Remembering to Forget

4

"What book is that?"

Dominic looks up over the top of the page, to see Julianne staring at the back of his book. He turns the cover slightly to reveal the title, 1984.

"I feel like I've seen that somewhere. Like in a library or something."

Dominic glances up, this time in mild exasperation that she doesn't recognise it, and begins to say something about it, but sees her grinning. "You know what book this is."

"Oh, so you can speak. You just only speak to lecture people."

"No, that's not—" Dominic twists his mouth, attempting to discern whether she was teasing or not. Clearing his throat, he begins again. "So, you have read it?"

"Three times." Dominic blinks. "This your first time reading it?" Julianne asks, and he nods. "Well, do you want me to tell you what my favourite part is?"

"No, not really."

Ignoring him, she continues. "It's right towards the end, right where the twist is, and they—"

"Lalalalalala..." Dominic places his hands over his ears and talks over Julianne to avoid hearing her spoilers, but he unfortunately draws the attention of his teacher.

"Dominic, I was unaware you had made the transition from an intelligent boy to a three year old child. Now be quiet."

Completely red with embarrassment, Dominic slowly removes his hands from over his ears and places them on his knees, trying to figure out what to say to Julianne next.

"You know I wouldn't have really spoiled it for you, right?"

Dominic considers this a stupid point. How was he supposed to know? Maybe she took pleasure in tormenting people, like so many others at the school. "Wait, what were you saying then?"

"I don't know, something along the lines of 'you put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you put...'" Her deadpan delivery is hilarious and Dominic can't help but snort a little. "What did you do to your face?"

"Sorry, I was born like this," he replies, but she shakes her head.

"No, you've got a bruise. On your cheek." Dominic reaches to brush the spot she's talking about, but pulls his hand back sharply, wincing with pain. "Yeah, it looks pretty painful. And noticeable."

"Are people gonna start looking at me?"

"Probably not, but you do look a little funny."

Dominic raises his eyebrows, unamused at how humorous she's finding it. "Well, if you have concealer or something on you, I'd greatly appreciate it, but otherwise my face is just gonna have to stay like this."

"You're not afraid of wearing concealer?"

He feels like he's missing something. "Wait, should I be? What do they put in that stuff?"

Shaking her head, Julianne smiles at him, a genuine smile. "No, just guys generally don't want to ever be associated with makeup. Like, they wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole."

"Oh." Dominic ponders this for a second. "Whoops. I know for now."

"What?" Julianne looks at him, confusion evident on her face, and now he's even more panicked, because he just seems to be digging himself a bigger social hole. "It's not a bad thing, I was just surprised."

Dominic grabs the sleeve of his shirt into a fist and squeezes, and the action releases some of the built-up anxiety in him.

Julianne continues. "You never answered my question, by the way."