𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇

XXI

— RORI —

"Brandon, job well done."

"Sophia, not your best."

"Excellent work, Olivia! You've really improved since the last test."

As i await my Chemistry test results, my heart rate quickens and i feel myself beginning to sweat. I anxiously fumble with my fingers underneath my desk, not noticing the way my knee bounces up and down due to the anticipation.

These stupid tests are the reason i have no sleep schedule and i know that, no matter my result, the perfectionist within me will be left unsatisfied, digging her claws into me and telling me to do better.

I could sit here and praise myself for my natural beauty, as insecure as i may be, but natural ability? That's not something i have when it comes to academics.

There's also my competitive side, which constantly tells me that i need to be better than everyone around me in order to be valued. Especially in a school setting, when most of my peers will be comparing me to my siblings.

At one point, last year, i stopped caring so much about what others thought of me.

I got to a place where i could accept that, if i was bad at a certain subject, even earning a C wouldn't be too damaging.

However, when people start paying attention to me...expect more of me...i feel an extra pressure is then added and that i have to excel in every class. In everything, for that matter.

"Worried i'm gonna beat you, Łabanowski?"

I turn to glare at Christian.

What a stupid boy he is, and what an equally stupid name he has.

Christian.

When i hear it, i don't know whether to picture the religion or the very explicit movie Annalise and i watched last year.

"Of course not, Taylor," i say his last name with a deliberate sneer, causing him to chuckle and arch his eyebrows at me.

Stupid Christian, and his stupid laugh, and his stupid bushy eyebrows.

Does he even know that tweezers exist?

"My eyes are down here, Rori." he smirks, and only then do i realise that i am lost in a trance, allowing my hatred of his eyebrows to consume me.

"Your eyes...are stupid," i say, because it's the only thing i can.

He tilts his head ever so slightly to the left, a mock pout present on his lips.

His stupidly large lips...

"And...now your staring at my lips," he says. "I can't tell if that look in your eyes is anger or sheer amazement."

"You are the most annoying person i have ever met," i goad.

"I am?" he asks, not at all offended.

I sigh in disappointment.

Why won't he give me a reaction?

"Yes," i decide. "You make a point to sit next to me in every single class we have together, you treat me like i'm a little kid, always mansplaining the answers to me and going to fetch me things. I don't believe you when you said you wanted to be friends with me this year...i think a certain someone put you up to this."

He stares down at me through long lashes, confusion written all over his face.

Oh, no.

I'm overstepping, aren't i?