The Cure To All Disease

Chapter 18: Oratorio

By my second week of school I had already begun to get used to my new surroundings and thanks to Lennox and Mordecai Revere I don't think I ever really spent a moment in solitude. What's truly insane to me though is to think about how different I was only a few weeks ago. A few weeks ago I would have done anything, I would have sacrificed anything to get a moment to spend my entire life in the comforting confines of my own room. Now I eagerly count down the seconds until I can meet new people. Somehow, what I have right now is a perfection I never thought I deserved or ever be able to have. Still there is one thing that bothers me, especially during gym. Phenix.

It has to do something with the fact that throughout all other hours of the day I have someone distracting me so I never have to look directly at Phenix. Never a stale moment lingering to remember how distant he actually was. During gym, I didn't really know anyone, except for the gym teacher but it still wasn't distracting enough. Would Troy's advice even work with him? Would anything work? Should I even spend my time trying? Should I even waste my headspace thinking about him? Throwing in the towel was hard for me but confronting him again after I've already made a fool of myself so many times was even harder.

Now was not the right time to get too lost in my head though, not if I didn't want to get hit in the head with a ball. I am actually able to participate now because my gym uniform finally came in. I shift my view from the concrete below to the sky only to realize that leather is already gliding through the air towards me. I forgot if I'm supposed to catch it or not, I kind of forgot what we're playing entirely. Nonetheless I would much rather not have it hit me right in the center of my face so I stretched out my arms instead. The ball falls right between my hands, I look down at it to see what it was, oh, a basketball. I clutch it between my hands standing completely still, what do I do with it now?

I hear a few voices around me barking directions. "Hey I'm open!" "Just shoot it!". A swarm of people are now enclosing around me. I played basketball with Nika all the time but this time is different because the rules probably change when you add more people. Still I knew something that didn't usually change was that I only had a certain amount of time before someone from the opposing team knocked it out of my hand. My view is blocked at almost every angle yet one thing stays clear in my line of sight, the basket. There was one thing I knew how to do.

I definitely would have made an attempt towards the basket if it weren't for the bell ringing the moment I extend my arms. I let out a sigh of both relief and disappointment as I drop the ball letting the game dissipate. Everyone begins scrambling, I believe it's lunchtime for most of us and they would prefer not to waste even a single precious second of it. While the people clear out I notice Lennox is standing near the bleachers waiting for me. I raise my hand and wave to her and she acknowledges the fact she saw with a slight smirk in the corner of her face. After gathering all of my stuff I join her as soon as I possibly can.

"You wanna eat lunch in the library today?" Thanks to Lennox I also had a place to eat lunch everyday, rather than just squeezing in next to the gym teacher. From what I had gathered, usually students aren't allowed to eat in the library but Lennox was given some kind of exception and she is allowed to bring some people with her.

"Yeah, I don't really like eating around so many people ." I actually completely lose my entire appetite whenever strangers are around, something that's really hard for me to have at all.

"Wow I was starting to forget about you being homeschool kid, then you say something like that." Lennox cracks a smirk as she proceeds back onto the school building along with the rest of the crowd. Eager to not get left behind and now realizing a sudden drop of temperature I follow her. I suppose that in this season we are really grasping at what few days of warmth we have left. Soon every hour of the school day will be spent indoors to escape from the outside.