The Girl Who Never Lied

three: she thinks

Poor unfortunate soul
In pain, in need

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After another miserable day at school, Maya packs up her books and slowly trudges to her locker. It's been a couple of days since her talk with Jason. For the past few days it's been the occasional wave and nod of a head. Oh well... Back to the horrors of middle school life.

People just simply don't get it, earlier on people asked her how it felt to be top of the class. They were playing some silly game of interviewing people around the class and asked Maya that question when they got to her table. It was really stupid and made them appear like fools but in today's society, it's the people who make fools out of themselves who are often liked.

She raises her head from scanning her Geography test which she aced with a hundred percent. "It's indeed... how can I put it?" She leans back into her chair and faces the board thinking of an answer.

"Oh.. it's indeed a bittersweet tragedy."

The looks on their faces show that her answer was far from what they were expecting. But hey, nowadays people who are honest are unpredictable.

They walk away after a few awkward glances and Maya doesn't at all regret her answer. Just because society already has the answers to questions doesn't mean that Maya would abide by them.

It's a sweet thing because she aces her subjects and increases her chances for having anything she wants in future. It's a sweet thing because that's one of the few things that evoke the expression of pride from her parents' stern faces.

It's sweet because the reason she studies so hard at all was because it helps her get away from her real life. Diving into a sea of knowledge, finding more and more roads to success and achieving the things she wants.

It's bitter because of the pressure. The pressure that her parents expect only the best from her. The pressure of avoiding to ever see her parents' disappointed faces. How Maya would strive to see her parents proud of her because for every look of disappointment they give her was like a hundred tiny needles piercing her heart and sends streams of unrelenting tears flooding down her cheeks. Knowing that her best was not good enough and she had to push past her boundaries to please her parents. When they push her past her limits and she feels like she could combust at any moment.

It's a tragedy that something so sweet and rewarding comes with its difficulties and pains too.

Being daughter of a well-known couple was hard work. She knows that it's not possible to be an antisocial, introvert with parents who are friends with almost everyone. Having important parents is work, it takes practise.

Practising to be polite to snooty, rich folk who raise their noses at you if your salary wasn't about at least fifty thousand each month. Working on that bright smile that shows everything you're not. It's so infuriating how the world only wants to see what they want to see, how the world is the very thing that pushes us past the depths of our sanity and yet refuses to throw the rope to pull us back up.

Maya collects the rest of her books and walks towards her locker. She looks inside her locker, it's dull grey colour infuriating yet comforting to the eyes. No stickers, no posters, just books. No decorations, no colour, nothing interesting, nothing special but just dull, a huge contrast from the others. But similar to herself.

Maya hurries and walks home. Her bag on her back, her feet heavy with each step. It's one of those times whereby she just wants to join her friend, the river. Her only true friend who's always been there for her. The friend who listened to her cries and her wishes and dreams and fears.

She reaches home and dumps her bag on the kitchen counter. Food isn't really important to someone who feels like they have a lump shoved into their throat.

Regardless of her mental state, she warms up the pizza in the fridge and takes the plate with her upstairs to her room. She continues studying for her oncoming biology test when she hears the front door open.

Mom's home..