Only One I Call Home

Chapter 10 - "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful..."

Chapter 10

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

-       Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

“I am so proud of you!” Tully gushed.

I hadn’t told her that I’d passed all my exams and was allowed to move on to year twelve, where I was supposed to be. I’d surprised her by showing up at first period, year twelve psychology. It was going to be one of the only classes we shared.

I grinned. “I know I’m so excited. I get to finish my last year exactly how I wanted to.”

She laughed and gave me a hug. “Yay, this is going to be awesome!”

I nodded and sat down beside her. “Yes, it most certainly is.”

Class went quicker than I had expected but it was also more boring. For a whole hour all we did was take notes and talk about ways that we could increase our memory. It wasn’t as fun as I had hoped but Tully promised me that it would get better.

Together we walked towards our next classes, which were conveniently in the same building. She had math and I had Literature. It was my favourite subject at school and I was excited about reading one of my favourites, the Great Gatsby, later in the year.

She walked me up to the classroom door, I wasn’t sure why she was babying me, I’d been at this school for a year and I knew it pretty much back to front. She hugged me goodbye and then made her way further down the hall to her own classroom.

I walked to the back, left corner of the room, which was right beside the window and sat down. I didn’t really socialise with any of the kids in the class, they were all boring and snobby but the teacher, Mr Murray, was way cool. He reminded me of Rob in a weird way. They looked nothing alike but he was just as lovely, last year we’d even had lunch together a few times.

He walked up to my desk and smiled. “Congratulations, I hear you passed all your exams with flying colours.”

I nodded once and grinned at him. “Yeah, I can’t believe it. I never thought I’d do it.”

“It’s quite an achievement to fit two years of school into one year.” He told me.

I sighed. “Yeah, I’m sort of glad it’s over though.”

He laughed and began backing away. “Your life can finally get back to normal.”

I shrugged. “My life will never be normal.”

He started the class by introducing himself and for the majority of it he was just telling us what the semester had in store. I found myself watching the trees outside the window, I even doodled a few. But then I saw something that I never thought I’d see, ever again.

At first I smiled but then I realised what was happening and I swore under my breath. I watched him walk through the front gates and towards the front office. My heart was racing and my breathing had begun getting quicker. I looked down at my drawing and picked up my pencil and began shading the outside of the trunk.

When the bell rang I jumped out of my seat and nearly fell over, it scared me half to death. Mr Murray dismissed the class and walked over to my seat.

“Are you alright?” He asked quietly.

I nodded once and gathered my books. “Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting it. I zoned out a little.”

He looked a little wary but smiled. “Okay, well take care. I’ll see you tomorrow, Madison.”