on his face, his brown eyes glinting from the sunshine. Gotham climbed further up the tree, to stay away from him. Was he going to grab her and pull her down? Was he going to torture her? She didn't feel safe in her spot anymore, though she never felt fully safe anyway.

She didn't understand how anyone could feel safe these days with other people judging them all the time. It was just something you couldn't avoid, no matter how hard you try. It was just one of those things.

Gotham yelped.

"Got you!"

Simon had grabbed onto her foot, and Gotham kicked at him.

Then he started tickling her foot, and she laughed and she kicked and tried to get her foot away.

"S-stop!" she laughed. "Stop it!"

"Tell me your name, and I'll stop," he said while grinning.

"N-never!" Gotham giggled as she kicked her foot free and jumped out of the tree.

"I'll get you! And then you'll have to tell me!"

"Never!"

And so it went. Gotham ran, and Simon ran after her, and that was just how it was. Something blossomed inside of Gotham, and for the first time in a long, long time, she was happy and full of life, and she was having fun. She covered ground in the park she had never crossed before, and she liked it.

****

It's amazing how one person could change your life forever.