Daeva: Black Diamond Chrysalis - Danielle Bolger (essential reading txt) 📗

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"Ew..." A few students chorused.

"This is not ew, but brilliant and essential to life for eukaryotes, to animal and human life!" She declared. "You see, this is a mitochondrion, the almost bacterial cell that lives with all eukaryotes. A special cell that lives in perfect harmony with their grander structures to provide all the energy our beings need!"

"Um... miss?" A student put up his hand and continued with his query after the teacher gave him an accepting nod. "Is this going to be in the exam?"

"Certainly will be!" She exclaimed happily.

The whole class groaned.

"Come on students, I know it's a lot to take in now, but soon it'll all make sense. We've only just started this topic and it isn't a simple one, just give it some time to form a picture in your minds and soon, I promise, it'll all make sense!" My teacher's black bob swayed as she moved her head emphatically.

I smiled as I commented. "I don't get it but I believe Miss Cerney in that once I see the image it'll all make sense. I just have to keep taking it all in until the pieces join together."

"Yeah, well I think you're better off just reading the text book, that puts it out there a lot more clearly than she does." Eric murmured behind his raised, interlocked hands.

I cocked my head to the side slightly and stifled a giggle. "You know, you're smart but you're not my kind of smart!"

Eric gasped dropping his hands instantly. "What do you mean by that?!"

"Eric!" My teacher reprimanded, the entire class becoming mute as they all looked at him. "Please do not cause such a disruption. Honestly, I'm surprised by you..."

"Ah," Eric blushed, "sorry, Miss Cerney."

Our teacher nodded. "That's fine since I know you don't normally act out, just please if you feel the need to talk do it without distracting the class."

Eric hung his head low as my teacher continued her lecture on eukaryotes.

"I mean," I continued, still smiling as if we had never been interrupted, "that we learn in very different ways. You like to read things in order to learn but I need pictures. That's what I mean by you're a different kind of smart."

"Oh..." He stated, still red. "Yeah, I guess we are."

Then the school bell rang.

"So to repeat it to those of you who weren't paying attention," my teacher stated with emphasis, "you're homework is to memorise the structure of a eukaryotic cell because tomorrow we'll be learning what each part functions in."

The class groaned again from the moment the word homework was voiced.

"Wow, you two lovebirds!" Louise cried from behind us. "I'm surprised I didn't see you two snogging with all that flirting!"

"Louise!" I cried with alarm.

Eric rolled his eyes. "We were just talking."

Louise smirked. "Yeah, you were talking, all through class. So what I wanna know is, when are you two going to make it official?"

I gasped. "Louise, that is inappropriate! You know Eric and I are just... just..." Suddenly I felt my cheeks flush. I tried to say friends but for some reason couldn't.

"Louise," Eric stated calmly, "why don't you scuttle off to your next class? For a friend you're really putting yourself in the way."

Louise's eyes widened. "Right!" She exclaimed. "Sorry, I'll leave you two now!" Then she did just as Eric told her and scuttled away, blindingly fast.

In a short moment the whole classroom of students disappeared and I seemed to be left alone with Eric. How did that happen? I wondered.

"I tell you what." Eric stated. "She does make a point."

"Who?" I asked. "Miss Cerney?"

Eric laughed as he reached across the desk, held there a moment before grabbing his pencil case. "No, Louise. That maybe we should..."

"Come on, children, get a move on!" My teacher stated from the front of the class. "I have another room to get to as well, you know, and I can't leave until you do."

"Oh!" I almost squealed. "Right, so sorry, Miss Cerney. We'll be outta your hair in a jiffy!"

And just like I promised I collected my things and quickly sorted them into my bag before hurrying to the classroom entrance, but just before leaving my teacher laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey." She stated softly so that Eric behind me wouldn't hear. "Next time, try not to talk so much. This is a pretty tough syllabus so don't do yourself a disservice by chatting the whole time. I know it was mostly in regards to the topic but if you want to know something ask me, that way you won't miss anything."

I gasped. "You heard?!"

Miss Cerney smiled as Eric came to meet us. "I did, but don't worry, I'm not angry, I was once your age too, and though you might not believe me it wasn't that very long ago. Just keep your chat to a minimum and your romance, out of the class." She winked.

I believed I must have turned beetroot red. Eric himself however didn't seem like he could have been too far off my own hue.

"Go on, get out of here!" My teacher ordered. "I was serious, you know, when I said I need to get to my next room."

"Right!" I replied. "Sorry, miss!"

We both stumbled out of the classroom, then I turned and said, "Well, I'll see you later!" Just as I made my steps towards my next class my hand was grasped, halting me.

"Hey, Abby." Eric said quietly. "Um, do you mind meeting me after school today?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Okay, if that's what you want, Eric."

He smiled, a mirror to my own. "Good. Then at our morning meeting tree, I'll see you there."

