Feelings are Funny

Part One

"Hello...Um, Anna, there's been something I've been trying to tell since a while..."
The year was 2022. I remember looking at myself in the mirror, desperately trying hard to look handsome and confident. But little did I expect to have a whole ass drama in my life with this girl...

Yes, I was in love with her. I loved the girl who I had been friends with for just a few months. I guess it was kind of silly of me. But, well, hear me out.
My name is Andrew Oleff. I was, honestly, a nobody. Back then, I studied in twelfth grade and was a Science Student. I was pretty much a failure at everything I tried to do, and it kinda sucked my parents expected  a lot from me. I was the top student until 9th grade where I just fell off. Stuff got too hard for me.

My social life wasn't so good either. I barely got friends and the friends I have, well, weren't reliable. They gave me advices and put me into stuff that weren't the best for me. I had me for myself.
Take me out of class, nobody would have noticed that Andy has gone missing. But for quite a short period of time, I felt wanted. I felt someone actually cared.
My friends were a bunch of flirty boys who were kinda the creepy kind. Like I try to shove them off my life, but I'm a bit too polite and nervous to tell them that right at their face. They know too much about me that I couldn't afford to slip out just because I wanted to cut the friendship out. 

And well, about my looks, I didn't look so handsome. No matter how hard I tried to look good, I still wasn't cutting past that ugly face of mine.
I used to have a decent amount of friends until tenth grade. But following that, many of them changed schools, or went on separate ways. The truth is I didn't have true friends I could count on.

I saw people being appreciated at stuff they do. I kept wishing I received those kind of appreciation. But I didn't. Even if I told a funny joke, people would just act as if nothing happened, but if the same joke was repeated by someone else, the whole class died laughing. The only time people even laughed at me was when the teacher is scolding me, or when I did something embarrassing.

That was when this girl called Anna came in to my life. I was an Eleventh Grader and she was in my class. We never really had talked to each other before. We just knew each other as classmates and nothing besides that. But one day we just happened to text each other and that was when the results of Class 10 final exams were arriving. We both were tensed but we texted that out to each other, and made ourselves feel calm. And we got the same percentage too. And out marks weren't bad either.

We started chatting more often through text. And I felt she became a good friend of mine. One day, she told me that she considers me a good friend. I was overwhelmed with happiness. It felt nice to be appreciated after a long time.

The next day, I thought to myself that since we're already friends, maybe I should just try talking to her in person, since we never really talked to each other besides texting.  I was so happy to meet her but then when I tried to talk, she wasn't looking at me, but was looking at the floor awkwardly. I was disappointed. I thought I had someone who thought I was a good dude from my class. But then I thought maybe she's pretty awkward with boys in general. But then I have noticed her play around and having fun with other boys so I threw that thought out of the window.

                                                                                       ****
"What if she's nervous because she likes you?"

Adrien was one of those people who wouldn't stick their nose out of other's business. He and his friend Bill were mostly disliked by people at our batch. They were simps who were always behind girls. They were desperate to have a girlfriend before high school, but also treated girls as if they were their tools of making them look good, referring them as It or That instead of properly addressing them as she or her. Before me and Anna became friends, Adrien and Bill were on the race to try get Anna as one of their girlfriend. They approached Anna's friends and tried making them tell her good stuff about these two. And she told those friends what she felt- She didn't like those two. She felt they were creepy.
"What?" I asked and I was flushed. 
"Anna likes you man, it's obvious right now", replied Adrien.
"What are you even trying to say? I don't understand you", I asked him.
"You see, she doesn't text much people. But she texts YOU. Not me who looks amazing, not Adrian who looks fairly decent, but you. And she's nervous to look you in the face. She's afraid her feelings would slip off", said Bill with a smirk.
"No, no. She's just a friend. Maybe it will take time for her to not feel awkward with people. I'm fine the way I am", I told them.
"Do you want a girlfriend?" asked Adrien.
"I mean, I'm not desperate but like it would be good to have someone who does care me over other friends and-"
"Forget the care part! Imagine how cool you'd be! People will look up to you. They'll think you scored yourself a girlfriend and you won't be lonely in class. You would be out there with the cool dudes. And you can include us too. We're your best friends. You can say cool stuff about us and we could join the cool gang!" exclaimed Bill.
"That's...just using her for benefit man. I don't want that", I said.
"Dude, you're an idiot...You throwing away the hole, when you can actually score", said Adrien.
"What the fuck, mate? Is this how you see girls? This is so...disgusting. Just leave me alone, both of you", I said angrily.
Those two shrugged, and went without a word, with Adrien putting his shoulder over Bill's. 

The next day at school, we were having a speech for English Class. When it was my turn, I felt nervous. I felt I blanked out. I looked around the class, looking at everyone's face. But then I noticed Anna's face. She was smiling at me. Not by making fun of me though. A Genuine smile. A smile that just brought me some sort of confidence. An energy of some sorts. I smiled back and presented my speech. While there were only a few claps, her tiny claps made my day... I felt so happy. It felt good to be appreciated again....