"It's too much. I can't take it anymore," Elise groaned, slumping forward until her forehead rested on the book.
Asha laughed weakly. "We say that every term, and yet here we are—still surviving."
Blue flipped a page slowly. "At this point, survival is the goal."
Mavin, seated just ahead of them, glanced back briefly before shaking his head. "If you don't focus now, you'll regret it during the test," he said before returning to his reading.
Elise lifted her head just enough to glare at him. "You didn't have to say it like that."
"I did," Mavin replied calmly.
Despite the laughter and teasing, the pressure lingered. The days that followed blurred together—test after test, lesson after lesson—each one piling onto the last. By the time Blue got home, her head ached from thinking. She either studied in silence or went to bed early, barely texting Roger, not because she didn't want to, but because she simply had nothing left to give.
On the day of the school sports event, Blue stayed home. With the schedule lighter and her head already pounding, she asked for permission to skip school—and to her relief, it was granted.
Her vision had been bothering her for weeks. Reading the board meant squinting or switching seats, and even then, things weren't always clear. That morning, she decided it was time to visit the optician.
Samuel, her older brother, had to return from his dorm to take her. Their father wouldn't allow her to go alone.
"You made me take a whole trip for this," Samuel complained as they walked out. "Now I won't even finish my game."
Blue rolled her eyes. "You'll survive."
Unlike Lola, who argued with Samuel at every opportunity, Blue shared a quiet understanding with him. They weren't close, but they got along easily.
"You're lucky it's you," Samuel added. "If it were Lola, I'd turn back."
Blue smiled faintly. "And miss the chance to complain? Never."
The trip took nearly an hour, and when they arrived, they had to wait with several other patients. Blue sat quietly, scrolling through her phone while Samuel leaned back in his chair, arms crossed.
When her name was called, she entered the examination room. It was small and sterile, with a bed in one corner and a desk beside unfamiliar machines. The doctor, an older man with calm eyes, pointed to a chair.
"Sit here and tell me what you see," he said, gesturing toward the chart behind the screen.
Blue leaned forward, placing her face against a machine that looked like oversized glasses. Letters appeared and blurred as the doctor adjusted the lenses, starting from the smallest and working his way up. She answered carefully while he made notes.
Afterward, she was asked to wait outside. A few minutes later, her name was called again.After recieving her report , it came out as a suprise after seeing that it turned out she's short sighted. When all along thinking a little medicine was all she needed.
"The doctor will prescribe glasses for you," the assistant said kindly. "You can choose a frame you like."
Rows of frames lined the walls. Blue tried on several, tilting her head, studying her reflection. Finally, she picked one and turned to the assistant.
"How does this look?" she asked.
The woman smiled, adjusting the frame slightly. "It suits you very well."
Blue nodded. "Okay. I'll take this one."
She handed it over and returned to sit beside Samuel, who raised an eyebrow. "Not bad," he admitted.
By the time everything was done and they returned home, the day had drained her completely. Blue went straight to her room, grateful for the quiet.
******************
When she returned to school, she was immediately met with curiosity.
Questions came from every direction.
"Where were you?"
"When did that happen?"
"Are those real?"
Kevin entered the classroom grinning. "Hey, four eyes. What's up?"
"I'm not," Blue replied sharply, turning away dramatically. "And that's not my name."
Mavin chuckled and patted her head. "Don't worry. You look good either way."
"I know, right?" Blue spun slightly, smiling brightly. "It gives me a serious look."
She was usually quiet around others, but with her friends, she came alive—playful and expressive in a way that surprised people who didn't know her well.
Elise studied her for a moment, then asked softly, "But seriously… why now? You were fine before."
Blue adjusted the glasses. "It wasn't that bad back then. And I didn't want to say anything."
She shrugged lightly, but inside, she knew it was more than that. Sometimes, admitting you needed help was harder than pretending everything was fine.
By the middle of the week, the school felt different.
Not louder—if anything, quieter—but heavy. Conversations were shorter, laughter came easier and faded faster, and everyone walked around with notebooks clutched to their chests like shields. Tests had a way of doing that. They stripped people down to nerves and instinct.
Blue felt it the moment she stepped into class.
Whispers followed her—not obvious enough to confront, but clear enough to notice. A glance here. A pause there. Someone lowering their voice just as she passed.
She sat with Elise and Asha, placing her bag down carefully.
"Tell me I'm not imagining things," Asha murmured, flipping through her notes. "People are acting weird."
"You're not," Elise replied. "I heard something in the hallway."
Blue stiffened slightly but kept her eyes on her book. "Heard what?"
Before either of them could say more, Mavin dropped into the seat in front of them. "You guys ready for the test?"
"No," Elise said flatly.
"Same," Asha added.
Blue nodded. "But we'll survive."
But that was the problem.
During the test, Blue struggled to concentrate. The formulas blurred—not because of her vision this time, but because her mind kept drifting. She caught fragments of whispered conversations behind her, felt the weight of eyes when she stood to hand in her paper.
When the bell rang, relief didn't come.
Instead, it followed her into the hallway.
"You saw how she reacted, right?"
"I heard Fred told someone—"
Blue stopped near her locker, fingers tightening around the metal handle.
Elise stood beside her immediately. "Ignore it."
"I am," Blue said—but her voice lacked conviction.
At lunch, the tension snapped into something sharper.
A group of art section girls sat nearby, laughing a little too loudly. One of them glanced directly at Blue before whispering something that sent the rest into giggles.
Asha slammed her juice down. "Okay, that's getting annoying."
Elise leaned forward. "Do you want me to say something?"
"No," Blue said quietly. "Please."
By the end of the day, exhaustion clung to her like a second uniform. Her phone buzzed nonstop in her bag, but she didn't check it until she got home.
One message stood out.
Roger: "Are you okay? People are talking."
Blue stared at the screen for a long moment before replying.
Blue: "I know. I'm fine. Just tired."
A pause.
Roger: "This isn't fair to you."
Her chest tightened.
Blue: "It's not new."
She set the phone down before he could respond, leaning back against her bed. The room was quiet, but her mind wasn't. Tests. Secrets. All colliding at once, pressing in from every side.