I arrived at the classroom and noticed it was quieter than usual. Mom had dropped me off right at the school entrance, something unusual since she normally left me one or two blocks away to avoid detouring too much from her work route.

But with the reports and low grades, she had decided to drop me off right at the door.

I watched as the students headed to their classrooms. I arrived just in time when the bell rang, and to my relief, I didn't see any of my classmates near the entrance. The school looked half-empty, so everyone should already be in their classrooms.

I walked slowly through the hallways, passing by classrooms full of students. Some were taking notes, others were listening to their teacher speak, and in some cases, the classrooms were empty, probably because they were in some outdoor activity. To my relief, I wasn't the only one arriving late; I saw other students entering their classrooms. I passed by all of this until I finally reached my classroom, which was further inside the school, taking more time to get there.

Each step I took became shorter and slower. My spirits and invincibility evaporated when it came time to face the situation. Nevertheless, what had to happen, happened.

Unfortunately, the door was open. Almost instantly, I felt the gaze of my classmates sitting in their seats and the others who had just arrived. I couldn't even take a breath.

"Can I come in, teacher?" I asked for permission, swallowing hard and feeling a lump in my throat that I couldn't control.

"Go ahead," said the teacher while busy preparing his laptop and briefcase on the desk. He was a man of common appearance, with fair skin and black hair combed back. He wore a striped shirt and jeans, and his dark eyes showed a focused expression while organizing the materials for the class.

I didn't wait any longer and headed to my seat. On the way to my place, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. I just sat down, and by then, my classmates had lost interest in me. However, some were still watching me.

These weren't unconscious stares; they were the kind of looks you give when you see something amusing, like a clown or a dog trying to catch its tail. I felt like I was amusing to them. I tried to concentrate on something else, discreetly scanning my surroundings since I hadn't seen her when I entered the classroom or when I reached my seat.

Her seat was empty. Instead, I saw the eyes of her friends staring at me, a look that made me personally uncomfortable.

Could she have left? Or maybe she didn't come?

"Listen, students, you know how this works, so I'm going to check your homework. You can talk, but keep the volume down," said the teacher while taking out his pen and picking up the first notebook left on the desk. The students in the front row already had their notebooks prepared for review, so they had no trouble getting up and leaving the notebook in front of the teacher.

I got up to take my backpack and pull out my notebook, starting to walk to the teacher's desk.

When I arrived, there was already a small mountain of notebooks on his desk. I just left mine on top of the pile and walked back to my seat while the remaining students left their notebooks.

It was at that moment, while passing by some seats, that someone caught my attention with a small tap. I turned my head and...

"Alexa wants to talk to you," said one of Alexandra's friends in a low tone, pointing with her finger to a certain familiar place. She had dark skin, short brown hair, and brown eyes. Her name, I think, was Eiddy.

Near my seat and very far from her original seat, she possibly switched places with another classmate to be able to talk more comfortably.

Such an action didn't surprise me.

It was to be expected.

We sometimes did the same, almost always during the final hours before leaving school to avoid any scolding from the stricter first-period teachers.

But seeing that she did it right away made me understand that what she wanted to say was quite serious, possibly an "we need to talk."

"Oh, I see," I broke the silence. I turned my head to where she was pointing, seeing Alexandra sitting.

I finally saw her. Alexandra's face was tense, with strange eyes. At that moment, I felt a knot in my stomach.

I went back to my seat and headed towards her.

"What's up, Alexa?" I whispered, trying not to let my voice tremble. I was surprised to see her expression change so suddenly.

Alexandra kept her eyes fixed on me, with an expression that oscillated between irritation and discomfort. Her lips curled into a disdainful sneer as she seemed to weigh her words.

"I'm sorry, Ethan, but I can't keep pretending everything is fine between us," she said, her tone cold and distant. "I'm tired of always having to look out for you, Ethan."

The surprise hit me like a punch in the stomach. I didn't expect Alexandra to be so direct about her feelings. Did she really think I didn't care about her?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, trying to control the wave of emotion that threatened to overwhelm me. "I care about you too."

She let out a sad laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm tired, Ethan, I'm just fed up."

"I... uh, I just don't feel comfortable anymore."

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I saw others turning to look at us; this wasn't the time or place to have this conversation, but it had already started, and I didn't care about their opinions, at least that was the least of my concerns.

"I can't keep up with your whims anymore."

My heart sank as I absorbed her words. Did she really think that badly of me? I swallowed hard. I couldn't believe she saw me that way, as if I were someone selfish.

"I'm sorry if you feel that way, Alexandra," I replied, my voice barely a whisper. "But I assure you, it's not my intention to hurt you. If there's anything I can do to make things right, please tell me."

Rather than looking at me with disdain, she gave me a different look, a look of defeat, and without changing her stance, she spoke, letting a few tears fall from her eyes. "No, leave it at that, I've had enough of you, just let me think about it."

A lump formed in my throat as I helplessly watched Alexandra walk away and return to her seat, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the bitter feeling of having lost something important.

"No?" I asked, trying to stay calm but unable to hide the dryness in my voice. It was naive to think this would be easily resolved, but I couldn't help it.

What was I going to do?

"Alan Edgar."

I asked myself that several times, what could I do to fix it, how could I show my remorse? I didn't want to lose her.

"Mauricio."

I tried to find a solution, but how can you find a solution when you don't see the problem?

"Alondra."

What had I done wrong?

The teacher continued calling students to return their notebooks, oblivious to the tension growing in the back of the classroom.

