"You know what? Dawn was right. Biology does suck" My group partner, Sadim, said this while the left side of his face was resting right on our assigned table. Compared to the literal skull which was also resting on the same table, he somehow still managed to exude less energy. "Do you think this is how he wanted his remains to be treated - analyzed and played with?", he complained while melancholically staring at the bony head.
"Actually, it was probably a girl"
The hard-to-distinguish skull and the actual living person became a little easier to tell apart as the supposed alive man slowly twisted his head into what must've been a rather uncomfortable position, but which did allow him to catch a view of me "How could you possibly know that?"
After all the effort of changing his perspective without leaving the hard pillow that was the table, this question seemed like a big waste to me. "It says it here" I didn't meet his gaze, instead I just slightly raised the sheet of paper I had been holding this whole time, highlighting it.
Since he could only see the back of the paper even in that awkward resting position of his, urging him to sit up normally in order to see the contents was the same as calling all his efforts up until now useless. Which, not gonna lie, did bring me a tiny bit of happiness.
Sadim looked up at me trying to meet my view, but unfortunately for him, my eyes were focused on the paper I held. Though I did manage to focus on him a bit in the corner of my eye. So it surprised me when he, without putting up much resistance, went up and assumed a proper sitting position.
"So, what does it say?", he asked with a straight back in the chair to the right of mine.
I tilted the paper towards him, "Since the skull is smaller and the forehead is a bit more rounded than the other I would guess that this cranium belongs to a woman"
"Ok…" Sadim nodded "And this is relevant why?" Then he finally managed to meet my view.
"You didn't pay attention to the explanation?"
"Well, I was going to, since I thought it would be necessary for dampening the punishment of being late, but since Mrs. Ormela didn't get to bothered I believed it would be a waste not to take this chance"
clapped my hands together and pointed my now touching fingers at him, "So you slept"
My project partner, who didn't even seem to realize that that was his role, raised both his arms while simultaneously opening his palms, "Obviously"
I took a quick glance at the two skulls that were sitting on our table and for a fleeting moment, I found myself wishing that one of those could've taken the role of my partner instead.
"Weren't you the one complaining about me sleeping in class just yesterday? And that was even before the lesson had begun, wasn't it?", I failed to retain my composure in the face of his absolute hypocrisy.
"Yeah, that was me. But then and now are not the same"
"Oh, really?"
"Yes Grey, really. It was our first time meeting after the break and all you seemed to be wanting to do was sleep. Compared to today, when all we did was watch some video and then get paired up, anyone could see the difference in importance."
He seemed to truly believe in what he said, though I still found some problems with his statement. "Don't you think watching that video and understanding what we were gonna work with is also important?"
"I never said it wasn't, just that there's a clear difference of importance"
"But that's just your own personal belief"
"Of course it is!", Based on his reaction I could see that Sadim had surprised even himself with that sudden rising tone, seeing how he quickly scoured the classroom with his eyes afterwards. Thankfully the whole class had been divided up into pairs of two, so his yell had been lost in the constant river of conversation.
After realising this, he continued: "Listen Grey…" though with a noticeably lower tone of voice. "You gotta learn when to prioritize"
"What do you mean?" I answered unmoved.
Sadim leaned back in his chair. "As an example, why do you think I slept during this precise lesson?"
"I dunno… because you were tired?"
"Well, that's technically true. But the reason I chose biology specifically was because I prioritised my sleep and health over paying attention to this specific lesson and whatever doing so would've given me."
This assertive attitude of his, it irritated me. "Okay, but you wouldn't have had to make that choice if you had just gone to bed earlier instead. What even made you stay up late? I bet you were just binging some series or something"
"Yeah, you're right" Sadim remained unfazed. "I admit that's what I did and it probably wasn't the healthiest thing nor the smartest thing to do, but hey, that was still me prioritizing something"
"That just sounds like a contrived excuse to me"
My friend still maintained his assertiveness, but I could feel a veil of unknown emotion surrounding him. "Maybe you're right, but… if I'm gonna be honest Grey, during the year I've known you I've always thought you could have used a little more prioritizing."
I could feel the walls beginning to rise, "Sure…", so I did my best to put a halt to any further advancement.
"But judging by the bags under your eyes still there from yesterday, I'm willing to bet that something might've changed"
I had done my best to keep them from rising any further but, "...What do you mean?" for some reason; unknown even to me - I asked.
"You met her again yesterday, didn't you?", while my project partner spoke, his view was no longer fixed on the long gone woman and her bony remains, instead he had found a more alive specimen to inspect as his eyes looked towards the front of the class. There two girls sat, one whose name I didn't know and the other whose name I had just recently learned.
