A Fleeting Moment Through the Eyes of a Cynic

Cara didn't like people.

That's an understatement, Cara hated people if we're being completely honest here. She couldn't put her finger on when she's begun hating people, and she didn't know exactly why, but the human race simply annoyed her. She'd tried sports to curb her anger, and only found more reason to hate people during practice with her teammates. She'd tried a therapist and left the older gentleman in tears when she'd begun analyzing him and voicing her opinions on his character. She'd even tried video games to distract her, but only found them to be boring and tedious. Sadly, there seemed no helping Cara with her temper and her attitude. Cara was going to be hateful forever. There was psychological terms for people like herself, she was sure, but she just preferred to call herself a cynic.

Cynic. It was actually one of her favorite words. Unlike people, Cara liked words. Cara liked to write stories and observations, she liked to write everything. She preferred to write in her little notebook, over talking to some airheaded child at her school. Yes, perhaps that could be seen as rude, but it was true. The notebook had no way of talking back to her, no way of criticizing her observations, and no way to call her a bully for the things she wrote down. That was something Cara hated to no end, that people would call her a bully. It isn't cruel if it is the truth, political and social correctness be damned. It wasn't her job to spare the feelings of others. People were far to sensitive for her taste, yet another reason why she hated them. Cara liked the facts, Cara liked honesty, and if your "feelings" got in the way of facts and honesty then in Cara's eyes you were a waste of space. And this wouldn't be so much of a problem if Cara didn't have such a knack for finding the truth and pointing it out. Cara had maybe one or two friends, if she didn't have friends she'd have been put in a mental ward by now. No, Cara did have friends of course, Cara befriended the people she'd deemed to be worthy.

Worthy. Putting it that way made Cara seem egotistical, and in some ways Cara was. However, Cara didn't measure worth by who entertained her the most, Cara studied people. She looked for the ones that were the kindest and the most loyal. Cara looked for people who were perhaps not the best human beings, for no one (not even Cara herself) was the best human being, but one of the better ones. There were still times when she hated her friends, but it was easier for her to be around them, than around others. You'd think with all of this, Cara's friends would hate her but Cara's friends accepted her for who she was. They liked her loyalty and honesty, they loved that she stood up for them, but only when she knew they were right. Cara stood up for her friends a lot, she wasn't afraid of a ruined reputation. Humans to her were fickle creatures, they'd forget, and even if they didn't high school only lasted four years and college only lasted a bit longer, and in the real world no one cared enough to focus on anything like that for more than a day. So Cara was willing to throw herself into the middle of an argument and reveal the truth of the matter. She didn't yell, she didn't scream, she didn't throw punches, her demeanor remain calm and collected. People learned that if she was going to get involved, it was best to apologize and walk away because she could slander you and it would be true enough to leave you questioning yourself and your worth.

Sometimes Cara's slander led people to be a better person, sometimes it only made them hate her, the results varied. But one result did remain the same, the people who fucked with Cara and her friends learned to leave them alone. In example, there was one instance about a year ago where one of Cara's friends, Ashley, began dating a boy named Adam. Adam was a relatively nice boy, and had passed through Cara's silent screening, so Cara did not interfere with their relationship or tell Ashley that it would end badly. However, Adam's ex was a very jealous and vindictive girl. Her name was Katelyn, and Katelyn went after Ashley's character to make herself feel better. One afternoon Ashley came to Cara in the hallway in tears, saying the Katelyn was going around saying that Ashley was cheating on Adam. Cara didn't fully understand why rumors such as those spread by an ex would affect Ashley or her relationship, but none-the-less they did. Cara was forced to intervene. That day, after watching Katelyn purposely bump into Ashley multiple time making her drop her stuff, and whispering cruel words into her ear, Cara approached Katelyn's lunch table, sat down, and stated her case.

