Chapter 6

Paula and I were sitting in the subway to the city. Bored I watched the tunnel pass by my eyes leaning my head against the window. “You see that guy over there? The one with the beard? I bet he’s the type of bad boy, who still watches Disney movies.” I glanced over in the direction Paula was looking. With his piercings and all he sure looked like a bad boy, but Disney? I raised an eyebrow and looked at my friend beside me. “Haha, you should see your face! I just love riding public transport and imagining fun things about the people I see”, she said. “With most people I got to know later, I was actually right.” – “Then, what about me, Miss Psychoanalyst?” Paula chuckled, then turned towards me with a straight face. “You’re the type of girl, who tries hard to fit in and not cause trouble when you should actually have fun. But don’t worry, I’ll make you have fun.” She gave me a wink. Not bad for someone, who had seen me about three times in her life. Or maybe I was just easy to read. Probably the latter.

A random act of kindness. Sounds easy, but to be honest, it’s not. We walked around for half an hour, but when you need them, there’s no old lady with heavy bags, only doors to hold open. Although the last one was probably too little to be an act for Paula’s bucket list. Frustrated we went to a café and got some ice cream and soda. “This day is way too hot to bear”, I whined as I wiped the sweat from my forehead. “Better than cold. And I love the atmosphere. Ice cream, heat, a faint breeze, street musicians… STREET MUSICIANS!” She almost shouted at me and I quickly looked around to see if someone was looking at us. They obviously were. I sighed. But Paula had had some kind of epiphany it seemed and I was not sure if I liked that. We paid and followed the direction of the music to a place, where a young boy played guitar. He had a pretty good voice too. I turned towards Paula, but she had already rushed past me and jumped next to the musician. He was probably as surprised as I was to see a random girl in pink ripped jeans start dancing to his music. “Come on, Marie! You too!” I flinched. Everyone was looking in my direction as my so-called friend sold me out. I took a small step forward, then stopped. Paula watched me, still dancing, then jumped towards me and dragged me onto the ‘stage’. I bet it looked hilarious for people to watch. One freak dancing like a pro and one girl uncomfortably stepping from side to side. But it worked. More and more people came and soon the musician’s hat was full of coins and bills. At some point Paula’s spirit just pulled me in and slowly I started to forget the crowd and to feel like I did when I was dancing alone in front of my mirror at home.

“It was awesome!” Paula was still completely excited when we left. The boy had offered us to share his earnings, but we declined. It wouldn’t count as an act of kindness if we did. I wasn’t even sure if it did anyway, but someone was unexpectedly happy and all we gained was fun, so I guess it should. It had gotten pretty late, but Paula insisted that I should come to her place, so I texted my mum it would get a little late today. A few hours later I sent another message, saying I wouldn’t get home at all.