Blurb: You would think in a world where people's eyes changed according to their moods that people would be easier to read, well, unless their eyes were always green.
"Her eyes are grey. Why are they grey? Did I do something wrong? Her hands are fidgeting! I can't remember what that's meant to mean!" my inner dialogue yells as I watch the teacher pace across the room, her eyes fluctuating in colour until they eventually settle at an ashy grey with glowing orange speckles. I realise that she is frustrated, the orange making it seem like she may be a bit angry too. She takes a deep breath and turns back to us.
"Okay class, we will be working on our Obscure School Assessment Paper for the rest of the session," she says, her tone shifting in ways I just don't understand. I open my laptop, thankful that I don't have to listen to her anymore and dive into my work.
I eventually have to stop typing, my hands cramping up and my interest in the topic dropping gradually as I write paragraph after paragraph of paraphrased nonsense. The teacher's eyes are a pale blue now, calm and still like a lake. The bell rings loudly and a quick flash of sunshine yellow appears on the outer ring of her eyes, she's surprised. I find that quite funny, the bell always goes at the same time, why would it surprise you? I grab my books and my laptop then move off to recess, people moving quickly around me as they push to get through the door. The crowd dissipates as I go to a quiet corner of the library and sit down, sighing with relief. I hate the crowded areas, the people bumping into me and the closeness of it all makes me feel cramped and overwhelmed, to the point where my irises are probably the same shade of white as the ends of my nails.
I reach for my book, my fingertips nearly grazing the edge of the pages when I notice someone sitting almost directly in front of me, who is looking at me with wide olive green eyes. That usually means the person is bored, but the speech therapist said that if someone has wide eyes it means they are interested. My eyes linger on their face for a moment before I go back to try and pick up my book. Unluckily however, they've already caught me staring and probably expect me to make conversation, this is a dilemma.
I decide it's probably more polite to try and make conversation than avoid it all together.
"Hi," I say, trying my best not to sound like I'm asking them a question. They take a glance at me, raise one eyebrow and then put their headphones on. I guess they are bored after all. I conclude that talking to people isn't necessary and start to read my book. The characters have much more interesting lives than anyone in this library anyway.
The person sitting in front of me has started tapping their foot in time to their music. This is annoying, I can't tell them to stop without seeming rude but I can't focus properly on my book with the noise. I consider putting my headphones on but I don't have any music that fits with the book which will pull me out of the scene. I figure that if I try hard enough I'll be able to read but it just isn't working. The words are being read but there is no emotion with them unless I can focus on the story as a whole. Now this is a dilemma.
They must have seen my eyes go grey with frustration because they stop their incessant tapping and take out their headphones. Their eyes staying green the entire time.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" they ask me, their voice almost sounding monotonous as they raise their eyebrow, just one eyebrow. I'm perplexed by their single eyebrow raise but brush it off to try and specify what they mean by 'that'.
"Like what?" I ask, trying to make it sound more sincere than rude, it probably didn't work though because they just scoffed and put their headphones back in, mumbling something under their breath. Their eyes were still green.
They must have noticed I was confused though because my eyes would have shown it. I try to read my book again but the noise of their restless foot hasn't ceased. Their ignorance to my eyes plays on my mind. Are they colour blind? Do they just not care? I have no idea. My book sits open, heavy in my lap, as it remains unread. I look down at it but the words blur together, I just can't read today.
Instead of reading, I decide to write. I tear a piece of paper from my workbook and scribble a note.
Hi, please stop tapping your feet? It is very distracting. Thx.
I pass the note to them, the paper rustles softly as it moves. They give me a sideways glance and read it, they shake their head and write something back.
Hi, can you stop being so beautiful? It's very distracting. Thx.
I stare at the note for longer than I probably should. I'm flattered yes, but what in the heck does it mean? Are they doing that "flirting," thing?
I can't change my appearance, what do you mean?
I pass it back. They laugh a little bit, their eyes staying green the whole time.
We pass the note back and forth, I don't fully understand a lot of what they say but that's alright because they figured out very quickly that being blunt is the easiest way to communicate. We start to speak to each-other rather than use the note, it's funny to them when I try and use sarcasm or irony and I don't think I'm very good at it either.
A few months later and we have become library companions. We don't talk much and I can't always tell how they feel but we are friendly. I can at least say they are consistent though, after all, their eyes are always green.
