The Protagonist

It's All Happening

It had been two weeks since the weirdo had talked to me on the bus, and things were, well, changing. After Ree and Zoe's fateful date at the coffee shop, they'd been inseparable. It was great really. They were a perfect fit, and his arm never seemed to leave her dainty little shoulder. Like I said, it was great. On top of this, the entire population of my school seemed to think that I was their little PA and knew every single detail about them, which I invariably did due to Zoe's girly talks, which mainly consisted of her squealing and me saying "yeah" in varying degrees of contempt. 

At least people now knew who I was. 

In other news, my appointments with Dr Mendes seemed to be helping me a bit, especially regarding my self esteem and standing up to people. If only I could apply this to my best friend and tell her how I really felt about her "perfect" relationship. Putting up a fake smile was getting harder and harder everyday, but what choice did I have? 

"Monika, can I speak to you after class?" Miss Teresa's grating voice interrupted my little pity. I looked at her hawk-life face and smiled. 

"Sure Miss Teresa." I said sweetly. I needed at least a B from her, and she knew that I was sucking up to her, but I didn't really care. I mean you had to try at least right? I didn't exactly enjoy the prospect of getting yelled at after class, but hey, at least she noticed me this time. I formulated a pity-inducing speech the rest of class, waiting for her to finish explaining something about prose or structure or whatever, I was past caring at that point. 

The bell rang and I shoved my blank notebook into my schoolbag, it was okay to be shabby when nobody looked at you anyway. I walked up to her desk and she stood with her arms crossed until the last of her prisoners left the class. 

"This is regarding the assignment you submitted last week." She stated simply. I'd always had nightmares about this. A teacher signaling you out and worrying that you would fail class. As much as I loved attention, this was not the kind I needed, or wanted for that matter. 

"Oh." I replied, as eloquent as ever. 

"I quite enjoyed it." She said with a small smirk and her eyebrow raised. My heart nearly stopped. Was Miss Teresa, the woman who hated life and her class of fifteen aspiring writers actually congratulating me? My throat went dry. 

"Thank you." I said lamely. Her smirk deepened, and I realized that this was the closest I would ever get to a smile. My face felt hot as I tried to look anywhere else but her steely eyes. Was this lady playing with me? 

"I think you should send it as an entry to the Young Writer's State Guild Awards this September." Was it really that good? I didn't even remember half the things I wrote that day, it all felt like a blur. 

"I... I don't think I'll win." I sputtered. Thousands of entries from across the state enter, and there's undoubtedly thousands of people who read Hemingway and write like Fitzgerald. Don't be impressed, we had to read them last year, it's not like I would venture to these authors on my own. Miss Teresa was still staring at me. 

"Too bad, I already entered it." She shrugged. My blood turned to ice, which was odd considering the temperature my face felt. I smiled thankfully and looked at her in the eye for once. The woman actually believed in me, it was, well, refreshing. Her face turned into a scowl again as she opened the door, gesturing me to get out.  

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"I heard Miss Teresa wanted to talk to you after class today?" Zoe said as she slid next to me in the cafeteria. I looked up and smiled. Ree had only a half day on Friday, some internship at a fancy Finance firm. Otherwise, the golden couple would be sitting next to each other, me third-wheeling quietly, eating whatever food the cafeteria would procure that day. They did try to talk to me, but I couldn't help feel pitied.