“Camila, I need help with this.”

  “Too heavy?”

  “Yes. Also, Cris and Fran are busy with the other sculptures…”

  “All right, grab it from there.”

  Today we had an event at school. The teachers needed help putting everything in its designated place, so some other students and I volunteered to help them during recess. Unfortunately, the time ended up not being enough, and apparently some things went wrong, so we ended up also helping during the last class of the day.

  Most of us had good grades, so we had no problem doing this.

  “And…perfect.”

  “Thank you!”

  “I’m just doing what I should do.”

  “I can understand why everyone loves you.”

  “That must be an exaggeration.”

  “C’mon, you don’t need to be modest.”

  “They are doing more than me, you could give them some praise.”

  “Haha, I will.”

  Although I was being humble, I was totally conscious that I was loved by most of the people. After all, I made sure that things were that way.

  “Hmm…”

  “Something’s wrong Camila?”

  “You should rest.”

  “I still have some things to do.”

  “I can do them, please take a break and I will do most of your part.”

  “You are so kind! I will get water for you!”

  She went away, and I continued putting everything where it should be.

  “That was obvious…”

  Her breathing was heavier than before, and from her expression, it was clear that moving heavy objects had been a real effort, so she probably wanted a break. I made sure to give her what she wanted at the right time, so she would have a better opinion of me.

  “Let’s see…A bowling ball decorated with stickers?”

  Not every single project must be something impressive, so I shut what I was thinking and tried to lift the ball.

  “Now-”

  I thought it would be easy, but, suddenly, I felt a horrifying pain on my back.

  “Gah!”

  “Are you okay?!”

  Maybe I overdid it during the day, maybe I made a wrong move lifting the ball, maybe the ball was heavier than I thought. Any of those answers were possible, but one thing was absolutely certain: my back hurts.

  I wanted to scream and swear, but a guy approached clearly worried, so I must act like I’m okay.

  “Yeah, a stone entered my shoe and I just felt it.”

  “Are you sure? I’m pretty sure that was a big scream.”

  "Well…Oh, I think Cris is having trouble with that tree. I was going to call someone to help her, but I was surprised by the pain.

  “It seems fragile…”

  “Right, he needs your help to move it.”

  “You don’t need anything?”

  “I can manage this.”

  Still worried, he went with Cris and helped him to move a tiny tree decorated with an excessive amount of objects.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Ugh…”

  If the pain is noticed, everyone could think I’m trying to not help, so I tried to ignore it and put the ball on a table.

  “...Alice…”

  When I feel stressed or anxious, sending a message to Alice helps me to calm down. But just when I was about to take out my phone, another student approached me.

  “Something’s wrong?”

  “We just need to bring a few more projects and put them on the tables. Can you help me to bring them here?”

  “Of course!”

  I needed to act like everything was okay, so I put on my best fake smile and continued helping.

  “Camila, you can do that?”

  “Yes, It’s just a painting. The frame it’s a little heavy though.”

  “We could move it together.”

  “It’s not necessary, Focus on your part so you can rest soon.”

  “Okay.”

  When I lifted up the painting, I felt like I could die in any moment just from the pain. I wanted to scream every single swear I knew, but I needed to stay focused.

  A single change in my expression could make everyone in here think I don’t want to help. If that happens, things could only get worse.

  “Focus…focus…”

  I needed to relax my mind somehow, so I tried to think of something that could make me feel happy.

  Thinking about love only made me feel worse, thinking about our project only made me feel I could’ve helped more with it, thinking about my classmates only reminded me that I must have a calm expression so as not to ruin everything.

  I was in a spiral of bad feelings that only got worse with the pain. Luckily, I knew about something that made me feel a little better.

  “(Alice bought that game?)”

  Yesterday Alice told me that she had been paid, so she could finally buy a game she had wanted for two months.

  Her tone was a bit happier than usual, so she was very excited.

  “(I like that excited tone when she gets something new.)”

  Slowly, the stress and bad thoughts were disappearing while my mind was being filled with Alice.

