what mr. levine had coined "circle day" was something that no one in 'shy club' was looking forward to. in fact, every single one of them woke up that thursday morning with agonizing dread in the pits of their stomachs.
"it won't be that bad," phil insisted later at school, watching as zoe lifted a textbook out of her locker.
"i don't want people to know things about me," she huffed. "i mean, james and lydia seem lovely, and you know i like you, but..." she shook her head and sighed before leaning back against the metal-lined wall.
phil picked up on the fact that she didn't mention dan on the list of people she would rather not divulge her issues to, but he didn't say anything. zoe was so fragile, so hesitant. phil didn't know what was going on between her and dan, but the last thing he wanted to do was mess it up.
"no one wants to share all their secrets," phil said. "but maybe they need to."
"what do you mean?"
phil's eyes caught on something over her shoulder. he began to back away, shifting his books in his arms. "maybe they just need to get those things out of them. you keep things inside too long and they just grow and grow and eventually begin to hurt you. secrets are like cancer." he waved at her before turning and walking quickly down the hallway, eyes downcast.
"what was that about?" dan asked, appearing next to zoe. she shrugged.
"i don't know. he was saying something about secrets..."
"oh yeah! that circle thing is today, isn't it?"
"how could you forget?" zoe said incredulously.
dan hadn't forgotten. sleep had evaded him the entire night before, his mind churning with acceptable ways to phrase the truth about him. they didn't have to say a lot, just the reasons why they had joined the club. but truth was a potent thing; it only took a little taste of it to sicken someone.
dan shrugged nonchalantly. "i'm not too worried about it."
"well, good for you, then," zoe said crossly.
dan had noticed that zoe became rather irritable when her mind was consumed with worry. he tried not to let it bother him; he knew she meant no real harm by it.
"i'm sure you'll do fine," dan said, smiling reassuringly.
she gave him a halfhearted smile. "i hope you're right. anyway, i should be getting to class. see you after."
dan waved to her retreating figure. "see you after."
he had a sinking feeling in his stomach about 'after'. there was no way that 'shy club' would pass today without something happening.
ВИ ЧИТАЄТЕ
quixotic. ↣ d.h.
Фанфіки{ in which dan, a high school boy who loves photography and filmmaking, meets zoe, a girl who loves words (but doesn't love speaking them), in the miserable group their school refers to as 'shy club' }
