2nd

Chapter 7: Interior

Prejudice—a very strong influence that can change an individual's behavior and ways of interacting with others. An attitude that is unsubstantiated, negative, the tendency for discrimination to happen.

By this time, Mark cannot tell anymore if he's still in his Psychology class or went back in time. For one, the whole class is eerie quiet and, second, his professor sounds and looks like he's from some textbook. He stares at the old man—who looks like Einstein if he's of Asian descent—as if he's listening to his professor but in reality, he's just as disinterested as everyone in the room.

At first glance, it would look as if he's listening intently to how his professor discusses Cognitive Psychology with so much passion when he's actually wondering how he can maintain that massive hair.

Is it always windy wherever he goes?

Was he born with that much hair?

Does he use gel? Or wax?

How much does he use daily for that hair?

"Why are we even discussing this? Prejudice is prejudice." Mark's seatmate whines. "Everyone does it. Even doctors."

He turned to her, was about to tell her that she's missing the whole point of the topic, but Mark saw how she never even have books on her desk and she's holding her phone, scrolling on Instagram—she's clearly not even interested in the class—so, he just shrugged.

Mark then turned back to his desk, his journal opens wide on top, the girl next to him is still blabbering, as expected, she's engaging him in this small talk that he doesn't want to be part of. So, instead, he picks up his pen and flips on the leaves of his notebook; looking for a decent page to scribble. Then, he lands on a page where a rough sketch of his frequent Overwatch hero, Mercy, is drawn. He runs his fingers against the rough sketch, knowing well by heart who drew the sketch.

"The world is hopeless." His seatmate sighs.

He doesn't remember how she ended up with that but since then, the words replay on his head like a broken vinyl. The words bring him back to that afternoon when he's stuck on a courtroom with his best friend.

"I told you not to bother me in class." He mumbles staring at the sketch with a smile creeping up his face.

He looks at the sketch for a little while before closing his notebook. He looks at his watch, telling him it's two minutes before four, then he starts fixing his things. He stands up even before the professor could conclude the class. Mark nonchalantly walks to the door—other students has started fixing their things too—and by the time he reached the door, the bell is already ringing; signaling the end of the afternoon period.

Mark stopped by the library before returning to his dorm to return an overdue book that he has borrowed over a month before. It was Rhetoric—one of the dozen books he has read that is written by Aristotle. He went straight to shelves before returning the book to the desk; purely out of habit.

He earns a few turns, looks and whispers whenever he's at the library. Somehow, people can't seem to accept the idea that he's someone who visits the library often. What is it about him that seems so out of place in the midst of books?

It's because you look more like a model than a nerd. She would always say.

He smirks to himself, like fool. Truth be told, he doesn't really seem to be the bookworm type. He's someone who prefers rap music over any other type of music; his closet is filled with clothes that is way too big for him; and he'd rather play Overwatch or any other computer games than sit for a two-hour film. But he can slip in reading a couple of pages of philosophy in between.