Still

Chapter Eight

I now had so many notes from Brianna and Sara May, that I could make a collage out of them. I mean, it wouldn't really be an appropriate one, since they really did have a thing for drawing dicks on every slip, but the point was that I could.

Or I could have kept them all in a mason jar. If I ever needed to find an insult for someone at school, I could just pull out a random slip from the jar and read it out to them. Some of the papers were specific, but most of them were vague enough that they could be seen as threatening by anyone. My favorite slip so far was the one where I was called a fat cow. It was very Brianna-y.

Maybe I could use some of them in my story. The English teacher gave us the whole year to write it, since it was supposedly our final project. I wasn't planning to start on it so soon, but ideas kept bursting into my head, and they wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote them all down. It was therapeutic, in a way, getting all of my problems out and onto paper.

I was currently keeping a journal full of ideas. In it, I mostly wrote about The Soldier and Marian Mells, just like Harry would have liked. They would have to go on an adventure to relieve The Soldier of a curse-- though I didn't really know how it would all end yet-- and they were currently at a tavern. Marian was just about to leave, looking for some way to get back those fifty gold pieces.

That was what I had written down yesterday after I saw Harry again. It was better than doing homework and staying home. Plus, it was always very peaceful with Harry.

My closest friend was a coma patient. What a life.

"Life is unfair," Mr. Tsu said, and I shoved Brianna's new note into my pants pocket. "We see this in history all the time, and early colonization of America is no exception to this."

History was my favorite class in the entire day. Sure, we had to take notes and listen to lectures, but at least Mr. Tsu made them interesting. He always decorated the classroom according to the time period we were studying, which was why tricorn hats and crochet dollies lined the walls everywhere.

Or at least, that's what Mr. Tsu said the decorations were for. We had been on the 'Pre-America' unit for a month now, so I was beginning to doubt that we would ever move on.

"Alice," Mr Tsu called out.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to read us the closing summary today?"

Everyone looked back at me, waiting expectantly. Was it really my turn to read it today? I mean, I totally could, since we covered such an easy topic, but now everyone was staring at me, waiting for me to mess up. And I could see Brianna a little ways in front of me with her large, frog-like smile.

Seeing Brianna, however, made me know I had to answer.

I smiled at Mr. Tsu, and said, "Of course."

A paper was passed back to me, which read: Unit 2.2 Summary. It was a short paragraph, and it was pretty easy to read. My hands shook a bit holding the paper, but I was fine. I just needed to breathe.

I closed my eyes and inhaled. My heartbeat calmed down a bit, and it was no longer running a marathon like it was before. I opened my eyes again, and read the passage.

"'In 1492, Italian navigator Christopher Columbus 'found' America, also known as the New World...'" I read.

Everything went by smoothly, and I finished the passage just as the bell rang to dismiss us from class. I sighed as I packed my things. Only one class to go.

My bag was on my shoulders and I was just about to head out of the classroom when Mr. Tsu stopped me. He put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me away from the other students as they filed out and into the halls. Mr. Tsu seemed worried, and I began to panic. He was the only teacher here I actually liked, and disappointing him was the last thing I wanted to.