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The Mark on our HeartsLoading...
By: Wyatt Roberts
Vera
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I tap my pencil on my desk as I run through my mental checklist. I have a lot of things to do tonight. My project for Engineering, my Calculus homework, and on top of all of that I’m going to the mall with my mom today. I feel stressed, but I’d be okay, I always was, I’d get the engineering done first, and work on the math going to and from the mall, and after that I’d-
Mr. Anderson’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Alright class, I’m assigning our groups for your next project.”
‘Dang, I don’t wanna do anything else, this is so pointless.’ My thoughts echoed in my own head as my teacher started reading the groups off.
“Iman, Dylan, Sydney, and Micah” Muttered groans, not inconsistent from what I expected. “Olivia, Colton, Nathan, Reily.” This time silent cheers, again, not surprising, Nathan and Olivia are the power couple in school, and Colton and Reily are the two troublemakers of the class. Mr. Anderson continues “Abigail, Sagar, Vera, and Reese”
‘No-’ That did not just happen. There’s no way. Abigail turned and gave me a knowing smile. ‘I think I’d rather die.’ I just got placed in a group with HIM. Reese. My crush. Crush doesn’t even begin to describe it. He’s been patrolling my thoughts since the third week of school. He’s so kind and intelligent, and extremely attractive, you can’t NOT fall for him. I’m not smitten with him, obviously. We haven’t even talked, I just think he’s kinda cute. No, really cute.
Mr. Anderson’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Alright class, I’m assigning our groups for your next project.”
‘Dang, I don’t wanna do anything else, this is so pointless.’ My thoughts echoed in my own head as my teacher started reading the groups off.
“Iman, Dylan, Sydney, and Micah” Muttered groans, not inconsistent from what I expected. “Olivia, Colton, Nathan, Reily.” This time silent cheers, again, not surprising, Nathan and Olivia are the power couple in school, and Colton and Reily are the two troublemakers of the class. Mr. Anderson continues “Abigail, Sagar, Vera, and Reese”
‘No-’ That did not just happen. There’s no way. Abigail turned and gave me a knowing smile. ‘I think I’d rather die.’ I just got placed in a group with HIM. Reese. My crush. Crush doesn’t even begin to describe it. He’s been patrolling my thoughts since the third week of school. He’s so kind and intelligent, and extremely attractive, you can’t NOT fall for him. I’m not smitten with him, obviously. We haven’t even talked, I just think he’s kinda cute. No, really cute.
Mr. Anderson interrupts my tangent “Alright everybody, go get in y’all’s groups.” Reese stands up, and slings his backpack over his left shoulder, he turns and starts walking. ‘Crap, I’m gonna embarrass myself, he’s gonna hate me, act cool, act cool, act cool-’
“Hi. Vera, right?” ‘Crap.’
“Hi. Vera, right?” ‘Crap.’
Mr. Anderson interrupts my tangent “Alright everybody, go get in y’all’s groups.” Reese stands up, and slings his backpack over his left shoulder, he turns and starts walking. ‘Crap, I’m gonna embarrass myself, he’s gonna hate me, act cool, act cool, act cool-’
“Hi. Vera, right?” ‘Crap.’
“Hi. Vera, right?” ‘Crap.’
Reese
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‘Holy crap, she’s looking at me, go go go.’ My thoughts are a jumble. I’m actually TALKING to her. I’ve gotta keep going, I can’t seem awkward, fake it ‘till you make it.
“Yeah, your name’s Reese, right?” ‘She knows my name.’ I take my seat next to her as I quickly come up with an amazing response that’s sure to start a bond between us.
“Oh, ah, yeah, I’ve seen you around” ‘Oh nice job Reese, really stuck the landing with that one.’ She blanks at me, her smile dropping. She manages to get out an “Oh. Cool” before she turns away. I absently nod my head and mutter “...yeah” like an idiot. Now we sit in silence as Mr. Anderson heads to the front of the class.
