ONEIRAL: The Witch, The Book and The Mirror

Chapter 8: Awake

The air was filled with the voices of the hundreds of students that were in campus. The tall brick buildings stood imposingly on either side of the street, and on the sidelines, the trees projected their shadows upon the gardens and benches, where people stopped every once in a while, to escape for a moment from their busy schedules. A girl sat in one of those benches, while another one came trotting down the street.

"Hey, what's up?" said the girl cheerily, as she approached to sit in the bench.

"Hey" replied the other one without looking up, scribbling something furiously on her book.

"What are you doing?" asked the newcomer "If this is about the project I can help, I already finished my part-" she stopped when the other girl shoved a pile of papers in her hands.

"Oh, thanks, I'll put it together later..." she said confused, putting the papers in the bag she was carrying.

"How did you do?" the second one asked, changing the page, pointedly avoiding looking up.

"In potions? Full marks, why?"

"Just wanted to know, for when they ask" she muttered.

"Who? Mr. I-don't-need-to-study-I'm-so-smart? Because I'll gladly tell him myself we got full marks. I heard him requesting a do-over, can you believe the idiot? smartass" she muttered.

"No I- not him, I mean, it certainly was hilarious, but I really don't feel like scrubbing it in his face right now" she added with a shrug.

"Oh! Okay..." the first one said, shifting her position in the bench "If it's not him, then who's asking?"

The second girl finally lifted her eyes to see her friend's, seeing the clear confusion a slight concern in her eyes. It should warm her heart, it really should, but instead a tight knot formed in her throat.

"Mother."

"Your mom?"

"Yeah..."

"She asks how your friends did in the tests?"

"Just you."

"Me?"

She sighted and braced herself for the conversation she hoped she'd never had -yet knew she couldn't hide from her-; she was one of the few ones throughout her life that had actually been able to read her, and honestly, it frightened her.

"She says that... If you get full marks, I should've gotten full marks too, even extra points"

"But you did, didn't you?"

She shook her head.

"Oh...Why would she say that anyway? It's not like we're twins or anything"

"I should be better than you" she whispered.

"What?"

"She says I should be the best, everywhere I go, but you're here and I can't and- she won't stop bothering me about it"

"That's- that's not fair" the first whispered.

Silence.

"That's not fair!" she yelled outraged " You are -and listen to me here- the smartest person I know, and that's a fact. There's no comparison between me and you, we're great at different things -"

"You are great at everything..."

"I'm not." she deadpanned "That I do well in class doesn't mean I'm good at it, or that I like it. It's what I have to do to be here"