The Outlier

SEVEN

I had decided that day, Mr. Mason was my favourite teacher. The lesson was the best thing to come of that day, I enjoyed the lesson so much that I barely noticed Mikes glances. The man was sweet and middle-aged, made occasional sarcastic comments on Romeo and Juliet's romance. His take on the toxicity of the whole story aligned perfectly with my opinions.

Like many years prior, I knew English was going to be my favourite subject this year.

The rest of the day seemed to go by in a blur. Hold a gun to my head and I still wouldn't be able to recall the events of what happened in the time period after English and before lunch. I wandered futilely the halls for a while before eventually finding a large sign stating 'CAFETERIA' and I'm pleased to know that my quest for the canteen has ended. 

As I entered the canteen, I scanned the room looking for a table that held Angela. All eyes turned to me for what felt like hours before I saw Eric's buoyant hand waving me over. I confidently walked over with long strides that shows I wasn't rushing but still had places to be, it helped me feel badass femme fatale character with a killer track when she walked into a scene.

I took a seat between Angela and a girl I'm not sure I've seen before. When I arrived, they seemed to be babbling animatedly, mostly the girls and Eric, about the upcoming spring dance. I settled that it would be most appropriate for me to introduce myself to the whole table as a whole since only three people knew of me.

"Afternoon, thank you all for having me," I announced sounding far too business-like to be speaking to teenagers, "I'm Kai Armin" I continued as they all sat and stared as though I grew horns.

Are they okay?

It was Eric, like I expected, who spoke up first.

"Hey, Kai," his tone not for a minute losing the eagerness it held. He went on to introduce the rest of the table.

"Angela, but you guys already met," he said before continuing to the rest of the table, "Jessica, Lauren, Mike, Conner, Ben, Lee, Austin, Samantha" he paused momentarily before carrying on, "I heard Tyler's home sick today but you'll definitely get a chance to meet."

His eyes wandered around the canteen, "Bella's not here now but she was with me in Government, she said she wanted to check out a book from the library," his eyes lit up like he was going to mention a crucial detail he had almost forgotten, "she's new, too! From Arizona," he added in a lively manner.

"It's delightful to meet you all," I said, "really," adding in the last bit to magnify my faux sincerity.

I was appreciative of their amiability, I really was, It's just that speaking to people this much is an introvert's nightmare coming to life. Even though we were opposites when it came to this matter, Ash was the only person who understood who I felt about social interaction.

I never thought they'd be the one to have a better grasp on how I felt than I did considering their social butterfly, carefree attitude to everything. Ash was the life of the party, and especially so when they played the guitar. They screamed and sang- they didn't give a rat's ass about who thought they sounded good. It was part of the reason why I preferred playing bass in front of audiences; going from a guitarist like Ash to me seemed like a major downgrade. The attention that came with being a guitarist belonged to Ash, it was theirs. 

I could never say that Ash was an 'attention-seeker' because it was, simply put, the furthest thing from the truth. It was like the spotlight was tailored for them. Meanwhile, they enjoyed and liked the attention, they were also... above it. Onlookers magically seemed to find them and Ash embraced it. But they would never ask for or crave it.