“Alright y’all, I received a lot of good feedback from the work on your all’s density project and I’ve come up with some new-” I zone out, thinking about those heart posters we made, to represent mass over volume. I don’t need to listen, I can take one look at the instructions and know what to do. But with Vera next to me, I wanna seem like the “good” student I am. I sit up a little straighter and start jotting down every third word or so. I really quickly take a glance down at my notebook. ‘Dang it’ I’ve written on the wrong page and scribbled all over my unit one notes. A page full of notes on matter and the way it changes is now ruined. My section on Chemical Properties has lines all over it, and I can barely read half of it.
I decide I should start paying attention again, and my brain flows back into his lecture as if I never left. “-and so similarly
“Yeah, your name’s Reese, right?” ‘She knows my name.’ I take my seat next to her as I quickly come up with an amazing response that’s sure to start a bond between us.
“Oh, ah, yeah, I’ve seen you around” ‘Oh nice job Reese, really stuck the landing with that one.’ She blanks at me, her smile dropping. She manages to get out an “Oh. Cool” before she turns away. I absently nod my head and mutter “...yeah” like an idiot. Now we sit in silence as Mr. Anderson heads to the front of the class.
“Alright y’all, I received a lot of good feedback from the work on your all’s density project and I’ve come up with some new-” I zone out, thinking about those heart posters we made, to represent mass over volume. I don’t need to listen, I can take one look at the instructions and know what to do. But with Vera next to me, I wanna seem like the “good” student I am. I sit up a little straighter and start jotting down every third word or so. I really quickly take a glance down at my notebook. ‘Dang it’ I’ve written on the wrong page and scribbled all over my unit one notes. A page full of notes on matter and the way it changes is now ruined. My section on Chemical Properties has lines all over it, and I can barely read half of it.
I decide I should start paying attention again, and my brain flows back into his lecture as if I never left. “-and so similarly
we’re going to be doing something a little more hands-on. You all are going to be writing letters.”
‘Oh great, another writing assignment’ Once again, back in.
“You all are going to be writing letters to someone in your group, which I’LL decide.” He does that a lot, puts emphasis on words to let the class know there’s not going to be any arguing or bickering about it. Anderson continues. “You all will keep who you have a secret, okay? I mean it, the idea of this project is to figure out who wrote your letter.” My ears kinda perk up at that. Mysteries are fun for me, and they’re a lot less boring than what we could be doing.
“Each group will get a color, and each person in said group will have a different brand of marker for that color. Your goal is to identify which marker was the one that wrote your letter, and you’ll use that knowledge to figure out who wrote it. Now, can anyone tell me the physical properties of a marker?” He raises his hand, holding an Expo marker “More specifically, the tip?” The class falls silent. No one likes the spotlight, and simply by opening your mouth, all eyes are on you. I see Vera raise her hand.
“It’s wet, it’s pointed, it’s squishy, or malleable, and in the case of the one you’ve got in your hand, it’s black.” She leans back a little, breathing out, seemingly satisfied with her response.
“You’re exactly right Vera, and for that,” He tosses the marker to her, and it bounces off her chest as she scrambles to catch it before it ultimately lands on the floor. As she reaches down to pick it up Anderson grins and says “your group can have black.”
‘Oh great, another writing assignment’ Once again, back in.
“You all are going to be writing letters to someone in your group, which I’LL decide.” He does that a lot, puts emphasis on words to let the class know there’s not going to be any arguing or bickering about it. Anderson continues. “You all will keep who you have a secret, okay? I mean it, the idea of this project is to figure out who wrote your letter.” My ears kinda perk up at that. Mysteries are fun for me, and they’re a lot less boring than what we could be doing.
