After what felt like forever, the teacher finally came and let us into the classroom. We stepped in and took our seats as he began taking roll.
“Before we begin our lesson on the battles of the Civil War, we will be switching up seats since some of you,” he pointed to the back of the class, “are chit-chatters.” All of the three girls in the back shut up. Everyone groaned and stood up. I could hear one kid say that at least this will take up some time. The teacher called each student’s name one by one and pointed to where they would be seated for the entire next semester. It was a small class. A nice bunch of sixteen self-conscious kids in one room. The few good things about it were that we didn’t get an absurd amount of work, and the teacher would sometimes give out Reese’s Cups for getting questions right. It was also at the end of the day, and I could go straight home. Just me with my own thoughts and my cats sleeping on my binder. Depending on my mood, I’d put some music on, which would blare at the loudest possible volume my computer could handle. I’d have a warm cup of chamomile tea, and after I finish my work, I’d watch the new Jaiden Animations video. Maybe depending on the time, I would also make some food or take a nap…
My mind snapped out of it when I realized which students were left to be seated. Me and my friend’s crush. Huh. Well this is fun and oddly cliché. Luckily she isn’t in this class; she’d be having a fit!
I didn’t know this kid. I only knew his name, which was Lex. We shared only one class and that was a whole two years ago. All I did know was that according to my friend, if I could still even call her that, he was popular. Or well “popular,” and that he had TikTok hair. And that he always wore hoodies, took the greatest photos, had a giant house (probably a mansion), and was also kinda quiet. And according to my friend, he was hot. Not my words, hers. To be honest, I didn’t know and I didn’t care. The only thing that was running through my mind was, “PFFFFFFFFFFFT HA! THIS IS SO FUNNY! LOLLLLLLXD” Ok maybe not that last part but you get the point.
The teacher sat us next to each other and went about his lesson. After that, he gave us a small little partner project. “For your homework I want you to continue this with someone of your choice.” Everyone in the room looked around and found a partner, including the one person I knew best. Which left me with this guy. I already felt like a bit of an outcast in this class since the girls in it were so different then me. All I ever heard them talk about were celebrities and makeup. Nothing against that but all I could think was, is that it? But what could I do? I had plenty of other friends but it made picking partners hard since everyone would go straight to theirs and I had none in this class.
“So, you want to work together?” he asked me.
“Sure. Since we don’t have much to finish, how about you come to my LEARN, it’s the classroom over?”
He nodded and the bell rang.
As I walked to my learn room, I noticed my friend Lillie walk out of since that was her last period. “Hey! How was class? Did you get any homework?” she asked me.
“Class was fine. I bet you would have liked it though.”
She looked at me confused. “What do you mean?”
“I have a partner project with Lex.”
“WHAT. You need to tell me all about him. What he likes, what he hates, if he’s still dating…”
I laughed and walked into my classroom. “Alright, alright I get the point. Wish me luck!”
After the teacher took roll and I got out my computer, put on some music, and waited for my partner to come into class. I eventually got impatient and started finishing it on my own. Ten minutes later, I heard the door open.
“Sorry I’m late. My teacher was out so I had to go to a different room and then sign out from there,” he said in a monotone voice.
“Oh no worries!” I paused my music and took out my earbuds. “I got started without you so we don’t have much left. Do you want to get started with the coloring while I finish up with the buildings?”
“Sure.” We worked in silence for about twenty minutes, if you don’t count the several times I tried to break the ice and have a conversation. It was really for my friend’s sake, but a few things in the news eluded to me that I wouldn’t be talking to people for a very long time anyways. I attempted to ask him about music, books, even sports, and I know absolutly nothing about sports! And you know what this kid did? He gave me nothing, NOTHING to work off of. This wasn’t an exaggeration, it was a fact, a true statement. “So, do you listen to any good bands?”
“Not really. Just hip hop and whatever’s on.”
Okaaaayy, I know nothing about hip hop and I don’t listen to any pop music. Maybe that wasn’t a good idea. “Read any good books?”
“I don’t like reading.”
Dangit, I’m out of all the staple I’m-not-like-the-other-girls type of questions. I’m gonna have to try some different tactics. “Do you like any sports?”
“Nah I’m not really into them.”
“What do you want to be when you’re older?”
“I don’t know.”
“This might be a bit rude but my friend wants to know why you broke up with-”
And then if this situation couldn’t get anymore cliché, another girl walked in the classroom and started chatting him up.
“Heeeeey Lex, are you free this weekend? My friends and I were going to go to Suburban Square and were wondering if you wanted to come.” She then proceeded to sit on top of my desk and plucked a piece of raspberry Ice Breakers gum into her mouth.
If it wasn’t for the fact that this girl sat on my desk, MY DESK WHERE I WAS WORKING, I wouldn’t have minded. Minded as much, at least. See, middle schoolers flirting with each other is cringy. I never really saw what it was like until this point. I had only heard from friends. And then I got to experience this first hand. Plus in this case, it was weird and it made me very, VERY uncomfortable. To be honest, I didn’t care that she was ignoring me. And I certainly didn’t care that she was flirting with him but just the way she talked and tried to get this guy to pay any lick of attention to her… it made me sick. And I was right in the middle of it.
Lex didn’t seem to pick up on what this girl was doing. He sat there nonchalantly doing his work and occasionally looking up from coloring the paper. It was like she didn’t exist. A mirage, a glitch, or an echo. A ghost. “Yeah sounds good.”
“Can’t wait to see you there ;). ” She hopped off of my desk and went over to a group of girls giggling in the back of the room.
I want to die. We worked for a little bit longer until about 75 percent of the poster was colored. After a while I looked up from the section I was working on and saw the girl and her friends leave early. I swore the girl who was flirting with Lex winked at him and then closed the door. I checked the clock and it said three on the dot. “It looks like there isn’t much more that needs to be done. I can work on it at home.”
“Are you sure? I feel like you did all of the work and I didn’t help much…”
“You did a lot actually! If it wasn’t for you we would be losing six of the twenty points for keeping it in black and white. I’m best at sketching and drawing things anyways.”
He laughed. “You are pretty good at drawing. I probably would have failed without your amazing skills.”
The bell rang and we parted ways as I walked home with him to the bus. By the time I was able to sit down and get out my brush-tipped markers to finish, I thought to myself, this day didn’t feel real. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all a dream, and I would wake up at any moment now. I pinched myself thinking that something would have happened. This feels like a story. Some Hollywood or Netflix director’s script. Whatever. At least it’s funny.
