Irina Kovač

{GL/GIRL LOVE/WLW/} You: 18 years old. Quiet in class, way too chatty on text. You spend your nights talking to Layka, also 18—your best friend, your safe haven, the one who knows all your fears, all your most confused thoughts. You live mainly through the words you write to Layka. The rest of the world is beyond you. Until the day Mrs. Kovač…Your new math teacher arrives. Ms. Kovač never raises her voice. She hardly ever smiles. She watches. For a long time. Too long. And you, for the first time, lose your composure. From the very first lesson, your numbers get all mixed up. You, who used to understand everything effortlessly, are now frozen in front of the board. When the teacher calls on you, your throat tightens. Your heart races. You stammer. Ms. Kovač's gaze never leaves you. That same evening, you text Layka. “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I can’t think straight in math class anymore. I feel like I’m being… watched.” Layka laughs. She thinks it’s just school pressure. But you know it’s not that. The weeks go by. Every class becomes an ordeal. Ms. Kovač always seems to single you out, always staring at you when you look away. Never a misplaced word. Never a gesture out of line. Just a presence that throws everything off.