Xander internally raged as the thought of school crossed his complex mind.

  Stupid teachers.

  Stupid students.

  Stupid tests.

  Stupid drama.

  Stupid lessons.

  Stupid everything.

  It was as if school was a person chaining him into endless lifeless work that’ll drain his soul and make him lose the energy. Making the reality of Xander too loud, too draining.

  Too much as the derealization stabs him in the head and forces him to question the matter around him. The atoms around him glitching into weird little hallucinations that’ll make Xander wonder and reflect more about his soul and his reality.

  He darted his dark eyes to the set of different notebooks. The smell of paper fills the area as he flips through it. His mind wanders back to one of the “conversations” he’s had with 2 of his annoying overconfident classmates he mentally took note off.

  “There’s going to be new students. Heard one of them was like rich or something. Like son and daughter of a company owner.” “Damn. Might as well get me some money, yeah?” “Bastard, don’t say that around him!” “Oh please, Xander barely talks to anyone. Who’s he going to tell, yeah? His mom?” “You know he won-” “You’re so overdramatic about it. He has no friends. Literally no one in the school likes to be around him. And all he does is get good grades and listen to music and read his weird crappy comics. And he talks to his mom. Only his mom. Bro doesn’t even have a dad. Makes sense actually.” A pale fist filled the volume in front of Mateo’s face. Mateo’s legs stumble back in shock as his fingertips brush the red blood streaming from his nose. “Talk like that again, you walking failed experiment, and more than your nose will bleed.” Xanders vocal cords shout.

  “Hopefully the new students are not as bad as the others. Even though I highly doubt that.” He thinks to himself. Xander holds the notebook in front of Blossom. “Mom, this good?” His voice calm and uninterested. She nods, before shifting her eyes back to the pens and pencils. “How much is it?” She asks. Her voice is calm but bored. Her eyes stuck on the pens as she tries them. The sound of the pens dancing against the paper feels the silence as Xander checks the price plastered on the soft surface of the notebook. “$4.22” “Good enough, put it in the cart.” He placed it gently, making sure not to damage it.

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  He remembers the times when the other students damaged his notebook. They “accidentally” ripped it apart while Xander was in the bathroom. They scribbled over it. They did all sorts of things to Xanders stuff to piss him off. All these small things they’ve done made Xander want to freeze time itself and just do his work or eat his lunch without being targeted for being different. For being weird. For liking things others find weird or stupid. He looks annoyed as he makes irritated face. Blossom glances at him, her hazel eyes meeting his void looking eyes. “What’s wrong?” “Stupid idiotic classmates.” He rolls his eyes. Blossom looks back at the pens, now touching the plastic skin as she was looking for the price. “Maybe you should befriend someone!” She says, hopeful. “Never in a million years will I be friends with a goofy looking guy who smells like he hasn’t even heard of deodorant. Or a girl who thinks everyone is scared of her. And don’t get me started on those Chamak’s. Unhealthy lungs is not cool, bro. Everyone there are walking garbage cans with a stupid copied personality.” Blossom chuckles, a light smile is worn at the end of her lips. “Can’t blame you. And don’t worry, get yourself into trouble because you defended yourself as much as you want. I’ll act as if I’m mad then we’ll go celebrate with Pizza and Ice cream.” Her soft hands grab a few of the pens. She places them on the notebook and the other objects siting with the notebook.

  Blossom throws the bags on the marble table, sighing as she looks around. She places her hands on her hips. “This place is such a mess” She glances at Xander, who is now searching for his newly bought clothes. “You always act as if Gabriel is a walking booger. Why?” She raises an eyebrow. “He’s a normal human being; there’s nothing wrong with him.” She speaks again. “I don’t trust him. Weird abnormal behavior--and he’s ugly” “Well, everyone is beautiful in their own way, right?” “No, most people look like a rat and a monkey had a child.” She chuckled as she shook her head slightly, her uneven short strands in sync with her head. “If you say so.” She really didn’t want Xander to start a whole investigation and make drama about it. She hoped he wasn’t serious.

  He was 100% serious.

  Xander is quietly folding the soft materiel of a green sweater his grandma knitted for him. He sighs as he looks at the amount of clothes taking up volume, noticing how many more things he has to fold and place into the big dark blue suitcase. He felt as if all the songs in his playlist would finish before he finishes with all the stuff he has to pack, and half of them are neglected and rarely played. He taps his fingers on the suitcase, thinking of what to pack in next.

  He had put a voice recording on Blossoms phone.

  This voice recording will choose what Xander will do with his remaining years to live.

  Investigation or no investigation.

  If his soul would be dragged into painful situations with Gabriel. His eyes immediately look up as the door bursts open with a loud stressful thud.

  Is Xander a...