𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐓 ❅ (𝐠𝐱𝐠)

14| poetry & penitence

For once, Lily had attained promptitude for her lesson and despite her being unheeding throughout, it was still a small achievement in the right direction.

From her seat at the side of the classroom Lily's attention fluctuated between the world outside the window, the book in front of her and the teacher who stood before the class. With her head idly rested in the palm of her hand whilst the other twiddled and scribbled arbitrary illustrations using the pen it gripped, Lily found it particularly arduous to focus her mind and remain concentrated on the lesson being taught.

Every now and then she directed her eyes around the room to see all other students paying close attention to the woman upfront; taking notes and annotations down in their poetry book as she spoke with an inspiring fervour about her subject. The notion that she was missing out on vital work ladened her with contrite and burden, but her guilt-ridden heart was not effective in convincing her brain to do anything about it. Her whole physiology was too spent and trammelled by lassitude.

But she could only ever have herself to blame for her sequelae after the deleterious half-term break she had led.

Lily's insomnious tendencies may have been temporally rectified but in doing so, her remediation sparked cause for a new complication that had the same or arguably worse affect on herself than before. Instead of sleepless nights inducing her fatigue and hebetude, hypersomnia was the autogenous bedevil on her life. Whether this was from the medication, the drugs or even the combination of both, she preferred to delude herself that she was unsure of such causation.

In her nebulous plight she would often catch herself openly staring at the teacher which made it all the more dreamy as she was pervaded by a lulling languor from the mere sight of her.

Ms Valentine would often saunter with grace—back and forth at the front of the classroom with her olive green eyes focused to the book in her hand as she taught. Svelte shoulders were held back and prefect posture displayed the authority and poise the woman obtained as long, dark tresses swayed down her back. In the golden light rays of the dawn that glared through the windows, she truly looked beautiful to Lily as it radiated on her whole being. And when her eyes wondered down the woman's tall, feminine frame once again as she leant her bum on the edge of her desk, Lily's eyelids fluttered with rapid blinks and she quickly directed her attention somewhere else before she was caught by her teacher. This process repeated continuously throughout the lesson.

"Psst, Lily." A hushed voice from the desk next to her caught Lily's attention as she was brought out of her blank stare into complete nothingness. Charlotte offered the blonde girl a small, concerned smile and as Lily's eyes glanced just past the girl's head for a moment she caught the sight of the slender boy who sat two desks over from hers and displayed attentiveness to the two girls.

"Are you alright?" Charlotte questioned the girl in a low whisper to prevent drawing attention to their speaking. Lily tilted her head in her hand, the effort to not collapse on the floor of pure exhaustion was becoming rather strenuous. "I'm... fine. Why do you ask?"

"Oh it's nothing really, you just look fucking depressed that's all to be completely honest." Lily's brow raised at the girls brusque explanation. "Why thank you, I'm quite flattered you think so, I do try oh-so hard," she dead-panned with a listless expression to which Charlotte let out an amused huff through her nose, knowing that the girl was only feigning offence.

"Lily." The darkly feminine voice of Ms Valentine called out from the front of the room. It's particularly sharp and cold implication startled the blonde student into attentiveness as the woman's eyes glared apathetically, their green hue irradiated by daylight's rays. "Be quiet," the woman demanded finally, and decided no longer to devote any of her attention to the young student as she continued to teach her lesson without a second glance in her direction.