Damsel Undaunted

3

I wake up to the sounds of Hunter and Sara's voices.

"Was Eli a good girl when she was in school, Hunter?" Sara asks. I keep my eyes closed, waiting for Hunter to answer.

"Well, she wasn't perfect, but she was a good person. Did fairly well on her classes, I think. But she was a bit of a scaredy cat back then."

Sara gasps in shock. "What? No. She isn't a scaredy cat," she announces indignantly, "in fact, she could be a super hero if she wanted to."

My heart warms at the thought of her thinking of me as brave. Thinking of me as a hero.

"Well, when I knew her, she was a scaredy-cat. Always pranked by the boys, I think. Especially Blake. He was the class prankster."

I could practically see Sara furrowing her eyebrows as she asked, "Who's Blake?"

Hunter paused. "A friend of mine. He was a good person," he says, his voice turning sadder with each word in mourning of his best friend.

"Well he can't have been that good if he was picking on Eli," Sara says, not sensing the mood at all, and I can hear Hunter laugh softly at her.

I get up, stretching my arms.

"He actually wasn't that bad, Sara. He pranked me often, but I remember that I was always able to fight back with my words. We were friends, actually," I say entering the front and giving them both a small smile.

"That's true," Hunter adds, "she may have been the scaredy cat of the class, but she was always one of the fiercest. A bit shy, but fierce."

I look at Hunter in surprise. Fierce? Not really. Sure, I was able to fight back when I needed to, but I definitely wasn't the feisty one. It was Katy, my best friend, who burned as bright as fire. I was nothing more than a shadow behind her. And I was fine tih being her shadow. You didn't have to be in the spotlight to be happy; sometimes, blending into the shadows gave you more happiness.

As if sensing my thoughts, Hunter stops the car and looks me straight in the eye. "You were fierce, Elisia. Katy was strong and feisty, it's true. But it was always you who stood up for people with quiet command. It was you people looked up to as a leader."

I was breathless at his words. Partly in disbelief, but mostly because he said them with so much conviction, as if he wanted the words to enter me ned settleninside--forever.

"You could have been the leader if you wanted to, Eli. Everyone was considering voting you for class chairman. But you never entertained the idea for more than two seconds and if anyone brought it up, you'd laugh and refuse."

"You were silent, yes. But once you spoke, people listened."

I remembered that. But I had always assumed that people were joking.

No, not assumed. Because it wasn't just an assumption, it was fact. Besides, even if they were serious, I wouldn't have been president. Only few would have voted for me, and I would have been a shit chairman anyway. I never was the leader type.

Hunter must have been thinking of a different Elisia. Or maybe his memories have become muddled up because we haven't seen each other in so long.

I started shaking my head, opening my mouth to tell him that I was not the brave girl he thought I was. But he speaks first, leaving me no room to interrupt.

"Katy may have been like fire, but you were soft and cool and soothing. You always understood people, always knew what to say. Once you got mad, once you declared something, nobody stood in your way. "