Halo
It would take a miracle.
She made it to school the next day, and the next. Showing up to class without her homework, never prepared; it felt like it gave her wings, at first.
Then her friends started asking her what was wrong.
"Nothing," she said, every time.
Raised brows, shrugs, "Whatever"s followed in her wake, and she kept moving, to class, to the bathroom, to anywhere she wouldn't be required to keep talking about it.
She could feel the long stares at her back, as she walked away, avoiding inquiry. She was so busted. They'd find out, soon. That she was an addict.
The thought gave her a secret smirk. It was hard, not grinning widely, laughing out loud like an evil villain, succeeding in some evil plot.
Katie, the super-villain. Greatest crime: Alienating the world. Fraud. Evading the truth. Illusion, fog & mirrors, applied.
Now she really had to struggle not to giggle out loud, and in the middle of geography class, too. She let her head drop onto her arms, smiling into her desk.
Huffing a sigh to cover it, she pokered up her face, and raised her head again, pretending to pay attention to the whereabouts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kirghistan, and all the other stans of former Soviet. Except one of them, which was former something else. And was still a stan. For some reason. Geography made no sense. People were crazy.
Someone was staring, wondering if she was alright. She could see the question on his face like he'd spoken out loud in a quiet room.
She wasn't supposed to be alright. She was supposed to be a junkie, never in good shape, always late, always sleepy, always rude. She didn't dare sleep in class, but...
She met his eyes with a look of "Huh. Human. Whatevs..." and turned back to the teacher, not really focusing her eyes. She wondered what her eyes looked like... Unfocused... did they cross?
Katie tried deliberately crossing her eyes. Completely different, everything in doubles now. She focused her eyes on the board for a moment, then let go. Fussy. Everything was fussy. Teacher had a halo, like the colour of her skin kept going out beyond her face.
This was fun.
Katie never wanted to stop.
The boy stared with wide eyes of "what just happened" for a few moments longer, then went back to his notes.
Success.
