Everything's back to normal

(What in the world did i do back there?) Thinking very awkwardly to himself all the embarrassing things he had said that time.

Daniel:"I hope there is a place for both of us to show the reality of who we are"

Dying of embarrassment, Daniel continously slammed his head on his table as he sat on his chair in his room.

Daniel:" Should probably head for a run now"

As he ran the usual route he took in an attempt to lose the weight, he had made decent progress with his timing as he began to improve his stamina

As pespiration dripped from his forehead he walked up the stairs to the park he always visited after school he sat alone at his favourite spot to cool down.

Daniel:"Man a lot happened these few weeks and there's still the school festival to worry about damn it why is everything so hectic, if this is what a normal high school life looks like I rather be a working adult, though i know nothing about work looking at my parents i would probably not like it in future but that's besides the point"

Sitting there deep in thought. Daniel couldn't help but wonder about Jasmine that ice cold, rash and incredibly harsh girl he had met just a few weeks ago and yet already she had torn down and peeled back the layers he had so carefully put around himself, he wondered whether he to could one day remove the walls around her heart.

"Beep beep!"

Looking at his phone he saw a message from his sister

"Be back by 7 we can't start dinner without you"

Daniel:" Alright time to begin another horrible week at school wonder what sort of boring uninteresting shit awaits me."

Staring at the ceiling of her bedroom, Jasmine wondered what to do next with her friendship with Daniel, that boy who she saw so much of her former self in and the boy who she wanted to make him stop lying to himself.

"Did you see Jasmine, trying so hard to be a good student"

"Disgusting why is she trying so hard anyways average grades are all you need heh bet she doesn't do anything in her life except study."

Walking past these snarky remarks was normal for Jasmine back then, she was merely doing her best to ensure she got good grades she could never comprehend why she was being mocked for it. Why she was turned away for simply being who she wanted to.

Staring at her recent tests grades of all As she scoffed at herself.

" I've had enough, I need to change."

Jasmine resolved to stop being the hardworking, good and well rounded girl. She craved the social life of any normal high school student and so she adapted. Her grades started to drop to average and she started to hang out with a group of friends she found common interests with. She felt satisfied with her current position, but when alone it knawed at her heart knowing she was lying so openly about herself made her feel miserable inside but she never wanted to go back and for a year she bottled up these thoughts until she met Daniel.

Meeting a boy she saw herself exactly identical to in facades was scary in many ways. Observing how he behaved and how he carried himself she couldn't help but feel the same sense of misery reappear. Lying to himself putting on a cynical front and dettaching himself from school society but still remaining some sense of social interaction. Upon learning the cause for his facades she felt even more obliged to help him or rather wanted to direct her guilt and shame at being unable to help herself onto someone else, she understood how selfish it was, how she was essentially using him as a coping mechanism.

(Maybe he would listen if I told him....)

As she drifted into thought she wondered how long she would have to continue this facade, she was getting tired of it and she just wanted to stop pretending. But she couldn't ,not after she spent so much time and effort into her persona. Staring at the ceiling in determination almost parallel to each other Daniel and Jasmine proclaimed to themselves

" That's why I'll never drop this facade!"

As he strolled to school in the morning Daniel lamented at the boring day ahead

Daniel:"Two math periods and then there's the school festival meeting after that.....AH! WHY IS LIFE SO CRUEL TO ME. Here i thought i could just live normally, well give it to the education system for coming up with this shit."

Rosalia:"Yo! Daniel you holding up man?"

A familiar voice made it's way from behind my back, almost in a very creepy way, I was surprised at Rosalias sudden appearance next to me.

Rosalia: "How's the preparations for the school festival going, I can already see the setting up of certain events."

Daniel: " Well everything is going pretty smoothly, I have to say it's pretty remarkable how efficient Jasmine is at managing things as executive planner. Is there anything that girl can't do?"

Rosalia:"Wow I'm surprised she's that capable, she doesn't usually strike me as being a genius, usually she's pretty quiet in class and doesn't stand out."

Intrigued by this observation, Daniel finally got a clue to her iron defence of a facade.

Daniel: "Oh that's interesting, is that usually how she's like in class?"

Rosalia stopped and looked at me with her jaws dropping to the floor and her eyes starting to give me that 'did you seriously just ask that look'

Rosalia: You're interested in another persons behaviour, wow your development has shocked me. I never thought I would see the day you reverted back to your old self!"

Daniel:" It was never this, don't make it seem like I'm some sort of loser who shuts himself away from others." (Wait a minute that actually sounds fairly similar, wait no no that's not the point)

Rosalia: As someone who has seen you change, you have zero idea what it looks like."

Contemplating how I even got into this mess, my mind began to drift off.

(I met Rosalia in year one,being in the same class and all. At first she never struck much of an impression on me, i assumed she was just your average girl with a cheerful and kind-hearted nature.Well she still acts that way albeit slightly more cheerful and extroverted.)

(Walking beside her now, I couldn't help but wonder what sort of persona she puts up? Was her cheerful kind hearted nature an act? Or was it just an exaggerated part of her personality. For the whole of last year, I tried to figure out what it was. What drove her to act in that way. )

(All people are slaves to something, whether it be money, fame, or even yourself. Everyone is driven by something to act a certain way, having gone through this time and time again, I developed a certain hobby of predicting personas and past incidents. It was somewhat of a good coping method to spot out others personas to make sure I wasn't the only one lying. I wanted to prove to myself that there wasn't anything wrong with me, that lying to yourself was normal. And that provided me some sense of relief.)

Rosalia:"Earth to Daniel you there?"

Daniel: " Oh sorry about that, got a bit lost in thought for a while."

Rosalia:" Oh? Thinking about your committee executive planner Jasmine huh?"

Those words reignited Daniels previously forgotten thoughts.

(Oh yea, that whole thing with her)

Walking towards the school gate the two encountered another familiar individual, one who crashed into Daniel lifes and wrecked his 'perfect' life.

Jasmine:".....Good morning you two came to school together?"

Rosalia:" Oh we just ran into each other on the way here that's all."

Rosalia diverted her look on me as i look back not realising how red i had turned and how embarrassed i looked at that moment.

Rosalia:" You alright?"

Daniel:"Uhh...yea sorry about that."

As they both looked at each other again for a brief moment and quickly glanced the other way, there was a feeling of awkwardness that threw Rosalia completely off guard.

Rosalia:" You both sure have a lot going on."

Daniel:"What in the world makes you say that? The idea that I would be interested in someone like her and here i thought you had a fundamental understanding of what kind of person i am."

Jasmine:" For once I agree with you, Rosalia I hope you would refrain from such comments in the future, associating me with him is a grave mistake."

(Wow that's a lot for someone telling me to stop lying to myself, shes doing that right now)

Meanwhile the chill sent down Rosalias spine was enough to throw her off balance

Rosalia:" My bad my bad we're gonna be late let's go."

(Wow i knew those two had something going on but this is on another level, it's almost like they live next to each other or something. The amount of shit they're throwing at each other is almost on Michael levels of hilarious. Well I guess I got another good act to watch.....to distract from that.)

As Rosalia smiled to herself, she took a deep breathe and assumed her usual smile catching up to the two walking in front of her causually laughing and talking.