r e s i l i e n c e

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(Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men)

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Here, either you were a crazy ass, a crackhead, a depressed or/and a suicidal person or a misunderstood one. I was the latest.

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THE NEXT MORNING, as I was driving to school, my mind kept going back to yesterday evening. I was confused because he was my academic rival since I can remember and however the time I spent with him a couple of hours ago chatting seemed to mess with my head because now he was haunting my mind even while I was sleeping. Since when were we able to hold a normal conversation for more than three minutes? Something that surprised me even more was that he didn't even try to say a snarky comment to me but was instead being friendly.

As soon as I arrived, I went towards my locker to go pick up my things, as usual, but to my surprise, my friends were already waiting there for me. I threw them a smile and walked up to them. Noah pulled me by my arm and gave me a side hug while ignoring my protests. I groaned and gave in to his embrace. We talked for a few minutes then we walked towards our next class together which was history. Unfortunately, the second we arrived, the teacher threw a fit about I-don't-know-what and it resulted in assigned seats. At least, the teacher placed me beside Noah and Marwa was sitting beside Logan. The more I come to think of it, I think she has a crush on him because every time he passes by, she zones out and gets all flustered. But unfortunately, he is the biggest player of the school so each time we pass by him making out with a girl her mood degrades and she gets sad but denies every time we ask her if she is okay.

After seeing the class plan, I go sit at the place I was assigned to. I was on the desk that was in the back corner near the window. I settled my things and sat while playing on my phone for the time that remained. Just to my luck, Elijah arrived and sat at the desk that was beside me. I didn't have the energy to argue at this very early hour, so I held myself back from saying anything about it. The teacher then stood up and started to write the plan of the class on the chalkboard. It read "The Great Gatsby". I sighted knowing I was going to be bored all class because I knew everything already on the subject. Last year, at my previous school, I did a very detailed presentation on the book for a project and as usual, I got an A+. The teacher then explained that today we were all going to start reading the book individually and then proceeded to give a copy to each student. I instead chose to read a book that I downloaded on my phone, Punk 57 written by Penelope Douglas. I love her books as I know they can get very... intense. I put my phone inside my book to make it look like I was reading the book. I already started the book a few days ago so I was pretty far into it. As I started to read a new chapter, I realised that it was the famous spicy "truck scene" that everyone talked about in the reviews. I started reading the lines and I was so consumed by it that I didn't notice my breathing that was hitched and my tights that were clenched to each other. I was startled when a voice interpelled my name.

"Pssst! Aurora!"

I looked in the direction from where the voice was coming from and saw that it was Elijah.

"What?" I said, annoyed.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm reading" I replied, tilting my book in his direction to show him my little setup. Before I knew it, he snatched my phone away from me and he read the page I was on as I desperately tried to get my phone back and prevent a very awkward conversation. When he finished reading, he slowly raised his head until his eyes met with mine.

He then smirked wildly at me and said: "You know, we could easily recreate that scene..."

I blushed profusely at his words and took the opportunity to stretch my arm to take back my phone. I then returned to my seat, took a deep breath and continued reading while trying to stop thinking about what he previously said. Not even a few minutes later, I heard the teacher call Elijah's name. I looked up to see what was the reason for the intervention to see that it was because Elijah attempted to use my technique and scroll on social media.

"Elijah, please read your book like the others and stop doing whatever you're doing." The teacher asked, exasperated.

Elijah then turned to me with a surprised look on his face and asked me: "How the hell did she know that I wasn't reading?"

"Dude, your book is literally upside down." I answered with a smirk.

"Oh." He said with a look of realization.

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Marwa, Noah and I were hanging out beside our lockers on our break between two classes chatting together about the newest season of Game of Thrones when someone bumped their shoulder into Marwa and me. I looked up, annoyed that someone wasn't careful enough when I noticed that it was Logan that passed beside us with a girl on each side of him. He had his arms around their shoulders and they were both giggling about something Logan had said. I rolled my eyes and huffed, expressing my disgust. I continued the sentence I started a few seconds ago and we resumed laughing like we were before we got interrupted. Just then, I noticed that Marwa was not interacting with us so I looked towards her only to see her with a sad expression on her face. She was still looking in the direction Logan passed seconds prior. Poor girl. She definitely has a crush on the biggest man-whore of the school. The boy never had a serious relationship, only meaningless flings according to Noah who delivered me the past years' gossip in a ten minutes résumé. Just as I was going to ask Marwa if she was okay, she spoke up and said that we were going to be late to class so we needed to go now. I threw a look to Noah who mirrored my expression and we walked to our next class.

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At lunch, just as I was about to take a bite of my delicious PB & J sandwich, some guy came up to our table and asked:

"Hey, I'm throwing a party on the beach near the school this Saturday night, will you guys come? »

I turned my head around to see what my friends thought about that idea and saw Marwa nodding her head hurriedly and Noah smirking. I then came to the conclusion that they were in. I then answered the blonde boy:

" Yeah, sure. We'll be there."

After all, a party with loads of alcohol sounds like a good option to relieve some stress and have fun with my friends. Anyways, what could go wrong?