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Rule #1 Never make eye contact

    “So,” the professor paused as he looked around the lecture hall, “tell me class. Do emotions impede the human ability to think rationally?” The silence that followed was very plain. No one was going to speak up. Alex continued looking at the desk in front of him. It wasn't necessary to answer right now, so he wouldn’t answer. The silence continued making everyone feel uncomfortable. Except Alex. He kept on looking at his desk knowing that he would get called on to answer the question. If no one else would answer, the professor knew that the top of their class would. 

    After a few more moments of heavy silence the expected question came. “Alex, why don't you take a shot at the question?” 

    Alex didn't look up, or acknowledge the professor in any way until he spoke up. “Humans use their brain to think, and while emotions are also a part of the brain, they are an instinct. Not something derived from that individual’s own thoughts. Therefore they are instincts, that use up brain power on feelings that will contribute nothing to that individual’s life.” His voice was clear and eloquent, but also somewhat harsh. “So yes, they do affect our ability to think rationally.” 

    The class was quiet again as they took in what they just heard. No one would speak. They would just stay silent without anything to say. Alex continued looking at the desk. “They always stay qu-,” his thoughts were interrupted by a voice. It was distinctly female. 

    “He’s right. Emotions are product of an individual’s instinct. But the rest of his statement is incorrect. The reason an individual has these instincts, is to better comprehend situations, and respond to them with that knowledge in the best possible way. Emotions don't impede the thought process. They help it.” The silence after this statement was different from before. It was electric with tension.

    Alex turned and looked at the owner of the voice who was across the room. Their eyes met for a split second before he turned back around and resumed looking at his desk. All he could remember was a flash of grey, and maybe satisfaction in those eyes. 

Rule #2 Never look twice

    The rest of the class time passed slowly. Ever so often a student would speak up, but nothing caught Alex’s attention like the statement of the girl did. He found himself trying to comprehend what happened. No one disagrees with the top of class, why should she be any different? And why now? Surely if she was as bold as the way she spoke, then she would've spoken up more before now. “Instead of letting me dominate the class discussions,” Alex surprised himself by the contempt he felt in his thoughts. 

    He tried to remember her voice, but came up with nothing. All he could remember were the words, “his statement is incorrect.” No one had ever told him he was wrong. Never. Not once, so who was she to tell him that he was wrong. “That's it!” He felt glad he figured out what he needed to know. “Who was she?” From that point in class on, everything that happened blurred together. Except that question, “Who was she?” 

    The bell rang startling Alex from his thoughts. People were already leaving the lecture hall. He grabbed his stuff and began to turn around. Almost against his will, he looked towards the girl. She was staring back at him. A triumphant smile was plain on her face mocking him.

Rule #3 Never show emotion 

    Alex didn't recognize her. He searched his memories, but he did not find her there anywhere. No where did he find midnight hair, or such light grey eyes. Never had he ever seen such a mocking look.

    A few timeless moments past. Alex looked away, and walked out of the lecture hall. He could feel that condescending glare following him as he left. He closed the door shut, louder than he usually would. As if he could keep everything that just happened in that room. He held the door knob still like it would fly open if he let go. He stared at the door a moment longer, then took a deep breath and let go. 

    The door flew open, barely missing Alex’s face. The girl stepped through it, with her smile still on her face. It was as if time froze. Alex actually looked at her face, and noticed her dimples and laugh lines. And the mistake he was making.

    He turned around refusing to acknowledge her, and stalked down the hallway. Alex thought he heard a voice calling out to him, but he refused to listen. Nothing would make him turn around. He continued down the hallway ignoring all of the other people, and everything blurred again. He lost track of time and distance, even where he was. 

    He wasn't walking fast, but when he stopped he was breathing heavily. He looked around. He was standing in a different hallway, with the auditorium to his right. He immediately walked to the doors and threw them open. Alex wasn't quite ready to good to his psychology class, because his mind was in too much of a mess to analyze others. 

    The room was dark. He walked and sat in a seat in the very back. He didn't know how long had passed before the door opened, but he knew who it was without turning to look. He felt her presence close behind him. Again he tried to ignore her, but again he failed. He turned to look at her. 

    The kiss came unexpectedly, but he was only able to enjoy for a moment because something cracked in his mind. Like a wall was finally breaking down and falling. When Alex opened his eyes, his memories returned. Those grey eyes were triumphant again, but this time he understood why. For the first time in years, Alex smiled. He finally broke the rules.

One of my first real attempts at a flash fiction. As always, criticism is very encouraged. Thanks for reading

Or not

Lol, no need to be discouraged, sweetheart. I'll read it later. I have stuff to do.

Not all emotions are instinct. It is scientifically proven that some emotions are societal, such as shame.

The writing was good, but I felt no connection to the character, as lone wolf/super logical Spocks tend not to be interesting or relatable.

Also the line "It was electric with tension" was awful. You need to show tension through dialog, and this made it seem like badly written erotica.

Maybe the point is that the character isn't supposed to be relatable?  It seems like he alienates himself from other people, due to his smug intelligence, so we kind of get a feeling of alienation, or some kind of emotional distance, as the character is aloof with his own emotions.

But I do agree that Alex, the character, essentially acts like a little bitch.

All in all good writing, I liked this and I hope you write more flash fiction.

Nah, if you can't relate with a character at all it means the character is one dimensional or shallow. Even the most despicable villains have motivations that every reader can relate to in a remote way.

Not always. Sometimes characters are entirely meant to be unrelatable. Eldritch abominations, starfish alien-types and certain AI's entire character theme is that you can't relate to them.

I thought the trope of the lonely AI was that you could relate with their loneliness as nobody understood them.

I'm not referring to a lonely AI, I'm referring to the types of AI's that are meant to have a morality completely alien to humans, like AIs that are indifferent to morality, love or emotion, just fulfilling its orders, or has an ethical or moral system that's incredibly warped to the human mind.

Fair enough, but I think in this situation it's totally fair to say that the character should have been more relatable.

Agreed.

If I write about a similar character than I'll probably have to make it from a different character's perspective. Relating is crucial, and is something I should've paid more attention to. 

We'll see how I'm feeling about another piece. If I do write another it probably won't be out soon.

I probably should've researched it more before I talked about the emotions. I'll fix that in the final copy. 

It's good to know. I'll try to make the character more relatable, but as it were, I can't really do that without completely destroying the way the story unfolds. Well I might be able to do that, but I'd rather not. So I'll stick that piece of information for when I decide to write another piece. 

I wasn't too sure about the line either, but it seemed like it fit at the time so I used it. It'll be another thing I edit out/ fix in the final copy. 

Thanks for the feedback.

He could always transform into a relatable character as his story progresses, and then he could see he was wrong about what emotions are for, or something like that.  Like he could learn emotions are ok from the girl, but also to keep a balance of emotions and logic.

Essentially as it goes we'll see the stick fall out the characters you know what.

Yeah I could do that, but in flash fiction you have a maximum of 1000 words. You're not allowed to go over. Making him a relatable character would take more than a thousand words.

It's not that you can't make a relatable character, it's that it's hard to. I've read great flash fictions with relatable and three dimensional characters.