Like Tea and Biscuits

1

It was back, around 10 years ago in 2018.

I remember stepping into the school at the beginning of the year. A few weeks having gone by and everybody had reunited with their friends by now.

Girls walked past in their blazers and plaid skirts, with hair tied up neatly only for it to grow messier towards the end of the day, while boys were already decked in their muddy shoes from all playing a game of soccer that previous day after school. Chatting filled up the school around the sound of the school bell announcing the first class. My hazy memory catches me grabbing my books and laptop bag and rushing to my classroom for our first class of the day. Mathematics. Only, I struggled in the subject and had to go in a different class for people like myself.

Time went slowly in the plain classroom with its beige walls and it's bleak atmosphere, the teacher explaining....what was it again? My stupid mind had been too distracted talking to my friends, though, there was something else I didn't notice.

One girl in particular was in that class, she was usually late for some reason. Mainly because of her parent's work and the fact that they were usually working early in the day so her going to school was held off by emails to their colleagues. Emily. It seemed like she was there since day one when the group was merely just her and Alice. I remembered how she looked upon walking in. Wearing her neat uniform, light brown hair tied neatly in a brain and her bangs curled. Eyes like a doll even despite their small dark circles. Her skin was pale like that of a corpse and almost looked green from her veins. Her nails were neatly done and she kept a good posture.

As she walked into the room, whispers, chuckles and even a few comments arose in the silence. Unfortunately I was one who joined in with that. Occasionally she would call us idiots or morons and scold us for being childish. Funny enough it was actually when she stood up for herself that the teacher stood up, she often had to leave the classroom due to panic attacks or episodes of PTSD. Usually she finished work early and was almost always seen drawing.

Usually she drew that of broken dolls in beautiful dresses with ballet slippers, though covered in scars. Some attached with IV Bags and other times they had death himself looming over their shoulders. Everybody figured it was just the aesthetic. Who couldn't blame us? It was quite the thing at the time across the internet.

Naturally, she left.

The class continued like normal as she was gone.

Everybody knew what she did, she had a panic attack and would use her now rendered useless ventalin puffer constantly until her mind was blank, her body was shaking even more erratically and all she could do was lay in a cubicle in a mess of laughter and tears.

Alice was often called on by the unknowing teachers to straighten her out.

I just wonder how it was in their own shoes....

How did they deal with that after?

At the breaks for eating Emily and Alice sat there together, giggling, joking around and discussing their favorite things like singers or books. They'd rant to each other while eating their food.

They always sat together, sharing earbuds from one of their laptops to listen to the same music while they worked, you'd think they shared a brain.
Only...

Emily felt too much

Alice felt almost nothing

Alice had a condition of her own, one that people didn't know of and would merely laugh at the effects it had on her. Thinking she was just a little bit strange or had a sense of humor.