Fairy-Tale Therapy~ Trouble In Neverland (Book #1) **ON HOLD**

Chapter 2~ Living With A Stranger

**9 Years Later**

     "And that class, is why you should never give your ex-husband your extra house key," chirped Ms. Roberts. I found it odd how comfortable she seemed when talking about her ex-husband. Maybe there was a reason behind that, a reason I was too scared to bring up...or think about.

Tick Tick Tick

     Somehow, I guess I managed to obtain super-bionic hearing within the last few minutes of class. The clock's ticking tortured me beyond all reason. It was telling me that it was near the end of the school day. Normally it wouldn't have fazed me, but the knowledge of today being the last day of school made all the difference.

Tick Tick... Tick......Tick.........Tick

     The seconds were gradually getting longer. I ran my fingers down my face before I slammed my head down on my desk. This is so stupid! Is there a reason why we're still being forced to 'learn' in all of our classes? We'd already finished our end-of-the-year-testing, I didn't know why they were still cramming our heads with their 'fruitful knowledge'. Not to mention that our curriculum wasn't at all necessary. I highly doubted that the stuff they taught us would've been important in the future. I mean they should've taught us the basics of the daily survival we'd have to face once we're all out of college. Let's face it, we're all going to have to pay taxes when we're older. They should've taught us how to do that, but NOO, we had to learn how to differentiate between isosceles and scalene triangles.

     My head suddenly felt 10 pounds heavier. It took me all of my strength to lift my head off of the desk. When I finally managed to get my head back on to my shoulders, I decided to pass the time by looking at my desk. That probably sounded like one of the most uninteresting things that one could've done during class, even more uninteresting than listening to the teacher. Well, you couldn't be more wrong about that. Every desk in this school is filled with the unintelligent scrawlings of irresponsible students that should've been paying attention during class. But I can't say anything though, otherwise I would look like a hypocrite. I've done my fair share of desk-graffiti in my time, but I couldn't help it. Ms. Roberts can sometimes be boring to the point to where it's painful. Seriously that dull pounding in my head could've been from her ex-husband rant just then.

     What I like about these random scribblings are the meanings behind them. Yes, they sometimes may look like the stupid scrawlings of a primitive mind, but if you look at them from another angle,  you could see that they have a meaning hidden within it.

     The first thing that caught my eye were two initials that were carved into the old wood, PP+WD. Surrounding these letters was a heart, beautifully drawn in permanent marker. This one was easy to decipher for reasons unknown. This PP and WD were madly in love, to the point to where they were willing to vandalize school property to express their feelings. These two love-birds felt the need to express their love by ruining a perfectly good desk with their mark of romance. Something confused me though, why wasn't the heart carved into the desk along with the initials? I pondered this for a minute when it finally hit me. Permanent markers don't live up to their names, they really aren't permanent. With time, the marking will eventually rub away. That's what's happening with the heart now, the bottom half was already rubbed off. It's only a matter of time until the top half is gone too. Eventually, all that will remain would be the carving, PP+WD. With time, their spark of romance will disappear until they're left with something a little less magical. PP+WD could stand for acquaintanceship, friendship, or even friends with benefits, but what I DO know, is that won't stand for love.

     My eyes began to wander upon the wood and my gaze fell upon a game of tic-tac-toe. At first, the simplistic scrawling didn't impress me. But once I thought more about it, the finished board looked like a sad plea for a listening ear. At first glance, I wondered why this person decided, of all things, to play a game of tic-tac-toe. The board was so plain, they were merely a bunch of lines with X's and O's in their righteous boxes. So they couldn't have done it to test their creative boundaries (that's for sure) so they must've done it for the game, right? Maybe, but let's look further into it. You need 2 people to play a game of tic-tac-toe, however this was during the middle of a lesson. Someone couldn't have just stood next to that person and played while Ms. Roberts was gabbing about God knows what, they'd have gotten in trouble. Yet, when I looked at the board, it was filled. That meant the person played anyway, by themselves. Why would someone play a game by themselves? What would you gain from playing on your own? I had an answer to the question, but it could be a long-shot. This person may have been alone. They may have wanted to know what it's like to communicate with another person, even if it were just through a game. This may have been some psychological way for that person to vent out their feelings of loneliness. If I'd known who that person were, I would've stepped up and been their friend in a heartbeat.