Novaturient

chapter 1

chapter 1 |

Time moved so slowly, it felt like he was drowning in it.

Kai watched the clock over the whiteboard, tapping his fingers against the rough fabric of his jeans in time with the ticking. He tried tapping fast in hopes of time matching his frantic tempo, but realized quickly that it was a hopeless attempt. Time would continue to creep forward, going round and round and round at its excruciating pace, and he would just have to bear it.

His first period had started 153 ticks ago, but his teacher still sat at his desk, oblivious to the clusters and cliques buzzing around the lab room–or at least too tired to care. There was some sort of opening assignment on the board, but Kai didn't bother with it.

There was a lot Kai didn't bother with. School, after school clubs, friends...

Malachi Simmons wasn't exactly considered a sociable person. In fact, he was the exact opposite of it. A repellent, maybe, pushing and pushing against others like twin sides of magnets.

In his defense, he couldn't find any interest in other people at school. What did it matter that there was a football game on Friday? It's not like their team ever won any games anyway. The most exciting story circling the room was Tanya McAvoy's tragic bout of alcohol poisoning after last weekend's homecoming dance.

Kai didn't care much about Tanya McAvoy, though he still remembered the time she had puked on her own shoes after hanging upside down on the monkey bars for too long. Or that she used to stick the white erasers of her mechanical pencils up her nose to see if she could blow air hard enough to get them back out. He definitely remembered the time she couldn't. He also remembered a time when Tanya and her friends might have lingered around him a little too much, pressing their fingers to his forearms as they spoke and giggled and flipped their hair over their shoulders. That was a lifetime ago, though, back when Kai was the kind of guy that would have loved to be the center of attention, or at the first place spot on the podium.

Nobody spoke to him anymore. They'd long given up on trying and Kai didn't mind. He sat at his lab table alone and stared blankly at that stupid clock. Kai liked to think that he wasn't usually this pessimistic. It was just Monday. He just hadn't had a good night's rest in almost a week. If the bruise-like discoloration beneath his eyes was any indicator, he really needed one. He should've just stayed home, not that he would've gotten much rest there either.

With a quick glance at his teacher–who hadn't moved an inch in the last three minutes–Kai wondered if it'd be worth it to try and get a quick nap in. Maybe a few minutes would do him some good. Maybe–

His master plan fell apart rather quickly as the loud and resounding screech of Mr. Presky's chair legs moved backwards against the tiled floors. He cleared his throat before announcing that class was beginning, and everyone finally sauntered to their seats, gossip dying on their lips. They pulled out their notebooks and Kai followed suit. Before long Presky was jotting row after row of notes, speaking idly as the class scrambled to keep up.

Kai felt his eyes start to glaze over and considered, even for just a second, keeping sleep at bay. It was a useless sentiment. After the third time his face nearly made contact with the black tabletop, Kai gave up on consciousness altogether. He cradled his head, shrouded by the hood of his pullover, and let his eyes slide shut.

✧ ✧ ✧

Evelyn was twenty minutes late to homeroom. If there was anything Evelyn hated, it was being late.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make sense of the poorly drawn school map the office secretary had kindly, albeit uselessly, gifted her. Unfortunately, she couldn't figure out where the hell the map was placing her, so she wandered aimlessly, staring at room numbers and hoping one would magically become the one she was searching for. She had succumbed to asking a passerby for some sort of direction. It'd been helpful for a time, then she was hopelessly lost again. This late into class, the hallways were cleared. She had only her own wits to rely on. If she was lucky, she'd make it to homeroom by third period.