Enchanted Experiments

Chapter 1 - Rei

Free time and sleep were foreign concepts to me. There was always an event I had to do, an extracurricular, studying for an exam, volunteering, or homework. In the rare cases I did have free time, right now, I would read. Pride and Prejudice has been on my reading list for a while, now that I finally have the time, I am enjoying it. There is a fifteen minute free time slot that I am able to read, after this I signed up to volunteer to go to a soup kitchen and feed the needy. I can’t read right now, lately it’s been gatting harder to breath. I get up, walking around the park, the leaves have started to change into warm colors.

There's loud chatter and laughter, and a pit in my stomach grows. It’s people in my grade, I’m not exactly popular but neither am I not known. Everyone in the eleventh grade knows me. Not in a exactly good way though, it’s always that I am the smart one, bound to be valedictorian, or “of course she’s volunteering”. I don’t really have friends either, well I could talk to people who have been in my clubs, I’ve gotten friendly with them. They don’t consider me one of their friends anyway, and I’m barely there for lunch anyway. It doesn’t bother me, but sometimes I wonder how great it would be to have an actual friend. Someone to talk to you about your feelings, interests, favorite books, social events, and forget it. There is one goal in life, to succeed. This is how I succeed, and there is no time for silly friends. I am perfectly content being alone. Shoot, they just noticed me. Why are they walking over? Nope, turn back. Turn back. They are going in my direction, with a book in my hand. I put it away in my tote bag, and don't want them to give another reason to make fun of me.

“Hey! You’re Rei right?” she said in a fake voice.

“Yeah, who are you?” I already knew who she was. There was no one who didn’t, but it was fun to see her a little insulted. Come on, they were obviously here to make fun of me.

“I’m Adisyn, surprised you didn’t know me! Well, we came over here to talk to you. We’re just a bit surprised since we thought you never went outside”, her voice was sweet. How fake.

“About what?” I said, batting my eyelashes, acting innocent. Please, let’s get this over with.

“Why don’t you have any friends? We never see you at lunch but you’re always in the classes, actually paying attention and taking notes. All the AP classes too, I’m not in any of them of course, but how seriously hard is it to make friends? We were just curious, that's all!” Adisyn explained. Her friends started laughing, how funny a girl with no friends.

“I am fine with having no friends. I don’t need them Adisyn unlike you who relies on your friends which won’t get you anywhere in your pathetic life. By the way, I did not need your clarification since everyone knows you’re too stupid to be in any of the AP classes.” I snapped back.

Lots of “oohs” and laughter followed. Adisyn’s face turned red and her eyebrows furrowed. She stared back at her friends, annoyed, making them quiet with a stare.

“You don’t even have to take it seriously, you’re such a buzzkill. I just wanted to talk to you-” Adisyn smiled and faked being hurt.

“Cut the crap Adisyn, everyone here knows why you’re here. Quite frankly if you're wasting time talking to someone about why they have no friends, then find a better way to spend your time Adisyn and go talk to your fake friends.” I argued, staring her right into the eyes.

Her friends started to slowly back away and left us two standing beside each other. Adisyn got red again, from both anger and embarrassment. As if I cared. Her whole clique had ignored me before this day. I don’t get what their problem is. Plus, it wasn’t like I was lying.

“This uptight attitude is why you have no friends. Instead of focusing on being the stupid validation or whatever, find a way to be social. No one in this grade even likes you and finds you annoying. You have absolutely no personality and only focus on school and college. What’s next after you graduate from Yale or Harvard? Huh? Are you going to work somewhere where you’re not even happy? Great way to live Rei! Indulge in the cycle, go right ahead and be jealous of those who can make friends unlike you.” Adisyn snapped perfectly, as if she had planned it.