Burnt Out | J. Kirstein

|15|

"Welcome to winter term, everyone," your professor turns and faces the class of students, including you. "This class is mandatory for everyone, so bare with me please."

This is a public speaking class because apparently this university requires everyone to take it in order to graduate. You hate public speaking with a passion. Your heart begins to quiver and you sweat out of every pore in your body...it's a horrible experience. So maybe you should learn to manage it...

"Over the course of the term I'll have you all pick topics to talk to the class about. Some controversial, some fun. You'll be graded by your effort. I know that speaking in front of others is hard for some, so I won't be grading you on your presentation. Well..." she chuckles. "...I will grade you on your presentation, but not really. So if you try, you'll be fine."

You tune out the rest of the class because it's just going over the assignments for the term and you don't really care all that much because you'll be fine. You're a smart person and won't have any difficulty finding topics to think about.

You're picking at your nails in your lap when you feel someone sit down in the seat beside you. You don't look up and just stay focused on your lap.

"Wanna be partners?"

The familiar voice causes you to look up and you find the girl Jean was with before Christmas break sitting beside you with her perfect hair and perfect face and perfect everything.

"Oh..." you breathe out. "For what?"

She chuckles and the sound doesn't sound quite humorous. "Our first assignment is with a partner."

You look down at the professor who's now writing things on the dry erase board. You need to pick a topic and present it with another person next week.

"Yeah, sure," you nod, your voice blunt.

She's not someone you'd like to partner up with, but it seems everyone else has found a partner already, so you're stuck with her.

"My name's Hitch," she smiles and gestures her elegantly manicured hand out to you.

You look down at it and force a fake smile. "Y/n."

~

After class ends, Hitch and you continue your conversation down the sidewalk of campus and towards the dorms.

"So if we split it up this way, then we'll both get equal time talking," she states. "So I'll do my part and you do yours. I doubt we'll need to get together until right before the presentation, so I guess I'll see you later."

You're stopped in front of the dorm building across from yours and the door opens with a creak, causing your eyes to drift towards the person holding the door open.

Jean is standing there with shaggy hair peaking out of a black hoodie. His eyes are on yours, but you can't read what they're saying. He's on guard now and you can't see through him like you once could.

"See ya," she waves and jogs over to Jean grabbing onto the front of his hoodie and rising up on her tippy-toes to kiss him.

He kisses back, but keeps his eyes trained on you. Not wanting to show your unpleasant feelings about the scene in front of you, you turn and walk towards your own dorm.

Looks like he's not too torn up about your fight from a week and a half ago...

~

It's two days later and you got invited over to Reiner's to help him with some homework. It's been sort of awkward since he kissed you, but you're still his friend so you're just trying to ignore it.