Page 18 of Lessons In Grey
“Oscar Wilde?”
Closer, but still not right.
“Warmer,” he said. “Berkly?”
“God.”
I chewed on my bottom lip watching as he stared at poor little Berkly. “No, no, it’s not God.”
I wrote down my answers by each quote and leaned back in my chair. It was going to be a long day, but perhaps this class would prove to be somewhat entertaining.
“Oh!” Katelyn said, her hand shooting up.
I glanced over, shocked and impressed that she would have the answer to his question only to find her straightening up.
I looked to my paper and back, frowning. Great.
“Yes, Katelyn?”
“The first one is by Kalen Dion, the second is just a word from the Russian dictionary, and the third is fromDoctor Who. The 11thDoctor, to be precise.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head, sliding my arm over the paper until my oversized sleeve covered my work. I didn’t know why I cared so much, I never would have said anything.
The Professor had gone silent.
“Does that mean I don’t have to do anymore work today?”
Seconds ticked by. “Yes,” he said tightly.
My eyes flicked up as he turned to the whiteboard, writing down the names under each quote.
“We’re going to analyze these today,” he finally said, turning back to the class. “Tell me how you interpret them. Tell me what it does to you hearing them. Tell me how you would write these down if you had been the one writing them. Go.”
I reread the words on the page, studying them carefully, contemplating not even doing the work. Analyzing words was part of any good writing course, so, despite my anxiety, I doubted that he was targeting me, even so, it truly felt like he was.
But it didn’t matter. I had to get an ‘A’ in this class. I didn’t have a choice.
~~~
Lunch finally came and I found myself back in my little alcove in the East Wing.
Apparently, despite my fear that everyone in the school would notice, not one person saw what I could feel burning across my arm. I didn’t know what I would have said or done had they seen it, but I was relieved they hadn’t.
I sunk to the ground, slid my headphones in, and leaned back against the wall, my notebook balanced on my lap as I hummed the lyrics I had written down this morning. I messed around with the music on my phone, trying to find the right beat to the words, but everything was coming up short.
Maybe I should just try and sleep.
The lyrics were always so intense, dark, but the music was never slow. Usually it had a pop beat, rock, or, as of late, it had been rapped. My inspiration was Machine Gun Kelly, his kind of cadence, but maybe I should be aspiring more towards Sleep Token.
“I like that one.”
I jumped, my notebook falling to the floor as my eyes jerked up, finding a pair of beautiful hazel eyes staring back at me.
God.
Dammit.
How did he find mehere? I never showed him this hall for this exact reason.
