Mirror

Regression To The Mean

"She entered with ungainly struggle like some huge awkward chicken, torn, squawking, out of its coop." — The Adventure of the Three Gables, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

It was an odd sensation: feeling alone with so many people around her. But at school, she had quickly become accustomed to the feeling. To her, school was more or less an unpleasant necessity. The school itself was okay, there were nice teachers and the facilities were good, it was the people she couldn't stand. They were morons. Well, most of them were morons, all except...

"Michael, what's the figure of speech of this group of words as used in the passage?" her teacher asked.

Dammit, she was so stuck in her reverie that she had forgotten to listen in class, what class even was this? Where was the group of words? What was the group of words? If Michael got this wrong, she would most likely be the next candidate, since she was sitting right beside him. What ever happened to the Raise-Your-Hand-And-I'll-Call-On-You method? Ugh, school. Right then, her panic faded. This was Michael for God's sake, he hardly ever got questions wrong.

"It's a metaphor." Michael answered, without missing a beat.

He flashed her one of his grins that radiated both self-confidence and complete and utter arrogance. That was Michael, humble as ever. She rolled her eyes in response and took this time to really look at one of her only friends.

Over the years, he had really grown into himself. Just last year they were both the same height, and now he towered above her. In her defence, she wasn't that tall in the first place. His hair, like hers was jet black but his haircut (or what he had started to call a trim) really made it stand out. You could just tell he spent time taking care of his hair to maintain that particular shape. Like most Nigerians, his eyes were brown but Michael's was a bit lighter and his skin was a light shade of brown. He had an angular jawline and surprisingly feminine lips, it suited him.

"Why are you staring at me?" He asked from the corner of his mouth.

Caught in the act. He was a perceptive one.

"No reason, and by the way, there's something in between your teeth" she replied.

She laughed as he quickly excused himself and went to the bathroom. He wasn't the best looking guy but he was practically obsessed with looking perfect. He came back into class and looked at her with the straightest face she had ever seen.

He took his seat beside her, and deadpanned.

"I hate you, so much" he said.

She laughed again, barely managing to cover her mouth. She enjoyed these moments with her friend, it made her life seem less awful.

Lunch was arguably the worst time of the school day, she looked forward to the food but not the feeling of helplessness as she tried to look for a familiar face in the sea of people. Where was Michael?

They had always made it a habit to have lunch together, and on more than one occasion his friends joined too. Sure, she didn't contribute so much to the conversation but at least it was better than eating alone. But something was wrong, she couldn't seem to find him anywhere. So there she stood, alone, trying to find her next course of action, for some reason, she suddenly felt sick. She felt like everyone was looking at her, her anxiety started to build up. Then, just as she was about to just drop her food and leave, a girl called to her.

"Hey, come over," she said, "there's a space right here."

She looked around, once more, no sign of him. Seeing no other choice, she decided, why not?

"Hey, I'm Siobhan" the girl said.

Idunu already knew her name, though. But despite her social awkwardness, she doubted oh, hey I already know your name and I've been jealous of you for about three years now  was a good introduction. She was one of the most popular girls in their school. She was a slender girl with good looks and an amazing body, her voice was nice and she got good grades too. Her Instagram page was bookmarked in her browser by now. She was the embodiment of everything Idunu wished she had.

"Hi, I'm Idunu" she said, meekly as she took her seat.

She never really imagined a conversation with her but it wasn't half bad. They talked and laugh over their common interests. Surprisingly, Siobhan or Shiv as she told her to call her, was a TVD and The Originals fan. She didn't even know other people watched those shows, she was slowly becoming Idunu's favourite person.

The bell for the lunch bell ended and both girls parted ways after exchanging Twitter handles to maybe continue the conversation after school. She couldn't wait to tell Michael what happened. For the rest of the school day, she daydreamed her and Shiv becoming best friends and doing other stuff best friends did together (apart from Michael, she had never really had one so she wasn't really sure what girl best friends did together).

Michael came into class, twenty minutes late for the last period. Teachers didn't really mind when he came in late but she wasn't a teacher, where the hell had he been? Her anger quickly overshadowing her need to tell him about recent events. Luckily for him, Michael sensed her anger and began to explain in hushed tones as he took his seat beside her. "I'll explain later, I promise. I'll walk you back home to make up for it, okay?"

She ignored him, but he knew that meant a silent but steely yes.

Walking home from school, which was a mere stone's throw away, she really started to appreciate her estate, the rustic scenery, the soothing smell of blooming flowers, the-

"So you and Shiv are bff's now?" Michael said, interrupting her thought train.

"Well, I'm not sure about that, but we definitely clicked"

"See? I told you. All you had to do was just overcome your shyness and – "he paused when he reached the corner.

He quickly turned around to beat a retreat, dragging Idunu's arm as he went.

"What are you doing? Why are you holding me like that?" She asked him in annoyance. "You're hurting me."

Michael spun and held her two shoulders. He had a weird look on his face, she had seen this look once before, back when they were kids. He had broken her Nintendo DS by accident and didn't know how to tell her. Right now, she could tell something else was broken but she doubted Michael had done it.

"Please," he begged, " let's just go."

He was begging? What the hell was going on?

"Not until you tell me what's there" she replied with defiance.

Michael was probably about to plead some more but she wouldn't know. She stepped on his toes and while he was distracted by the pain, he let go of her. She backtracked and went back to the corner and peeked round. What she saw was confusing.

It was a black Lexus, similar to her father's car. She looked closely and realised it was her father's car. What was he doing there, in front of an apartment complex?

He was talking to someone in the car, maybe a woman, then he moved in and...kissed her? She tried to calm herself down, maybe it was her mother and they had both come to visit someone. The figure came down from the car and it was most definitely not her mother.

Her father came out of the car too and she quickly ducked behind the corner, leaning on the wall, tears in her eyes. Michael stood by, for someone who talked a lot, at this moment, he had nothing to say.

~