"Do you really think that?" I whispered, trying to stay calm but unable to hide the dryness in my voice.

I couldn't understand why this outburst. I had asked her for some favors, but she had also asked for more favors. I was happy to help; I didn't see anything wrong with doing the same.

I didn't think it was enough to stab me in the chest with this cold dagger, it didn't even cross my mind.

Was my idea of favor and favor wrong? From where was it wrong? Was that her reason or a way to tell me?

I felt my mind start to burn slowly.

"Sofia Alondra," said the teacher, setting the notebook aside and picking another from the pile, flipping through it for a moment to stop and check the cover.

"Whose book is this?"

"Ethan Nikolai, can you explain this to me?" I felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown on me, cooling my emotions as the teacher fixed his gaze on me. Almost instantly, I felt the stares of all my classmates.

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously.

"What?" he asked with some annoyance in his voice. "Come here, come here," he said, gesturing with his hand. I immediately got up, walking quickly to his desk, feeling the eyes of all my classmates follow me with every step.

Without a doubt, I was drawing a lot of attention today, unfortunately.

"What does this mean?" said the teacher while flipping through the book in front of me.

What he showed me were the pages I had copied from Dana's notebook, a notebook that should contain the correct answers and give me a good grade. It was being shown as if I had done something wrong.

No, rather, I was being scolded by the teacher in front of everyone at that moment.

"But I answered them, teacher," I responded in a state of extreme nervousness.

"Really? Do you think this is a joke?"

"No, teacher," I said, worried about everything that had happened.

"Okay, students, what was the main cause of the French Revolution?" he said, turning his gaze to the entire classroom.

A girl in front, Angelica, with fair skin, loose brown hair, and black eyes, raised her hand.

"Because of hunger and injustice?"

"Very good, but almost," said the teacher, moving to another boy, in the back row. I didn't remember his name well, but I think it started with Gustavo.

"It was hunger, the difference between peasants and nobility, and the poor governance of the leaders," said Gustavo, smiling. He was an obese boy with spiky black hair, pale brown skin.

"Yes, that's correct, and not like your classmate who thinks the main cause was the shortage of baguettes and croissants, leading to a national identity crisis," said the teacher while reading the answer from the notebook.

Almost instantly, laughter erupted or a pathetic attempt to suppress it, as the teacher stood from his seat, walking towards the blackboard, from side to side, reading the notebook carefully.

"Also not that Newton hypothesized that gravity causes apples to always fall to the left side due to the Earth's rotation."

I felt understanding dawn on me, seeing an intentionally made response.

"Or that the end of the Middle Ages happened after the first BBC radio broadcast in 1922."

"Much less that the theory of general relativity suggests that gravity is caused by the rapid rotation of the Earth around the Sun, creating a centrifugal effect." He said all this without taking his eyes off me.

I wouldn't deny it; I knew the answers were wrong, or at least some of them.

"And I won't read more because everything it says is pure..." He stopped, looking at the whole class in front, a move to dramatize. "Excuse the words, students. Nonsense," he said, dropping the notebook on the desk.

"So," said the teacher, turning to face me.

"I... uh," I was frozen by what the teacher was saying at that moment.

"Why did you write that? What's funny?" he asked, leaving my notebook in front of me.

"I..." I couldn't say anything, I just stayed silent.

"I should give you a 0, but I'll give you a 4, just for creativity," said the teacher, massaging his face with his hands.

"Don't do this kind of jokes in my class again. Now go back to your seat," he said, proceeding to check the remaining notebooks.

I took my notebook and headed to my seat. On my way, I noticed the looks and laughter of some of them, feeling embarrassed.

I sat at my desk, being the joke of my classmates.

It was at this moment that I heard the teacher's voice.

"Guys, I know you like to joke around, but you need to understand that there's a time and place for it. Don't do this again or I'll have to talk to the principal."

After that, the teacher continued checking homework until he finally started the lesson.

During the entire class, no one spoke to anyone. Not even Alexandra looked at me, nor any of her friends.

Everyone was focused on the lesson, writing down what the teacher was putting on the board. All that time I couldn't pay attention in class and my mind just stayed on that...

Besides my tenuous situation with Alexandra, Dana had played dirty.

The bell rang, signaling recess. I kept staring at the blank board, not realizing when the teacher had erased everything. The blankness seemed to reflect the emptiness I felt at that moment.

The quiet place, a result of everyone leaving for lunch, had emptied the classroom in less than 10 seconds. Without a doubt, I was lost because of everything that had happened.

What else could I say? Consequently, it left me cornered and embarrassed among everyone.

Without a doubt, I could say this wasn't my day.

I got up slowly, mechanically gathering my things. As I left through the door, I noticed Alexandra's presence not far from me. As soon as they saw me, she and her friends started to walk away slowly, with her friends behind her like a barrier of support. Throughout their walk, I noticed some furtive glances towards me from her friends.

As if to see if I would follow her or not.

It was obvious she didn't want to talk. Even I wasn't in the mood for a discussion, especially when I knew I would lose the conversation.

I simply left the classroom and headed to the yard. I was heading towards the cafeteria to get some lunch, so I should pass by the courts to get there faster. I needed to calm down and relax my mind.

Oh, that's what I thought.

"Huh?"

"Oh, just what I needed." I touched my pockets and, as I thought, I hadn't brought any money.

This day was getting better.

"Damn it..."

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I didn't see the soccer ball coming. I felt a strong hit on my head and everything went blurry. I collapsed to the ground, and the last thing I saw before losing consciousness was Alexandra's face, her expression frozen in the distance.