The Album of Perfect Moments

Detention

Group oral lesson.

Yet another torture. Those were favorites of Sawyer, my history teacher. And they were a nightmare because it was a group grade. It meant I had to make sure that the others knew everything about the subject so that they would respond well, and I would not have a grade less than an A+.

Sometimes I really wondered why I kept trying so hard on little things like that. A lesson, a group project, a meeting that seemed like a waste of time. And then, I remembered with a bittersweet taste in the pit of my stomach that all my life I had dreamed of being a neurologist. Little things like that had to be done to get bigger ones. I did not deny that my dream promised sacrifices, only that on certain occasions it was difficult to give up some experiences or opportunities for it. Tough decisions, that's what life was all about. When you longed for two different things and with no aspects in common with such force that it hurt, it burned in the depths of that organ we call the heart, to choose.

So there we were. To top it off we couldn't choose our groups. I would have preferred a thousand times to team up with William, my ex-boyfriend, and best friend, rather than with Alieth and Christopher. Especially since that day Alieth had tried to borrow my literature book. I wanted him from miles away. Unfortunately, that was not my decision.

I breathed one and two and three times. I didn't think I'd ever be ready to take on two of the Insufferables without warning.

"Well, we all know that the War on Drugs started with the presidency of Richard Nixon, okay?" I started my five-minute presentation because that was the time Sawyer was giving us to prepare. I was avoiding at all costs meeting Alieth's cruelly amused eyes and Christopher's false interest. If they didn't like the idea of ​​being in class, why did they come? After all, none of them could really be affected. In a world where money and social status mattered so much, it was strange that they were still there, in a place that didn't attract their attention in the least.

"In 1971, correct," answered another of my classmates, and I gave him a relieved smile because the tense silence was getting on my nerves. I regained confidence and continued with the presentation without any intervention from the Insufferables, something that I could not stop thinking about when the other groups submitted to Sawyer's interrogation. At that point, they should have already made a joke or corrected something, but none of that happened.

As much as I tried to avoid it, I couldn't help but be nervous about it. I couldn't forget Alieth's last sentence when I refused to lend him a simple book.

Our group was the last. I sat listening to the failures of others with the professor's far-fetched questions and shifted uncomfortably from time to time in my seat due to Alieth's eyes piercing my right temple.

I rearranged my silky straight hair before coming forward along with my strange group.

"Okay, Grant. You go first," Sawyer said without even looking at me. I answered all of them without making any mistakes, as usual. William winked at me from his seat and I smiled. An achievement was an achievement. However, I could not enjoy it for a long time. My sixth sense, the one that warned me that things with the Insufferables were never that simple, was right.

"What year did the war end?"

"Last year," Alieth replied with the assurance of someone who had lived through the war. Then he looked into my eyes with a slight mischievous smile. I pursed my lips.

"The war has lasted to this day, Mr. Sawyer," I said automatically, unable to stop myself.

"You have already answered," he scolded me and went on to the next question without further ado. I shook my head at Alieth. He completely ignored me. "What is the highest penalty for drug possession and use?"