Sincerely, Anonymous

March 8

Dear Annabeth,

Today came and went in a similar fashion as Saturday. I woke up early to get some studying in before I would have to head to the barn. And no, to answer your unasked but obvious question, I was not staring at my tablet the entire time waiting for a ping from Alex. Instead I was legitimately immersed in my pile of homework, one in which had been building up at a far quicker pace than I was able to work at. So, as you can imagine, I was more peeved than pleased when Alex pinged my tablet at noon asking if I was ready to head out to the barn. By that point I had hardly made a dent in the work, but came to terms with the fact it would not be accomplished for quite a while longer.

It took me about an hour before I got around to actually responding to the ping, along with the seemingly endless notifications that I had also let pile up. There was a ping from Kay telling me I should stop by and check in some time, very discreetly. There were somewhere around ten pings from Brianna all talking about a song I had sent her, and then asking me if I had checked out the pilot episode of an old TV series she wanted me to begin (that I had not had the time for). The others were Amy asking about an assignment in our mathematic class and Emily telling me I was late on our weekly phone call. 

Like my pile of homework, my tablet was yet another thing in my life I had no time for. That, and the fact I would, by far, rather communicate with my friends in person where it was harder to be monitored (a fact that my friends seemed surprisingly willing to overlook).

To get back to the topic of my day, I did eventually respond to Alex and he picked me up from my house around 2. Feeling the day already slipping from me, we rode quickly. 

I had the rest of the day to my discretion, and my discretion determined that homework could be put off further to gain some little semblance of sanity. And that I how we ended up spending the rest of the day talking with Alex. 

Katherine came around some time in the afternoon and I introduced her quickly. She seemed more than willing to go ride than stay and talk with us, and I was more than happy to let her. That’s how we’ve always been. Katherine follows the rules and never gets close to anyone. I like to think I try my hardest not to get close to anyone, but I fail where she succeeds. She’s too logical, and too hard pressed in her ways. We’ve been opposites since we were little (me being driven by emotion). We are both similar in one thing though, we would both rather be near horses than people. Unlike me, Katherine prefers such due to years of solitude, while I have years of built up trust issues and social anxiety.

Off the topic of Katherine, Alex and I sat for a few hours playing our “truth” game, though not as competitively as the day before. Each question got a long explanation, a story line, and more questions about it, making it more of a conversation than a game. And we would pause for long periods of time between questions, not in an awkward way but in that kind of comfortable way that means you are okay with just being in the company of someone else.

Around 6 I went home for dinner, once again letting Alex walk me home. And now I am writing you, but I must go soon, it’s 8 on a Sunday which means the half an hour of mandatory programming is on. It’s all the same stuff: Moneta is great, make sure to get tested at the Facilities, here are some Careers to strive for. But, it’s mandatory and I am not quite rebel enough to so blatantly disregard such a trackable felony.

Love Always,

Lilly