Today was terrible. I sat alone at lunch. No one talked to me, but I knew what they all were thinking. When I passed that beautiful girl in the hallway, the one with the glittery eye shadow, nose piercing, and perfectly feathered hair, she looked at me and wished I would stop staring at her. Or maybe…“glaring” at her. I don’t quite remember. Anyway, she was sulky. Then when I walked into English, Mr. Blackwell thought about how I’m late on the assignment that was due yesterday, and how much that affects my current average - 82. Then Jeremy walked in and he thought about how Jeremy has straight A’s in every class, including biochemistry. I don’t know how he knew that about Jeremy, but it crossed his mind.
    All throughout English the girl sitting next to me could not stop thinking about her boyfriend, and how completely blue his eyes are, and how his hair falls so perfectly around his face. I’ve never met the guy – never even seen him – but if I saw him around I’d recognize him. That’s how incessant she was.
    People ask me, “what’s this talk of thought reading?”
    I say “I’ll tell you,” and they think, “Good, I was confused,” relieved that they’re about to find out what’s been going on.
    Here’s the thing: People like to say, “I know what you’re thinking.” It makes them look insightful. But they never really know! When a person says that, he doesn’t know what you’re thinking about, he’s just making an educated guess based on what he knows about your personality plus your current facial expression. The less he knows about you, the more likely his guess is to actually be based on his own personality, and therefore wrong. I, however, actually know what everyone is thinking all the time. I read thoughts like subtitles. When you say something to me, I see something else in your head. I’ve come to find out that no one’s words match up completely with his thoughts, ever. It’s a major problem among people, or maybe a major solution.