Astral

Chapter 1: Meeting Astral

        I sit in my class, glancing up at the clock waiting for this period to end. Each class is forty minutes long, and the forty minutes could not go by any slower. I don't really like school. It annoys me most of the time. I'm tired and irritable, barely got any sleep last night and to make things worse I'm in math. I hate math class. I have never been good with math, or numbers. They hurt my head.  I've always been an English kid. Normally you are good at math or good at English. You can't be good in both math and English and if you are, you are not from planet Earth, or you are the next Einstein.  I have always enjoyed the morbid works of literature, the old shit from the early 1900's or late 1800's. I like old poetry that makes most people uncomfortable. However, I could not be more comfortable when I read them. 

        I look down at my paper and try to remember what the teacher just told me to do. The big numbers, letters, and symbols confuse me. What the hell are letters doing in math?!  I ignore the work and begin drawing. I don't know how to do it, but I do know how to draw an anatomically correct human heart. So that's what I resort to instead, I focus on the shading, trying to give the heart dimension. I want it to look like it was freshly ripped from my ribcage. I am focusing purely on making this heart the most realistic thing I have ever put my eyes on. 

        "Astral what the hell are you doing?" Mr. Mark says coming up to my desk and smacking it, causing me to jump.

        "I- Uhm, I'm sorry. I didnt understand it." I try to explain, but my hands start sweating and I feel my heart rate pick up. Mr. Mark was not the teacher to mess around with, he's very strict. 

        "Clearly you did. You just chose to ignore it and ignore my lessons. Do you think you will ever live a successful life by ignoring your lessons? By ignoring your teachers?" Mr. Mark says harshly. He always knows how to hit the kids where it hurts. He's always very cold. I feel his eyes staring, glaring in my direction like he has lasers in his eyes trying to see if he hurt you enough yet. I pick my eyes up from my paper and look at him. 

        "Is this what you want with your life? To scribble lead all over your work papers when you don't want to do them?" He says, leaving another mark on my heart.

        "Mr. Mark, I really-" I pause and try to not break down as I finish my sentence, "Mr. Mark I am sorry. I really just didn't understand it." I try to explain, and I am being truthful. Yelling makes me so anxious. It scares me so much. Or any harsh tones really... I try to just focus on the heart I drew as he continues staring at me. If I look up, I might cry. 

      "You know what Astral? Take your stuff and go to the office. Now. You are a distraction for the kids who actually WANT to succeed." Mr. Mark replies sternly. 

       I don't make him say it again, or even give him time to repeat it. I swiftly grab my bag and my paper, and head for the door. I feel the other kids in class looking at me. I grab the door handle and walk out. As I make my way to the office, I remember what Mark had said, "To scribble lead all over your work papers" It makes me giggle a bit and I have a faint smile on my face. They stopped making pencils with lead in the 1500s. Lead was only really used in paint, however, the United States banned that in 1978. So he really had no idea what he was talking about. I giggle again and I shake my head. I'M going to live an unsuccessful life? The guy can't even get his facts straight. 

        I arrive at the office and I open the door. Miss Holly greets me as I walk in.

       "Aw Astral, what did you do this time?" Miss Holly shakes her head and smiles. The office ladies know me quite well. I have spent a lot of time in this tiny little box. The "room" has a desk, a rather large desk. Three chairs are lining the wall and a tree of some sort in the corner. Behind the chairs, there is a window. It's a large window covering the whole wall above the chairs. In between the desk and the chairs, in the other corner, is a door. That door leads to Mr. Wessman's office.