I managed to do 50 pushups within the first minute, so I was allowed to take my seat in the last row near the back window.
"Wow, that was amazing." The girl next to me, Kriss, commented as I took my seat. "I can only do 5 pushups. That's why I'm always on time." She added. She's a bright and bubbly person so she has a lot of friends but she's never spoken to me before.
"It's not that amazing," I replied, what I just saw earlier was amazing.
"It is! You never do much in P.E. so I thought you were just unathletic but you're actually pretty strong!" She stated while moving a lock of her platinum blonde hair behind her ear. I smiled slightly.
"Well, thank you," I replied, not knowing what else to say.
"So what's your name?" She asked. Even though we are in the same class I must not stand out enough for her to already know it.
"Akina," I answered. She snapped her fingers as if she was remembering something then said,
"We have our lunch period at the same time, right? Let's sit together today." She suggested. I'm used to just sitting with Nacina and her friends. So my immediate feeling was apprehension.
"Yeah, that sounds fine," I replied. Ms. Smith began looking in our direction, encouraging us to end our conversation with her eyes, and we complied. When class was over Kriss decided to ask me another question.
"So why were you late for class?" How should I answer her? Should I casually admit that I was engaged in a life-or-death situation and got a little off track this morning? OR Should I lie and say I overslept... *sigh* I suppose I'll go with the truth.
"The guardian's battle got close and my walk to school was postponed,"
"What?! You saw the guardian up close?! That's amazing! So you were just skipping class to watch! I'm so jealous." I nodded weakly in agreement, although she wasn't completely right, I didn't feel like correcting her. Perhaps I should have just lied.
"Hey, Kriss," Will stated as he approached us. She waved and smiled at him.
"Hi!" Kriss greeted. After exchanging formalities with his friend, Will's eyes turned to me.
"I didn't know you were friends with Akina." He commented, with a slight tilt of the head. All this attention is making my head spin but, even so, a wave of relief flowed over me. Thankfully SOMEONE knows my name. Will has also never spoken to me. (He's tall so he stands out in class, his hair is black as coal and his eyes are light turquoise, he has a slender frame and an approachable demeanor, despite being tall, he's not intimidating at all.)
"We're not friends yet..." She mumbled then she leaned over and whispered to him. "But I have a plan." after adding that she giggled maniacally to herself. It's hard to explain how I felt, but it was a mixture of happy and amused, but anxious and fidgety at the same time. I wonder if someone like me can mentally tolerate more than one friend.
"I should hurry to my next class," I announced. "It was nice talking to you," I added before grabbing my things to leave.
"Wait!" Will shouted at my back then he grabbed the back of my hood to stop me from continuing to walk off. "We have the same class... I'll walk you." He demanded. My heart raced at the fear of future social interaction but I just timidly said,
"Alright." and waited as he grabbed his things and then returned to me.
"I wish I was in class with you guys, but I guess I'll have to wait till lunch to seduce you into friending me." Kriss said playfully, she lightly nudged me and winked before laughing then left the room as she yelled, "Bye!"
"It's weird... I've never seen you talking to anyone before today," Will commented once we were alone.
"Yeah... I'm kind of shy." I answered, pulling my hood on and hiding my face because when My hood is on, speaking is much easier. 'Shy' might not even be the right word for what's wrong with me...
"Is that so? I think there's more to it than that." He commented. "Anyway let's head to class now." He started walking first and I slowly walked after him. My next class is Culinary. I took it as an elective because cooking seems like a skill that anyone could find useful. We have to choose partners in this class and usually, I just pair with whoever is leftover but today Will insisted on making me partner with him.
"Today," Mr. Gregor began "We will be making Eggs Benedict since it's early and I'm sure most of you have skipped breakfast. I will demonstrate each step, watch carefully, and do your best to replicate what I do." He rolled up his sleeves while he was talking and began setting up whatever he needed on the counter. I did my best to watch him and grab the things we needed.
"So did something good happen today?" Will asked while gathering ingredients.
"Why do you ask?" I inquired, as I looked from our table to Mr. Gregor's.
"You seem happier than usual today... that's all." His observation struck me... maybe he really does know more about me than my name... I had always thought I was completely invisible during class, it's nice to know I was wrong, but happy? Am I happier than usual? Maybe it's the adrenaline from nearly dying plus Nacina confirming that I matter to her, that's put me in a good mood.
We got to eat our finished product I'm glad it came out well. Before we could, Mr. Gregor got to taste it so he could give us our grades. He gave us an A ... minus. Specifically, an 89, couldn't he spare a point?! 89 isn't the prettiest number. It could at least be an even number, it irks me just to look at it. As I was pondering about this, Will walked with me to my next class, which is Calculus.
"I'll see you at lunch." He stated with a smile. I returned his smile but my social awkwardness prevented me from coming up with a reply. After waving bye he left me and I entered the classroom and sat beside Nacina, this is the only class we have together.
"Hey, Aki! I missed you!" She cooed while leaning over my desk to hug me.
"Me too," I replied shyly. From then on she carried on the conversation. Her smile never faded, almost as if she really enjoyed talking to me. I say "to" me because, if you haven't noticed, I don't do much talking. Our teacher merely instructed us to work on our online assignments so we were allowed to talk to each other quietly to help each other.
When lunchtime finally rolled around, my stomach was tied in knots. Why you may ask, the answer is simple, Because I made a promise to socialize with people I barely know!! What was I thinking??! I might die from the panic!
Hopefully, it's like becoming friends with Nacina, that was so easy, I still remember it clearly,
(Flashback):
"Wow, your dress is so pretty." She complimented (we were 5).
"Thank you.... your bows are really cute..." I replied
"Wow, really thanks! My mom bought them for me when...."
and from then on Nacina carried the conversation and almost every day she'd seek me out to chat or play together. She loved how our names rhymed and she praised me for being such a good listener. Such a simple beginning... Getting along with normal people is going to be hard, no offense towards her, but she's odd. I sat with Nacina and her friends at the usual table but today, breaking the routine, Kriss and Will joined us. I'm kind of the odd one out in this so I hope no one is annoyed that new people joined our table because of me. I took several deep breaths to steel myself for whatever happens.