When Sophie and I reached science class, a voice called from behind us. "Ziva!"

I stopped in my tracks, turning around to find the source. Kyle stood behind us, his tuff of brown hair instantly catching my attention. He doesn't have science class this period. Why's he here?

"Yes? What is it?" I ask once there were less people crowding the the hall, "Something wrong?"

Sophie patted my shoulder with a sigh, her brown hair brushing against me. "I think I'll leave you two to it. Make sure you get back before the late bell, though!" With that, she turned away and entered the classroom.

We stood in front of each other, neither of us speaking for a few moments until he suddenly asked, "Can you meet me later? I have something to tell you." His feet were shifting around as I processed his words.

This is weird. He isn't going to beat me up, is he? "Uh, sure! But when's 'later'?"

He brought his hand up to scratch the back of his head, averting his eyes. "Anywhere's fine. I just need to tell you something." Kyle was looking at me this time, with eyes that seemed to beg for my answer. His voice's a little shaky; is he nervous? That's new.

"Then how about the flower bed behind school?" I offered, a nervous smile spreading across my face.

"That's fine, just don't be late, okay?! Because I won't repeat myself!" His cheeks were dusted crimson when he sniffed, bringing his reddened hand up to wipe his nose. "This is important to me, so don't be late!"

Huh, interesting. What could he want with me? "All right, I'll be there after school."

Kyle smirked triumphantly at my answer, making me wonder if I just signed my soul off to the devil. "Good, good. I knew you wouldn't decline. See you later, Rabbit."

I could only stare at the specimen before me with wide eyes. He's weird. But maybe he wants to be friends? That'd be nice. I nodded, waving goodbye before entering science class just as the late bell rang.

After I sat next to Sophie and the lesson began, I took out my tape recorder to archive the teacher's words. Not like I can write it down.

When Mr. Johnson grabbed his marker to draw a diagram on the board, I sighed and lifted my finger from the red button. Can't record that. Oh! My eyes widened when I noticed Sophie playing a game on her phone. I tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

"Can I borrow that for a second? I need to take a picture and I don't think I have any lead left. I'll send it to my email."

She nodded and exited from her game to the home screen before handing it to me. "Go ahead."

I grabbed it with caution since I'd never used a smartphone before, and tapped the camera app once I found it. When my finger pressed against the icon, bolts of electricity ran up my arm. Maybe that's supposed to happen.

The app opened, showing my face on the screen. Boy, technology has really advanced since the era of flip phones, I realized and sighed in nostalgia. After I lifted my finger up, I was surprised to find small white letters that read 'camera' on it. My eyes widened, and I dropped the phone.

The abrupt sound interrupted class, but I was too preoccupied by the words that were on my finger. I pressed the only button her phone had, hoping that it would bring me to home screen. When it did, I stared at the familiar camera icon just to find its label gone. I thought I only ate my own words?

The electric energy continued to surge through my veins when I heard a cough from in front of me. I looked up just to see Mr. Johnson's scrutinizing face. "See me after class, Ziva."

Sophie immediately spoke up. "Wait, she wanted to take a picture of the diagram! It's my fault for letting her use it."

"No, it's fine-"

He shook his head. "This isn't about that, Sophie. Now, as I was saying―"

His words afterwards, I couldn't hear. I was too preoccupied with the electricity that climbed up my arms. It was much less gentle than my written words, more permanent. The unfamiliar pixels and codes vibrated on my skin, sending waves of energy down my spine.

With just one word, I could feel so much. Taste so much. I looked at my finger for another second before pressing it on the table, thereby destroying it. I didn't want to eat it. Technology was annoying enough already.

Settling in my seat, I grabbed the tape recorder and started it again. Sophie glanced at me and mouthed an apology. I shook my head and mumbled, "It's fine."

After the office phone rang for the teacher, she tapped my shoulder. "Look," she said, gesturing to her phone. "The label for my camera app is gone. Isn't that weird?"

"Oh." I gulped and laughed nervously. "Well, I might've deleted it by accident? You know how I am with smartphones!"

"Ah, really? Well, that's cool. I'll just type it back in." She pressed her finger onto the camera icon and typed in the label. "Sorry about getting you in trouble."

