The Canadian Blue Jay

Leta’s POV

I feel like I’m standing on a cliff, just waiting, looking down at the beautifully vast ocean in front of me. The chaos and mess that I have created wreaking havoc behind me, while all I do is stare. The ferocious waves seem to calm and anger me all at once, and all I wish is to fly away. To suddenly sprout wings, like the Canadian Blue Jay’s I have been lucky enough to photograph, and leave everything behind. To leave my life behind. It’s not like I’ll be missed.

If I’m being honest, I don’t think anyone would even notice I was gone. I blend in too much. Most people would just look at me and think “she’s normal” and they would be right. There’s nothing special about me, I’m not one of those depressed artists, I’m not a neglected genius, I’m barely even average. I’m just me.

The very average, extremely bland, Leta. With my averagely blonde hair, and my average blue eyes, and my average small height. Even the way I dress is average, simply leggings or jeans with a different t-shirt or sweater every single day. It’s not like I go out of my way to be average, I just am, and that’s the way it’s always been. Throughout my entire 18 years of living and existing on this earth, I have always been average, and that’s just the way things are, and how they will be forever more.

There are many others, who are unlike me, and are easily seen by everybody. They aren’t invisible, and they certainly don’t blend in. Rather they stand out like a sore thumb, but only because they are, in fact, the centre of the universe. Well at least the high school universe, I’m not so sure about the ENTIRE universe. But Ace Griffin sure does make it seem like the ENTIRE universe.

Now you probably think that he’s some superstar sportsman or some sort of genius. When truthfully, he’s quite normal, he’s just very well known. I don’t think anyone really knows why he’s so popular. Why all the girls at our school want to date him or why all the guys want to be him. I seriously don’t see the fuss.

He’s quite tall, I guess, and his handsome features do really match his silky smooth, velvet black hair. That for some reason alwasy seems to sit perfectly on his head. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen his hair in any other style, but bedhead. But it definitely goes with his naturally tanned skin and undoubtedly matches perfectly with his deep green eyes that I hear a lot of girls say remind you of a freshly polished emerald.

His well-built physique also contributes to the reason behind why girls just seem to flock towards him, swarming him like he's the last meal they'll ever recieve in their life. But despite all the attention, he's kept a kind, heart-warming attitude to life. Well, that's what it seems like anyway. I’ve never actually spoken to the guy, so I truly don’t know him too well.

But I do know that if he ever tried to be friends with me. That if we EVER crossed paths or even came into contact with each other. I would ruin him. Scratch that I would destroy him. You see, Ace is just this ball of pure light. He is goodness and everything that comes with it. Yet, I’m nothing more than the darkness that just follows after him, with only the chaos I always cause leaving a path of destruction behind me.

Ace’s POV

I refuse to believe that anything is just ‘normal’. I mean it’s just a term that varies in meaning for absolutely everyone. Everyone is different, in every possible way. I mean, we all carry a different set of skills and knowledge. We’ve all got different memories and we have all experienced different things. All of which make us who we are. Some people have amazing childhoods that set them up for unrealistic futures, others come from terrible backgrounds and strive for better things in the future.

Everyone thinks differently, everyone talks differently, everyone acts differently. No matter what anybody does, or tries to do, we are all different and unique in our own ways. No one can ever be just 'normal'; I down right refuse to believe it. Sure, I’ve only met my fair share of people and I’m pretty sure that if anyone of them was in need I would notice.

But then again no one really noticed her, or spoke to her as a matter of fact. I mean I knew she existed, but she was generally just a passing face in the crowd. Her need to constantly listen to music was quite interesting, and the fact that she always had some type of camera around her neck made me think she might have been a part of the photography club, or maybe even the news crew. But I knew better than to go looking into it, she probably just wanted to stay invisible. She probably thought she was ordinary, or ‘normal’, maybe even average.

But I’ll tell you she wasn’t any of those things. I’ve seen some of her work. Mrs Thompson had this beautiful picture of this blue bird sitting on one of the walls in her art room, she told me it was a Canadian Blue Jay, beautiful little things they are. I remember seeing it after class once, it had caught my eye. The fact that this tiny little bird held so much beauty fascinated me, and the small name that sat in the corner of the picture shocked me even more.

Leta’s work was stunning, and yes, I know her name. Like I said, she may have been just another passing face in the crowd, and I may not have known her story, but she was interesting to watch. They way she could find the most equisite beauty in something so small, it was amazing, just heart-stopping. Her need to observe things and capture the perfect moment was mesmerising.

But despite all my attemtps to understand her, that’s all I really knew about her. Our paths just never seem to cross, never truely giving us a chance to meet or get to know each other. But I guess now everyone knows who she is, well was. Everyone now knows of the amazing portrait of the Canadian Blue Jay that sat on Mrs Thompson’s wall.

Because it’s now on her memorial. It sucks, what happened to her, a week before graduation. It was everywhere. A truck had completely destroyed the car her and her mum were in. She died nearly instantly; her mother survived, and yet she lost her only child. I just wish I had made an effort to get to know her, maybe then she would still be here. Maybe she would've talked more, or I could've gotten to know her better. But I guess now she's where she should be, flying high with the Canadian Blue Jay’s she used to photograph.