Chapter 1: School Nap
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"Zina!" someone shouted my name, she thought. "Zina, answer this right now!", her head slowly rises from her napping position, "shoot" she mumbled "What was that Ms. Zina?!", "the asymptote is y equals positive negative a over b since it's a vertical hyperbola" she said straight as the professor stared at her, completely bewildered but with a sigh let her ignorant behavior pass. "Correct, but please stay awake during my class". Her professor continued her discussion and she was left trying to be wide-awake. Someone suddenly passed a paper on under her desk, she opened it up carefully and saw "help me recite? – J". She looked up and located this "J" and she saw him nod at her, though her response was a shake of a head, a "no". He pouted with a please gesture, signaling a chance but she looked away. Who's this J you may ask? He's one of her closest friends. The thing is, he dislikes math to his core but he's a good person to be with.
As she looked away from him, she decided to just listen to the discussion. "Tic, toc, Tic... toc" ... her head still hearing and her eyes still seeing the grandfather clock. "You do know I can see you right?" a voice in the distance said. She shook her head as she spoke "I don't see you, how's that supposed to work?", a laugh followed, echoing on the walls "Why yes that's true but there's a mirror, I see you but you don't see me". Even though fear is slowly engulfing her she still was able to conquer it and keep on talking "Why do you hide?".
A long 'hmm' was heard through the halls of where she sits, the grandfather clock beside her seems to dim its sound, "Well, it's because you haven't found me yet". She scoffed "How the hell am I gonna find you or even look at you if I can't-"she was cut off "see me?, well darling, as a clue, answer this to find me". She scratched her head, clearly a sign of annoyance "I ain't answering riddles.". she heard chuckling from behind her, "Well darling, you have no choice really". She knows where the voice is, she feels the breath on her neck but... she was stuck. She couldn't look at the figure who brings a mystery in her dreams, struggling trying to look behind her, a 'shhhh' was heard from the man. "Please don't try to do that, anyway, the riddle? It's not really a riddle... I bet you'll enjoy answering this though". Slowly she's waking up, 'Zina...', she heard. "Ah ah ah, don't leave yet. The clue is... how do you fall-".
Awoken, but she clearly is sleep talking, hearing herself mutter "in love". J, who's actually Jacob, saw her and heard her "You always keep on sleeping and even sleep talking, give me some slack from waking you up thrice a day." She laughed lightly "I don't even know what I said". He raised his brow, "you always say weird things, like just now 'How do you fall in love?', are you really genuinely asking life's hard questions?".
They began walking down the hall of the school building, Math was their 2nd to the last subject. "I think that question isn't hard, it's just a question you can't answer if you haven't experienced it". With hands in his pocket and a flick of a tongue "Technically I can't answer that, as I haven't fallen for someone yet, your dreams are quite a wisdom-seeker". He looked at her with interest, not love interest just... in his mind "a weirdo she is'. "I hope you believe that I really have no intention to have dreams like that...". She last heard a "mmhm" before hearing him stop in his tracks "I gotta go ahead to Science class, I'll walk you and Zach home". She put her arm out and palm open, ready for a high five and fist bump "Why though?" they did their thing, "Your father texted, asked me if it's okay to have me guard your place till 8pm". A sigh escaped her lips "You don't have to do that-"he stopped her with his eyes clearly saying "It's okay, really. I want to spend some time with you guys. Besides, safety is good." He didn't let her reply and headed to his classroom, leaving her standing confused but feeling gratitude for her friend.
Jacob is someone truly she can rely on. Maybe he's more than a friend, a best friend.
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