❝ Why do I feel like I'm just a chapter in your book while you're my entire story? ❞
❝ Well, you're obviously wrong, because you're my entire novel, cover to cover. ❞
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A blank canvas. That's how my life was. Until she took my hand...
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I gripped the edge of my seat so hard that my knuckles turned white. We were five minutes into our social hour, and it was proving to be more exhausting than the rest of the day, given that it was the period right before lunch.
"As an introductory class, I'm going to check all your concentration levels!" he had said. "It's fairly simple!"
But it wasn't. I realized that the moment he asked everyone to close their eyes.
"Count three to one in your mind as you close your eyes."
Three. No, don't think unnecessary things. Two. One. Shut up.
"Now, imagine you're in a dark place."
A dark place could be a dark room—
I caught a taste of how mental struggle felt as the image of a nightmarish, alien place flashed in my mind. No, no, no!
"And you're sitting in front of a statue."
A statue! Not anything else—
"It can be of your deity, your role model, or your parents."
Fear crept in, and I thrashed it away. Role model! Like Himmel the Hero!
"Now, say you have flowers."
Just flowers, like Dandy!
"And you're going to place them on the statue."
My eyes shot open. I could no longer imagine it, lest I shout out loud. I took a deep breath and exhaled before slowly looking up at the man. He had noticed me and was giving me a sympathetic glance. I didn't like it, not even one bit.
"You have a pink flower, and a white one."
I tried to zone out and not think about the something that always occupied my headspace. Thankfully, the man, Professor Lysandre, finished quickly, and I didn't have to obey his orders. He then began explaining his assessments and evaluations.
"I'm afraid there are three people in this classroom with concentration problems," he said, and I bit my lip. Surely, I had made it onto the list. "Two of them, not a major problem. I think they were probably thinking about the delicious aroma of some baked good wafting through the windows." He peered at Tierno and Mallow, who stuck their tongues out.
Then he looked directly at me, and I shrank in my seat.
"That's okay," he said, but I couldn’t hear the conviction in his voice. He approached me and patted my shoulder. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from flinching. "Visit me after school. We can talk about it," he whispered, then left my side.
Whatever happened next, I had no clue. I successfully zoned out, staring at the back of Serena's head. I felt uncomfortable vibes from her too and wondered if she was affected the way I was and simply wasn't showing it. She was shifting in her seat often.
