You're given 0.7 seconds to decide what to do when the most popular boy waltzes up to you and starts throwing pick up lines at you. What would you choose?
a) Slap him
b) Throw a sarcastic remark at him
c) Walk away
If you were like those daring s...
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"because you're my friend, Hermosa"
It's funny how things— more like people—change so drastically.
With my idiotic cousin, Cooper, I felt confident and had fun. My heart wasn't always lodged up in my oesophagus and my hands didn't flood like a river. Now back at school, it was like walking through a war field. You didn't know who was going to shoot you or when bombs were going to be dropped. I understood that had two sides of me and they kept switching. I couldn't help being shy. It was just me.
"Iris?"
"Here," I said as Mr Harrison called out the names from the class list.
"Iris. Speak louder."
I swallowed the lump in my throat, feeling it drop heavily into my stomach and cleared my throat. "Here," I spoke, slightly louder than before.
Thankfully, Mr Harrison still had ears was able to hear my soft voice and continued on calling out names.
What I didn't understand was why the teachers had to call out names. He or she could just do a head count and if there's someone missing, they can ask the students. Save me the trouble of saying 'here'.
We only just got home yesterday at around 11 am and it was too late for me to go to school no matter how much work I knew I missed. It would be too embarrassing for me to walk into class with a note because millions of eyes would be watching my every move and I hate that.
Only a day after the 'Texting Carson' situation, I couldn't keep the guilt from overflowing so I had to apologise and tell Carson the truth— the partial truth. It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be but it still didn't stop my sweat glands from working their butts off. My phone looked like it was dropped in a bucket of water when I apologised.
Me: Hey Carson, sorry about the texts earlier. They were my cousin's, he stole my phone.
I tried to be as brief as possible. It didn't completely cleanse myself from the bloody guilt but it washed half of it away.
He replied very curtly.
Carson: all g
"Iris? Can you please come up here? I have to discuss the assessment with you, since you were absent the other day. "The teacher's voice somehow managed to overpower the student's.
My cheeks were painted a light shade of pale pink as all eyes and heads turned towards the back row and landed on me. If Mr Harrison hadn't actually looked up at me, no one would've turned because I doubt they knew who I was. I was simply another invisible card in the deck, perhaps a number three or four since it's never noticed and Carson would definitely be the king of hearts.
I bit my lip, pushing back on the chair, wincing at the loud sound it made and pushed it back in, then zigzagging past all the students at their desks. I lowered my head down, attempting to use the very few baby hair I have to cover my face. It didn't work very well.
