“𝑵𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐, 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒋𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖.”

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𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗲, 𝗜 𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 transparent bottle; colourless liquid dripping down from the opening to the bottom. Wiping my mouth with gloved hands, I leaned back into the soft, leather seat in my mum's car.

“Are you okay, Sweetie?” A feminine voice interrupted the monster gritting inside my head.

Shifting my head to meet her gaze, I replied still feeling tired because of the sleep deprivation. “I am okay, Mum.”

She peeped from the thick-framed eyeglasses perching gently on her pointed nose like mine. “Get out of the car now, you're going to be late for your class.”

Grumbling, I took my backpack from the backseat then set to open the door. She said behind me “Your drugs, Inigo.”

A smile laced on my face the whole time, I replied “It's in my backpack, Mum”

“See you at lunch!” She yelled out, jutting her head from the car. I extended my hand up and gave her a peace sign.

Sometimes, I wonder why my parents never let me make my decision. Blaming them was never in my notebook but the fact they clutched on my body like they were afraid I'd vanish from their eyes tears me apart.

I plucked one of my candies from my bag then threw the lollipop into my mouth as I roamed among the other students conversing with their friends or acquaintances. Placing my headphone on my head to avoid any conversation. For some years now, I didn't make contact with my peers or anyone except for my parents and therapist. I had learned from the hard way to avoid humans even though I'm one–they thought of the teens like me seek attention while the good ones among them get bored and leave you.

It's better if you are alone rather than surrounded by a bunch of fake people.

Walking on the white tiled floor, I made my way to the receptionist who looked too old to be handling the job. Her grey hair was braided down to the nape of her neck, she stared at me with eyes full of confusion and suspicions.

“G-Good Morning, Ma'am.” I sputtered while tapping my clad fingers briskly on the black desk. She eyed my fingers and fastened eyes with me.

“How may I help you?” She slanted her head, watching me with faded blue eyes; the colour I often gaze at whenever I want to be alone. I'm always alone.

In a small voice, I responded to her “I just started school here and I've no id—”

She cut me off with a pen under my nose since I had leaned earlier on the desk “Oh, you're a new student, right?” searching through the piled books on the table, she removed a dogear handout then stretched it out towards me. I nodded my head and relieved her from the job of putting her arm up in a straight line.

Nonetheless, she continued while I flipped through the book trying to memorize the words rather sticking my nose into the familiar book that students know - a book that speaks more loudly than your thoughts; Hello! I'm new here, don't stare at me, dummies. Those are my thoughts as I took notice of the voice croaking like a lonely frog in search of his princess. Yeah, the princess and the frog.

“Senior year?”  She stated, clearly halting my brain from cramming the curly handwriting printed black within the small pages of the book. I rolled the lollipop with my tongue making an effort to find my voice.

“Y-Yes ma'am.” What's wrong with me breaking words like a kid learning how to speak English for the first time. I stepped on my foot, wincing as I felt my sneaker leaned on the top of my toe. Of course, the toe is protected by my shoe, but I can still feel the pain.

She beamed, pushing back the odd eyeglasses from falling back.  “You have Physics so I advise you to go now or you'll have to deal with your teacher.”

Taking a deep breath, I thanked her then found myself walking around looking for my class. After a minute of searching, I found where I belonged for the meantime. My tongue clasped beneath the roll of my lower teeth, I counted back, removing my headphone to curl around my neck then opened the door earning curious eyes staring right back at me.

“New guy.” I heard a voice snickering behind me. I didn't expect this to be easy so I ignored the taunting tone and faced the dilemma crushing my heart into pieces.

The physics teacher was quite different from the old woman I met and had a little talk with. He removed his hands from the table occupied with different types of textbooks and lastly his mobile phone and stood straight in his 6'1 height. The old fashioned clothes he wore made me want to laugh. The baggy trousers seemed to be falling from his thin waist, I looked away staring at the whiteboard painted in calculations with the blue marker I saw in dangling between his fingers.

“You must be a new student?” He questioned surprisedly as he shook my sweaty palm. Like usual, I bobbed my head not saying a word as I stared back at his black beady eyes.

He continued, clasping my shoulder and turning me to the sea of students staring daggers at me. I coiled my free fist into a small ball. “Why don't you introduce yourself to the family of physicists.” He laughed at his crude joke.

I cleared my throat, itching for a drink of water “My name is Inigo Cabello and I-I'm pleased to start the class with you guys.” I exhaled deeply after my disastrous introduction.

“Well, quite a name. Go take a seat and enjoy the class.” His eyes flashed a genuine smile before he tapped my back and pushed me forward. I tripped on my feet and unexpectedly, they all burst into laughter.

“Look, he's a slimy snail!” Someone exploded among the black, blonde and other colours of hairs I wished to pull off and laugh at their bald heads. Instead, I hung my head abjectly scanning for empty space to sit down and weep.

I smiled appreciatively at the blonde-haired girl who took her bag and offered me a seat. She reciprocated the smile with a smirk then bent her head to continue scribbling on her pink notebook with a pink pen. She's quite obsessed with pink colours. Who used pink notebooks except girls. I made myself comfortable silently wishing nobody stared back at me as they did earlier.

A dull ache descended upon my head as I peeped down at the crumpled sheet of paper lying on my wooden, brown desk. Shooting my head up to catch the culprit, I saw a messy dirty brown-haired guy grinning sheepishly at me with a middle finger on his face. He was absolutely directing it at me, I rolled my eyes and stuck out the tip of my tongue at him. He cracked up provoking our physics teacher to scan our stiff faces or should I say boring faces.

“Curiosity kills the cat”, that's what I uttered to my parents whenever they tried to coerce me into talking, unleashing my bolted sensitivities. Now, my hazel iris darted at the crumpled sheet smeared with dirty fingers. I unravelled it gently, afraid the paper would fly away in its invisible wings by the invisible breeze that's blowing fresh air against my skin.

‘Hey, slimy snail, are you an FBI agent now? Why the fuck are you wearing black gloves? You've got a tiny brain’.  I squinted my eyes to read the immature handwriting on the paper. I gasped inaudibly after reading the short letter from the guy. Rolling my eyeballs, I squeezed the paper in disgust and hurled it on his head.

He winced, rubbing the back of his head as he shot me a warning glare. Intimating his habit, I put forward my middle finger with pouty lips.

Time to listen to my least favourite subject or I'm getting a D at the end of the session. I thought as I cranked up my long throat like an ostrich, copying from my seatmate who shifted her hand to allow me to proceed with my harmless malpractice. What a generous girl.