By the time it got to 4 am, I had studied the glow in the dark stars on my ceiling to the point that I could see their positions as clear as an actual constellation. I finally decided to give in to my exhaustion and allow myself to drift off into the deepest sleep I’ve ever experienced. All the panic and stress lifted away and I was left to peace and replenishment… For about 5 minutes.

My eyes shot open and staring down at my bed, I immediately hurtled into the pulpous bedding. Wiping my hair from my eyes, my head shifted to the side as I sighed into the duvet.

At least I know it’s real now.

Though rather than ease my mind, it just fed me more questions. Unquestionably my wormhole theory couldn’t stand up as the answer.

So what is the answer? Am I missing something? 

In that moment of desperate confusion, what scared me the most was that I couldn’t tell a soul. What kind of person wouldn’t have declared me insane on the spot? I’d only just begun to believe it myself and even I felt like I was losing my mind.

These are the times I wished I was a character in a movie, just able to go with the flow and treat something like that as an everyday occurrence.

After a sleepless night over the supernatural, I awoke at ten to nine. Glancing down at my watch through the sleep in my eye, I noticed the time and flung myself from my sheets. Grabbing the first clothes I found at my feet, I rushed through the door; wearing a blinding blue sleeveless shirt and a pair of flared, lemon jogging pants with sequins running down the sides. 

Still ending up an hour late, I fell through the school doors and collapsed to my knees with a near asthma attack. My chest clenched as Vice principal Herman strutted towards me with his infamous aura of condensation. And with a tut, he sent me on my despised walk of shame to the principal’s office.

Although this would be a mere inconvenience to most, confrontation with authority figures was one of my biggest fears; so I, in my goody-two-shoes, hopped anxiously the whole way there. I kept my head pinned to the ground, until I met the disgusted glare Ronda the receptionist threw at every student that crossed her path. Seeing the judgment in her eyes turned the butterflies infesting my stomach into a nest of vicious hornets.

As I began to approach the door to principal Molden’s cramped waiting area, my stomach growled in protest and I slowed my steps, stopping inches from the handle. After a short hesitation, I took a deep breath and swung the door open with forced confidence. However both the confidence and feeling in my legs immediately drained as I made eye contact with an incredibly attractive guy, giving me a confused look. With my arm still out in front of me, I froze like an imbecile as he relaxed into his seat and crossed his arms with a cheeky smirk spread over his cheeks. “Did I startle you?” He remarked as amusement took over his face.

There was a moment of silence as I absorbed the three fold perfection of his scruffy jet black hair, luminous crystal eyes and intoxicating smile; which along with the sense of enthralling tenderness that emanates from him, was almost mesmerising enough to distract me from my current predicament… Almost.

“Oh, I uh…Didn’t know anyone else was in here” I mumbled as if my jaw was frozen shut.

“Well” He chuckled, running his fingers through his hair. “The shock must have set in by now, you gonna sit?”

Shuffling towards the chair next to his, I attempted to break the tension. “I haven’t seen you around before.”

Leant back in his chair, his head turned to face me and my shoulders squirmed at the little distance between us.

“I’ve only been going here an hour.”

As I wasn’t the most profound conversationalist I just shrugged awkwardly and glared at the wall opposite with an intense concentration. I could feel his eyes travel over me, studying with curiosity. This is where hindsight kicks my past self for not taking a minute to pick out a less disastrous outfit.

With my fingers and toes tapping, the tension became too much to handle. In panic, I blurted out what could probably be a world record for weirdest conversation starter. “So… Necrophilia, pretty weird stuff huh?” My enthusiasm left the second the words left my lips and my head fell straight into my hands.

Next time, just learn to live with a little tension.

And you seriously need to stop it with those weird documentaries!

My face was kept covered until I felt a cool, gently grip prying my hand from my face. “Necrophilia isn’t such a dull topic, ya know”

He shot me a sympathetic look and wrapped it all up with that boyish smirk that made me melt. The corner of my mouth lifted into a half smile as I looked back at him, chewing on my lower lip.

Murdering the moment in cold blood, the principal strode out from his office and spat out my name impatiently. However, instead of putting my tail between my legs and cowering into his office, I gave Mr Perfect here a beaming grin and swiftly strolled in with my head held high.

