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Every tick of the clock made my heart pound harder and harder against my ribcage. Watching the teacher with blurred vision, reminders of last night kept clouding my thoughts making it rather difficult to focus.

Everything Mr.Brollen said was muffled against my ears as if I was submerged under water and the hard cramps in my stomach weren't helping either.

A sudden thought fell into my mind and the pencil in my hand snapped in half from how hard I was holding it.

A few students glanced my way but didn't really bother to care what was going on.

Once everybody began to pack up, I did the same, ignoring the unfinished papers on my desk, I started shoving my books and folders into my already stuffed backpack as quickly as I could manage.

The bell rang and the whole class stood and rushed out of the classroom to lunch like they hadn't eaten in 12 years. "Blakely, may I talk to you please?" I froze in place, clutching my fist inside my sweater pocket.

"Sure," My voice cracked, my throat feeling dry and irritated. I turned to face my teacher and looked at the papers in his hand rather than his concern filled eyes and tapped my foot against the tile.

"Have you been doing alright? I was looking through your recent work and I couldn't help but notice the drop in...well everything. Is everything okay?"

My heart dropped into my stomach. A bile acid like taste rose from my throat as the vivid flashes from last night's dream consumed me. "Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom," Turning quickly and covering my mouth, I raced down the hall, shoving people over as I did so until I entered the nearest girls bathroom.

My backpack hit the wall and my knees hit the hard tiles in front of a toilet. My whole body shook as I threw up and then again. Gasping for air before my body forced me to throw up once again, heavy sobs broke from my lips and I clutched onto my stomach for dear life. "Please, please, please."

Getting a break in between my throw up session, I pressed my back against the stall wall and cried.

°•°•

"Does he also have a big mark covering half his arm though?"

"I mean, he only posts pictures wearing long-sleeved shirts, so it's a major possibility that he could be my soulmate."

"I don't know, sounds sketchy to me. What do you think Blakely?"

"Blakely!" Shaking the thoughts as far as I could to the back of my mind, I looked over to my two best friends, Thea and Kacen.

"Hm?" My response made Thea quirk her eyebrows in confusion.

"What is going on with you? You usually love hearing about the boys I crush on?" Her words started moving away from me as I focused my eyes on the untouched plate of food in front of me. "Are you even listening?! Blake!"

"Sorry, I uh, just had a rough night. Didn't really sleep much, had a lot of homework," Passing my lies through a fake smile only seemed to make it worse.

"You haven't even touched the food on your plate," Kacen pointed out, obviously flustered that I'm not speaking.

"I'm fine!"

"Are you getting those nightmares again?" Kacen's question made it seem like time froze. The cold air rushed through my hair and chills ran down my spine.

"I should get to class," I stood up quickly, and my body went numb. My tray of food hit the floor with a crash and dots lined my vision.

"Oh my gosh!" Thea rushed over to my side next to Kacen.

"Blake?!" He grabbed my arms and shook me gently not letting his grip loosen around my arms.

"I need to go," Shoving away from my friends, I grabbed my backpack and avoided the multiple gazes as I left the cafeteria.

My feet moved quickly as I made my way towards the only place I know could help me escape my thoughts.

Sighing as the door closed behind me, I let my bag fall off my shoulder and onto a table.

"Blakely!" Mrs.Martez - the librarian - smiled kindly apon seeing me. "Haven't seen you in a few weeks, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing great," Plastering a plastic smile onto my face, I turned towards my bag and unzipped it.

Grabbing my last books and handing all 7 of them to Mrs.Martez, I walked to my favorite area in the school library. Running my fingertips across the old books, my curiosity sparked seeing a book I hadn't yet seen before. There was gold lettering along the spine but I couldn't make out what was written.

"What's this?" My question was to myself but was answered by Mrs.Martez anyways. She enjoyed sharing any type of story she could, that's probably why she loved when I came in, because I would always listen to them, although not always by choice. 

"We just got it in, I thought you might find it interesting. It's about marks, I heard there was a section on blanks too!" My heart raced at her words and I quickly pulled it from the shelf.

"Blanks?"

"Well, it's just a conspiracy theory. Obviously, nobody has ever seen or met a blank before," She chuckled.

"Right, a conspiracy theory," I laughed nervously and pulled the book to my chest. "Do you think though, that maybe they might actually exist? I mean not everyone could be born with one mark for one person, who's to say fate won't turn out for someone or somebody dies. I haven't ever heard of a mark changing, have you?"

"Oh dear, you have quite the imagination. I haven't ever questioned that one myself. But fate has a weird way of knowing exactly what is bound to happen. My mark lead me to my wonderful husband, just as yours will lead you to your husband. Or wife, of course, we don't know what fate has in store now do we?" She corrected herself with a quick smile and took the book from my hands.

"Right, of course, I will check that one out, please. Love a good conspiracy," A small laugh left my lips from the awkward tension surrounding us.

She changed her posture and looked down at the books plain cover, "Just the one?"

"You're right, I need at least one more to last me through the day," Even though that was the only book that sparked my interest, I let Mrs.Martez take the book to the front and continued to look through the other books.

