(Ravine POV)

It's already the middle of the semester and believe it or not, college is not that bad actually. Compared to high school, it's quite a walk in the park, at least for me. Right now, I am in consultation with Sister Charity regarding my essay again and this time, it's in her office.

"Ravine, you've written so much. I think yours is the lengthiest out of every essays that I have checked." Sister Charity laughed.

"Really?"

"Don't worry. I have read everything though." She said.

"So what do you think?" I asked.

"You do have a way with words. I don't know if you are aware of how well you write. Are you an avid reader?" Sister Charity asked.

"Um...well, there was this point in time wherein I got addicted to queer literature so what I did is I purchased some of the best queer books online so that my homophobic mom wouldn't see any of those books in my bedroom." I replied.

Sister Charity giggled.

"Well, that certainly paid off because you write exceptionally well. You know what? I was thinking about this for quite some time. What do you say if I tell you that I am willing to mentor you?" Sister said and I was gobsmacked.

"What? You would do that?" I asked.

"I only do that to gifted students, Ravine and you're one of them." She said.

"You flatter me, sister!" I blushed.

"But don't let it get in your head, okay? After your first year of college, let's continue our consultations here in my office. You just keep writing and keep submitting your papers to me and I will guide you throughout it all. Hell, you could even publish a book, you know." Sister Charity said.

"Well, don't you have other students to teach though if I make it to second year? What if you're fully occupied and our schedules will prevent us from having consultations, Sister?" I asked.

"We can have our consultations in the weekends then. During weekends, I am free actually."

"You would mentor me for free? You're not joking or anything, are you?" I asked.

"Do I look like I am joking? This could work. When I was reading your essay, I got fully hooked into it. Your introduction is very nice and when I finished reading your revised version, I sat there and thought to myself 'I want to know more about you!'" Sister Charity exclaimed.

"There's nothing really to know about me. I am just a kid who grew up in a dysfunctional family. I am agnostic. I am ugly. I am gay. I am nothing special." I said.

"Those tough times are what shaped you to be this intelligent person, Ravine. Because of what you have gone through, you developed an interesting perspective in life. Now, I may not agree with it but there are a lot of young people out there that can be inspired by you and your resilience." Sister Charity said.

"I doubt it." I said.

"I don't even know why you called yourself ugly because you are the complete opposite of what ugly is." Sister Charity said.

"Stop it, Sister. I never found myself to be attractive, not one bit." I said.

"Why is that?"

"My teeth are crooked and I have larger nose than everybody else." I pouted.

"Ravine, you know what I hate the most?! It's when people throw pity parties for themselves." Sister Charity grew livid all of a sudden. "I just want to smack you into shape. How could you say that? You're the epitome of what a pretty boy is."

"Please, stop! It's a huge lie."

"Your face is so symmetrical, you have this naturally beautiful arched brows that every girl would kill to have. You have rosy cheeks to match with that gorgeously shaped pink lips. You are androgynous to the extreme so what the hell are you saying? Ugly, bitch where?!" She ranted.

"Wow! I have never seen a nun curse before." I commented and we both burst into laughter.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" She asked.

"I had but he cheated on me though."

"His loss. Do you want to know what I think? I think there's someone else who's more deserving of your attention." She said.

"Who is it?"

"That French boy you're always with all the time!" Sister Charity said.

"Wait...Sash?" I asked.

"Uh-huh!"

"No, no, no! He's just a friend, that's it. I just met him like three months ago." I said as I raised my hands, in disbelief of what she said.

"That's what they all say. You're just friends." She said as she did an air quote hand gesture.

"Sister, I don't have plans to engage in a relationship anymore after what happened between me and Craig. I don't want to have my heart break again." I said.

"We'll see how long your resistance is going to last because my guess is he's going to slowly steal your heart until there's nothing you can do it about it anymore except give in to your feelings." She said.

"First of all, Sister Charity, with all due respect, you sound cheesy as hell. Second, this is the first time I have seen a nun be that supportive towards the possibility of a guy having a homosexual relationship with another guy." I said.

"Not all nuns are homophobes though. Have you ever heard of Episcopal nuns?"

"I have. They're like the liberal version, right?"

"Precisely. I am not telling you this as an effort to make you regain your faith to the Lord. I am just saying that you don't need to be that cynical. I understood from your essay that you had a hard life but you're in a different country right now and you're in college which is a good time for you to reinvent yourself. Make the best version of yourself possible." I said.

"Wow! That's a very cool point."

"I know! I am cool as hell." Sister Charity did an invisible hair flip.

My God! This woman is on a whole another level. I love it.