“Oh wow, what type of egg do you use for your scrambled eggs?”
“Oh, I just use emu eggs!”
“Ah, I see,” responded Victoria. Victoria was copying down these recipes from Amalya, believing herself needing some form of self sufficiency, especially if she wants to be separated from her parents. She slowly began to drift from Amalya’s passionate speech about eggs, as she moved forth to noticing others around the room. She saw many wondrous people; a joyous appearing boy, with an old woman accompanying him, another girl, not unlike Amalya, but with darker, brown hair and wearing a cap with clashing colors, and a tall blonde, with strange umbrella shaped hair. While paying less and less attention on Amalya, and more on snooping on others appearances, she heard Mr. Justin, who had just called out a person’s name who she had distantly recognized from her past.
Either way, it was all in the past, and she hoped it would be swept by the winds soon enough from her memories as well, for it was a new chapter, and a more open mind would help with pushing through this dark chapter of their lives.
“Victoria? Hello?” Amalya realized at last that Victoria hadn’t been paying attention to her, though her patience was admirable.
“Oh yes, um, sorry!”
Amalya’s face lit up once more. “Ah, whatever, let’s listen to Jame’s presentation.” Victoria was, unsurprisingly, a bit shocked at that response.
“Uh, what?” Victoria asked, “How do you know his name?”
“Well for starters, Mr. Justin literally just said his name.” Victoria’s face bloomed into a deeper shade of red than her hair was. “And secondly, he’s my partner!” Victoria's face once again changed, this time to an amused facial expression. She then quickly dropped it, hoping that Amalya didn’t notice her mental chuckle at the idea of James having a girlfriend. Amalya looked puzzled at her face, but then shifted to a grin, clearly noticing her judgment of this idea. She, too, however, didn’t press on. “How do you know him? Um, like, outside this school,” queried Victoria.
“I, well, to tell you the truth, and I want you to promise you won’t get angry with me.”
“I won’t.”
“Well, I kinda used to-”
“Ladies in the back, quit talking and listen to this presentation.” Victoria’s head moved around the room to face Mr. Justin, but as she did, she saw everyone looking at them, even trying to peek at them through the computers. Everyone had heard their conversation. “Let’s continue, then.”
And thus they were. Victoria kept giving weird looks to James as he presented, while Amalya didn’t seem to recall their intimate talk about him. Soon enough, however, his slides ran out, and he left the stand. As everyone was pretending to be applauding at the grand scale of that perfect introduction, James sat down, right next to Victoria once more. His face was gaunt but full, and he appeared to be close to tears, though Victoria knew this wasn’t the case. From his long, skinny body protruded two floppy appendages that mimicked the shape of an arm, and his legs didn’t fare much better, either. He was pouting at her, simply to appear smaller and more cute, though Victoria knew what lay beneath his facade.
Stolen story; please report.
“Hey,” said James, in a small, hushed whisper. His voice was a weeping, sharp voice, sounding both hollow and penetrating at the same time. His teeth showed pearly whites, with two large teeth sticking out above the others.
“Hey,” said back Victoria. They were both looking deep into each other, maybe to decipher the other’s life after their departure from each other’s lives. Amalya then broke them up.
“Hey, I don’t know what’s up with you two, but please stop. We have another person coming up, after all.” Victoria looked around the room, and she focused on the girl with the umbrella hair, shooting atop her head in place, as though she wore something underneath. She was so sure that she was going to go, in fact, that her head spun around towards the teacher when he said:
“Victoria, and something I can’t pronounce! Come up here, and introduce yourself!” Victoria was now very scared. She hated presenting in front of others, especially in front of some many people who she had judged previously, simply based on their looks and quirks. Sure, she thought, I may be a bit of a hypocrite here, but maybe they were all nice? Victoria was going to find out.
“Hey, um, guys,” she laughed awkwardly. The audience did not reciprocate. “My name is Victoria, and here’s my show!'' She cheered enthusiastically at the end, but there was no hope. The audience were already tired from the previous shows, and they weren’t ready for another, especially after the thirtieth time. She went through her love of art and other activities, but no one cared. The only people who were remotely listening were Amalya, her new-found friend, and two people she really didn’t want to see listening to her; Lucas and James. Both of them were snickering, and Mr. Justin didn’t attempt to stop their heckling from getting out of control. When she got to her sketch of the cat, which in her eyes was the magnum opus of art, the only response was some giggling and pointing from those two. Even Malaya joined in. Amalya didn’t have the heart or will to do it, however. She knew good art from art, and this was certainly it. Amalya’s approval was enough to Victoria, as having one friend is better than having none. But what about Andrew? He doesn’t really count, does he? Is he more or less of a friend to you? SHUT,
“UP!” screamed Victoria at the top of her lungs. The class was quickly awoken and their eyes pointed towards her commotion. “Oh, sor-”
“It’s okay,” reassured Mr. Justin. “Have a seat.” As she moved down the isles, she saw fits of laughter from the duo that had hurt her in the past. In her mind, she really didn’t think they could talk about her eccentricity. Lucas was obsessed with one fruit, though his mind had been drifting from it, similar to his eye on woman. She saw him slowly stop talking to her, and talking to other girls instead. Her jealousy was intense, and it was mostly justified. Her life was an utter mess before she met him, and he ruined her trust in him, permanently, by committing such reviled actions, and he had cemented a reputation in her, forever.
She would speak to James, personally.
She sat down on her seat, with the floor covered in strings of reds and blues, and looked at James.
“Why were you laughing at me?” wondered Victoria. Jame’s mouth began to utter nonsense.
“Well, um, uh, you looked funny and, um, you have red hair, and, uh, that’s weird!”
“What is really weird is that I am talking to a trash-eating sewer rat right now.” Jame’s mouth opened agape. Before he could say anything else, the bell rang again. The class began to disperse out into the hallway, as they each went to their designated rooms, filled with people of their own age. As people poured out, people began to pour in. She caught glances at children far younger than she was, rushing into the classroom. One caught her eye. One with large eyes, like a loris’s pupils. One with a large nose, similar to a goblin shark. Her eyes widened, as did Victoria’s. They looked into each other, and they split not far after.