You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ✓

70

"After befriending Blue, my recovery—sort of, anyway—sped up a lot. Soon, my therapist determined that I was probably ready to tackle school life again. He said that I needed more social interaction than I had been currently getting, and that spending too long away from other peers my age could cause me to become even more reclusive than I already was.

"My father agreed, too, since I'd mostly stopped freaking out about the changes in my body. Within a few weeks, I was officially transferred to Fairwood as a student who was completely unrelated to him. I have my nonexistent stepfather's name on my student documents and all that.

"He basically allowed me to skip gym since he knew that I couldn't be under the sun anymore. He also understood that I had trouble staying awake during the day, so we had a simple agreement between us: for as long as I kept my grades up, I could go ahead and sleep in every class.

"All the studying I did during that gap year I took paid off. I had no trouble keeping up with the classwork for a while, especially on the topics my tutor had already covered with me. I kept reading ahead, too."

So he was technically ahead of the rest of the class when he returned to school. Well, that was another mystery solved—at that time, it was bizarre to me how he managed to keep his grades up while visibly not paying any attention in lessons.

"I totally thought you were a genius," I said. "I was actually jealous of you, you know."

"Jealous?" There was a tinge of slight confusion in his tone. "I thought your grades were good too."

"Yeah, but I have to work for them. I thought you didn't have to, since, you know, you were always asleep in every class."

Nolan grinned. "I get what you mean. This must be news to you, but I had to work for it too. And anyway, it's not like I really had quality sleep in class. Teachers were always furious that I had the audacity to nap while they were talking."

"But they got used to it after a while," I pointed out.

His grin turned sardonic. "Yeah, after several months. In the meantime, I had no peace during my naps."

"I mean, I can't blame them," I said, making a face. "They're just doing their jobs."

"Yeah, I know. They don't really know anything about me. I try to keep a low profile, anyway, and try to be as unnoticeable as possible."

I stared at him. "Oh. You're pretty ... noticeable as far as that goes, though. Apart from the teachers, obviously."

He frowned. "I am?"

"Well ... You know that you're fairly well known, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Um," I said. "You're quite famous as the guy who's always asleep in classes. I think most of the people in our grade know your name."

His frown deepened. "Are you serious?"

Cue my confusion. "Wait, do you not know?"

"Know what?"

"That everyone knows who you are?"

"Why would they?"

"You're the only one who can sleep in class without landing detention." I shrugged. "Unless it's Mr. Jameson's class, that is. All the teachers have given up on trying to make you stay awake. You have to admit that it kind of makes you special and very noticeable among the students."

"Oh."

"You're also famous as the guy who doesn't talk to anyone," I added. "Well, you were, anyway, before you started talking to me."