Feel (Kktato - Skylox - Setosolace)

Three: Sir Batman Dinnerbone Squarepants

THE STRESS IS REAL OMG

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS, BTW <3

Feel

Chapter Three: Sir Batman Dinnerbone Squarepants

Approximate Reading Time: Six Minutes, Forty-Five Seconds

Five minutes. Five minutes. Five minutes.

Just five more minutes.

"And who was the neighbor of the cat of the daughter of the second cousin of the founder of the After Council?" asks our teacher, and I slouch down even farther in my seat. Don't pick me, don't pick me, just don't pick me for five more minutes- "Tyler?"

It's harder for me than it is for the other students, this whole learning thing. I think, if I had lived before, I would have been considered fairly smart. But in the here and now, where the majority of children have no problem staying focused, steering clear of any distraction, and avoiding the nonexistent Feelings that certainly aren't swimming around in their hearts and heads, it isn't enough to be naturally smart and study all the time. Not if you're Feeling, that is.

"Um... S-Sir Batman Dinnerbone Squarepants?" I guess, throwing out a collection of names from various Before things I've read or watched before.

"Correct!" She gives me the best Unfeeling smile she can muster, and I fake my own smile after realizing hers is just an impression of the pity smiles shown in common Before movies. "That's the first one you've gotten right all week, Tyler!"

"Ah, thank you," I mumble, looking down at my paper and going back to slouching. Please don't call on me again, oh dear-

"Can you tell us the name of the daughter and her cat?" Oh, oh my dear Notch, why, world!?

"U-Uh, the daughter was named Emily, and the cat was named Patches." I cross my fingers beneath my desk.

"I'm sorry, Tyler, that's incorrect," she replies, frowning as if she, again, expected more from me. That was a dumb move on her part. Luckily for her, she can't feel true disappointment. "Jordan, do you have an answer?"

"You bet. The cat's name was Emily, and the daughter's name was Patches. Get rekt, Freak!" Jordan shouts near the end, laughing and looking over at me. I sigh and sink down lower so that my mouth is almost level with the surface of my desk.

"Good! All right, your homework for tonight is to finish the questions listed on pages 789 through 791. It shouldn't be too difficult. I expect it to be resting on my desk tomorrow morning at the sound of the bell. Have a good-"

The bell rings, cutting the teacher off and making my classmates cheer in mock relief. My relief, on the other hand, is silent and one hundred percent real as I dart out of the classroom and then out of the school.

I'm a bit uneasy about going home after what happened yesterday, but, luckily, Ryan was easy to persuade to go to a couple of shops with me after school. "I'll teach you how to walk into a store like the Before people did," I'd told him.

"But you taught me how to walk like them a year ago, when those other Blanks were trying to find you before school-"

"No, shh. You've clearly forgotten, so we're doing a touch-up lesson. And, anyways, that was how to walk into a school, not a store."

He fell for it, as always.

"So, what do you think? Am I doing this right?" he asks now as we walk down the street towards a candy shop. It's always funny to hype the Blanks up on sugar and sweets.