BWAHAHA! I feel so evil for not updating anything till now. But I don't know what to write for my other Titanic story. Blah. Oh well. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I AIN'T BE OWNIN' NOTHIN!
"A person's a person, no matter how small." –Horton the Elephant
Cora angrily plopped down on a wooden bench, crossed her arms, and huffed. She was very frustrated. Nearly an hour ago, she had woken up from a nap with her neck bent where it shouldn't be, and she was in a very bad mood. Right about now, the "Ship of Dreams" was a "Boat of Misery". The third class accommodations were actually quite a bit better than what she was used to, and that was the only thing, she thought, that was good about Titanic. The breakfast food was terrible. They had served oatmeal and bread. She hated the mushy oatmeal and got to the bread too late, for there was only the piece on the end left for her. Lunch and dinner were a little better, because there was cheese and bread for a sandwich. And in the small section of steerage where she and her father stayed, there were only eight other children. Cora had tried to make friends. She tried very hard. But those children just weren't friendly. After all, they were "big kids;" all of them were ten years old or more. At least that's how old they looked. Cora didn't know how a six-year-old could fit in with them.
She wanted badly to return to her father and hug him tightly, but knew not to bother him. He was a salesman, and brought his wares to hawk around. Cora had been told strictly to never distract him while he was working. So without anything to do, she simply crossed her legs on the old bench and just…thought. She was six, so she didn't have a lot of important things to think about. Her fingers pulled at a bit of peeling paint on the bench, and she gazed at the puffy clouds. She so desperately wanted a friend, a friend to talk to, to play with, to braid each other's hair.
Several grumpy-looking men walked by where Cora was still curled up on the bench. She heard a snicker and looked up, where one of them was looking at her and probably laughing about how she didn't have any friends.
"Why lookee here at this little person!" He swayed on his feet and giggled stupidly. He was drunk, but Cora didn't know that.
"I'm not little!" She exclaimed. She had been told never to talk to strangers, so she then quietly got up and walked away.
"Wait, where you goin'?" The man staggered forward a little but fell over. One of his friends caught him, but with the weight they both fell down onto the cold deck of the ship. Scary. Scary, but funny. Cora laughed at the men under her breath, thinking what would happen if he was trying to run a race. She burst out into a fit of giggles. She tried to stop, but couldn't. She broke into a run, racing through the crowds on deck. She bumped into several people, who looked after her with puzzled looks. After she had run all the way to the bow of the ship, she bent over to catch her breath. Cora turned around at the sound of a voice.
"Why were you running?" In front of her was a group of four girls, and they all had to be eleven or twelve at the least. Cora didn't know what to say. She had never really spoken much to "big kids" before.
She hesitated. "Well…um, these men were there, and they were laughing really silly, and…" Cora looked down at her feet and continued. "They couldn't stand up straight, and they kept falling over. And it was so funny and strange that I ran away."
One of the girls looked puzzled. "That's unusual. People don't normally-Ohhh…" She tittered and looked at her friends. They all seemed to get it, and Cora didn't.
"You know what was wrong with them! Tell me!" Cora looked at them pleadingly, but none of the girls gave an answer.
"You…you don't need to know what happened to them." The one in the blue frock replied. They knew that the men had been drunk, but Cora still didn't.
"What is it?" Cora wanted to know so badly that she might as well have burst. Of course she was quite young at the time, so there weren't many important things worth blowing up over.
"He just ate too much. That's it." The one in the red frock answered quickly. "We…We've got to go now." They all seemed to understand and hurried away, leaving Cora alone.
She just wanted to scream now. So she did. Cora stood at the bow of Titanic, and let out a shrill shriek. Feeling a little better now, she sat on a nearby deck chair. She crossed her legs and scowled.
"You know, If you're not careful, your face is gonna freeze like that."
Cora jumped up off the bench, startled, and looked up. In front of her was a man with shiny blond hair and soft eyes. She knew that she wasn't allowed to talk to strangers, but there was something about this guy that was pleasant, sort of safe.
"May I get your name, miss?" He held out and hand and smiled warmly.
"Err…Cora, sir." She cautiously shook his hand and looked down, rocking on her feet.
