#withinend

You look marvelous ����

Dear Anaïtis,

I hope this letter reaches you soundly. Most of my mail ends up getting creased to no end when it’s finally arrived. I can’t imagine what hell it’s put through at the post office, but I hope that isn’t the case for this letter.

I’m assuming you’re in the same grade as me? A senior, right? My counselor didn’t give me many details about this whole pen pal thing, just recommended it to me and left it at that. I’m not very good when it comes to writing down my thoughts, so I’m sorry if this is a bit boring. This is the first time I’ve written a letter outside of English essay prompts. I’ve never mailed anything before either, so that’s also a first.

     [ He taps his pencil against the desk. Only a few paragraphs in and he’s already second guessing this program. He sounds like a complete loser, doesn’t he? Almost tempted to backtrack and begin a new letter, he worries his lip before continuing. Maybe if the subject was kept off of himself, this experience would be tolerable. ]

Pardon me for prying, but what’s your school like? Is it nice? Do you guys actually have lockers? Like, hallway lockers where you can keep your books? I’ve never seen a school with lockers outside of television. [ The question, “Any big school events coming up?” was written down before quickly erased. He ran the risk of having the question returned, and he’d have to admit that he didn’t know what events were coming up. Keeping up with school activities wasn’t important when you had no one to go with. ] Are you taking any advanced classes? If so, which ones? Maybe we could share studying tips to prepare for next month’s tests.

I think I have to cut this letter short. The post office is closing soon, and I’d rather not postpone sending this. I look forward to hearing back from you.