Chapter Text
i love you mom, dad, thank you for this notebook that i could pour myself into.
It's 1952.
My mother took me to Morley Memorial Junior School. My life was full of colours. I was so excited to finally go to school.
The school was delightful, everyone I met seemed to have a defining colour for them. They were annoying, but some were honestly decent, at least they had their own identity. Every time I got bullied for drawing, my teacher always stood up for me. Her name was Mary Waters.
We were so close that my mother usually took me to her home for both tutoring and for light snacks. That was when I first met Roger Waters.
Usually, the kids in the neighbourhood would gather at my house; however, I never met Roger. I brought some paper and paint to draw while bored, then he passed by me. I felt, new? I never knew what that feeling was. He carried an aura young me could not seem to understand. It was mixed with grey colours, but sometimes shape-shifting like a rainbow.
Just as he was going to leave, I told him to take me with him.
He took me to an open field where we looked at the skies of Cambridge. One. Two. Free. Four. He counted the clouds. Some clouds were obscured by others.
Then, we had a conversation that I've never had before.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Roger Waters." he said.
"Oh! We're quite similar then! My name is Roger too! Roger Barrett, nice to meet you."
We just sat there and enjoyed the atmosphere of Cambridge.
Through my fish-eyed lens, I can barely define this moment in time.
I saw Roger, despite looking neutral, always carried a kind of weight to him.
I asked him about it.
He only said that, "I was born this way. I don't know what you're talking about." I really believed it.
I heard him mutter, "My mother went to Southampton dock in 1945. She said no one smiled, and there were spaces in the lines."
"Who is she?" I asked.
"Your teacher!" he replied, a sudden defence rising in his voice before softening. "I didn't get what she meant. Of course there have to be spaces. 'You will understand when you grow up, Roger,' she used to tell me."
"We're still kids anyway, let's not talk about adult stories, haha. Else I might not get any Christmas present."
"Then... Do you want to be friends?" I said. "Sure," Roger replied.
"I thought you would say Roger that, haha." I saw a glimpse of Roger Waters' smile, it was subtle, but it was a signal.
We went back to Mary's home. That was my first impression of Roger, a cold, detached person, but inside was a warm heart.
We barely met afterwards, however.
*note: first entry in the diary! i met someone so cool.*