Truths & Convictions (Discontinued)

Chapter 15: Catching Up

It was funny how time had passed so quickly, everyone already 9 years old once February had rolled around.

Buds bloomed where the lush grass was, right where the tree line leading into the forest was. Staying here had allowed us to take care of the landscape around the area, growing the grass and flowers from the previously desolate land.

Our rooms had also changed, now more personalized to our wants and our skills evolving as Mr. A taught us how to grow.

All of us had gotten over the whole "we were sent here because people thought that because we were different then we were Bad". Of course, many of us harbored anger over the people that had sent us here in the first place and our families who did nothing to stop this development from happening, including me, but as long as we were staying here it wouldn't affect us.

Not until we were released back into society with all the "normal" people. Until then, we would live our lives with our makeshift family we had here at the school.

For as long as we needed.

꒰❁ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱

Our rooms, at the beginning, were painted the same gray as the walls everywhere else in the school.

However, with some insistence from Mr. A to the council that sent us here, we managed to paint the rooms to our liking. Of course, it had taken a lot of work in order to learn how to paint with some failed attempts here and some attempts that didn't really turn out the way people wanted it to.

With failure comes success, and we managed to learn that type of skill after many tries. Mr. A had also tried to help, but he was as clueless as us when trying to paint a room.

Zakia had told me she painted her room a pastel blue color, and even though it looked like a very light gray to me, I took her word on it.

Shuni, who I got to know better after months of talking with and becoming better friends with, had told me he painted his room a solid yellow. Even though I couldn't see the paint itself, it still hurt to look at in the blinding sun.

My room had looked a darker after we had painted it, Zakia and Mr. A deciding that purple would best fit with the room.

I had let them decide what was best for me, since I trusted them and couldn't really see the color anyway.

Shuni also seemed to like it, and I counted that as a victory.

꒰•௰•๑꒱

There were also other changes. Zakia, who usually styled her hair straight and organized, changed it into something more wild and messy.

It was obvious that she had combed her hair, but she hadn't taken the time to straighten it out. Instead, she made a split towards the left side of her head and swept her bangs that way. Her hair was done in a loose ponytail that layer across her right shoulder.

My hair had also been straight and neat. As I grew a bit more, I realized that my hair started to grow out of he straightness and into a unruly, curly mess of hair that no matter how many times I combed it, it would still fuzz up and curl up everywhere.

In contrast, Shuni had messy hair when he had first arrived at the school. Now his hair was more swept to the side, smoother and combed out so that it didn't stick out everywhere. And I was correct when I guessed his hair was brown and his eyes were green.

Nailed it.

੭•̀ω•́)੭̸*✩⁺˚

We all sat in my room, no particular reason as to the meet up. The only real purpose was to make even greater bonds with each other.

While Zakia and I were amazing, close friends and Shuni was starting to come out of his shell with me, that didn't mean we were out of the woods with awkward social interactions and blanking out at the worst times possible.

I cuddled closer to my owl plush as Zakia held her own bee plush and Shuni with his turtle plush. No matter what age, our plushies will stay with us forever.

Speaking of which...

"Hey, Zakia, when'd your birthday?"

She looked at me quizzically.

"Don't you already know my birthday?"

I shrugged, smiling at her confused frown.

"Well, Shuni is as socially inept and awkward as we are, so I'm pretty sure he's not going to ask you or me that question. You know that our social awkwardness has that loophole when someone else also has social awkwardness but heightened in certain situations."

There was a pause after my mini rant as we slowly absorbed that. There really was no denying that.

"Anyways, my birthday is on October 7 and Zakia's is on- uhm... oh! June 18!"

Zakia sent an eye roll at me for the pause as I failed to instantly recall her birthday.

"...mine's on December 31."

"Wait a second, your birthday is on New Years Eve?! Why didn't you tell us?"

Shuni scratched the back of his head, looking guilty and ashamed as he stared at the floor.

"Most people are usually more fixated on the New Year than my birthday. Usually it was my parents..."

There was an uncomfortable silence that seemed to choke us all. Zakia looked like she was disassociating while I thought back to my parents, who let me go off to this school with no really foreknowledge.

Of course, sending me to this school meant I could basically have a second family. Without that I wouldn't have such great friends to talk with.

The way I had gotten here, like many others however, meant that people were going to look down upon us differently because we were different than them. They were we're going to look at us like we were Bad.

"I mean, they obviously shouldn't have treated you that way. It's like Mr. A always tells us y'know? Just because we're different doesn't mean we're Bad?"

I gave a wry and shaky smile towards Shuni. Both him and Zakia had stayed quiet afterward, only adding to tense atmosphere that permeated the room.

No one said anything else.

——

Can you feel it getting more serious? Me too....