Diary of an Asian Kid

17 Jan 2011

17 January 2011,Monday

I did something incredibly stupid last night: stayed up half the night reading Insatiable by Meg Cabot. In my defense, I'm a pretty big fan of all her books. This was no different. It's about a psychic woman (who can foretell when you're going to die) who happens to fall in love with a vampire. The ending is really lousy, because, once again, there are more in the series. Strangely, it felt like Mom was yelling at me to wake up right after I closed my eyes; I usually remember sleeping, or at least, dreaming.

For the first time in weeks, I went to school with Mom (on her bike). When I reached the school gate, I saw two familiar people: Alice and Christopher. Of course, I hurried to catch them, so that was why I wasn't as sleepy later than I could have been. For some reason, Christopher was walking rather quickly, so Alice and I had to hurry to keep up. His classroom is on the fifth floor, and it's the one furthest away from the front gate as well.

Had a physics test which got 84. Not bad, but not good either. Halfway through, Debbie (she's the Science teacher's helper) got up to write the answers to the eight optional homework papers last week. I was pretty proud of myself for having finished six and a half of them during Saturday at the library.

Morning was really, really boring. Either reviewing prior exam papers or doing more. At least, we got to watch a movie during 4th period music. Beyonce is featured in it, I think.

When I went to the historical area for lunch (it's finally stopped raining for a while!), I was rather pleased to find both Alice and Yvonne there. Although Yvonne was bundled up in a heavy coat (their class got to wear their own clothes as opposed to uniforms today because of good performance during the exercises from ten to ten twenty in the morning. They're one of the few classes that actually do it), she kept complaining of the cold.

Apparently, Yvonne doesn't fit into her class well at all. Welcome to the club. Seriously, you're the third member. Her problems are similar to mine in that we don't really know how to interact with people in our class, but there's a major difference: I don't dislike anyone in particular, and no one dislikes me. Unlike Yvonne, who is quite blunt sometimes. And her thoughts are…simpler? Than mine, from what I've gathered. I do think a lot. But then, so do most teenage girls.

Afternoon was as boring as the morning, with the exception that people kept asking me for gummy bears. Especially Joe and Ben. Unlike Leah, who usually takes the whole box and polishes off half of it, the boys come to beg for food in increments. Most of the time, if I'm in an okay mood, I find them hilarious.

We didn't have the eighth period today because it's the last week of school. We still had the afternoon test, which was moved up a period, sadly.

I assumed there was a ten-minute break before it, so I went out to find Alice. When I got back, I found out that there wasn't a break after all. Everyone was busily scribbling away on the exam. I hurried quietly into my seat and started on it. Chinese, mostly punctuation and the 'six principles of word creation'. Miss Chen made no move to tell me I was late, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Had she even seen me coming in?

Luckily, I always finish exams on the early side, so when we had to mark it at four thirty, I'd already finished it.

Miss Chen told us to go home quickly and don't linger in the classroom. She was practically herding us out.

I packed my bag and headed for the library, hoping to catch Alice. But the library was already closed. Then I remembered something: Chen-Xi's boyfriend from class 910 was already hanging outside our classroom, waiting for her, so it meant Christopher's class had already let out!

I remember thinking, if I hurry, I can probably catch him. So I walked briskly along the 'fountain square' (which has a never-been-used fountain). The main gate, being really early, (for me, 4:30 was the earliest I've gotten out of school for a long time. The sky was still light!) was wide open. I spotted Christopher at the traffic junction, waiting for the green light, mostly because his school bag is bright orange in color. I broke out into a jog, and managed to catch him halfway.

Oh, and before I reached the pedestrian crossing, I heard Victor yelling out my name. I turned and waved at him, then, of course, continued on my way.

The first thing I asked Christopher was just when school was supposed to let us out today. He said four thirty. Hmm, I really had no idea. Well, no one told me.

We started talking about, as usual, tomorrow's finals, moving onto the subject of our History teacher (she's really much nicer to our class, but that's why our marks for the final revision test was the lowest in all her classes. She said that she's going to look at our finals' marks to see if she needs to start being even more strict to our class. Actually, I think we do need her to be more strict), and somehow, onto the topic of dogs, cats, and pets in general.

Christopher really likes small animals (so cute! Him, not the animals, though I like them too. I hope to be a vet someday.), and it turns out that he wants to have a 'Golden Retriever' (Seriously. He said it in English!), just like my dad, who's been dreaming of keeping one since before I was born, according to my mom.

However, so far we've only kept two tortoises, a stag horn beetle, and currently a rabbit. Dad's allergic to dog fur, and Victor and I are, too. We keep the rabbit in the yard, not indoors (Say, rabbit fur's really soft. But now, since keeping one, I feel repulsed whenever I feel it on clothing or accessories.).

As usual, someone who Christopher knew walked by. I'd never seen this girl before, though. When she looked at us, he immediately said to her, "She's not my girlfriend!" After she passed us, he told me that she wouldn't gossip, probably, but she'd think too much, like a lot of teenage girls.

"Unlike boys, in my observations," I remarked drily. "Does it really matter if people see us?"

"Well, no," he said, looking a bit uncomfortable. "But you know less people."

I said brightly, "That's when knowing almost no one around here comes in handy." I really did mean it, though. "You're afraid of rumors," I added.

After that, I found out that, for a change, he doesn't have tuition on both Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday's the last day of school, and we usually just go to assembly, which ends quite early. Sadly, we don't have much time for fun. Winter classes begin right smack on this Friday.

Alice and I are going to see a movie after school that day, and I dearly wished I could invite Christopher along. But I didn't have the guts, I wasn't sure he'd come, I didn't know if Alice would agree to it, and it seems weird, so I just kept my mouth shut. Actually, it all boils down to: I have no guts. About these kinds of things, I mean. I'm not scared of blood/the dark/rats/insects/roller coaster/finals/teachers, but interpersonal interactions? Forget it.

Even though it's the finals tomorrow, perhaps in spite of it, I couldn't get up the energy to study right away. After showering, reading, having dinner, and practicing the piano, I spent around an hour going through the prior 8 Science papers with my mom. There weren't any big problems, thankfully. I do think I stand an okay chance tomorrow. Wish myself luck!