High school is supposed to be the best years of a person's life. This is not the case for the girl made of song and sorrow.
For years, Calliope has been ignored by her peers. She is not good enough of a student to stand out to her teachers, and no one bothers to try to reach out to her. She does group projects alone and she keeps her head down at all times. Her classmates have even categorized her as the "quiet girl." Calliope has not had friends for many years as well.
Unsurprisingly, it is during the school day when she most wishes to disappear.
Today, Calliope arrives at school a few minutes late. Her house is a twenty minute walk from school, but she chose to walk extra slow today. It's not like she is admiring the nature around her, because the world is in dull, bland colors through her eyes. That's right, Calliope is blind to the true beauty and color of the world around her. To her, the sky is a dull shade of blue and the grass is a dull shade of green, even though she is not clinically color blind. Let's just say that it is difficult to find the good in a world that you believe is absent of it. So no, Calliope did not walk slowly because she was observing her surroundings. She subconsciously dreaded the school day ahead. This became even more clear when a pit in her stomach formed as she walked through the school's front door.
This isn't the first time she has not cared about tardiness. Why? Because as she walks into class, no one lifts their head and the teacher does not acknowledge her. Calliope figured out a long time ago that it didn't matter what time she arrived to class, no one would notice anyway. It is safe to say that there are quite a few "missings" and "tardies" on her record.
Calliope takes out her notebook, even though she will not take any notes. As to be expected, she hasn't cared about her grades or getting into college for a long time. As far as she was concerned, she didn't matter at all. To hear her think this breaks my heart. She keeps her head down and tunes out the teacher's lecture as she scribbles in her notebook. All day, every day, Calliope is alone with her thoughts. At the end of the class, the teacher began passing out graded exams. She watched as students smiled and exclaimed when they got their exams. When it was Calliope's turn to receive her exam, the teacher just plopped it on her desk. The exam was marked with a D-. She did not allow herself to have a reaction, since she knew how much thoughts can hurt. Calliope stuffed the exam in her backpack and put her head back down.
Calliope did the same thing throughout the next three classes: she kept her head down, tuned out the lesson, and scribbled in her notebook. Once the bell rang to signify the end of the third class, the part of the day she dreaded the most arrived: lunch time.
Why did she dread lunch time the most when it is the best part of the day for most students? It is the time during the day in which all of the students get together with their friends and sit at lunch tables. Most of the daily gossiping, joking, and flirting are done sitting at these lunch tables. All the lunch tables are always occupied, so Calliope can not sit in the cafeteria in solitude. She doubts that anyone would want her to sit at their table anyway. I know, her amount of self doubt is astounding.
Instead, she goes to the library and picks up a random book. Today, she picked up a book about astronomy. Every day during lunch time she sits in the library and reads. In truth, she sometimes just stares at a single page for the entire period. I see her drown in her thoughts, and she doesn't try to save herself.
Like many other school, food and drink is not allowed in Calliope's school library. Most studious kids go to the library to read after they have finished their lunch in the cafeteria. She doesn't eat lunch. All she has had to eat today was that apple on her way out the door. Calliope can hear her stomach grumble, but she ignores it.
The reason for why she ate so little today, is a whole other story.