  I might not be able to talk with her right now, but she’s helping me a lot. I’d like to thank her the next time we talk, but I will sound a bit weird if I say “Hey, thanks for being in my mind at any moment”. That doesn’t sound pretty normal.

  The day continued until every project was in place. The others seemed pleased with the final result, but I didn't want to share that joy just yet.

  “Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom.”

  “Are you sure? You don’t wanna go with your group to see the projects?”

  “Haha, I prefer to do that after washing my face, this was pretty tiring.”

  “I see. See ya later then.”

  “Thanks.”

  I went to the restroom at a normal pace, but when no one was looking at me, I started running.

  “Seems pretty clean.”

  The restroom was empty, just what I needed. Totally sure of my safety, I covered my mouth with my arm.

  “Guuuck!”

  I was finally over to vent after an hour of continuous pain. There’s no Alice that can make me fully forget that horrifying feeling.

  “Dang it…”

  Before someone entered the restroom, I did some moves trying to mitigate the pain. I’ve watched some videos about how to cease the back pain, so I tried to imitate them.

  “Agh! This isn’t helping at all…”

  The only good part of this was that I was able to stop smiling and could start to complain. So I did it in front of the mirror.

  “Why are you so stupid? You’re always making everything too complicated…”

  If someone noticed me talking with my own reflection I would die of shame, so I tried to be fast.

  “You don’t know how much I hate you…Just…I hope you stop with this some day…”

  Before finishing with this, I slightly punched my back, and surprisingly, that stopped the pain a little bit.

  “This will help…”

  The place was still empty, so I entered one of the cubicles and sent a message to Alice.

  “Hey.”

  “Woah, you’re here sooner than I was expecting.”

  “I already told you about the event.”

  “Right…But wait, that doesn’t explain why you’re talking so early.”

  “I’m taking a break, I need it…”

  “You hurt yourself somehow?”

  “...”

  “Let me guess, your back?”

  “I need to be more careful…”

  “And maybe rest when you need it.”

  “I was able to swear a little bit…”

  “That’s something.”

  “BTW…Thanks…”

  “Huh? Why?”

  “I just wanted to say that.”

  “It’s for the decoration for turtle habitats I helped you to find?”

  “...Maybe, that was helpful.”

  “Perhaps you could find more things if you stopped insisting on using the word "Tortoise" in all your searches.”

  “Gersen it’s a tortoise!”

  “Yeah yeah.”

  She was clearly attacking my patience with those comments, but I didn’t feel really angry. I feel pretty good, just for the fact that I’m talking with her.

  “Well, I think I should go back with my classmates.”

  “Right, you will spend some time with A and L, right?”

  “Yeah, but maybe I type some messages while they’re talking. If I join too much of the conversation I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it.”

  “Good luck with that. I’m gonna finish my work and then see some things.”

  “Something funny?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Okay, have fun.”

  I stopped typing and looked at myself with my phone's camera. I spent a whole minute preparing my best smile, and when it was ready, I left the restroom just as classes were ending.

  On the way, I saw one of my classmates and used this opportunity to know where Aisha and Lucia were.

  “Excuse me, I’m looking for Aisha and Lucia.”

  “I think they’re outside.”

  “Alright, thanks.”

  Before going with them, I went back to the classroom and grabbed my things. Inside my bag I had a mini fan, so I used it to get some air while I went to the courtyard.

  “(I knew this would be tiring…but…damn…)”

  Due to my hard work I didn’t look weird with the fan, so I just tried to not relax too much while I received the air.

  “(Lucia said that Aisha seemed satisfied…I wonder how she can read so good someone without expression...)”

  Sometimes I wanted to ask Lucia how to learn that skill, but I couldn't find the words to say it without saying that I wanted to make sure I knew how to act in front of Aisha, so the opportunity never arose.

  “Oh, there they are.”

  Both were enjoying looking at our project. I wasn’t able to see their faces, but they’re probably talking about the final result, so it shouldn’t be a problem if I approach.

  That way, I joined them, and tried to enjoy the event.

  But, to be honest, I enjoyed watching them a lot more.