"It was going to happen sooner or later, anyways. Don't worry about it."

She scrunched her nose. "Okay, I guess. You sure?"

"Mhm." I had to face my own battles.

The rest of class was spent with me recording the teacher's lesson and Sophie taking down notes. When the bell rang, I stayed behind. My feet kept tapping an unknown rhythm on the tile floor as I looked for an opportunity to speak up.

"Yes, Mr. Johnson?" I queried even though I already knew what his response would be. He didn't answer, so I watched him clean up litter on the tables left by students and fidgetted in my seat.

"I'll be right with you," he muttered in between pushing the blue plastic chairs under their assigned desks.

"O-Okay." I was definitely in trouble. There I waited, in front of his desk that was littered with loose paper and pens.

"All right," he said once the classroom was in order, "have a seat."

I nodded and dragged a nearby chair in front of him just as he sunk into his blue office chair.

"Now Ziva, I'm going to be frank here. You've been missing a lot of homework lately and your average grade has lowered significantly. What seems to be the problem? Is there something you don't understand? You were doing well until a few months ago." He crossed his arms, leaning back into his chair. "Do you need tutoring?"

"No, it's not that! I just..." I bit my lip and looked down, attempting to make up a plausible excuse. "My wrist. I fractured it awhile ago when I was running around my house." My voice gradually sounded more natural as more lies spun their way out of my mouth. It's for the greater good.

The teacher looked at me with wide eyes, sighing as he noticed the 'injured' wrist that rested in my palm. "Why didn't you say anything earlier? We could've helped you. Given you materials."

"Well, I thought I could endure it, but I guess not. Writing hurts, so I've been tape recording your lessons so that I could at least memorize the work."

He seemed skeptical. "So what you're telling me is, you've been injured for two months and refused to do my work because of that?"

Or anyone else's. I straightened my posture and looked him straight in the eye. "Yes, Sir. Is there any way I can get caught up without writing? You know that I'm not stupid. I just can't write. If you want, I can orally answer all of my tests up until now and send you my missing homework through Google Docs."

"Hm, that's an interesting proposition. If that's the case then you're going to have to start coming here during your lunches until you're caught up. Deal?"

A smile stretched across my face when I shook his hand with my 'uninjured' hand. "Yes! Thank you, Mr. Johnson. I won't disappoint you."

His blue eyes beamed as he smiled, pushing his black hair out of his face. "No problem. You're going to highschool soon, so you need to start speaking up. Oh, and here's a late slip." He scribbled his name on a post-it note and handed it to me.

"Definitely. I'll work on it." I gave his hand a few shakes before grabbing the note. "Thank you! Have a good day," I said, already at the door with my bag over my shoulders.

He waved once the late bell rang. "You too."

After closing his door, I breathed out the air I'd been holding. I didn't think he would agree to help me out. This is going better than I expected. One down, three to go.

First was Ms. Flores, who I had next period and would evidently be late for. The class whizzed by with me taking notes through my recorder in social studies after I tiptoed into the classroom. Before I knew it, the last bell rang and school was over.

However, I couldn't leave yet. After packing up, I spent the next twenty minutes chasing down my other teachers to explain my situation and convince them to let me pass. Luckily, it all worked in my favor because I was always a good student. The other teachers scolded me for not telling them sooner, but it went well anyways.

While running down the steps, I spotted Sophie. She turned to me in surprise. "What're you still doing here?"

By then I was panting from sprinting around the school, my clothes sticking to my sweaty skin. "I was just... looking for my notebook. Luckily, I found it. Where's Abby?"

"She was waiting for you, but got picked up by her parents's choffer."

I took out a water bottle and drank what was left of it. "Oh, Benjamin. Haven't seen him in awhile," I confirmed after discarding the bottle. A silence then enveloped us, the only sound being the stomping and yells of the students who rushed by.

While we were walking to the exit, she asked, "You want to take the bus with me?"

"Sur..." I paused, suddenly remembering what Kyle asked me before lunch. "Actually, I'll catch up with you later! Kyle had to talk with me about something."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that." She then patted my shoulder. "Good luck!"