I always thought marks were strange. Who randomly woke up with the information that soulmates supposedly shared the same marks on their skin?  Sometimes they aren't even exactly the same but they connect in weird ways, which makes me even more curious. How does one truly know? Theory has it that people with connecting tattoos have a higher success rate than those with identical, how is that even possible?

"This one looks good," I handed Mrs.Martez a random book I didn't really care for at all about the corn conspiracy and she gladly checked them out for me.

"You enjoy these now," She handed them to me and took my hand. "It was great to see you again," She smiled again and walked to the back of the library.

"You too," I muttered.

Shoving the two books into my bag, I pulled it onto my shoulders and left the library, urges to hide in the bathroom and read raced across my mind but I had to push the ideas aside.

"Hey!" Kacen saw me and slammed his locker closed. He ran over to me, adjusting his backpack straps. "Do you feel any better?"

"I told you that I am-" He grabbed me by both arms and shoved me into a set of lockers suddenly, I yelped in surprise "Ow!"

"Fine? Do you really think I am going to believe that you're just fine? I haven't seen you this lost since you had those nightmares about Emersyn."

"Do you seriously have to bring up my little sister?" My stomach turned at the memory and the unwanted memories came to my already full mind.

"I'm sorry," He pulled away from me and ran his fingers through his tangled hair. "I'm just worried, something is off with you."

"What do you mean? I'm like I am every day-"

"Then why on Earth did you get a 65 on yesterday's science quiz, a 42 on the calculus quiz and when Mr.Tally asked you what started the civil war you said Abraham Lincoln? And you never corrected Alex in class when he said the sixth number in Pi was 7, you love to correct him."

My eyes widened. "I did not say Abraham Lincoln!"

"You really did. You are, in so many ways, not okay Blake. Just please tell me what's going on inside that head of yours?"

My eyes brimmed with tears and I turned so he wouldn't see me. "Kace-"

The bell rang, thankfully saving me from the interrogation.

"I need to get to class, we have a test in calculus."

"Blakely!"

"What?!" Turning to look at his worried expression I realized what I had said.

"You took that test yesterday, remember?" He watched me as if I was going to drop at any second.

"I'm okay. I just have a lot on my mind...and I mean more than usual," A tear escaped past my eyelid and I wiped it away quickly so he wouldn't see it. "I'll see you after school," Not waiting for him to respond, I joined the group of kids walking towards the west hall and made my way to class.

°•°•

Studying the clock more than my unfinished French homework in front of me, I felt my teacher giving me the eye all through class. She would glance over at me any chance she had, and although it did spark my curiosity, once I caught a glance on my stranded backpack, I was consumed by a different train of thought.

Knowing that my whole life worth of questions could be just underneath that zipper made my leg bounce in both eagerness and nervousness.

Finally giving in, I ditched my homework and reached for my bag. As I grabbed onto the zipper, I was stopped by my teacher. She stood right next to me, a concerned look covering her face. "Dear, can you please come with me?" Her small delicate accent felt like defeat in that moment.

"Go with you? Like, out of the classroom?" I was hopeful that she just wanted me to walk to her desk so I could keep an eye on my bag, but she quickly motioned for me to follow her into the hall. With a sigh, I stood and ditched my bag on the floor.

Closing the door behind her, I was her focus and it was obvious she was about to confess her worry. "Blake, you've been very off the last few days, but especially today. You're always the first one done with class work and then suddenly you weren't turning in anything but empty sheets of paper with your name on them. I don't want to intrude, but if you are in trouble, danger even, please reach out to me or your counselor, I am sure she would be more than happy to listen-"

"Mrs.Brodeur," Cutting her off, I cursed under my breathe and grabbed onto my mess of hair. "I'm okay, really."

"You ran out of Brollen's classroom this morning, Blakely," As she did have a fair point, there was no way I was about to tell someone about the nightmares. It was hard enough thinking about them, let alone sharing them.

"Yes well, I was feeling really sick and needed to throw up," I gave her an apologetic smile for sharing that information. "I'm just a bit sick, I'm sure I will be back to turning in my work first very soon. I'm just trying to push through the week," The last part was more to myself, but she nodded her head in what I assumed to be agreement.

"I may just be your french teacher, but I have known you long enough to know how you are when you're just sick. I understand you may feel a bit overwhelmed, especially with mid terms coming up, but truly if something heavy is weighing on your mind - not that it is! Something doesn't have to be, but if something is. We are here for you."

The bell rang over our heads and I waited impatiently for her to finish. "Thanks, I will keep that in mind, can I go?"

She just nodded her head and I rushed inside, dodging a few students. As soon as my fingers wrapped around the straps, I felt a wave of relief.

I just needed to get home first, and then, I could read.

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Thank you for reading! I am not sure how good this is after reading it over eighty times, I will look over it in a few days but please let me know what you think!

Still working on an update schedule, but the next chapter should be up soon.

Vote if you want to, and again thank you for taking the time to read this 💕

~ skelocookie