High Life | ✔️

28

I WOKE UP sometime in the afternoon. Disorientation and disconcertion were becoming frequent themes in my life. Time felt like a foreign concept as I patted the bed beside me for the source of sound; my sleep ruin-er.

I had muted Marc sometime in the afternoon, but the incoming text wasn't from Marc. I squinted my eye at the screen, able to make out Jaxon's name.

I still have ur shit btw

What? I blinked furiously.

It took several heartbeats to realize that Jaxon had probably taken my belongings from Calculus class after I ran off to return here to cry helplessly (and fall asleep in the process).

My first instinct was to unlock my phone - something I could not fulfil due to the cracked screen. I groaned, before forcing myself up and out of bed so I could retrieve my laptop that was thankfully still functional. I booted up my email and began searching for Jaxon's. I wasn't sure if he checked his mail but it was worth a try.

to: jaxonortega@gmail.com
hi, idk if you check this but thank you so much for taking my things. you may leave them in the lobby of the female dorms if you happen to come here. otherwise i'll collect it from wherever you are! sorry for troubling you

I sighed into my pillow when I was done. I wasn't entirely sure how everything went from 'so right' to this, whatever this was. It was easy to pretend there wasn't chaos beyond my room door when I hid beneath my blanket. But it, uh, it really wasn't easy to disclaim the fact that I was behind both Chelsea's transfer and Elias's resignation.

An almost instantaneous ping diverted my attention to the screen of my laptop. It was the only source of light in my dark room.

from: jaxonortega@gmail.com
I'll drop it at your lobby rn. Are you okay fr...

I rested my head back against the pillow. The last thing I wanted to do was to go downstairs and collect my Calculus textbook. But I mustered the last of my strength to flick the bedside lamp and put some clothes on. It was getting cold these days, a reminder of the fact that I didn't have much time left in high school to correct everything that was wrong with me.

The hallways were empty, as per usual. I learnt a while back that rooms on my floor had a name: elite rooms. Students who had rooms to themselves paid exorbitant prices, this of course signalled at affluent origins. As such, attention was immediately paid more towards this contingent of students. Subconsciously of course.

The elevator stopped on the fifth floor, in came two females who were deep in discussion.

" - definitely got bribed. Kinda disappointing if you think about it."

"Yeah, filthy rich kids. They just make the school look bad."

I tried to shrink myself to the best of my ability, willing the wall to swallow me up. They were definitely talking about me. Eternity came and went before we arrived at the first floor. I breathed in relief. However, my relief did not last long.

I spotted Jaxon sitting in the lobby, conversing with a girl. I watched them from a distance, focusing on the way Jaxon's thumb brushed against my textbook. I wish he would do the same to my skin.

The girl was a pretty one, definitely not a faction five. I watched the way her hands run through perfect balayage hair, occasionally throwing her head back in laughter. And Jaxon, Jaxon's eyes were so fixated on her he did not even realize my presence.

I, on a petty whim, fueled purely by hormones and against the voice of logic, decided to go back upstairs. My eyes remained on him as the elevator doors shut me inside the contraption - he didn't even notice me.