He laughed. "I won't have any of that 'sir' stuff. Just call me Jack." Jack sat down next to her on the deck chair. "I heard someone scream, so I came. But it seemed that there was no one here but you, so I figured, who else could it be?" Cora averted her gaze from the wooden floor and rested it on Jack. He was smiling, and seemed quite harmless. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "So, I'm curious as to why on Earth would you want to scare me like that?"
Cora didn't want to answer. She really wanted to tell someone about the terrible difficulties of having no friends. And yet, she was deathly afraid of being rejected by another person. "I…I was just angry." She sat up a little straighter after realizing she had newfound confidence.
"What could make a little girl like you so angry?" Jack inquired with a frown.
Cora rolled her eyes in exasperation. "That! People are always calling me little. Small. The don't let me play with them."
Jack chuckled. "Well, don't worry about that. There has to be someone that can play with you. I saw a bunch of children on my way out here."
"Oh, them. I saw them. I tried to talk to one of the girls, but…" she trailed off.
"But…they don't think the same way you do." Cora gave Jack a funny look.
"What does that mean?"
"What do you like to talk about, Cora?"
She thought for a second. "Uhh…I like animals."
"Animals, huh? What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"I want to be an animal doctor that takes care of sick cats and dogs and horses. But my daddy says that most ladies grow up to be mommies who cook and clean. That's it. But I'll still be taking care of animals. I'll be the best at it. People will come from all over with their pets. I'll be rich and famous and everybody will like me!" Cora waved her arms around, a wide grin plastered across her face.
"See that's just it. All those other girls, well they're nice and all, but all they think about is how they're gonna grow up and cook and clean. They aren't smart enough to think of what else they could do. You're different because you know you can do more than that." Jack smiled at Cora, hoping her six-year old mind could comprehend all that he said.
Her eyes grew wide, and her face could have been split apart by her smile.
"And people like you aren't very common. It's not strange that no one wants to play with you. You just have to find one of your kind. Someone who is smart with a big imagination like you." Jack laughed. "I had the same problem you did. All the boys my age didn't think the same way I did. I only had one friend. And I didn't find him till…well, I was pretty old when I found Fabrizio."
Cora scrunched her nose and tapped her chin. "So all it is, is that I haven't found the right kind of friend yet. But the friend is there. Just…hasn't been found." She sighed in relief, knowing that there was someone, someone out there who would like her and play with her and share stories and help her achieve her dreams.
Jack shrugged. "Yeah. Pretty much."
"Okay. I'm feeling better now." Cora swung her feet off the bench and jumped, landing squarely on her feet.
"That's good. Now you won't scare me anymore, right?" Jack asked with a grin.
"Nope. But Jack, if…if I don't find a friend soon, will you be my friend?" She looked up at him, eyes pleading and hands folded.
He took one look into those eyes and felt like he had just bought a puppy. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
Cora's expression could be described as ecstatic, relieved, hopeful, and a million other emotions that were probably running through the little girl's mind. Jack knelt down and ruffled her hair.
"They're all wrong, Cora. I feel bad for them. They all missed out on having a wonderful friend."
I got some inspiration for this story from "Hey Stephen" by Taylor Swift and "Horton Hears a Who." Also from my seven-year-old brother. Actually I don't really know where "Hey Stephen" inspired me. I guess it was one of the lines- "All those other girls, well they're beautiful, but would they write a song for you?" If you look really hard you can find in my story, "All those other girls, well they're nice and all…" Haha. Just thought I'd mention that.
I wrote this story for International Friendship Day. Yup, that's today! And this little one-shot is for Smiles for Penguins, my awesome friend who persuaded me to go on Fanfiction. And who also hates Big Time Rush. They're not that bad! (Are they?) Hmmm…but whatever. That's not the point. The point is, I am really grateful to have Penguins as my friend. (She's also one of the few people I've found who's one of my "kind." Haha.) She also LOVES Cora, and I don't. So I decided to give her a chance. Now that I've written a story about Cora, I find that she's not as annoying and stupid and just horrible as I thought she was. XD So yeah, Smiles for Penguins, this one is for you!
Happy Friendship Day!
PEACE AND LOVE AND ELEVATE!