Reasons To Live✔

02

I tap my pencil at a steady rhythm against the wooden desk, the guy who sits next to me completely out of it and snoring. I lean back in my chair and drone out the talking about a random poem she likes. I'm ready to get to my next class.

I sigh to myself, leaning forward again and drawing a small doodle of the classroom in the corner. My eyes move to the clock in the corner, I could swear time stops moving in here. Nevertheless, we had about 10 minutes left. I move my eyes around the room, all the students are just staring forward or sleeping, a few actively paying attention to what's going on.

I used to be a good student, then I fell and I didn't stop, and with that- so did my grades. They never picked themselves back up.

"I'll return you quizzes before you go because I can tell you're all dying to know what you scored." The female teacher shouts. A few groans and rustling noises are heard around the room.

Great. Time to know how bad I did this time.

The heels tapping around the room echo in my mind as I dread to find out. Eventually, she walks past me, carefully placing the paper on my desk. Urgently, I look down. 21/50. I move my eyes further down the paper and see the note she left in red pen.

'See me after class, Elyse.'

Fuck. I'm in trouble now.

Approximately, 10 minutes later the bell rings and everyone rushes out the classroom and the busy moving fills the room. I walk over to the desk and awkwardly smile. She gestures for me to sit opposite her and I nod, sitting down and forcing a smile to hide my nerves.

"Elyse, you're one of my best students but recently you're failing all the tests and dropping massively. Is everything good at home?" She says, her voice is clearly worried.

"Yes, don't worry. I'm just stressed for all the tests. I'll sort myself out." I say, lying through my teeth about the reason I'm failing. From nerves I start to hold my backpack closer to my chest, my fingers piercing through the flimsy straps.

"The tests are in 12 days. They'll control where you go next. I hope you can do it in time." Her voice is slightly more stern. I slowly nod at her. "My doors always open, Elyse. Don't be late for your next class though."

I stand up, swinging my backpack over my shoulder and swiftly leaving the room. As soon as I'm out I let out a sigh of relief and start walking to my next class: maths; the only one I have with Josh. I speed up my walking since I'm way too awkward to be late and eventually reach the class.

I walk past all the people walking around and talking before the teacher gets here and go straight to my single desk at the back of the room. I glance around the room at all the people, some sleeping but most talking to the people around them. That's when my eyes focus on Josh; Josh who's sitting next to Sophie. She's leaning over to him, her beautiful blonde hair is falling down her shoulders and her green eyes and staring into his. Her hand is on his arm and they really are cute together.

I shake off analysing them as a couple and stare forward again as I wait for the teacher, my pen automatically going to draw some more random shapes on my empty page.

Sometime after the teacher finally comes in. I hate this class for being so interactive; he makes us walk to the front and draw on the board for him. It's the worst when you have social anxiety. I slump down into my chair, hoping to not get his attention as more people get called up to the front to draw on the board. All the way through it I feel my anxiety going through the roof. I'm terrified for the moment he'll say my name and even though I know the answer, I can feel the butterflies building up.

"James." The teacher says and points to the boy with his head on the desk in front of me.

James; a popular boy, one of Josh's friends. He groans and stands up. He walks towards the board and is visibly confused as he stares at the previous work. His eyebrows are furrowed together and his tongue is out.

Eventually, James manages to write some sloppy calculations on the board and starts walking back towards his desk. I stare back at the board and correcting it all in my head until I hear a thump and the teachers footsteps following it.

My head turns around to see James lying on the floor, groaning in pain as people laugh around him. My stare doesn't last long when I feel a buzz in my back pocket. I slide my phone out of my pocket and sneakily look at under the table. It's from Josh. I glance up at Josh before reading the text and he's already staring at me. He winks before turning away again. My gaze moves back down to my phone and I smile to myself as I read the text.

Josh
11:27
Number two: watching people fall over and trying not to laugh.

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Dedication: the_dreamweaver as well as being a very talented writer, they are so amazing and kind. They make some amazing covers and they are kind to everyone. It's amazing. They are really supportive and always help me when I'm feeling low and give me some amazing book ideas/motivate me to write. Ilysmm