Some Random High School Love Story

Chapter 1: Marcella Ruby Santiago

Monday, August 14

Welcome to the first day of High School. Aka, the wonderful place where writing up essays with 1000-2000 word count, struggling to solve for the cosine of 30° or the derivative of 5x^2, and dealing with the stresses of taking every AP class in the world just for the sake of college applications, all make you feel like you're already in college... But hey, it's not all that bad, it's also the place to meet new friends whilst tightening the bonds of friends you already have, or even find that high school sweetheart ;). 

Albeit this sort of thing comes easy for several people, sometimes however it just doesn't for others. And when it comes to this girl, she is no exception to this statement.

Enter Marcella Ruby Santiago, first name preferably shortened to Marcie. Olive/yellow-ish skin tone, long black hair, wearing round eyeglasses, and an oversized purple hoodie. The first days are for first impressions, but Marcie is really trying to be lowkey about her first-ever day of high school. Marcie immediately walked to her first class and seeing all these big crowds on the way only made her walk faster with her head down.

*Bell Rings*

The teacher began taking attendance. The students responded like how one should, "Here!" "Present!" "Hello!" With the teacher going in alphabetical order, somebody's name is near the back of the line. Call it over-reacting, but the feeling of your turn being closer and closer as time passes, even if all you're doing is acknowledging your presence, can be severely nerve-racking.

"Marcella?" The teacher announced.

"He...Here..." Marcie said in a quiet tone. Only two people heard that, but not the teacher. Proven as she began scanning the classroom.

"Marcella?"

Afraid to say it again, she just slowly raised her hand up until the teacher recognized it.

"Ah, there you are! It's okay to speak up so please do so next time, okay, Marcella?"

"M-Marcie." She quickly said before the teacher moved on to the next name.

"I'm sorry?"

"Umm... I'd like to go by Marcie please?"

"Very well, Marcie."

For the rest of attendance and class time, Marcie would drown in her own thoughts. It's not just because she's overthinking what just happened, but because of the realization that she'll need to go through this again for about six more classes.

When lunch period arrived, students rushed out of their fourth-period classrooms in order to fight for the front of the cafeteria lines. Lunchtime is supposed to be a time of socializing and fulfilling appetites, that is unless you have to eat the cafeteria food. Unfortunately for Marcie, it's just another reminder of how lonely she really is. She'd roam the hallways, and see everyone grouped together like it's already been determined since elementary or middle school. And with everyone busy doing their thing, they don't seem welcoming to anyone at the moment. 

With this realization, Marcie would find a spot near her next classroom and simply eat her lunch alone. She'd be lying if she said she was feeling depressed from this loneliness, but at the same time, she's more or less used to it by now. Losing her only friend (via moving away) in elementary school, she has always struggled with trying to make friends, let alone talk to people in a regular conversation. It got to some points in middle school where her quietness would have her get picked on every now and then. It wasn't so much degrading, it was more irritating, hearing classmates make few yet quick comments like "She looks lonely." "I think she's always this sad." "Have you heard her speak at all in this class?" "She never sticks her head away from her 3DS during lunch." "I need to borrow her scissors, what's her name again? Mar...Marina? Marquez? Mario?" But one of the worst things she heard was during PE class and two people were drafting their teams for Capture the Flag and Marcie was the last to be picked. The captain who had her disrespectfully said, "Wait, where did she come from?"

Taking in how her extremely shy and timid nature not only pushes away people but unconsciously pushes herself away from people, it's no wonder Marcie has no friends at all. Having no social life, Marcie spends her time every school year just doing homework and studying. It's not like she wants to, as she also has other hobbies, like playing videogames and listening to music. But with her parents always busy with work, she never has any plans other than always being home alone. However, that can also explain why Marcie's so academically inclined, even being able to ace math class of all things. Her 4.0 GPA alone could lure in some friends, but who would want to be friends with some shy introverted nerd? It hasn't worked during middle school, why would it start now?