Without any eye contact, I glided past principal Malden and perched on the edge of the chair opposite his. For the first few moments, there were no words exchanged. His eyebrows raised and hands clasped together on the desk, glaring at me with entitled intimidation in his eyes. But after examining my face, it dawned on him that I was different that day; there was something in me that you usually couldn’t detect with a microscope. There was confidence.

People never stuck around to even finish a conversation with me. So it did give me a bit of a boost when Mr Perfect responded to my randomness with a look saying “don’t worry, it’s cute”.

Rather than a ten minute lecture and a detention, I managed to stroll out with a warning. With a mini victory hop, I started making my way down the hall when Mr Perfect caught up to me. “Hey, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Lila” I chirped, spinning around to face him.

My eyebrows furrowed as I stared at him, waiting for his reply. After a moment of no response, I queried sarcastically “Do I get yours, or do I just have to keep calling you Mr Perfect in my head”

Did I seriously just say that? Curse you and your loose lips.

“Mr perfect, huh? It’s catchy. I think I’ll just stick with that.” Along with his signature smirk, he threw me a playful wink. As he began to walk away, he paused and turned halfway around to add “Lila suits you. Beautiful name for a quirky girl.”

Once his back was facing me, my smile widened across my cheeks and a giddy chuckle carried me to my lesson. Along with it, a warm buzz formed inside my chest and didn’t leave for the entire day. My mind was so preoccupied that when I reached into my locker to grab my Biology textbook, I nearly threw it under my arm and skipped along clueless to the fact that I hadn’t grabbed it at all. In my daze I had carelessly levitated it into my grasp. Abruptly dropping it to the floor with shock, I slammed my locker door shut and sped away from it. In the corner of my eye I noticed Mr Perfect staring at me intently, leaning against the wall of lockers opposite mine. Gradually I came to a halt and jilted my head back with curiosity, to see him still eyeing me with intrigue. Nonchalantly, I moved my gaze to forward and continued my swift walk to nowhere.

After rushing home, I locked myself in my bedroom and dropped to the floor with the door against my back. These random phenomina couldn’t keep occurring at school or someone would see something they couldn’t explain, and I would be exposed to more attention than I could deal with. I decided it was time for an attempt at focusing whatever it was that was happening to me. Jumping to my feet, I moved to my desk and locked my eyes on a spotted coral pencil. I aimed every ounce of energy I could at it, struggling to lift it from the desk. But despite my best efforts, I was getting nowhere. Just as I was about to give up, an abrupt crash motivated a high pitched squeal and an instinctive wince as my heart leapt from my chest. Cautiously opening my eyes, I found a layer of pencils disguising my room in a spotted coral pattern. Removing the few entangled in my hair, I returned to the floor with a pout.

By the time it was 9 o’clock I had experienced freak winds, flying cupcakes and even a few grazing goats, but levitation was beginning to feel almost natural to me. With my index finger to focus, I lifted a piece of chalk and scribbled out a quote of inspiration on the black board: “do not fear failure, but rather fear not trying.” A grin born of pride appeared on my face and I made my way to my wardrobe full of pencils to change into some pajamas.

Snuggling into my cushy, down duvet, washing over me was both a sense of relief and a conflicted sense of condemnation. All my life I wondered why I never fit in and I finally had answers to questions I thought I had no one to ask. But even with a lack of people to care about, you never feel as lonely as when you have a secret that you’re dying to share. 

If there was one person in the world I could have confided in, it would have been Sammy.

I couldn’t have even contemplated telling my parents. If they actually bothered to listen, I wouldn’t have been able to finish my first sentence before they’d be making arrangements to get me carted off to the loony bin. And yet I waste so much thought on them. So many hours I spend thinking about people that don’t even acknowledge my existence for more than 20 seconds a day.

Focusing on my newfound abilities seemed far more logical than sickening myself with anxiety over them, so I forced my concentration to divert back towards the only interesting thing that has ever happened to me. As I rolled to the side with a smirk, excitement began festering as if it were Christmas Eve, with the anticipation of letting Sammy in on the recent extraordinary occurrence in my normally mundane life.