Superman

Chapter 8

I woke to the sound of birds chirping. The sun was beaming down on me and every inch of me was aching. I made a loud groan as I attempted to open my eyes and sit up. I rubbed my eyes until they were sore and tried to take in my surrounding. It took a minute to remember where I was, but slowly the night before came back to me.

"Bonjour, mis amie!" Pippa exclaimed. Her hair was a mess, but in the morning sunlight she looked positively radiant and more goddess like than ever. She smiled down at me and my insides melted. "Ca va bien?"

"Bonjour, ca va bien!" I exclaimed.

"Tu parle francaise?!"

"Oui."

"Sacre' bleu!"

I laughed. "What time is it?"

"It's nearly eight."

"How long have you been up?"

"Since sunrise, maybe a little earlier. I wanted to read this book before it's due back to the library."

I looked at the giant volume in her hand. "You read that whole book this morning?"

"Yeah." She replied nonchalantly.

"That must be 1,000 pages!"

"1,200, actually. No big deal."

"Do you often zip through ginormous books?"

"Yes. People always seem so surprised by it. Are there any marshmallows left?"

I tossed her the unopened bag and gaped at her. "What?!" She cried.

"You are so incredibly extraordinary." I replied.

"Oh stop it. Here, eat something."

She tossed me the remnants of the graham crackers and I mindlessly ate them. "I have to pee." I said. "And coffee. I need a lot of coffee."

We hastily cleaned up the blankets, pillows, food and the remains of the fire and loaded everything up. We hopped in the truck and turned on the radio. Pippa propped her feet up on the console and said "It's going to rain."

"No way. The sun is literally beaming down and there isn't a cloud to be seen; it's a perfect summer's day." I replied.

"You'll see."

I rolled my eyes and kept driving. When we arrived at the gas station, I practically ran inside I had to pee so bad. And when I finally came out, Pippa was sitting on the tailgate with coffee for both of us. I quickly drank mine and had to order another. I sat down beside her with my second cup and we sat in silence and stared into the endless sea of green. "This place is so beautiful." Pippa said wistfully. "Think about how much potential it has. One day, this could be one of the wonders of the world."

"There you go again seeing beauty where no one else does." I said.

"The same way you can see beauty in me where I see none?"

"Oh but you are beautiful and everyone knows it except for you. You are like a paradox; you can find beauty in absolutely anything but when it comes to loving yourself and seeing your own beauty, you turn away."

"It's just hard to love myself and see the beauty that you see when all I am is a crooked freak."

"Is that really how you see yourself? As a freak of nature?"

"Yes I do."

"Pippa, you are the human embodiment of all that is good and wonderful in this world. Why can't you see that?"

"Because it's difficult. Do you know what it is like to look in the mirror and see this everyday? Do you know how much it hurts when you lose friends because you look like a freak? I have emotions deeper than any ocean and when I love someone, I love them with every fiber of my being. Nobody on this planet could possibly fathom the things that I feel."