Apoorva Pathak

“Adam smiled cheerily. Ronan would start wars and burn cities for that true smile, elastic and amiable.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven King

“I thought I was hallucinating,” Adam said, next to the lockers, an announcement droning on over the hall speakers. “Ronan Lynch in the halls of Aglionby.”
Ronan slammed his locker. He had not put anything in it and had no reason to open or close it, but he liked the satisfying bang of the metal down the hall, the way it drowned out the announcements. He did it again for good measure. “Is this a real conversation, Parrish?”
Adam didn’t bother to reply. He merely exchanged three textbooks for his gym hoodie.
Ronan wrenched his tie loose. “You working after school?”
“With a dreamer.”
He held Ronan’s gaze over his locker door.
School had improved.
Adam gently closed his locker. “I’m done at four thirty. If you’re up for brainstorming some repair of your dream forest. Unless you have homework.”
“Asshole,” Ronan said.
Adam smiled cheerily. Ronan would start wars and burn cities for that true smile, elastic and amiable.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven King

“The white fathers told us: I think, therefore I am. The black goddess within each of us - the poet - whispers in our dreams: I feel, therefore I can be free.”
― Audre Lorde