"Yeah." I adjusted my strap and headed to the school's flowerbed. He's probably mad.

The arrangements of colorful plants attracted my eyes, bringing me into a state of tranquility. This was why I always enjoyed coming here. The sweet scents, the humming of insects that collected pollen and nectar from the flowers' core. It was enough to warm my heart and make me forget about the bad things.

I inhaled the smell of spring once more. "It's like a bowl of fruity pebbles," I muttered expecting no one to hear. Fruity Pebbles, the cereal that I couldn't eat. I was only fourteen; why was this happening to me? What if Kyle knew that I ate words? Was that why he brought me here?

That shouldn't be possible; I only ate when no one was paying attention to me. My breathing grew ragged. I pulled at my sweater's collar to give my neck some air. What do I do if he―

A snicker ripped me from my spiraling thoughts. I gulped and marched further into the garden. It's time.

I first spotted his figure shaded by a tree as he looked at the sunlight that peeked through its leaves. Then his red vest that swayed with the spring wind. I stepped forward and coughed. "O-Oh! Kyle, what're you doing here?"

He jumped slightly but quickly straightened up. "You're late," he said with a frown.

"Sorry, I was talking to my teachers about some problems." I scratched the top of my head, avoiding his stare. "Anyways, what's been bothering you, Kyle? If it's about the art project, then―"

Kyle shook his head, letting his brown hair dance in front of him. "I'm... I'm sorry. For everything." He bit his lip before turning away. "It's just that whenever I see you, I get so angry― It's not fair, y'know?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and kicked the grass. "I try my hardest in school, but my parents never appreciate anything I do. They want me to be better. They want me to be you. Graduate with all A's then go to a super prestigious highschool."

"What?" My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "That's... why would they want that? They don't even know me."

"Yeah, but they've heard about you. I can understand them comparing me to my sister, but putting my grades side by side with a person who isn't even related to us just... bothers me."

He looked at me with glistening eyes and let out a shaky sigh. "They always talked about you, like you were some spectacle while I was never good enough. So, I wanted to make them proud. That backfired though, because I ended up hurting you."

"No, Kyle―"

He shook his head with his eyes shut tight. "No! Let me finish. I just... wanted to be friends with you, but my anger got in the way. Every time I saw your content face I got so mad with jealousy that I kinda lost sight of what I was doing." He sucked in a breath, tightening his fists by his side. "When you stopped me from telling on myself, I realized that I should've never taken my emotions out on you."

My shoulders were trembling in what felt like relief. I shook my head and hid my face with my hands when my eyes moistened. "It-It's fine; you didn't know about it. I can't blame you for getting angry, everyone has to let it out some way. But next time, make sure that you talk to your parents about it first, okay?" I sniffed, sliding my hands down my face to wipe the tears. "I... I had a similar problem. There's something that I needed to keep from my friends and family that no one must know."

I averted my eyes from his stare for a moment and laughed with a trembling voice. "It would only be a burden on their shoulders. Or at least, that's what I thought until I had no choice but to tell my parents. I kept this secret bottled up for so long that I thought no one would understand."

My head sunk low, and I bit my lip. Dad was right; I didn't trust them. I didn't think they would believe me. Shaking my head, I concluded, "But when I told them, they tried to. And that's all that matters."

Kyle chuckled and took a step forward. "You're really too nice. I'll see what I can do but," he paused and sniffled, "do you forgive me?"

I stared at him with wide eyes to keep myself from crying, instead offering a smile. "Of course. I told you, didn't I? I don't hate you."

Kyle tensed up visibly and took a step back. "Aren't you going to... hit me or something? I mean, I bullied you."

"Yeah, but it's fine now. You apologized and acknowledged that what you did was wrong. Maybe you can talk to your parents about it at the report card conference?"

It was his turn to laugh. "I doubt it. They're too stubborn."

"Kyle, listen to me." I placed my hand on his shoulder and said, "If you don't do it now then you'll never have the courage to do it again. They can't be that bad, right?"

He seemed alarmed by my sudden proximity, eyes widening at my pale hand. "Y'know, I still think you're weird," he grumbled with reddened cheeks, "But I guess I am too."