"Hey, Class Rep."
The girl looked up and frowned, putting a hand on her hip as she addressed the boys who'd called on her.
"What is it?"
"Can you go talk to that new kid? He's really weird."
She turned where they pointed and pouted.
"Yeah, whatever."
She walked over to the boy of 11, who was quietly coloring in a drawing. She sat across from him and smiled.
"Hi!"
She said cheerfully.
"My name's Elizabeth, it's nice to meet you!"
The boy glanced up at her, then to the left where he could just slightly see the boys out of the corner of his eye. He looked back to her and nodded.
"I'm… Paul."
The boy's voice was quiet, barely a whisper.
"Can you pass me the orange?"
Elizabeth held out the colored pencil and Paul took it delicately, turning back to his drawing. Silence settled between them but Elizabeth was determined.
"Hey, what are you drawing?"
She leaned up over the table between them but it was unneeded. The boy unfolded himself from around his sketchpad and showed it out to her. She cocked her head. It was a bird of some sort. It was a rainbow of colors and sat upon a branch.
"What is it?"
"It's… a toucan. They used to live on Earth. I saw a picture in my text book and tried to replicate it."
"Wow, that's really good!"
She looked up to find Paul suddenly shy. He looked away, towards the ground.
"…Thank you."
She gave him a good natured smile, before suddenly gasping. Paul traced her face and then frowned.
"They're acting up again... aren't they?"
With a worn out sigh unbefitting a boy of his age, he turned away from Elizabeth and quietly worked on resetting his eyes. Then he turned back to her, hanging his head like a beaten dog.
"I'm... sorry you had to see that Elizabeth."
She pulled at her collar, suddenly feel very suffocated by the mood.
"Not at all Paul, I think it's almost kinda... cool?"
Paul flushed up suddenly and rubbed his face with his sleeve.
"C-Cool... no one has ever called me that before. Usually it's just freak, or cyborg, or loser..."
Elizabeth sat down next to him.
"Well, if you ask me, being a cyborg is really cool!"
She started laughing, an infectious kind of laughter that eventually caused Paul's own nervous chuckles grow into laughter.
Author's Note: This is dumb, I'm so sorry.