THE ACADEMY

6TH PERIOD

14TH of APRIL, 2018.

"Earth to Elise"

The sound of my name broke me out of the trance I was lost in.

"Elise!" Max's voice cut through my thoughts, her usual sophisticated tone rushed and urgent.

"We need to hurry to chemistry lab practice." She glanced at me, her brown eyes filled with concern behind those glasses of hers.

I put a quick smile on my face.

"Sorry, I was just... lost in thought. Just thinking about... chemistry," I replied with a false laugh, trying to shake off the melancholy that had settled over me like a cloud. It wasn't entirely a lie; I was stressed about the next class. But it was more than that, it was the revelation I had stumbled upon earlier that day...

The memory came flooding back as if I had no choice but to relive that moment again.

I saw myself walking through the dimly lit halls of the school, making my way to the library – my favourite place to take a nap.

"Samuel?" I whispered to myself, recognizing the voice I had grown to love over the past six months. But something was off; his words were not meant for me.

"Shh, don't worry about Elise," Samuel reassured the junior girl who stood before him, their bodies entwined in a shamelessly lovey-dovey embrace. "She means nothing to me."

The girl cooed her expression a mixture of satisfaction and jealousy. "I hate that she's always around you," she complained, tracing patterns on his school-crested short-sleeve sweater.

Pulling him closer, she seals their lips together as her eyes grin in my direction, right back at me.

My heart shattered into a million pieces, each one a sharp reminder of the betrayal I had just witnessed.

With our lab coats in hand, we both strolled out of the brightly lit class. A glance at the window reminded me that it had been raining for days without stopping, three days to be precise.

"El, are you okay?" Max asked, snapping me back to the present. Our footsteps echoed through the hallway as we hurried to chemistry lab practice. I forced a smile, pushing the painful memory away for now.

"I'm fine," I lied with a practised ease, hoping she wouldn't see through my façade. "Just stressed about this class."

"Alright," Max said hesitantly, not entirely convinced. But she let it slide, focusing on our impending arrival at the chemistry lab.

As we entered the classroom, I couldn't help but feel the weight of that earlier conversation hanging over me like a storm cloud, threatening to unleash its torrent at any moment.

The sharp sting of tears threatened to spill from my eyes, blurring the rows of test tubes and Bunsen burners arrayed before me. I blinked rapidly, the memory of Samuel's betrayal insistently clawing at the edges of my consciousness like a ravenous beast. A small voice, barely audible above the din of my racing thoughts, whispered for me to hold on, to keep up appearances. And so, I did.

"Alright class, settle down," our chemistry teacher's voice reverberated through the room, slicing through the fog of my sorrow.

As if on cue, Trent sauntered in, his piercing eyes making him seem as though he was an ethereal creature that had just wandered in from some otherworldly realm. I could feel the iciness emanating from him, a coldness that mirrored the tempest brewing inside me.

"Acid and base reaction" was already written clearly on the whiteboard in blue marker.

"Elise, Max, please help set up everyone's apparatus and please be careful not to break them", the lady in a white lab coat instructed.

Max, ever observant, took her seat to my left, concern etched onto her delicate features.

"Elise, are you sure you are okay?" she queried, worry evident in her tone. "You appear to be rather... disturbed."

"Disturbed" may have been an understatement; it felt as if my heart had been ripped to shreds, the pieces scattered haphazardly like confetti after a particularly devastating storm. But Max couldn't know that. Nobody could.

"Really, Max, I'm fine," I insisted, attempting to muster a smile. "It's just... chemistry, you know?"

"Ah, yes, the delightful combination of elements and compounds," she mused, her brow furrowing in concentration as she adjusted her glasses.

I nodded. The familiar dance of equations and formulas provided an anchor, something to focus on other than the searing pain that threatened to consume me. And yet, despite my best efforts, Samuel's voice continued to echo through the labyrinthine corridors of my mind.

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"Elise means nothing to me."

Each word was a dagger to the heart, a reminder of the fragility of love and trust. But as I sat there, flanked by Max and Trent, I couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, I wasn't as alone as I felt.

The moment the bell rang, signalling the end of our chemistry class, I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

My hands, though still trembling from the painful memories, eagerly reached for the test tubes and beakers littered across our workspace.

"I'll take care of these," I volunteered, hoping that the task would keep my mind occupied, even if only momentarily.

"Are you sure, Elise?" Max inquired, her concern evident in the furrow of her brow. "You've been rather out of sorts today."

"Positive," I replied, forcing a smile onto my lips, trying to convince both her and myself that everything was fine. "I just need a moment to clear my head, is all."

With hesitant nods, Max and Trent left the lab, leaving me alone with the remnants of our experiment.

The rhythmic clink of glass against glass filled the room as I set about cleaning up, the mechanical movements providing a reprieve from the tumultuous whirlwind of thoughts swirling through my mind.