"I'm going to make this simple," she had begun, folding her hands against each other and cracking her neck. "I don't appreciate what you're saying to and about my friend Ashley, you're being particularly cruel to her for no reason other than petty jealousy. I studied Adam before her started dating my friend, I know exactly why he dumped you, and I know you're using the fact that you yourself cheated on him to plant seeds of doubt in his mind about Ashley. Your relationship with him is over Katelyn, and it would be best for everyone involved if you forgot about it and moved on."

However, the best part of Cara's maneuvers, was that Cara never waited for a reply. She got up, neatly pushed her chair in, smoothed her shirt, and walked away. By the end of that week the rumors had died down, Adam and Ashley's relationship was fixed, and Katelyn had learned to leave them alone. Most people would consider this a victory on their part and celebrate it, tell the story like a war hero for months after, but not Cara. Cara moved on with her life and continued her studies. Cara expected a lot of herself, and wasn't about to let herself get distracted by things such as these. Cara almost liked to put herself on the level of an immortal, not in the way that she believed she would live forever, but in the way that she believed she was somewhat better than others. She wasn't afraid to express this either, she was known to correct teachers, students, and administrators. She had made plans to become a politician, so that she could attempt to better the world. She wanted to own a business and make change. She expected the best out of herself, and she knew it wouldn't be easy to reach her goals. Cara wasn't just a cynic, she was a realist. And so, Cara buckled down and focused on reaching the goals she had created for herself.

Unfortunately there were days when Cara could do nothing but observe and criticize the world around her, and this was one of those days.

Cara glanced to her left, when a boy named Stephen sat. She scrutinized his every move, without letting on that this was what she was doing, and rolled her eyes heavenward. Here sits a slacker, not reaching his full potential, a boy too concerned with image and conspiracy to focus on making the mark on the world that he wanted to. Instead of listening to the teacher and taking notes he doodled fists and middle fingers on his notebook, followed by phrases like "Fight the Power," and words like "Anarchy." His reached his shoulders, covering his eyes that were rimmed with eyeliner, and his clothes were ratty at best. If he truly wanted to make change to a government he hated so much, he would dress properly and pay attention so that he could make the change himself. However, people like him were content with complaining about the government with their friends, but never working to make change. They didn't want change, they wanted to look like they wanted change so that they would seem different. It almost disgusted her, almost, but she didn't have time for petty people like him, she had her own life to live, and her own mark to leave on the world.

Cara then glanced to her right, her eyes finding a girl named Anna. Anna was the stereotypical cheerleader. Dyed bleach blonde hair thrown up in a ponytail, a push-up bra from Victoria's Secret, popping bubblegum like she owned the world, and passing notes to her friend about a girl in their group that's "omg such a slut." This was a girl that would grow to become a trophy wife, then would divorce at forty after discovering her rich husband cheating on her with a sales girl of some sort. She would take half his money, the house, the kids, the car, and live the rest of her life a lonely bitter old woman. It's funny how you can predict things like this, just by looking at people. Almost as though your life was pre-determined, but that would be silly, for Anna could very easily change herself right now and avoid that fate. Anna wouldn't though, her popularity and good looks were far more important to her, than her future was.

Finally, Cara glanced at her teacher, Mr. Carson. He insisted his students call him Carl, and he was a good-looking man, who taught English. He was highly popular with the ladies in the school, and was known to flirt with his female students, but the school just couldn't seem to pin anything on him. He'd slip up one day though, Cara was sure of it. In fact, she'd told him one day after glance, when he'd made a particularly inappropriate remark to her. He hadn't bothered her since, but every once in a while she found him glancing at her with a worried look on his face, as though she would be the one to out him. She wasn't threatening him, she'd merely been predicting the inevitable. But again, people didn't seem to like the truth. Just like people didn't like her for telling the truth.

Sighing, Cara straightened herself up and glanced at the clock, they had an hour left in class, plenty of time to catch up on notes. So, picking up her pencil, she began to write.