Ophelia; Jasper Hale

2

The whole drive to the school my hands felt like bugs were crawling all over them. I itched through the gloves the whole way. When I finally got to the school I parked away from the other cars and got out. I noticed people watching me as I walked to the school doors. I went to the office and picked up my papers. I was shown around and when the first bell rang I went straight to my first class. Painting. I entered the classroom and was greeted by the teacher.

"Hello, you must be Ophelia, welcome to painting. I'm Mr. Crowski. I trust you've painted before. You joined us at a perfect time, we're about to start a new project."

I nodded.

"I was made aware of your... condition. All of our seats are separated, if you want to take off your gloves and don't want to get them dirty, you can set them on my desk. Whatever is most comfortable for you."

"I usually keep them on, no matter what, it helps with the delusions, I... I'll try for today, but I might choose to keep them on."

"Whatever your comfortable with. Your gloves are very pretty, I would hate for them to get dirty."

"Thank you."

He showed me my easel and table.

"Here's your seat."

Sitting next to me was a girl with short red hair. She was super pale and had pretty gloves on. She took them off and smiled to me. I looked at my easel and took off my gloves. I sat them on my thighs and looked at my hands. I didn't see anything so I kept the gloves off. My hands itched and I scratched them. A girl stared at me from across the room. I hid my hands from her line of site. I noticed a boy on the other side of me. He had honey blonde hair that looked soft. I stared at him for a few seconds too long. He was beautiful. He made my heart beat faster. I looked away quickly and itched my hands. I tried not to look at my hands so I wouldn't see anything. I looked back up and met the boys eyes again, something changed in his look. I couldn't place it, but it didn't matter because my hands didn't it h and my anxiety had seemingly faded away.

Who was this boy and how could one look fix me? I looked at my hands and saw nothing. The teacher began explaining the painting we were starting. He wanted us to paint a landscape painting of a place we loved. To take a picture of that place and paint it. I immediately thought of the hang out spot my friends and I had back where I last lived. Joel's nana let us turn the old chicken coop into a hang out spot, it took a lot of work and a lot of cleaning, but we turned it into a really nice place. We painted the front facing wall a rainbow on the exterior. It was beautiful.

"You'll need a reference photo, your job for today is to email me that photo so I can print it out and you can begin painting."

I got my phone out and sent the photo I wanted to paint. It was the front wall with Sofie and Joel sitting with lemonade in front of it. I waited.

"Ophelia, I've got your photo."

I went up and grabbed it.

"It's a beautiful photo," he complemented.

"Thank you."

I sat down and the teacher called out another student. Eventually everyone had their photos and class was nearing the end. I started putting my things away when everyone else did. When the bell rang everyone filed out. I went to my next hour and was greeted by another teacher.

"You can sit by Bella, you're both new."

I went and sat by the aforementioned Bella Swan. She looked at me. I didn't really want to make new friends. I felt bad for acting standoffish to her dad though.

"You're Ophelia right? You're new too."

"Yeah."

I kept my reply short.

"My dad met you last night. He wants us to be friends."

I looked at her.

"Not if you don't want to be. I'm not going to force you to talk to me."

"Sorry, I'm not really a fan of us moving. I'm being kind of bitchy."

"It's fine. I heard you had Morgellons Disease."

I panicked for a second. Why would she bring it up?

"Is it fatal?" She asked.

"No, it's a brain disease. It just makes me itchy."

I chose to leave out the hallucination part.

"Is that why you're wearing gloves?"

"Yeah, it helps a little."

I scratched thinking about it. I wasn't really good at making friends, but Bella made things easy. She didn't leave me with uncomfortable silence like most.

"I'm sure that sucks."

"Yeah. I'm just hoping I can finish high school and deal with it better."

"That makes sense."

A beat of silence fell over us. The teacher started talking.

"Hey, here's my number if you wanna text me or something. We could hang out sometime," she offered.

"Sure, thanks."

I quickly put her number in my phone before the teacher saw my phone.

"Do you have anyone to sit with at lunch?"

"Not yet."

"You can sit with me and my friends. They're a little too... uppity for me sometimes, but I got used to them quickly."

"Uhm, I usually eat lunch alone."

"If you don't want to you don't have to, I'm just letting you know you can."

"Ok, we'll see."

She smiled and we both turned our attention to the teacher.

-

At lunch I pondered sitting with Bella and her friend or just going to the library and sitting alone. I couldn't eat with my gloves on, so I took them off, and not knowing these people I'd get anxious and freak out. I decided to push it anyway. I got my food and sat next to Bella at the table.

"You must be Ophelia, Bella told us about you," A girl with black hair began," I'm Angela."

"I'm Eric, obviously the most important."

"Mike."

"I'm Jessica."

They all introduced themselves.

"I'm Ophelia, as you all know."

"Where did you move from?" Jessica asked me.

"Arcola, Texas. It's about half an hour from Houston."

"Cool. You and Bella, the pale chicks from hot and sunny places," Jessica joked.

I sat a little uncomfortable. I wanted to take off my gloves and eat, but I didn't want to startle them. My hands had scars all over them. I took off my gloves under the table and tried to hide them while eating.

"Wow, what happened to your hands?" Eric asked.

Angela elbowed him and I smiled. I itched my hands, but didn't look at them.

"I have Morgellons disease."

"What's that?" Mike asked.

"It makes me itch. I've had it since I was a kid. It's a neurological phenomenon."

"Oh," Eric said.

I itched my hands and looked at them for a second.