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— She probably got scared of her own reflection! — Maddie shouted.
The words hit Mark harder than he expected.
— Maddie, shut up! — he snapped, his voice breaking but coming out loud and clear.
The crowd gasped. Even Miss Harper fell silent for a moment. But her face quickly filled with rage.
— Emma, this is too much! — She stepped forward and grabbed his arm. — You’re coming with me right now!
Mark followed Miss Harper automatically, but his thoughts and emotions swirled too wildly for him to focus. He felt the stares of the other school kids from their group as Miss Harper pulled him away from the mirror. The looks pierced into his back—Maddie and her clique’s mocking gazes, others’ surprised expressions. But one stood out, making something inside him flip. Dan’s gaze. He wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t pitying. His eyes were sharp, scrutinizing, as if he were solving a puzzle.
“What’s he staring at? Does he think I’m weird? Why do I even care what he thinks? I don’t! Just let him stop drilling me with those eyes—it’s so damn annoying!” — But no matter how much Mark tried to push the thought away, the sensation of Dan’s gaze lingered. Even after Dan was out of sight, it felt as if he was still being watched.
— Livingston, are you listening to me? — Miss Harper’s voice cut through, stopping in front of a door. Mark blinked quickly, snapping back to reality.
— Yes, — he muttered, trying to mask the tension bubbling inside him.
— Then explain why you can’t just behave normally, — Miss Harper said sternly, tilting her head slightly.
“Normally. What do they even want from me? I already agreed to play the good girl after they made me apologize to Maddie. Me!” — His thoughts raced, and he couldn’t stop replaying every humiliating moment from his new life. — “An adult man forced to say sorry to that brat who thinks she’s above everyone else. I didn’t even hit her—I just shoved her! And then there’s this damn uniform every day. Skirts, bows, like it’s all one big joke. And at home, Monica’s constantly nagging: ‘Emma, do the dishes,’ ‘Emma, vacuum the floor.’ Like I’m her maid. I used to earn enough to hire people like her, and now… it’s humiliating.”
— Emma? — Miss Harper repeated, her irritation growing as Emma seemed to drift off.
Mark raised his eyes to Miss Harper, forcing himself to sound calm.
— Sorry, Miss Harper. I was just thinking, — he said evenly, though inside he was boiling.
Miss Harper squinted at him, clearly not buying his excuse. She knew Emma’s reputation as “difficult to handle,” and her irritation only deepened.
— It’s amazing how you manage to get good grades with this attitude, — she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm and disbelief.
— Because I’m smart, — Mark shot back, lifting his head to meet her gaze, not realizing that his smile had turned almost defiant. But Miss Harper didn’t appreciate the tone.
“Well, what’s the matter, Harper? Surprised?” — Mark thought, his mind flashing back to his past. — “Yeah, Miss Harper, I’ve already graduated college and once ran a department at a company.”
— One more “smart” move like that, and you won’t have any chance left to prove it, — Miss Harper said coldly, her tone low and warning.
"Oh... damn, I forgot again... This is the last thing I need right now. If the real Emma comes back, I definitely don’t want to ruin this girl’s life. But if I end up stuck like this, then..." The thought cut off, the terrifying truth beyond it too much to face. Yet the reflection gave a clear answer, though for Mark, it felt disturbingly strange and deeply unsettling.
— I’ll try, — Mark said quietly, his voice almost indifferent, though that was far from the truth.
Miss Harper gave him a long, measuring look but said nothing more. With a sharp gesture, she indicated he should return to the group.
"What am I trying for? To be the good girl? That still sounds ridiculous, especially when I’m already… giving it everything I’ve got." He shot a nervous glance at the skirt, a persistent symbol of what he’d lost. He felt foolish. "Trying? For what? For her? For myself? This is just someone’s cruel, stupid joke..."
Mark walked with his eyes on the floor, but his thoughts kept returning to the mirror. “I saw myself. Not this girl, but my real self. It showed me something. This wasn’t just my imagination. It means… it means there’s a chance.” He clenched his fists, feeling how this realization pushed despair aside. Hope, faint and fragile like a flickering light in the darkness, began to stir somewhere inside him. But with it came fear—what if this was just a trap? An illusion meant to make him cling to false dreams?
“No. I saw it. It was real,” he thought, shaking his head as if to cast off the doubts. His steps quickened, his heartbeat grew louder, and a strange sense of determination began to take root within him. “If there’s even the slightest chance to fix this, I have to find out. I have to understand what that mirror is and why it showed me this.”
He abruptly raised his head, realizing he’d already reached the group. His gaze immediately landed on Maddie. This time, though, she stood silent, a mocking smirk tugging at the corners of her lips as if she was already planning her next jab. But when her eyes met Dan’s, standing a little off to the side, her expression shifted, tensed, and then completely disappeared.
"Serves you right, bitch," Mark thought with a mental grin, a strange wave of satisfaction washing over him. He allowed himself a brief, genuine smile, barely suppressing a small chuckle.
— Emma, what are you so happy about? — Jessica whispered, leaning in closer. Her voice was full of curiosity, and a sly spark lit up in her eyes, as if she had picked up on something unusual in her friend’s behavior.
Mark exhaled, meeting her gaze. He still wore a brief, almost imperceptible smile—warm but enigmatic, as if everything happening was now part of a plan known only to him.
— It’s fine, Jess, — he replied calmly, his voice unexpectedly firm. — Everything’s going to be fine.