Chapter 8: The biggest Mistake

A/N: This is a flashback.

"Hurry up, Chestnut!" I grabbed his tiny hand in mine and ran to the classroom, pushing away all the other students with my left hand. I heard him groan.

"Dawn, we won't be late!" he exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

"Dawn?" I abruptly left his hand, standing still for a second. A small smile grew on his face.

"Guess you could use a nickname too," he said, the skin near his eyes creasing. I smiled at him.

"That's nice of you chestnut."

The bell rings again.

"But let's go!" I started running again, grabbing his warm hand. After seconds of panting and sweating, we managed to reach our class, 3 A.

A tall and thin teacher looked down on us, crossing her arms. I pressed my palm tight against his'.

"What's your excuse?" she asked, slowly lowering herself, her face just centimeters away from us. I gulped and took a step back, pulling Chestnut as well.

"Um, washroom," I mumbled, looking at her and then at the ground. Her gaze hardened at me and just when I thought she was going to yell, she ruffled my hair.

With a soft smile, she spoke.

"It's fine, Eline. Just try to come early next time, alright?"

My eyes widened in surprise but I got back to my senses. I nodded my head wildly. Satisfied, she let us in.

"Wow, how did you do that?" he asked, whispering into my ear. I casually shrugged.

"Perks of being a good student, I guess."

He didn't say anything and headed to his seat to the far left. My seat was in the far right. We looked at each other one more time before the class began.

"Okay kids. Today we will be starting our new chapter, The Crow and The Dove." The teacher turned her back towards us and scribbled something on the white board. I opened my English textbook, quickly flipping to the chapter.

"Can you give me some characteristics of these birds before we begin?" she asked, placing the marker on the table. Various hands rose up. I wanted to raise my hand up as well but was not sure of the answer.

"Yes, Edwin."

A tall boy with freckles all around his face stood up.

"The crow is black in color whereas the dove is white," he said. The teacher pondered on his statement.

"Hmm, is there something else? I want you kids to think. Not blindly reply, " she said, scanning around the classroom once more.

After some moments of conflict, I raised up my hand. A smile ignited on her face.

"Yes, Eline. What is your opinion?"

I sighed before replying.

"I don't know if this is right but... The crow is usually associated with some kind of evil.. Something bad I guess. And doves are usually associated with peace."

I looked at the teacher and then at Chestnut.

"Splendid Eline!" she exclaimed, widely revealing her teeth. She began to clap, indirectly persuading others to do as well. Chestnut smiled at me and I returned the gesture after sitting down.

"Well, anyone wants to begin by reading the chapter?" she asked, slowly walking around the classroom. I looked at my friend, raising my brow at him.

I know that he loved to hear stories. He even had a wonderful voice. He slowly shook his head. Thank god, this is a pretty inactive class. Or else someone would've raised their hand and read the chapter.

Begging him with my facial expression, I forced him to read. He looked down, slowly gasping in and out. I looked expectantly at him and suddenly he raised up his hand.

"Ma'am, may I?"

A smile appeared on my face. Finally he had agreed to do something for once.

"Sure, Chester." She nodded.

He hesitantly stood up and I pout. Why was he not confident enough? He looked at me nervously and I shot an encouraging smile.

He cleared his throat.

"There on- once saw a... Cr-cr-..." I rose my eyes in surprise, looking at the textbook and then hearing what he was saying. The words didn't match at all.

He struggled through the first few sentences itself. I could see him shaking, looking as though he wanted to run off. The teacher immediately spun around, noticing his struggle and made him sit down. I bit my lip further.

What's wrong with him? He could perfectly speak. He was so good in voicing his thoughts. I thought he would be good in reading as well. I looked around to find some stifles of laughter. Some stifles turned to many and then it was just a matter of seconds before laughter erupted.

I just couldn't laugh. I clenched my fists. Why were they all laughing at him like this? Not all are good in everything.

I looked at him, trying to desperately meet his once cheerful eyes. But he shunned away, looking deep into his book and then completely turning his head away from me.

Was he mad?

Oh god, I felt like an idiot. Why was he even acting this weird? Is it because I forced him to read? Isn't that what friends do? Encourage you?

The teacher quickly shushed the class.

"That was rude, kids. Apologize to Chester." Her voice suddenly turned icy cold. Silence wrapped her wings around the class.

"I asked you people to apologize," she emphasized on the last word. The class remained silent for a moment before mutters of "sorry" began to wander the room.

"Good. Okay then, let's continue. Eline, you want to read?" She placed a hand on her hip, the other pointing to me. I wanted to read but it felt wrong at the moment. My Chestnut was worried and I was willing to read something that he couldn't.

No, I couldn't.

I shook my head.

The bell sharply rang before the teacher could call out any more students. With a dissatisfied expression, she quickly rushed to her table, taking away her stuffs and leaving.

I watched the whole scenario and slowly looked at him. His soft brown hair shielded his face from any eye contact. And just as I stood up, mumbling turns into chants.

"Loser! Loser!" I looked around, just to see kids raising their hands in an 'L'. I bit my lower lip further. I felt my heart burning so bad. Ignoring all their cries, I bravely stormed towards Chester's desk and suddenly stopped as he looked at me between the gaps of his hair.

"I told you, Eline." His voice quivered. I felt tears pricking my eyes. Calming myself, I slowly placed my hand on his shoulder but he immediately jerked up, standing straight.

"Che-"

Before I could say anything, he grabbed his bag and stormed out of the class.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi! So if you didn't figure it out already, this is a flashback of Eline's. I have decided to add the bits of flashback here and there.

I have not used italics as I usually do for past scenes as a whole chapter won't look that good in italics.

Instead, the chapter heading will be repeated again in italics, making it easy to understand.

Also, this chapter was interesting as well as hard for me to write. Interesting as this leads to one of the crucial flashbacks of Eline. And difficult because as I said earlier, I write these incidents based on dyslexia purely out of what I research from Internet.

I don't know if it came off offensive or didn't quite come off right. I am trying my best so apologies again.

Alright, I guess that seals my a/n.

Later,

Splashes