“Class dismissed. Would Mr. Hys and Miss June please see me before leaving.” Mx. Rune, my literary teacher spoke at the bottom of the lecture hall. “And remember! Your paper can be on anything, but it needs to make sense!” they spoke cheerfully. 

I stood from one of the front seats, gathered my things neatly and walked up to them, waiting for my turn silently.  

“Ok,” Mx. Rune smiled as they saw me. “First things first, Mr. Hys, your poem submission was amazing! Your own style has developed in such a short time!” they beamed. “And Miss June, your short story was coffee shop worthy! Totally a woman empowerment icon I'm telling you!”  

“Thanks!” Lilly June laughed gently; she was a straight-A student, she tried hard, everyone liked her. “I’m really looking forward to our presentations! The winner gets to go in front of the whole wing right!?”  

“Mhm! I'm rooting for you, Miss June!” Mx. Rune grinned. “Now, Mr. Hys, the school counsellor and I had a meeting, and it’s perfectly fine if you need to step out, take breaks, put headphones on; I know three hours of constant learning and writing is really hard. My ADHD brain can’t sit still for that long either!” they laughed gently. “I have no worries or fear whatsoever that you will fall behind or need to skip things. Your school records from secondary are amazing!” 

“Thank you, Mx. Rune.” I dipped my head.  

“You both are dismissed. Have a good weekend. Great work for the second week of university!” Mx. Rune waved as they walked past us.  

“Say, I guess I'll be competing with you for top of the class.” Lilly grinned, nudging me. 

“Hah...” I grit my teeth. “I don’t care for social standouts.” I started towards the door.  

“Well, Hys, I do.” she followed me. “I’m Lilly by the way, we do sit next to each other.” I hate chatty people... “Do you have any other classes? I'm also taking a creative arts. I want to be a teacher when I graduate!” she announced. 

“Hm.” I walked down the busy hall, towards the exit. “I don’t have my other class on Fridays or Mondays, so I'm heading out.” I paused.  

“Alrighty, see you later, Hys!” she smiled as I turned to her. “We should exchange numbers for the upcoming projects! I'm so picking you for my partner! Usually, all the lit. majors are stuck-up pricks, but you’re super sweet.” they held their phone out to me. “Or- you know- just in case one of us are sick, steal each other's notes.” she stuttered. 

“Oh- uh...” I held my phone in my pocket, hesitating for the longest time. “S-sure...” I took her phone gently, adding her number to mine, then mine to hers. “Just so you’re aware, I am horrible at respading.” I handed her phone back.