BINI ONESHOT AUS

Hambebe

Giselle, a girl diagnosed with anhedonia —(the inability to experience pleasure or a profound loss of interest in activities that were once enjoyable), meets the girl who slowly helps her regain her smile.

— start

I'm Giselle. I was diagnosed with Anhedonia when I was 8 after my mom had died. After that incident, it's like my brain had flipped a switch, and that gave me the inability to feel anything. Everything was numb, soul less, like it didn't mean anything in my life.

One day, I went to school like usual. Headphones in, even if it didn't make me feel anything, it still helped cancel out the noise that surrounded me.

When I arrived to my school, the world just went on. Students talking in the hallways, some talking about me, and how weird I was because I was never the one to express myself.

I only had one friend, and that was my twin, Margot. She was the opposite of me— Loud, obnoxious, and a social butterfly. That's one of the reasons people wonder how we're related.

When she sat down on her chair, she saw that they had a new transferee. She seemed quiet at first, someone who kept to herself which Giselle wanted.

As she waited for their teacher to arrive, she doodled on her small sketchpad she brought everywhere. It was one of the items generally keeping her sane, because it reminded her so much of her mom in her natural element, and that was in painting and drawing.

When she couldn't express herself through words, she expressed it through her drawings, and that'd be enough for her.

As she was sketching, her seatmate looked over her shoulder, watching as her hand glided freely on the paper.

"Galing mo magdrawing." The girl said, which made her flinch a little. She turned her head to look back at the girl who was peeking through her shoulder, not saying anything.

"Sorry sa pagsilip. Maganda naman kasi talaga eh." The girl said, looking up at Giselle with those big brown eyes of hers.

The girl continued as Giselle seemed unfazed. "I'm Shane. Shania Navarro. Kakatransfer ko lang.." The girl said, introducing herself.

Giselle nodded, repeating the name in her head. She didn't know why but it sounded so good. She decided to introduce herself too to seem polite. "I'm Giselle. Giselle Villareal." She stated, clearing her throat before putting her headphones back on to continue her drawing, and Shane just stayed there, watching from behind as she drew.

When Giselle stood up briefly to head to the comfort room, she took a picture of her drawing— a little kitten from upclose. Shane smiled at how cute it was.

When she saw Giselle heading back, she went back to her chair, keeping to herself, trying to act normal as if she didn't take a picture of her drawing.

After a few more minutes of waiting, their teacher had finally arrived, introducing herself. "Good morning, students. I am Ms. Ramos, and I'll be your adviser for the rest of the school year. I'll be looking forward to teach you for the whole year." The teacher says, earning nods, but Giselle's expression remained neutral.

"Your first task from me will be a duo project with your seatmates. You have to spend time with them for a month, and you have to keep track of your observations in a journal. The journal must consist of the person's habbits, manerisms, and other things you've observed from them." Ms. Ramos explains. Giselle looks back at Shane, who just nodded in her direction.

timeskip

After class, Giselle went over to the library to just maintain the peace. She never expected that Shane would be right behind her, following her on her way to the library. She only realized when she sat down, and saw someone sitting beside her.