Conveniently Inspired

Chapter One

Skylar Lin spent the majority of her life envying other people. But still, she liked to think that she was different. Because unlike most, she never envied appearance. No. Things like your hair color, the shape of your eyes, your height, those were uncontrollable. Rather, Skylar envied the parts of you that were controllable: the way you treated others, the way you spoke, the way you carried yourself, your wit and humour, to your passion and work ethic. Those were the traits that Skylar wished she possessed. And now, as she watched her classmates stream in through the door, that envy kicked in stronger than ever.

She watched Brooke Simons stroll past the threshold like she owned the place, with her chin held high, shooting a wink at her friends. Skylar wanted her confidence.

She watched Michael Chen do that weird dap-handshake with his friends, the way he could light up a room with his mere presence. The lanyard dangled from his cargo pants, several items linked to the keychain showing his involvement with the school. As Lincoln High's student president, captain of the senior basketball team, school treasurer and leader of the debate team, Skylar wanted his passion and drive.

She watched Hafsa Ahmed skip into the room. A group of rowdy boys at the front made fun of her neon yellow hoodie, and she flipped them off without a second glance. A chorus of Ooohs rang out, prompting a stern scolding from Ms. Singh. Skylar wanted Hafsa's sense of pride and courage.

She watched Kaden Brooks waltz in with his girlfriend clinging onto his arm. She wanted... well, actually, Skylar didn't want anything from him. She's known him since the first grade, and he could never remember her name. Kaden would call her the name of every other Asian in their class before he'd get the right answer. Once, when he needed a spare pencil, he turned right around and asked, "Hey, Hannah, got an extra pen?" Hannah was filipino, with skin several shades darker than Skylar. Not to mention that Hannah had bangs and braces, neither attribute which related to Skylar herself.

Still, at seventeen-years-old, Skylar wondered if anybody ever looked at her like that. If they could look past her scrawny, five foot one frame and truly wish they could peel apart some aspect of her, whether personality or appearance wise, and hope to plaster it onto their own skin. But Skylar knew better than that. She avoided her own reflection in the mirror, for god's sake. If she couldn't even stare back at herself for five minutes without feeling a cringe in her throat, how could she expect someone else to respect her in such a way? So, no. Skylar was smarter than that. She wouldn't waste time with wishful thinking. Nobody would ever look at Skylar Lin and associate her with jealousy, because there was nothing to be jealous of.

Skylar dragged her gaze to Ms. Singh, who had finished putting the slides up onto the projector. School had just started a few weeks ago, and they were starting off with a bang: Shakespeare's infamous Romeo & Juliette. While most teachers didn't assign homework the first week, Ms. Singh's advanced English class was an exception. "I hope everybody had the chance to read the first two chapters."

A flutter of murmurs and half-assed nods were the extent of enthusiasm. After all, what else could Ms. Singh expect at a 9 am class? "Excellent" the teacher beamed. "Then you should be well equipped when I put you into groups." Automatically, groans let out. Ms. Singh mocked them, throwing back her own head and grunting. "Come on, it's Shakespeare! What's not to love about Shakespeare?" She shook her hands out like she was giving the class one giant hug. "Alright, just give me one second to take attendance, and then I'll let you know your groups." Ms. Singh put her beaded glasses back onto the tip of her perfect, straight nose, scanning her eyes between the paper and the heads of students.

Skylar loved Ms. Singh. While this was by far her favourite class and subject, she swore that Ms. Singh was out to get her, because out of all the people, Skylar was put with the most extroverted kids in the class. Michael, Hafsa, Kaden, and his girlfriend, Summer Marshall.