"Yeah… I did", I saw no point in trying to hide it since I knew what a futile effort it would turn out.
"Well, she has been with us for basically the whole day until now so it would be a little weird otherwise." His eyes were still focused on the pair of girls in the front, a pair who seemed to be getting along pretty well and who, contrary to us, were actually doing the assigned task…
I had nothing to add or object to what Sadim had said, so I just sat quietly while also glancing at the pair in front.
"Then are you ready to spill the beans? What happened yesterday? Why's she hanging around with us? Did you actually lose it?", But there was no time to revel in this awkward silence before a barrage of questions suddenly spewed out the mouth of this partner of mine who had clearly lost his feigned patience.
"Where's all this coming from?", Overwhelmed by questions I felt the need to regain some kind of order.
"What do you mean?! This is the first time since, well, I met you that I'm actually seeing you have a genuine interaction with another human being. And since it's finally just us two alone, I'm asking: What the hell happened?"
"N-nothing in particular…"
My friend stared at me blankly. "I will punch you Grey"
"Wha- But it's true, nothing particular happened! Honestly!" I did truly think that nothing worth noting had happened yesterday, but just a quick look at Sadim's expression told me that this response wasn't gonna cut it.
"... Okay, well, we met by the ruins yesterday… again…"
"Aha! I knew it!" Proud of his detective work, my friend almost leaped out of his chair.
"And there we just kinda talked…"
"Talked about what?"
"Well, you know, about stuff"
"What stuff?"
"Just… things…"
"What thi-"
"Will you give it a rest? If anything special had happened I would've told you, but nothing did. We just conversed with each other for a while"
He seemed rather bothered by my interjection, one that I'd been sure he would've just brushed off. "And that isn't special?"
"Yeah, not really", I immediately saw what he was getting at, but frankly I had no interest engaging further in a conversation about my so-called social "shortcomings".
"Well, whatever you say" And that's where he stopped.
It was surprising. I was sure that he would've continued to digg deeper, but no; he just ceased his investigation. Just like that and he was back to square one, staring at the female skull on the table.
He gave up rather quickly, I thought. But I was happy with it, I mean, of course I was. It's not like I enjoyed him showcasing a deeper interest in what I'd done yesterday, frankly it had been rather irritating. In fact, I've always thought it best for people to not put their noses where they don't belong and that wasn't about to change. Nope!
"We traveled back in time", I said. Wait, I did?!
"What were you smoking yesterday?", for some reason he didn't bat an eye.
"Nothing, but she kept insisting that we 'travel back in time' to relive her introduction to the class"
"And why did she do that?", Sadim's eyes were locked onto dawn's unsuspecting back.
"I'm guessing because… she thought it would help me remember…"
"Remember what?"
"Well, you see. I kinda forgot her name", I said with an innocent smile.
"Why am I not surprised…", my friend buried his head in both his palms.
"That's my line Mr. Ali", the voice behind those words gave the two of us immediate goosebumps.
"O-oh, hi Mrs. Ormela", Sadim flew out from the embrasse of his palms and faced our biology teacher, acting as if the just described movement had not even occurred.
"Hello Sadim. How's it going? Have you managed to figure out any differences between the two skulls yet?"The fact that she was currently speaking about skeletal remains seemed awfully fitting due to her grim-reaper-esque presence.
"We sure have!" His bravado surprised both me and seemingly also Death herself. "R-right Grey?", but the act collapsed as quickly as it had started.
I sighed. "Yeah, we've noticed the size difference between the two craniums as well as the clear contrasting foreheads", even though part of me thought I should've just left my partner to his own demise, for some reason even unknown to me, I still saw him as a partner.
"That's good then, well done you two", we both breathed a breath of relief, but then the grim-reaper took a step closer and with death's whisper she said: "The new transfer student was with you today, so I let it slide when you arrived EIGHT minutes late" She closed her eyes and slowly a smile akin to a scythe slashed across her face. "Do not expect the same thing to happen twice, ok?" The two of us nodded "Good!" And with that exclamation she stepped away.
I could feel a sweatdrop travel down my forehead and touch my lip, providing its salty flavor.
"That was… scary", the one man who truly understood the terror of what had just happened, the man who had been sent to reces with that grim reaper more times than any other student, spoke his truth.
If this was the end, everything would've been fine, but alas, nothing was so neat and tidy in this world. And so, Sadim turned to me, not with an expression of terror to match mine nor one of relief to have survived the encounter, no… he was smiling.
"You know Grey, she totally loves me."All I have to say is this: Stockholm syndrome is a bitch.