Effortless

One

I had always wondered what life would be like if I didn't exist. If I was never born, everyone I know would have a different life. For some it would be bad, like for my close friends who truly cared about me. But for most I'm sure it would be a delight for me not to exist.

It had always been crazy to me how one little thing, one tiny action can change one's entire life. If one thing did not happen at that one moment, you could be an entirely different person.

If one particular person never came into your life, you wouldn't get to have all of those amazing memories with them. You would never get the chance for those relationships to blossom into something spectacular.

"Where's my paper?" Ricky asked as he frantically searched for the paper he lost.

Ricky was one of the few people that truly cared about me, and that feeling was mutual. He was my best friend. He was someone that I would do anything for just as he would do for me. 

I shrugged as Ricky rolled his eyes at my uselessness and continued to look for the paper.

"-and then Hitler and Stalin signed a Nazi-Soviet Non Aggression Pact." My U.S. History, Mrs. Corbett, lectured.

Mrs. Corbett had an incessantly annoying voice. It's was really scratchy, it sounded like she smoked fifty packs of cigarettes a day. She was only in her thirties, so I had hoped that that was not the reason and that she just had an annoying ass voice. Either way, it was awful.

In that moment I was struggling not to zone out and start daydreaming.

My teacher continued, "Hitler broke this pact days later. Can someone tell me what this led to?"

Silence filled the room. Mrs Corbett looked around hoping for anyone to answer, anyone. This was an honors class, but these were the least interactive honors kids I had ever been in a class with. It was like they were afraid to speak.

I kind of liked it though. It was annoying to always have someone else trying to answer questions faster than me. It was also nice not to have to deal with obnoxious personalities.

I raised my hand since clearly no one else was going to.

Mrs. Corbett pointed to me reluctantly. "I guess you can answer, Elias."

Despite the fact that I answered questions aloud often, I really hated it. Most of the time my answer was correct, but the few times it wasn't, it was extremely embarrassing. However, answering questions made me understand and remember material more, which was the only way I was going to become valedictorian by the end of the year.

I cleared my throat. "It led to the start of World War II."

"Correct, as always." She mumbled with a bored look on her face.

Mrs. Corbett had always hated me for some unknown reason. I had only ever been a good kid in her class, so I couldn't understand why she acted that way toward me. It never bothered me that much, though. Fuck Mrs. Corbett and her scratchy voice.

"Well aren't you just a know it all." My best friend, Ricky, teased.

I smiled, aware that he was joking. "It is not my fault that none of you guys want to answer questions."

He rolled his eyes. "Well if you'd give us a chance to answer..."

I rolled my eyes as I chuckled. Adjusting my foot in the process, I ended up kicking something. I looked down and saw a bag. A bag full of Oreos, which were obviously Ricky's because he loved Oreos.

I poked my best friend. "Ricky."

Ricky averted his eyes from Mrs. Corbett who was still yapping away. He furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"