“Each group will get a color, and each person in said group will have a different brand of marker for that color. Your goal is to identify which marker was the one that wrote your letter, and you’ll use that knowledge to figure out who wrote it. Now, can anyone tell me the physical properties of a marker?” He raises his hand, holding an Expo marker “More specifically, the tip?” The class falls silent. No one likes the spotlight, and simply by opening your mouth, all eyes are on you. I see Vera raise her hand.
“It’s wet, it’s pointed, it’s squishy, or malleable, and in the case of the one you’ve got in your hand, it’s black.” She leans back a little, breathing out, seemingly satisfied with her response.
“You’re exactly right Vera, and for that,” He tosses the marker to her, and it bounces off her chest as she scrambles to catch it before it ultimately lands on the floor. As she reaches down to pick it up Anderson grins and says “your group can have black.”
we’re going to be doing something a little more hands-on. You all are going to be writing letters.”
‘Oh great, another writing assignment’ Once again, back in.
“You all are going to be writing letters to someone in your group, which I’LL decide.” He does that a lot, puts emphasis on words to let the class know there’s not going to be any arguing or bickering about it. Anderson continues. “You all will keep who you have a secret, okay? I mean it, the idea of this project is to figure out who wrote your letter.” My ears kinda perk up at that. Mysteries are fun for me, and they’re a lot less boring than what we could be doing.
“Each group will get a color, and each person in said group will have a different brand of marker for that color. Your goal is to identify which marker was the one that wrote your letter, and you’ll use that knowledge to figure out who wrote it. Now, can anyone tell me the physical properties of a marker?” He raises his hand, holding an Expo marker “More specifically, the tip?” The class falls silent. No one likes the spotlight, and simply by opening your mouth, all eyes are on you. I see Vera raise her hand.
“It’s wet, it’s pointed, it’s squishy, or malleable, and in the case of the one you’ve got in your hand, it’s black.” She leans back a little, breathing out, seemingly satisfied with her response.
“You’re exactly right Vera, and for that,” He tosses the marker to her, and it bounces off her chest as she scrambles to catch it before it ultimately lands on the floor. As she reaches down to pick it up Anderson grins and says “your group can have black.”
‘Oh great, another writing assignment’ Once again, back in.
“You all are going to be writing letters to someone in your group, which I’LL decide.” He does that a lot, puts emphasis on words to let the class know there’s not going to be any arguing or bickering about it. Anderson continues. “You all will keep who you have a secret, okay? I mean it, the idea of this project is to figure out who wrote your letter.” My ears kinda perk up at that. Mysteries are fun for me, and they’re a lot less boring than what we could be doing.
“Each group will get a color, and each person in said group will have a different brand of marker for that color. Your goal is to identify which marker was the one that wrote your letter, and you’ll use that knowledge to figure out who wrote it. Now, can anyone tell me the physical properties of a marker?” He raises his hand, holding an Expo marker “More specifically, the tip?” The class falls silent. No one likes the spotlight, and simply by opening your mouth, all eyes are on you. I see Vera raise her hand.
“It’s wet, it’s pointed, it’s squishy, or malleable, and in the case of the one you’ve got in your hand, it’s black.” She leans back a little, breathing out, seemingly satisfied with her response.
“You’re exactly right Vera, and for that,” He tosses the marker to her, and it bounces off her chest as she scrambles to catch it before it ultimately lands on the floor. As she reaches down to pick it up Anderson grins and says “your group can have black.”
Vera
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‘Oh, yay, black’ I think half-heartedly as Mr. Anderson walks around assigning colors, brands, and students to write to. ‘How exciting is that?’ The most basic of colors for our project. How am I supposed to make a letter look good in black marker? Bleh.
“Now, these marker tips all have ink in them, right? Now, out of the four classifications of matter, is ink an element, a compound, a homogeneous, or a heterogeneous mixture?” He paused and looked around the room, met with silent stares. “Alright, I’m drawing sticks then.” He reached for a red Solo cup as the class and I groan collectively. “Hmm, alright, Iman, is ink a pure substance or a mixture?”
