The air in the hall was particularly cold as if the room was cooled overnight. My eyes skipped the crowd and easily caught the appearances of the group who seemed standing under the spotlight. When Eugene saw me, he nodded to me apathetically. Whereas Jun, who was standing beside him while playing a game, smiled. Dave was sitting down with sagged shoulders and when Belle saw me at last, she glided towards me as usual. We were here to check the class lists announced on the glass doors around the hall.
"Dani," Eugene opened his mouth and continued, "bad news, your name is not in the list."
Before I could draw my brows closer, Belle pushed him away to deflect whatever he was trying to say anymore and grabbed both of my hands. Her face was so serious, however, there was a naughtiness in the corner of her eyes so I knew right away that she's just playing around. I pulled my face to look serious as well going along with her scheme.
I asked, "What's up?"
"Damn! Eugene is also in the same class with us this year!"
She yelled out loud, facing me with teary eyes. I put my hand around my mouth and said in a grave voice, "What a bad luck!"
"We're so unlucky!"
"Yeah, what the hell."
"I can't believe you will stoop down to Belle's level." Eugene smirked and spoke to me like a jackass.
I smiled seeing our names together at the attached class lists. I knew from the very first start that he was speaking bullshit. First, it is known that one of the system in this school is putting all the most outstanding students in the same class. That's also one of the reasons why I got serious in studying last year. Thinking back on my friends who are so diligent, I needed to catch up. And lastly, looking at their bright expressions, only blind people would believe him.
•••
Kenneth was elected as the class president. He is a reliable guy who knows how to make fair decisions as he also served consecutive terms as class president on high school. What surprised me is Belle. She run for the vice-president and was also elected. Anyway, there are some things in this school that bothers me.
First of all, the buildings for the first years are located at the farthest back of the school. It shouldn't be a problem except the fact that we have to climb a hundred steps of stairs. Every steps of rising floors would send us in our classroom dripping with sweat.
Isn't it the same as bullying the new students?!
When I came to the room, it was freaking cold. The sudden disparity with the temperature outside left me speechless. I glared at the air conditioning. I heard a suppressed laughter so I turned my head and saw Kenneth.
He said, "I remembered something. You're just like that AC."
I tilted my head in wonder and looked back at him. Kenneth, however, paused before he eyed Dave who was sitting next to him. Dave looked at me before raising his head up to look at the air conditioning on the ceiling.
What's wrong with the AC and how was I similar to it?
A moment after I continued wondering, Kenneth and Dave both burst out a giggle. I lifted my eyes at them with a frown. As I eyed them with intent, they again, just laugh in my face. Kenneth scratched the back of his head for a second before opening his mouth.
"Do you remember last year? It was the last days of spring before the summer. That time, our classmates were all about to die because of the heat."
I remained silent but responded with a nod, then I suddenly frowned. I remembered something weird that happened.
"Weren't our classmates kind of acting weird around that time? They just came to you for no reason then they keep putting their arms around you. It was such a fuss. Didn't you think they acted kind of strange?"
I knew what he was talking about. I was mostly sleeping on afternoons. But there was a time that I've been disturb for a week from my peaceful sleep. I would wake up seeing my classmates invading my personal space saying stuff like, 'Oh, isn't it too hot!' before sitting next to me. After that, they keep patting me and touching me weirdly.
They again collapsed into giggles as if they read my mind seeing my annoyed expression. Kenneth continued his words. "You we're always sleeping so Belle and Jun always begged you to wake up."
"Yeah."
"You would be listening to music through an earphone with David in your right side. And you know, like you, he would just lay down asleep like a corpse."
Dave who has his lips shut tightly all the time, smiled. His eyes became hazy as if he recalled something.
"But one day, David suddenly jerked and began to rub his arms as if he felt cold. We turned our eyes at him in surprise since he rarely got up from sleep."
"And?"
"He took in his surroundings and asked, 'Why is it so cold?' You know how it was extremely hot that day that we had no choice but to keep fanning ourselves but he just said something like that. We were really surprised. But we were more dumbfounded when he suddenly leaned towards you and said, 'No wonder it was so cold.' After that, he went back to sleep."
The corner of my lips twitch. "You're exaggerating. Wasn't it because I'm sitting beside the window?"
It is Eugene who broke into laughter this time. He was listening with others since earlier but now, he keep pouring his words while his shoulders shivered. "We think that it was also the reason. But do you know why our classmates kept on touching you?"
I shook my head.
"It is because you're literally cold. Damn, I mean, your body is."
Is that why Kenneth said I'm like an AC?
"Since that day, our classmates calls you a human AC."
"Why do you have that face? It's rare to see you confused. Don't tell me you didn't know that?"
I am aware that my body temperature is lower from others. At first, I thought it was because I came from the west and the weather pattern here is different. But it's been two years now, while it's still the same as ever. So, I naturally accepted that fact.
"Why are your hands even cold? Did you try seeing a doctor?" Jun asked me worriedly. He was playing a game on his phone but he put it down and grabbed my hands. I saw the character he was playing getting killed before it was covered with blood. Seeing that it was not a big deal to him, I turned away from it and replied.
"There's nothing wrong with me. I had just a check-up recently."
"I see. Then it must be because you move less. I once read that the body temperature drops when you always limit your movements."
"Wow! So you're like that just because you're too lazy? Awesome." Eugene exclaimed.
Hearing him, the rest laughed. Belle also laughed along with them and didn't refute and smack him like usual. The corner of my lips twitched again because of that. Jun then continued. He's really knowledgeable.
"It is also said that applying cold water to the body can reduce body temperature. In this case, body temperature decreases as a result of conduction. Are you doing it on body points where the veins are close to the surface such as the wrists, neck, chest, and temples?"
The guys all stared at me, waiting for my answer. How did they end up interrogating me?
"No. You know I hate anything cold." I answered.
But I used to... I used to take showers with cold water even during winters. Now I realized that my body suffered from having a low temperature maybe because of that.