Six.

"Shake it gently Kiki, yes, just like that." I nodded with satisfaction as Kiki followed my instructions.

Our project was doing great so far. I shouldn't have jinxed it, or maybe we were doing just fine because Ryder  wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Either way, I couldn't have been more grateful.

I was busy jotting down our readings when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and dropped my pen.

"Oliver I swear to God if you ask me to– Oh, hey. I'm sorry I didn't know it was you." I smiled, slightly embarrassed when I saw that it wasn't my friend.

"No, it's okay." James Thompson said, smiling back. "I'm here for the same reasons though." He added sheepishly.

I folded my arms across my chest and gave him a passive look.

"Oliver sent you." I stated and he laughed awkwardly, raising his hand to scratch the back of his neck.

My eyes unintentionally followed his actions and stayed glued to his toned arms. Like damn, he was like a sculpture.

"Please don't think of me as a creep for checking out your bicep." I blurted out, mentally face palming myself for my stupidity. Why does a girl have to embarrass herself!

He laughed loosely, his shoulders sagging down as if he was glad that he's not the only awkward one around.

"It's okay." He said with a chuckle.

I'm glad it was, the last thing I wanted was two people from the feisty five hating on me.

"Why can't you just do your readings by yourselves." I whined after I had completely snapped out of it.

He gave me a pleading look.

"None of us can do the readings, we don't know how to. Oliver said he wasn't coming back because you'd whip his ass." He told me and I laughed.

"Ok, just give me the results, I'll teach you right now it's really easy." I offered and he nodded, pulling out a sheet and a pen from his pocket.

"Sweet, now listen and listen closely–"

That's how I started explaining how to calculate readings to him while Kiki handled the experiments.

The more I explained the concept to James, the more I learned about the calculations.  It was so easy I repeated it twice.

"See, it wasn't that hard. I'll leave the molar mass from combustion data to you." I quipped and placed his pen on the half filled sheet.

In response, cold fingers brushed my ears as they stuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

My eyes snapped up and met with his cheery, wild green ones.

"I like you hair." James said.

It was a really awkward moment for me. I hated my hair color, it was practically white. If I wasn't such a wimp deep inside, I would've dyed my hair.

"Uh, thanks?" I said, my cheeks heating up because he was in my comfort zone and his fingers were still brushing my ears.

We were quiet and stuck to that awkward moment until;

"Get the fuck out of my way." Ryder's deep, grumpy voice rocked my ears.

I let out a shriek and jerked back, hitting my head with the wall in the process.

"Holy fucking shit!" I gritted in a low tone grabbing my head with both hands.

"Whoa dude, you on your period or something?" I heard James ask his idiot friend.

"Leave me the fuck alone Thompson, I'm not in the fucking mood." Ryder gritted out.

"Whoa, watch what you say to me bro." James voice took a complete turn and became solid before I heard his footsteps fade away.

My head hurt more longer than I expected. The pain came striking over and over again.

I whipped my head up, sending my hair flying everywhere.

"You miserable low life!" I hissed trying to tame my hair.

I huffed and grabbed the readings and rough sheets from our table chugging them in my bag.

"We haven't finalized the answers yet!"Kiki gasped.

"I'll do that." I said, throwing in my pencil case.

I yanked my bag over my shoulder and stomped my way to the exit.

"But, who's going to teach Ryder the readings?" She yelled after me.

"Ryder can go figure it out by his fucking deranged self or even better–– lick my ass!" I yelled back and the whole class broke into snickers.

"Alexandra I think we should–"

One look. One look made my chemistry teacher seal his lips and raise his hands up in surrender.

I fumed and threw the doors open, making my dramatic exit.

"Useless heap of muscles." I grumbled to myself as I pushed the door to the ladies bathroom.

I leaned over the sink and shut my eyes as minor pains shot through my skull. 

"Double faced shit monkey." I added putting my head up in a sloppy ponytail.

I turned on the tap and splashed some water on my face. I allowed my head to cool down before deciding to go hide in the theater room.

I hummed a quiet tune to myself as I maneuvered my way down the corridors. The theater room was always clean, the drama club always have a thing or two to do in there.

Always.

I gentle pushed the doors open, sliding my body inside the room. On the stage the piano was being played, horribly, if I might add. I had to shield my ears from upcoming damage. I quietly slid into one of the front seats and discarded my bag at the floor.

All I could see was a head full of golden blonde hair, the rest of the body hidden behind the piano.

The last notes of the piano we're tuned and a large body shifted from behind it. I had to press down the urge to laugh when I saw that it was none other than Westview's personal reincarnation of Robert Kirby.

Blake Fischer.

He dabbed his arms over his head to get rid of imaginary sweat and started bowing silently as if he had just performed in front of an actual crowd.

My hands flew up and I gave him a round of uneven applause.

His head snapped to where I was sitting and I stood up. I walked up the stage and gave him a funny look.

"You watched my performance?" He simply asked.

"Yes my friend and what you just did was really painful to watch and disabling to listen to, long story short; it was a pain in the ass." I answered truthfully. "But keep assuming it's a make believe world." I patted his shoulder before sitting beside him on the bench.

He chuckled lazily and tilted his head to the side. He looked glum.

"Everything okay there big guy?" I asked, inclining my head towards him.

He looked at me and shook his head 'no'.

I nodded and stared into nothing with him. After a few minutes I decided to break the ice first.

"I'm here because I had a fight with your friend, well, not literally a fight but he annoyed the shit out of me and I escaped reality for a while." I shared my story with him and he chuckled softly again.

"Ryder can be a pain in the ass." He said quietly.

"Correction: he is a pain in the arse." I said with a horrible British accent.

We both laughed hard. After a few fits we sobered up and once again...stared into nothing.

"I have a condition, caused by a damage in my temporal lobe," Blake blurted out after a while. "I can master phonics but I can't read words that are spelled differently than they sound." He said and looked at me.

My heart dipped.

"Irregular words." I whispered as realization dawned upon me. His eyes filled with tears. "You have dyslexia."

He barely nodded and ducked his head into his palms, his shoulders shaking as he cried silently.

"I've had dyslexia since I was born. My parents keep scolding and blaming me whenever I bring my report card home but they never ask what was wrong with me. Why couldn't they just ask what was pulling me back down!" He sobbed.

A huge lump formed in my throat, clogging my breath intake temporarily. I place my hand on his back rubbing circles in a calming manner.

"I'm only hanging out with the cool kids since third grade because they pity–"

"Shh. Don't say that, please don't say that," I cut him off, my voice wavering. "You can't say that. Your friends love you. You guys were friends since third grade remember? They don't pity you. You complete who they are Blake, you bring the fun, you're the mastermind behind all the pranks. They keep you around because they need you." A choked sob escaped my lips.

"They keep you around because they care."

We stayed there, crying. Just crying.

Sometimes, our emotions don't need a cover or they might do damage from the inside.

******

••••

Maryam M.B ♥