“A mixture.” Iman says after a short pause.
“Exactly. Now-” Mr. Anderson’s oncoming lecture gets cut short by the bell. As the rest of the class hurriedly packs up he shouts “Remember, write your letters tonight with the marker I gave you. I’ll email everyone the group member to write to. They CAN BE PERSONAL, I WON’T READ THEM!” raising his voice to reach the kids out in the hallway already.
“God that was so embarrassing,” I say as I briskly walk out of class. “I mean, I couldn’t even catch a stupid marker.”
Abi turned to me with a reassuring smile. “Hey, it’s alright, no one cares, everyone drops things from time to time.”
“I know, but he was right there, what if he thinks I can’t catch.” Abi throws her head back in laughter. “Shut up."
“Now, these marker tips all have ink in them, right? Now, out of the four classifications of matter, is ink an element, a compound, a homogeneous, or a heterogeneous mixture?” He paused and looked around the room, met with silent stares. “Alright, I’m drawing sticks then.” He reached for a red Solo cup as the class and I groan collectively. “Hmm, alright, Iman, is ink a pure substance or a mixture?”
“A mixture.” Iman says after a short pause.
“Exactly. Now-” Mr. Anderson’s oncoming lecture gets cut short by the bell. As the rest of the class hurriedly packs up he shouts “Remember, write your letters tonight with the marker I gave you. I’ll email everyone the group member to write to. They CAN BE PERSONAL, I WON’T READ THEM!” raising his voice to reach the kids out in the hallway already.
“God that was so embarrassing,” I say as I briskly walk out of class. “I mean, I couldn’t even catch a stupid marker.”
Abi turned to me with a reassuring smile. “Hey, it’s alright, no one cares, everyone drops things from time to time.”
“I know, but he was right there, what if he thinks I can’t catch.” Abi throws her head back in laughter. “Shut up."
"Alright, what if he knows I can’t catch?”
We stand still in the traffic of the hallways. “Then he knows you can’t catch. If he’s any guy worth dating he won’t care about that at all.”
“Yeah, you’re right, but I’m still anxious, what do I write about?”
“Girl, you’ve probably got me, just write about the time we went to Wonderland.” We both reminisced about the summer we spent at the theme park as we walked, the traffic lightening up again. We reached a fork in the hallway, and I waved bye to Abigail as I went right, towards my mother’s car. Our habitual “How was school” conversation was cut short when my phone chimes in my back pocket. It’s the email from Mr. Anderson. All I need right now is an easy letter to Abi. I swipe down and I see the two words that cloud my mind for the rest of the night.
“Reese Harris”
‘Of course I get him.’ I hate that it’s my first thought, but I only see the irony in this. However, now I don’t need to think about what to write. I know exactly what I want to do. The moment I get inside I head to the dining room table, I put my “pen” to paper, the rest of my earlier plans out of my mind as I write possibly the boldest thing I’ve ever written.
We stand still in the traffic of the hallways. “Then he knows you can’t catch. If he’s any guy worth dating he won’t care about that at all.”
“Yeah, you’re right, but I’m still anxious, what do I write about?”
“Girl, you’ve probably got me, just write about the time we went to Wonderland.” We both reminisced about the summer we spent at the theme park as we walked, the traffic lightening up again. We reached a fork in the hallway, and I waved bye to Abigail as I went right, towards my mother’s car. Our habitual “How was school” conversation was cut short when my phone chimes in my back pocket. It’s the email from Mr. Anderson. All I need right now is an easy letter to Abi. I swipe down and I see the two words that cloud my mind for the rest of the night.
“Reese Harris”
‘Of course I get him.’ I hate that it’s my first thought, but I only see the irony in this. However, now I don’t need to think about what to write. I know exactly what I want to do. The moment I get inside I head to the dining room table, I put my “pen” to paper, the rest of my earlier plans out of my mind as I write possibly the boldest thing I’ve ever written.