While trying to dismount my burette from its stand, a gentle but unwanted voice breaks my concentration for a split second,

"Hey, Elise," a familiar voice called out, causing my heart to lurch painfully within my chest. Glancing up from the glassware, I found myself staring into Samuel's deep-brown eyes, the very same eyes that had once promised love but now only held deceit.

"Samuel," I managed to choke out, my voice barely more than a whisper. He flashed me a dazzling smile, seemingly oblivious to the emotional turmoil raging within me.

"Need some help?" he asked, casually leaning against the edge of the table, his black hair falling effortlessly across his forehead.

It was almost nauseating how easily he slipped back into the role of loving boyfriend as if nothing had changed. Aside from the fact that he doesn't know, I am aware of his dirty, little secret.

"Uh, no, thanks," I stammered, desperate to put some distance between us.

"Eli, I was thinking..." he coyly spoke, almost snaking his arms around my waist.

My hands stopped his just as they made contact with my body. My eyes met his, as they shone with confusion at my sudden rejection. The swirls in his amber globes drew me back to the moment I witnessed. A moment that broke my image of him.

A voice broke our prolonged eye contact.

"Elise!"

At that moment, I spotted Fancy, another one of our classmates, lingering by the door, her hazel eyes scanning the room. My heart seized upon the opportunity for escape.

"Actually, Fancy," I called out to her, my voice wavering slightly. "I need to talk to you about something"

"Sure thing, Elise!" she eagerly replied, bounding over to my side. Her warm smile and bright energy provided a welcome contrast to Samuel's sly demeanour, and I felt a small measure of relief wash over me as he retreated from our conversation, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

I was glad to be away from him but the revelation I witnessed played on repeat in my head. Half of the words Fancy spoke couldn't register in my head.

As Fancy and I talked together, the sound of laughter and lighthearted banter filled the room, a stark juxtaposition to the heavy silence that had pervaded only moments before. And yet, despite the comforting presence of my classmate, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss, as if the very fabric of my reality was unravelling at the seams.

"Elise?" Fancy's voice broke through my thoughts, her hand gently touching my arm. "Are you okay? You seem kind of...distant."

"Sorry," I murmured, blinking away the unshed tears that threatened to expose my vulnerability. "I'm just...distracted."

"Hey, it's all right," she reassured me, her smile softening with understanding. "We all have those days."

Indeed, we all have those days, but this one seemed to stretch on forever, each agonizing moment punctuated by the echoes of betrayal and heartache. Yet as I stood there, surrounded by the shattered remnants of my world, I couldn't help but cling to the hope that perhaps, in time, I might find the strength to pick up the pieces and rebuild.

After Fancy left, I found myself alone in the chemistry lab, the hum of the overhead fluorescent lights my only companion as I methodically scrubbed the glassware.

The way the water swirled around the beakers and test tubes, spiralling down the drain like a whirlpool of fragmented memories, seemed to mirror the chaos that had taken residence in my heart.

My hands shook as they gripped the sponge, the bitterness of betrayal still burning within me, and I tried to focus on the task at hand, losing myself in the rhythmic motions of cleaning and rinsing.

"Elise, why are you so...?" I whispered to myself, my voice shaking with unspoken emotion. "Why do you always let them in? Why can't you just..."

And then, without warning, the ground beneath me began to tremble, the familiar hush of the classroom shattered by the cacophony of shattering glass and splintering wood.

My heart leapt into my throat as I stumbled backwards, instinctively reaching for something - anything - to steady myself, but there was nothing to grab onto, just the cold, unforgiving surface of the lab bench.

"Earthquake!" someone screamed from outside the room, their terror-stricken voice piercing through the chaos like a siren's call.

As I stood there, rooted to the spot, my eyes locked onto the large glass cabinet teetering precariously before me, its once-sturdy frame now a twisted mass of metal and glass.

"Help!" I choked out, tears streaming down my face as I realized the futility of my cry. No one could save me now, not when the world itself was crumbling beneath my feet.

"Someone call 911!" I heard in the distance, the words echoing in my ears just as the monstrous cabinet finally succumbed to the relentless shaking of the earthquake, its shattered contents hurtling toward me like a storm of razor-sharp raindrops.

"Please," I whispered, closing my eyes and bracing myself for the impact. But before the darkness could claim me, a single thought flickered through my mind, a final beacon of hope amid despair: "At least now, this heartache won't matter anymore."

And then everything went black.

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Hello guys,

Chapter 1 to 3 is undergoing major editing by 22-year-old me in 2023 because it was written by 17-year-old me in 2018. I'm sorry if some things change. I will work a bit more on the dialogue.

I promise you, it gets better and longer and nicer.

And btw, at the end of every chapter, I leave a song from any series I am interested in with the title of the drama

Annyeong!

"I will go to you like the first snow –Goblin"