Project: Socialize (Chapters 1-197)

130. Rainy Days Does Not Guarantee Coziness

The next day when school began, life seemed to return to normal. In the morning, I commuted to school while walking behind Muria as always, entering the classroom just to be greeted with loud conversations among my classmates about the fun memories they had of the school trip to Saroff. They showed each other pictures on their phones as they told the stories of their experiences, which was mostly about how they wild out or had plenty of fun.

Seeing their smiling faces and hearing their annoying laughter irritated me, making me quite disgusted with how they're acting. I would bet that after a week or so, they would totally forget about the school trip. Even those pictures that they deemed "precious" at the moment would soon lose their significance and be buried in the photo storage on their mobile devices, collecting dust as the owner never flips back to look at them ever again.

I sat down in my desk, resting the right side of my face against the cold hard surface of my desk as I looked out the window at the city and the cloudy sky in the background. The windows were shut tight in order to keep out the cold autumn winds as the season slowly transitioned to winter time.

It was already November, meaning that winter is just around the corner. Therefore, the temperature has been dipping greatly recently which explains why the air conditioner was putting out hot air into the room as well as the buttoned up blazers that the students wore. Even I buttoned up my blazer and wore a warm wool undershirt beneath the white button-up shirt of my school uniform. In addition, I wore a gray muffler scarf around my neck to keep my neck warm as well as trap my body heat.

The bell soon rang, signifying the start of zero period homeroom. Mura, my homeroom teacher entered through the front sliding door of the classroom and walked over to the teacher's podium that was at the front of the classroom with a tablet to take attendance on as well as storing any notes on morning announcements.

"Welcome back," Mura said to the entire class after she finished taking attendance. "I'm guessing everyone had fun and is plentifully rested from the week off. But, I want you all to know that relaxation time is over, that is until winter break begins after the finals. That's right. The finals are coming up."

Her sudden reminder about the upcoming finals week led to a series of whines and groans from the other students in my class. The majority of them were definitely still in the relaxed mental state from the school trip to Saroff. Therefore, they're mostly not prepared for the super rigorous final exams of our high school.

Loyd didn't appear to be too concerned as he had a calm smile on his face. Then there was Muria, whose grades were at the top of my class. Then there's Irina, who appeared somewhat concerned but she's quite intelligent and should be fine. Besides, she already has a job as a popular singer and actor so she really doesn't need the good grades.

As for me... I'm not concerned at all. I'm not going for the top marks, even though I can achieve it if I want. I'm satisfied with only getting C's in my exams. That's what I need to qualify for the direct enrollment in the Nocsinis Imperial University that my high school offers. The Nocsinis Imperial University is a pretty prestigious college in Vilheim. Pretty much any educational facility with the word "Imperial" in its name is considered one of the top schools. Therefore, it's quite difficult to enroll in NIU, but as a student of its affiliate high school, I can enter as long as I can maintain a C in all my classes. Because of this, there's really no point in me trying to get those extra points.

School went on as usual after that. Everything seemed to have returned to their usual status. The teachers lectured and the students listened and took notes. Everything seemed normal, almost as if it had returned to its primitive state, including me. For the first time in quite a while, I felt the same sense of loneliness that haunted me prior to all of this happening. Even though it was quite painful at first, I slowly got used to it as the pain slowly dulled on me. No longer could my eyes reflect my sufferings as the light slowly dimmed from them as the black flowers in my garden slowly ate away at the small patch of colorful flowers remaining.