School always starts in my town on a Wednesday. Starting in the middle of the week seemed to be a favorite quirk of the schools, almost as if they're trying to ruin the middlemost day of the week with a dreaded feeling reserved for Mondays. Besides the point, Thursday didn't end up being too much different, except for the fact that I had lost an absurd amount of pencils.

I am an over-prepared person, as Tori calls it. I over prepare for any situation. I think of what I'm going to say ten minutes before I say it, as if I imagine conversations as a strange game of chess, where if I don't plan my moves it could cost me the game. I find myself planning for things on a very high scale, and I supply myself with things that could definitely make me through two years--like this year, with pencils.

I had bought and paid for with my own money a heavy estimate of sixty pencils. There was no way I was going to lose enough to screw me over halfway through the year, when the finals came around and suddenly I was thrown into a panic when I only had a short pencil that I found on the floor of science class with no eraser, a habit to lose all of it's lead, and strange bite marks that made me question whether I really needed a pencil or not. I wasn't going to go down that path. So I bought an estimate of sixty pencils.

First hour was fine. I only used one. Second hour I was thrown into a frenzy. I got out the pencil I used, then went to grab something else, and it disappeared. I grabbed another one, thinking that it was just me and my forgetfulness. I started paying attention to the teacher, and when I needed to write something, I reached for my pencil to find that it also had disappeared. Surprisingly, this didn't strike me as fishy at all. I just got another pencil. The trend continued, and this one disappeared. I figured it rolled off the desk and onto the floor. I grabbed the fifth pencil of the day and began to write again. For the rest of second hour, I was fine.

Pencil Counter: 55 pencils.

In third hour, someone asked me if they could borrow a pencil. They had long, brown hair and brown eyes, and had glasses. they were wearing a green jacket and jeans. They smiled and waited for my response. I gave them one and pulled out another for me. They thanked me and sat down. Their seat was next to mine. I once again started paying attention to the teacher when I reached for my pencil again and found it wasn't there.
This time, I held on to my pencil when I took it out. Third hour went without problem afterwards. I never got the one pencil back. I ended up dropping the pencil on my way to fourth hour, though.

Pencil Counter: 52 Pencils.

Fourth hour ended up being lost pencils galore. The same person from the hour before asked me for another pencil, saying it was "for a friend". I gave them another pencil and continued on. I dropped a pencil and forgot. Dropped another one. And another. And another. And one more after that. I didn't know how many I was dropping, but I always forgot. And never picked them up. I went to go pick up some, but they were gone as soon as I looked down. I was very, very confused. I eventually gave up and continued grabbing pencil after pencil until...

Pencil Counter: 37 Pencils.

German didn't end up being much fun after that. I told Graye about all my pencils being lost and they just laughed, said I had a knack for losing pencils, and proceeded to take one of them for shits and giggles. We ended up passing notes again, this time me using a pen. I wasn't risking losing more pencils.

Pencil Counter: 36 Pencils. Or so I thought.

Language Arts was the worst. I walked into that class to see the brown-haired kid from earlier, sitting there just counting pencils. They were my pencils. I watched them for a second as they counted the last ones. "56!" They said to themselves. I sat down and checked my bag for my pencils.

Pencil Counter: 4 Pencils.

"What the everliving fuck?!" I said to myself, looking at the pencil thief. They glanced at me and smiled. I got up walked over to them.

They didn't look at me. "Can I help you?" They asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Firstly, what are your preferred pronouns? Secondly, why do you have all my pencils?"

They looked up at that. "Pronouns are she and her. I have your pencils because why not?" She laughed a little bit. "It's funny to see your reaction."

I sighed. "It's not funny to the victim of the crime."

"Oh? So you're a victim of a crime? Explain to me what crime this is."

"The crime of theft! Of stealing! You stole from me!"

"The pencils? That was hardly stealing."

"If it wasn't stealing, then what was it?"

"Borrowing. For the day."

I was almost livid. "Why do you need to borrow 56 freaking pencils?"

The Pencil Thief shrugged. "In case I lose some. But anyway, here's your pencils back." They pushed them towards me.

I stayed silent and watched them.

They had a confused expression. "Take them! Don't you want them back? Just take them before I steal them again. This time permanently."

I scooped up all the pencils as Noah walked in the class. I glanced his way and smiled. He smiled back. I looked back towards the pencil thief. "What's your name?" I asked. "I'm Declan."

"I know who you are," she said. "I'm Rebecca. It's nice to meet you. Sorry for taking all of your pencils."

"It's chill," I said. "I'll see you around, Rebecca."

I turned and left after that, putting all of my pencils back in my case except for one. I looked back at Rebecca and noticed she didn't have anything to write with. I walked over and gave her the pencil. She looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back and sat down right as the bell rang.

Maybe the pencil thief wasn't that bad after all.