ALIN

I sat on my chair taking notes as Mr. Crauser explained the details of the upcoming science project. “I want everybody to participate enthusiastically as a team and not just make your partner do all the work and as this will be added to your academic career please be punctual about it and do not miss the date of submission which will be exactly one month from today. We will discuss about the pairing up process in the next class. See you all.” The bells for lunch break rings and Mr. Crause exits the class.

I stretched my back and started organizing my things when my eyes fell on the boy making his way inside the class. His blonde dyed hair looked beautiful in the sunlight screening through the window and his face literally dazzled. He walked towards the girl in the second row who stood in her seat with hands wide open to welcome him. Once near her he pulled her in for a kiss resulting in a few high pitched cheers from the background. His left hand grabbed her butt and their mouth devoured each other. Seeing this something happened inside me and I shuddered. I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt over my head and grabbing my bag got out of the class towards the cafeteria.

Being a nerd, sitting alone in the cafeteria during the lunch was pretty common for me. Another reason of me having no friends was that I really don’t want to grab attention of anyone here neither do I want them to be in trouble. Yeah, anyone who will be friends with me will be in trouble as I was one of the studious, weird students of the society. So, they maintain their distance from me and I have come to really appreciate that.

The cafeteria was bustling as usual. Kids are busy chatting, eating, throwing food on each other, gossiping, making fun of someone, etc. You can see categories of people at each table. The table to my right was acquired by a group of studious kids who were probably busy discussing about something educational. Once in a while they threw glances at me. I don’t really know what those looks meant but they might be somewhere in the line of pity that I have no friends or sympathy that I was sitting alone. The table right in front of them contained the gossip girls who were hushing and giggling at every 10 seconds. They look at someone passing by and burst into fits of laughter. I never really understood these kinds of people. Don’t they have anything else to do other than snickering at others, as if their own lives were so perfect? The table in front of me was taken by the group of famous kids. Seated there were Kevin Sanders, the football team captain, Natalie Kim, the cheerleading team captain, Ariana Greene, the college principal’s daughter, Joe Peters, the handsome guitarist and He.

I knew him. Sebian White, that was what his name was but people knew him as Ian White, the fresh new face of the modelling world. He has not very long ago started his modelling career but is already at the heights of it. I mean why he won’t be when he lacked nothing. He had a pretty face, perfect slender body and also the attitude of a dickhead, the best combination ever. He lives nearby my house with his grandmother, Mrs. Reece. I have met her a few times and she is a lovely lady. I have heard that his father is a big businessman in the city and have sent him here to take care of his grandmother while continuing his college.

You might be wondering how I had so much information about everyone when I was just a back bench nerd. Well, you see, Strastown is not a very big place and everybody knows everybody else here. I have been living here for 21 years of my life now and am pretty familiar with everyone in this town, not because I am an extrovert but because I am good at noticing things around me. I took another bite of my lunch when I felt someone’s eyes on me. I looked up and almost chocked on my food. Sebian White’s eyes were directed straight at me and my spoon fell back on the plate when he slowly smirked at me.