Not Perfect Enough

Chapter 10

Happy Easter everyone! 🎉❤️

ANAIS

"It's not like that. It's a step by step process. You first write down the chemical equation, balance both the reactant and product sides before you start writing down formulas and calculating. Do you understand what I'm saying?" I explain to Boluwatife, and she nods her head frantically.

The side of my lips tug up in irritation. It's quite clear she didn't understand a single thing that came out from my mouth. Anyway, it's not really my business. It's her academic life, she can fail in all her subjects for all I care. My top spot on the academic level won't suffer or move an inch from where it is now.

I remove my lip gloss from my skirt's pocket and apply it before smacking my lips and shoving the lip gloss back into my pocket. I shove all the my books that are inside my locker into my open school bag before zipping it. I stand up from the bench and turn to Boluwatife.

"I'm off to photo club meeting now. I'd like you to go to whatever club you're a part of. But for the sake of not being an academic failure to your parents, study what I just taught you and refer back to your notes and textbooks. Being stupid can only get you so far in life." I say curtly, and her jaw drops at my not-so-subtle insult. I don't give her time to respond as I immediately turn on my heels and head for the exit of the class.

As soon as I'm out, the sun glares hard at me. I walk fast to where I'm going, which is the photography studio that's far away from the classroom area.

Other students are also scrambling around, off to their own respective clubs. Unlike other schools, RTSSS isn't keen on compulsory sports period. Instead, being a part of one of the many clubs in school is actually mandatory.

After a few minutes of navigating my way through other students, I'm ten steps away from the photography studio when a see a figure walking towards my path on the same foot line as me. I scowl at the person as he gets closer.

Big Ben.

More like Big Fail.

I hate the sight of him. I stop on my tracks and fold my arms together. I can see that he has already spotted me. Instead of him to make the wise choice and ignore me, he stops in front of me.

I smell him before I actually look up at his face. His drinking habits have obviously gotten worse contrary to the first time we met. Back then it was just a coping mechanism, but now it's a huge part of his personality. His disheveled hair is a good look on him, and his beards have grown over time. He's handsome, I'll give him that, but not the good kind of handsome.

He's the washed out kind. The kind that used to draw attention in a room with just a smile but now, the first thing a person notices when he steps into a room is the misery and failure stamped across his forehead. He is someone a person would refer to as a 'has been.'

As in, he has been smart. He has been handsome. He has been good. But he's not any of that anymore. He's just someone that has been things before but is nothing now.

"Anais," he drawls my name.

"Ben," I say coldly, folding my arms and refusing to look at his face.

"Can I talk you?" he asks softly.

"No, you cannot," I reply bitterly as I start to move away from him, only to be stopped on my tracks with a firm grip on my wrist.