Alice Foster! Mr. Sweeney's nasal voice cut through Alice's loud music as he yanked her earbuds out of her ears by the cord. "Have you decided that you're so smart that you don't have to pay attention when I say something?" Alice struggled to open her eyes, trying not to close them immediately against the bright light of the fluorescent lights reflecting off the bright blue walls of the school. It increased the throbbing pain in her head. "no, mr sweeney," she mumbled. she cowered under the glare of her staring classmates. She pushed her shoulder-length blonde hair around her face and wanted to hide completely behind it.
This was the attention she was trying to avoid. She wore boring clothes for a reason and always hid in the back, hidden from view by classmates who were at least a head taller than her. It was the only way to survive the exam class. She was going to her new school for 2 weeks now. A month ago, her head ached, because she is super sensitive to sounds. But the last few weeks, it has gotten worse.
"Alice pulled an eyelash - a nervous twitch - and stared at her feet. She could never tell Mr. Sweeney that she needed the music to block out the noise. He didn't even hear the noise as loud as she did. The noise of the students echoed off the walls and rippled through the classroom. But their mental voices were much worse.
Alice's mind caught countless fragmented, disjointed thoughts. At least that's what it seemed like. As if she were standing in a room with hundreds of blaring televisions broadcasting all kinds of different programs at the same time. They pierced her consciousness and caused a fierce pain. She was a freak.
Since yesterday, she heard strange noises, thoughts... But how did this happen? nothing helps. she always tries to ignore it. And she couldn't confide in anyone. They would laugh at her even more. No one would understand. "Maybe you should teach this lesson, if you know it all so well," said Mr. Sweeney. he pointed to the black board. "Tell the class how the Lambeosaurus differs from the other dinosaurs we have discussed." Alice suppressed a sigh and the image of the information board that hung near the dinosaur in the museum they went to on a school trip a few days ago, appeared in her head. Her photographic memory had stored all the details. Mr. Sweeney made a very grumpy face as she recited the facts, and she heard her classmates' thoughts grow increasingly unkind. They weren't exactly fans of the child prodigy who had ended up in their class. They called her the nerd.
As soon as she finished talking, Mr. Sweeney mumbled something that sounded like "wise guy" and walked off to his next class. Alice stopped. the thin walls of the classroom didn't stop the noise, but they did muffle it. Every moment of peace was taken. "Nice then, super freak," Garwin Chang shouted, pushing her aside to follow his classmates. He was wearing a shirt that said "back up! I'm farting" on it. "Maybe you'll end up in the newspaper again. "Prodigy tells her class about the Lamzakkosaurus." Garwin still couldn't stomach the fact that a higher school had offered her a full scholarship. His rejection letter had arrived a few weeks earlier. Not that Alice was going to that school was allowed. Her new family thought all the attention and pressure was too much and they said she was too young. End of discussion.
That's why she was going to study nearby next year, at the much smaller "Tokyo University", something that some annoying journalist thought was so special that he had put it in the regional newspaper the day before, with her school photo attached. "prodigy chooses local university over Keiko University. Her new parents were completely freaked out when they saw it, and that was actually putting it mildly. A large part of their rules were precisely intended to prevent Alice from "getting unnecessary attention". A front-page story article was almost their worst nightmare. They had even called the newspaper to complain. The editor seemed to find it just as annoying as they did. There should actually have been an article about the pyromaniac who had the city in his grip, and they still didn't understand what had gone wrong. Bizzarre fires with white hot flames and the smell of burnt sugar took precedence over everything, especially over a story about an insignificant girl who was ignored as much as possible by everyone. Or almost everyone...