"Damn it, I messed up the shading," I muttered under my breath.
Since it was a Wednesday morning, I was sitting in art class, staring at the drawing I made.
It was a drawing of a movie theater room.
"What was that?" Soriel asked.
"Oh it was nothing," I replied.
Soriel nodded and went back to working on her drawing.
As she did, I secretly glanced at her.
Everything was normal. Long blonde hair, well kept clothes.
And of course her face was still beautiful, but it was a bit more stoic than usual. I probably imagined it, but it felt as if amethyst eyes shined just a bit less than before.
I took my eyes off Soriel and glanced at her drawing instead.
It depicted a bridge that seemed like it was on the verge of collapse.
"Elliot?" Soriel said abruptly.
"Huh? I mean, yeah?" I responded.
"What's your favorite color? I never asked before so I'm curious," Soriel asked.
"Oh, I'm actually…not sure. What's yours?"
Soriel pointed to her eyes and smiled.
I chuckled.
'Purple is definitely a pretty color, I'll give her that.'
I lingered on that thought for a moment before speaking again.
"Are you going to practice in the music room today? Like…after school?" I asked awkwardly.
Soriel shook her head.
"I can't. My music program asked me to help them prepare for an event," Soriel answered.
"Oh okay," I replied.
For a moment, I let my gaze rest on Soriel.
Then, a single thought came to mind.
'Is she okay?'
My lingering doubt had still remained, frustrating me beyond belief.
I thought of saying something, but I didn't.
I didn't know what to say.
**
'I wonder if math stands for "making all teenagers want to die?" Oh wait, that's too many words.'
I had a slightly comedic thought slip into my mind as I worked on a math problem.
It was 4th period now and I was in math class.
Unfortunately, I had no friends that I was really close with in that class. A few acquaintances, but none I'd call actual friends.
It was a shame.
'I really need to work on my social skills. I mean, I don't wanna have to get to know people, but I also don't wanna be bored by myself.'
Sighing at this inherent contradiction, I looked at the problem I had just finished.
'There's only like a 40% chance I'm right…'
In all honesty, my understanding of the material we were learning was just barely proficient.
And I only had my lack of intelligence to blame.
"Elliot?" I heard a voice whisper.
I turned my head and saw that the person who spoke was my classmate who sat next me.
She was a girl, and her name was…
'Oh crap, I forgot her name.'
I paused for a moment, and then responded.
"Yeah?" I asked.
She pointed to the question I just completed on the worksheet.
"Can you help me wi…" she began to say before getting cut off.
"Don't bother asking him. The answer is right here," Shin cut in, pushing his paper onto the girl's desk.
At that moment, my eyebrow really wanted to twitch.
'She asked me, not you, moron! What the hell is this guy's problem?!'
Forcing myself to not let out a curse, I watched as the girl shrugged and copied down Shin's answer.
'Oh wait, why'd that girl ask me for the answer in the first place? Was it random or did she think I'd actually know the answer? Eh, I guess it was just random.'
Finally calming down, I went back to working on math once again.
**
"Yo," I greeted as I approached my usual cafeteria table.
"Yo," Tristan responded.
"Hi Elliot!" Nishimoya said, seemingly a bit happier than usual.
I arrived at the table and sat down.
As you could already have guessed, it was lunch time.
"Nishimoya, did something good happen? You look happier than usual," I asked curiously.
"I do? Well, it's probably because I haven't been assigned any homework yet."
"Ah, that makes sense."
Nishimoya and I then began to talk with each other about a few random topics.
And for a while, I didn't notice anything and acted as normal.
But eventually, I noticed it.
"Tristan. Where's Soriel?"
Tristan looked up from his book.
"Helping Mr. Bostav pack up lab equipment. She texted me to tell you in case you asked since you probably wouldn't check your phone,"
"Oh…"
For a moment, I was a bit surprised. I didn't expect her to be helping out with the teachers upstairs.
However, I soon realized that was exactly like her.
'She's better than me, I definitely wouldn't help if I had a choice in the matter.'
With that thought, another thought followed.
'Soriel's pretty amazing isn't she?'
Lunch continued as usual from there. And classes did as well.
Unfortunately, I never got to see Soriel again that day.