Fixing What Broke

"So. . . Who hasn't recited all year? What about, hmm, let's see. . . Oh, yes! Melissa? Melissa Overton?" Aleksey blinked slowly, in her usual non-responsive manner. Rosie, her Psychology professor, was calling her, but it wasn't as if she'd suddenly answer to her first name when she'd been answering to her second one ever since she figured out how to speak.

"Melissa? Melissa Overton? Wait, ah, there we have it, Aleksey? Aleksey Overton? No wonder your name was so unfamiliar to me," Rosie chuckled. Finally, she stood up. Rosie was making random students read the papers they wrote for their homework, which was to write about adolescent behavior. It was relevant, yes, but not to them; the people in year eleven couldn't care less how their peers acted.

"The Role of Loners in a Group-Dominant Society," she read the title first, then looked up to see her professor's reaction. Rosie looked slightly bewildered as she said in a low voice, "Continue." Aleksey cleared her throat. "The loner would be the one quietly sitting in the corner, minding his or her own business, whilst the clusters of dominant groups would be socializing and often ignoring the loner."

As if the universe didn't want her to read her paper, the bell rang. Students filed out, chatting and laughing, doing the usual. "Aleksey? May I speak to you for a moment?" the woman prevented her from finding Marina (her sort-of best friend) and picking up some spliff. "Yeah, Rosie?"

"It's almost the end of the year, and I--nor almost all of your schoolmates--still don't have an idea of who you are and what you like," Rosie tried boring holes in Aleksey's skull, but to no avail. "How is that relevant to my coursework or my scores? I'm not failing," she responded plainly. "No, you're not failing. Er, never mind. I'll just talk to you after class."

Aleksey shrugged, and left the room. Walking down the corridor, heads turned. She didn't notice. She'd gotten used to it. When you dressed a certain way (promiscuous) and made your eyes up a certain way (in smudgy black eyeliner), you captured people's attentions.

Though even so, that was Aleksey Overton. When other girls tried it, they looked rather barmy. But when she did it, nobody thought of it. Or maybe it was because of her family--after all, she was Peter-I-shag-everyone-Overton's little sister.

Or maybe it was just because she was different.