One minute | Dong Sicheng

Six

I said that I didn't want to go to the exhibition, but after finding out that it would go down on my student records, I forced myself to. I cared a lot about my reputation, and especially how the teachers thought of me, so I wouldn't do anything that could ruin their view of me.

It was 6pm, and I had finished placing my pictures onto the Velcro wall. Each student had two sides of a 7-foot board each, along with a small table to place their sketchbooks, and any other work that they had done during the school year. The exhibition was held in the school hall, in order for there to be plenty of space for people to move around. 

The doors had already opened, and I could see students from other classes and years coming in with their friends, or family. I didn't recognise any of them, and I didn't dare to look at them for any longer than a second. Staring is rude, and I should just stick where I am, with my work. 

So to stop myself from watching everyone come in, I looked over my photos, making sure they still looked as good as they did when I first foam boarded them. And, they did.

My favourite image out of all of them was one that I had taken of two Fallow Deer. One deer was close to the camera, in focus and facing the right, while the second deer was behind, out of focus, and facing the left. I had made the image black and white, as I then wouldn't get bothered by any colours possibly not working well together. 

I felt myself smile at the image, and I looked over at the entrance again. I saw Minghao walk in, with the girl he was speaking with a couple of days ago. This time, I could see the girl's face and not Minghao's. I recognised her as y/n, she was on the school website quite a lot due to being quite successful academically. She was no Einstein, but still got good grades. She also studied sports, and was in the Netball team. 

I tried to take my eyes off of them again, but I just couldn't. They looked so happy together. They weren't even looking at the photos. 

Talking, smiling, laughing; I wished that I knew what they were talking about.

I wanted a friendship just like theirs. I wanted somebody who I could laugh with and joke with. Someone who I could share my passions with, and someone who would show me their passions. I wanted a friendship like Minghao and y/n, just ignoring the world around them and being happy with each other.

I could feel my breathing start to shake, and I couldn't process the thoughts going around in my head. The familiar feeing creeped inside of my, but I didn't try to shake it away. I let it take over my mind, my body, and my actions. 

My vision was blurry, and I no longer had control of myself.

All I remembered was slamming the sketchbook I was holding onto the table and running out of the exhibition, unable to breathe and unable to think.