"Sure thing!" With content Eric released me and walked in the opposite direction towards his next class.

When I entered English my teacher received me with a frown. "Abigail, you are five minutes late. I hope you have a good excuse."

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Karsle!"  I responded hurriedly. "I... had to go to the bathroom."

"Liar." He instantly declared and then nodded knowingly. "You were loitering, like a delinquent."

"I, ah..." Then I gulped shaking beneath my teacher's hostile glare.

"It's my fault, sir." A girl behind me stated. "I stopped Abigail here on her way to class because I was lost. I was confused by the map I was given seeing as how it didn't entirely correlate with the renovations going on in school. So, since I was having trouble finding my way I thought that English must have been relocated like a couple of my other subjects were. Then, naturally, I sought the help of someone I recognised in my year and asked her where to find this class." When I turned back around with a big O to my mouth I saw the girl smiling bashfully. "It took a couple of confused minutes but finally we managed to work out that we were in the same exact English. Silly, really!" She laughed. "All that trouble for such a simple answer!"

"Is that right?" My teacher weighed, his tone unmoving. "In that case that would make you my new student, Ariel Serador, am I correct?"

Ariel giggled nervously. "Geez, you know my last name and all, you're pretty impressive, sir!"

"Hm." He replied with a stone face. "I like to call it observant, an essential skill for anyone attempting to unravel the multiple conveyances hidden within literature."

"Oh!" Ariel exclaimed excitedly. "You're certainly right there! All the best books I've ever read seem to have a different meaning every time! I mean, there's messages on the surface that everyone is meant to see, but only when you pay close attention or read things twice or thrice through do you get the work's full messages. That totally makes sense! It's like the old proverb, you can't see a tree through the forest, the same goes for writing too - you can't see the hidden meanings until you discover the obvious ones!"

My teacher frowned then surprisingly the corners of his lips pricked up. "Go find a seat, girls."

When I sat down at an empty desk I was surprised to find Ariel right next to me.

"I hope you don't mind if I sit next to you." She smiled.

"No, not at all." I replied before my teacher launched into a synopsis of a novel that was supposedly classic that we had the privilege of studying.  Along with the rest of the class I sighed as I was handed a well-used copy of the book.

"What's wrong?" Ariel enquired to my fallen expression. "You don't like it?"

"Actually, it's the opposite." I admitted. "I read this book once before and really enjoyed it and ever since it's held a place in my heart, but after being forced to study it I know that's going to be all ruined."

"Yeah, I get it." She nodded happily next to me. "The stars don't seem so bright once you learn they're just giant balls of gas!"

"Ah..." I responded.

"What I mean is," her smile reached her eyes, "that looking at thigs from different angles and discovering what makes things tick can take the magic away from them and that's completely understandable. But I'm afraid in this case you just don't have any other choice but break that book down."

"Yeah, I know." I sighed turning open the novel. I waited a few minutes but then finally asked quietly. "Hey, Ariel, two days ago in the forest, that was you, right?"

The girl didn't speak but I watched her closely and didn't miss the subtle nod.

"It's really strange, I feel like I know what happened but when I tried to remember it it feels like it's all just some blurry memory from a dream. But, you know, you remember meeting me so does that mean that all that... magic was real?"

"Magic..." The silver-haired girl possessed a small smile. "It would seem like that to you, wouldn't it? Your eyes don't know how to see the light's true colours and form. But it seems you have a strong sense of identity since your aura is resisting Gaia's influence. So I was right, you are a potential too..."

I gasped before whispering, "So... it was real? The light, the darkness. Tell me!" I ordered with a hushed voice. "Tell me what happened and who you are!"

The girl closed her eyes as she breathed in and out deeply. Then after a long pause she responded softly. "Please don't take this the wrong way, Abigail, but I don't think you really want to know the truths to my world. Right now you see everything as happy, your friends, your family are all kept close in your heart and the evils are far away. But if I was to tell you anything, then that perfect world you live in would cease to be so wonderful and that pretty painting you see of me would turn out to be a collection of ugly disjointed splotches. No, Abigail, I'm sorry, but I will not pull you into my world."

"That's... but that's not true!"

"Yeah?" Ariel countered. "Then why haven't you gotten past the first page of that book yet?"

I looked down at the creased novel in my hands that still displayed the heading, Chapter 1.

"Because," I responded meekly, "I know how the story plays out."

"No." She asserted. "It's because you don't want the story to play out any other way. A book will always contain the same words but what someone infers from it will always depend on the person. Normally that's fine, actually better than fine, that is the sole reason people argue that a book is always better than its movie despite the budgets utilised. Given the freedom, a book can be appreciated any way the reader desires, but if forced to assess it objectively than that freedom ceases. Then all possible angles must be considered, including the ones that some would rather avoid. Everyone interprets data differently, but when forced to be analytical then all of them are taken into account, even the ones the reader first deliberately pretended did not exist. That is why you