Short stories, poems, and other miscellaneous works

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I follow the straight line of classmates into the classroom. A familiar icy breeze hits my face as I make my way to my seat. I pull my chair out, placing my bag onto the seat, and start unpacking my things. I pull out my notebook, two pencils, a barely used eraser and arrange them on my desk. I put away my bag and sit in my seat silently, just as the rest of the students do.

Though the classroom contained 29 students, the room was quiet enough to hear the air flowing through the vents, as it is every morning. Everyone sat facing the front of the room awaiting our teacher's arrival.

Here, everyone was the same. We all had the same looks, goals, backgrounds, and interests. Our parents and teachers knew what was best for us and shaped us to be successful. To be perfect.

Eventually, Ms. Gray walks into the still room. She silently walks to the front of the class, her expression neutral.

"Before we begin, I have to inform you that you will have a new classmate joining today," she says. "I expect you will all help her to be the good students you have all learned to be." The class nods. "Good." As if on cue, the door cracks open.

"Is this the right class?" a voice asks from behind the door.

Ms. Gray's eyes widen and she quietly gasps before quickly composing herself again. "I am assuming you're Miss Liliana Una?" The owner of the fruity voice steps out of the doorway and we all realize what had surprised Ms. Gray.

"Yeah thats me," Liliana smiles. "Sorry I'm late I went through like three hallways and then got lost." She turns her head to the rest of us and her smile falls before returning more intensely as she laughs, "You guys look like clones."

Liliana had short messy blue hair. We all had the same brown hair tucked neatly in buns or cut short. The vibrant orange lipstick that coated her lips and the matching studs in her ears could easily be seen in the back of the class, while none of us could even dream of wearing that kind of makeup or jewelry. Our parents had made it clear early on that it was not allowed. Even her tone of voice and vivid expressions were different from our monotone voices and blank faces. She was different than all of us.

"Miss Una please take a seat next to Miss Smith," Ms. Gray says pulling me out of my trance. "Miss Smith please raise your hand." I raise my hand. Liliana smiles and races to the chair beside me.

"Hi," her smile grows brighter as she sits down. I can feel eyes glance at the two of us as she holds out her hand. My face grows warm as I silently nod and turn my head back to the board. When the lunch bell rings, everyone stands up and heads to the cafeteria to eat.

"Miss Smith and Miss Una," Ms. Gray says scribbling something down in her notebook. My heartbeat increases and my mind runs through all the possible reasons why she would need to speak to me.

"Please escort Miss Una through the school for a while." I nod and she sends us to join the rest of the students.

The second we step outside of the classroom, I am bombarded with questions by Lilianna.

"So do you eat porridge for lunch everyday?" Lilianna asks with a smile. I shake my head.

"Today's lunch is Chicken noodle soup and a garden salad."

"Same thing right?" I glance at her and stare straight ahead again. I wasn't used to all this conversation.

She continues to ask questions through the lunch line and all the way to our seats, which makes me uncomfortable.

"Don't you ever get bored here?" she asks stirring her soup.

I glance up at her. "What do you mean?" We didn't have time to be bored, we had too much work to do.