Camelia

Camelia

“For today’s lesson, open your books and turn to page 50. Read to page 52 and complete the questions.” explained our teacher. He sat down and got back on his phone.

“Yes Teacher.” replied the class quietly.

I opened my book quietly and played with the hem of my jacket sleeve. I quickly lost interest and flipped to the questions. I grabbed my pen and wrote slowly on the paper to satisfy my brain, I wanted to make my handwriting neater after all.

I could hear the teacher standing up, then shutting the door loudly.

As I was writing, I heard students murmuring to each other, trying to find the answer.

I turned to my friend Rose and looked at her writing quickly on her paper.

“Why do the students think this is hard? It’s so easy!” I whispered to her.

She looked at me with a facial expression that I couldn’t identify, but she looked irritated.

“Just because you think it’s easy doesn’t mean that everyone else thinks so, Camelia.”

I did a slight glare at her, disagreeing with her completely.

“If they’re supposed to be part of the top students in the nation, I, like everyone else, expect them to not have to ask each other for help.”

“And they are the top students in the nation. Some people work differently than others” she took a deep breath and sighed. She looked calmer than before.

The bell rang quickly while everyone rushed out of the room to their lockers. I put everything away quickly and walked quickly out of the hallway. I didn’t want to be stuck anymore in the traffic jam called school.

“Oi, Camelia!” yelled my friend, Rose, from across the hallway.

“Wait for me!” she yelled again and ran towards me. I slowed down my pace a bit to wait for her.

“Why do you always try to leave so early and walk so fast? I understand wanting to beat the rush, but it’s almost TOO fast.”

I rolled my eyes at that, she always asked that question every day. I never told her why, and I never will.

Is it stupid that I won’t tell her? No, because it’s a dumb question so I don’t see the point in answering.

She did a small sigh and shook her head, probably knowing that she wouldn’t get an answer like every other time. I stared at her face a bit, her smile slowly turned into a straight line, and her eyes looked straight ahead. I noticed that she usually does this when she is defeated for an answer.

I rolled my eyes, silly girl.

We kept on walking to the bus stop. It was quiet but suddenly Rose spot with a wavering voice.

“Why can’t I know the answer to a simple question?” she asked me, looking at me with an unamused face.

“Because it’s a dumb question, and then I will give a dumb answer. As the top student of our class, I don’t want to see retarded.”

“If it’s such a dumb question, why can’t you answer it. Dumb questions are easy to answer after all.”, she took a deep breath, “are you doing something suspicious?”

“If anyone is doing something suspicious, it would be you, Rose.”

“I am not, but even if I was, I wouldn’t act like I was doing something wrong. That’s how most people get caught after all.”

“And how would you know that?”

“From watching detective TV shows.”

I looked at her weirdly.

“I never thought of you as a person to watch those shows, aren’t they gory?”

“No, not really. It’s just how they do it is gory, but they don’t show that part, because if they did, it would be removed off of TV immediately.”

“Okay then…” I trailed off, staring at the concrete.

“Why did you get upset at me during History class?” I asked her.

“Because you seem to think that you're better than everyone else. You don’t know what I hear every day about you, Camelia. I want to defend you, but I can’t. What they say is true. I got upset because I thought that if you understood that no one is perfect, not even you, then people would stop gossiping about you. Turns out I was wrong. You don’t understand it.”

I stopped in my tracks. “What do they say about me?”

“They say that you act like your better than everyone else, that you think everyone else but you and me are devils or peasants. They also say other thing but those are the main ones.”

“It doesn’t matter how smart you are in the real world, Camelia. If you can’t get along with people because you think that you’re better than them, you aren’t gonna go very far in life. I want the best for you, but I can’t help if you won’t accept help or criticism.

“Learning is different for everyone.” Thank god, she FINALLY finished her mini-rant.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “good for you. But I don’t need people, and I obviously don’t need you if you're going to criticize me for being right. You are one of the devils, after all, peasant.”

She did a small gasp and I did a smile. When peasants did that it was hilarious.

“I would rather have no friends then be friends with someone who thinks that she’s soooo special. Get off of your high horse, Camelia. You’re just like everyone else, but more of a bully. Everyone has been trying to help you understand that, pushing you in the right direction, dealing with you. But you need a shove, and right now, I'm not strong enough to do it without physically hurting you." She pursed her lips together and walked onto the bus, but she sat far away from me.

All of a sudden, I felt... Lonely. However, Camelia does not feel lonely, she does not need a peasant like her.

Right?