Scribble Hands

Scribble Hands and Doodle Hands are best friends. They sit together in English, at the back of the Loser section, doodling, napping, checking Facebook and MLIA on their cell phones... and getting straight A's without batting an eyelash.

Most people see the two of them as one and the same. Scribble Hands and Doodle Hands. Always together, similar in appearance, similar in personality, similar in actions.

The most apparent difference between the two of them is Doodle Hands has doodles on her hands, while Scribble Hands typically has scribbled words. Reminders, homework assignments, song lyrics, notes to friends, thoughts on life--The amount of ink on her palms, fingers, and wrists varies from day to day, depending on how bored she is in class.

The words don't stop at her hands, either. She's got scribbles in different-colored Sharpie all over her backpack. There are some doodles there, too--there's a pirate with a parrot on his shoulder, and a heart with fluffy wings--but mostly words. Inside jokes, song lyrics, acronyms like BAMF and ROFL, and some mentions of her favorite manga. There are some of those written around the bottoms of her shoes, as well. Her shoes are black Converse, with black laces--and a shiny red ribbon strung in with them, just to be a little different.

Being different is important to Scribble Hands and Doodle Hands. Sometimes I think it's a daily struggle for them, maintaining their individuality--no matter how alike they are, they always have to be different from everybody else, seemingly without any effort. Scribble Hands wears crazy socks, sometimes even mismatched flip-flops. She'll occasionally paint both of her pinky nails black or neon green, but leaves the rest of them unpainted.

There's probably a lot of work that goes into her image, but it's hard to tell, because she doesn't have the classic "girl" look. Very little makeup, and streaming blond hair, unstraightened and a little tangled, her bangs hanging down in her eyes. She focuses on other things.

Today, Scribble Hands had proclaimed, was Superhero Day. She came to school wearing a Batman cape over her backpack. Because nobody really knows her, nobody really questioned it. She and Doodle Hands just whispered and laughed, the way they usually do.

Like most people in the Loser section, she doesn't really interact with people who aren't in her safe circle of nerdy friends. She's quiet if you don't know her; sort of hides behind all that streaming blond hair and the dusty too-long bangs, her eyes looking down at her phone, or her notebook, or the words on her hands.

But on the rare occasion when she does look up to say something, her eyes are such a clear blue. Blue like the ocean on a bright sunny day. They just pop out at you from her face, so shiny and so blue and so alive that it's a little bit startling.