ng essays make

t brought you to this point, including why your English teach

rea

sk, glaring at my crumpled piece of

top

ce. Or maybe death. Honestly, the whole thing could've been written

ed po

your chest, forcing you to feel someth

nt lights, dissected and drained of all beauty until it lay limp

hen Cristiano Wright was th

t at my desk, notebo

s refuse

willed it to make sense-to tell me what it wanted, to whisper s

had offered

ent into madness. She lay sprawled on my bed, scro

a lot easier if you just.

"Oh, genius. Why did

som. It blooms in the cold. It's a m

mple with Wright. He doesn't want obvious. He want

ng noise. "So, basically,

sharply.

st part? He

nto class with all the enthu

shuffling, students murmuring to each other-pre

room, sitting with unsha

iano

ough a stack of essays with meticulous precision. The slow, deliberate tap of his

ady feel his

. Calcu

. Act normal. Do

li

stionably in control-cut t

pine straight

e your a

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ng over their own death sentenc

accidently-but even that fleeti

unwante

back too fast, li

. Didn't blink.

I fe

new he

re collected, the

eliberate and slow, before landin

Since you had such unique insights yesterd

sadistic

r thic

barely conceali

jaw. This wa

n scrambled for some

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le

lifted jus

deliberate, he repe

it wasn't a questio

somethi

s amu

mach t

udents s

ease existing

omething u

ect," he murmured, t

gh at me. Did

e consider

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my back. "See? He does

the humiliation, a small, trai

rang, and

mo

na H

, undeniably commandi

t hammering. "

toward his d

s so

wo of us. The silence stretched, heavy an

k, arms folded. My essay sat i

it of deflectin

my arms. "

quote, 'Poetry is just nature showi

h

h

ually wri

left m

nued, too calm, too

d. "I'm n

prov

toward me. "Rewr

him. "Are y

e firm. "Show me what you

idn'

xpec

e wors

to prove

my books, something slippe

lse s

riting. Sha

er class. I think you need

art s

ulder, gasped dramatical

gainst my che

ands before I could stop

she gr

ot a date with M

NOT A

do you look like you're

ted

ay my stomach tig

dn't ha

, there

ated at a secluded table, flipping thr

approached,

're

d second thought

. "Yet her

that he

to the table. "So?

to my essay. "I w

my arms. "

o soft, too stead

inside m

I'm lazy,"

er. "I think you're

ds hit

harply, gra

i

ur game, Cris