𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐓𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑- 𝐖𝐡𝐨

𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏

To date, August 14th, 2021, would be the most memorable day of my eighth-grade year and my life. It wasn't only because it was the first day, it was because it was the day that led to the rollercoaster of events this year veiled.

This day was surrounded, consistent of receiving syllabuses in every class I attended. I just left lunch and I was making my way to my sixth period which was my music class. I was walking down the hall, watching if anyone was entering the last door. My thoughts collapsed when I felt a sudden tap on my shoulder. I turned around and eyed a girl whose face was sensed with wonder. She was black haired; her hair fell to her shoulders. Her russet-brown eyes were engrossed with a mark of delight. "You like BTS?" She motioned to the backpack I wore. There was a tie-dyed logo of the band's song 'Dynamite' printed on it, and it captivated her. "Yes." I said, smiling at her. "I like them too." She smiled as she talked about them. "Who is your bias?" She asked. A bias was a term for your favorite member of the band you liked. Throughout my middle school years, the band BTS played an enormous role in my enjoyments. I sought comfort in their music, and they embodied euphoria for me. I never felt fatigued with their presence, they were everything that I wanted built in one. Seven men with unique singularities that were immersed in art. "V" I answered. "I thought so, his name is on your backpack." She let out a small laugh. "I'm Jia, by the way." She spoke. "I'm Milena. Do you have music for sixth period right now?" I questioned; it seemed like we were walking in the same direction. "Yes, I do." We proceeded to walk; our conversation brewed as we got closer to the classroom. I was grateful for Jia's entrance in my life. I could read that her bubbly personality was going to be a positive impact in me.

-Two weeks later-

I showed up to my coding class and I had logged on to my computer, the teacher instructed us to open a document to get started with the lesson. I deleted the default title of the document which was, "Document10." and replaced it with, "hernandez_rules and genres." like the teacher expected and everyone participated. The phone rang from the teacher's desk. The teacher was fortunately at her desk and had picked it up in time before the phone stopped. All I heard from the discussion was a "Yes." from the teacher affirming whatever the person on the line said. Then, I heard the teacher call my name. "Milena" She called. I raised my hand. "You're called up to student services."  I had no idea what she was talking about, but I nodded. "Grab all your things, you might be in there until the end of the period." She informed and I nodded once more, exiting the classroom.

"Where is student services?" I asked a lady at the front desk in the main office. "You're actually referring to guidance. That is down the hall, to your right." She corrected. Of course, the teacher meant guidance, no wonder I didn't know where she was telling me to go. Now I had made a fool of myself for saying such a thing.

"Hi, I was called to your office. What did you need me for?" I queried the guidance counselor. "What is your name?" She asked. "Milena Hernandez." I said bluntly. "Yes, I do need to speak to you. Take a seat right there." The guidance counselor gestured to a seat in front of her. I sat down and waited for her next comment. "I need to speak to you about your classes. I happened to notice that you are in coding for this semester. In order to graduate you must take an elective that has credits that will help you in high school. I am here to give you your options to make this change." The guidance counselor explained. "You have the option to pick Spanish one or 2D art. Those are the only electives we have opened at the moment." I thought over my options, she had offered me two classes that were introduced to me before and it was obvious in my head, that I didn't want to take art related classes since I had in the past. I had no motivation to sit in the art class and swirl watercolors. Spanish was my second language, and I knew how to speak, write, and read in the language so it could've been pointless to listen. The school cared about A's and the pro that was suitable for me was Spanish being an easy A class as it was for some students who were put in the class and looked at the class the same way I did. Not that I hated Spanish, it was the literal opposite, I had no problem taking the class and I knew opportunities could be hidden indoors of it and I ultimately went with my gut instinct. "I'll go with Spanish one."

I entered my Spanish class and approached the Spanish teacher, Mrs. Santos. she was my teacher when I was in sixth grade and our interactions would come across as neighborly, we were bonded by the communion of our native language. She gyred to me promptly. "Me cambiaron a tu clase." I got switched to your class. " Está bien, sientate en el lado atrás."That's fine, sit in the back for now. I look at the back row and see that Jia is sitting in the back of the classroom in the second to last row. I smile at her whilst I walked past her and sat three seats behind her. "You're in this class now." Jia whispered. "Yes." I smiled broadly. This would be the finest class yet with her here. At the end of the class, we were able talk without interruptions, and she asked," Is there any other bands that you like?" We only talked about BTS, and I forgot to tell her about the other bands I liked. This question was difficult to answer sometimes because I liked more than fifteen bands and then when questions like these came up, I would always scroll through an invisible list and my brain would go blank. The answers were excluded and generated into three. "Blackpink, TWICE, and Stray kids." I told her. She agreed with me. "I'm guessing you like the popular groups." She supposed and she wasn't wrong, I tend to like popular groups the best. "Yeah, I like them. They have catchy music and I want to get to know the underrated groups." "Yeah, they're too good." The bell rang and we walked to our music class.

In the following weeks, my schedule changed so much. I was in my regular science class that is my first period of the day and the teacher had been calling students' names for attendance. He had finished and I did not hear my name for the tenth time. The teacher noticed this error and went to check what was occurring online, in the class roster. A few students weren't called either and the teacher went to check their student profiles. When he finished checking the roster, he faced me. "Milena you were listed under a different teacher; you are no longer in my class. That's why you don't appear under my roster." He felt apologetic towards me, seeing that the first weeks of the school year were by far extremely confusing. When was I going to able to sit in a whole period without having to move anywhere?

I simply knocked on the variant science teacher's door, named Mr. Brown. He opened the door and greeted me. "Hi, come on in." Mr. Brown guided me inside the classroom. "I'm new." I managed. "Great, I'll have you sit in that back table." He pointed to a table a group of girls were sitting at. "Oh, and attain these. You will be working on this packet." Mr. Brown briefed. I attained a highlighter and the activity packet.

I highlighted information about space, I could hear thematic laughter around me. The laughs thrived in contagiousness; I felt the impulse to tune in and let them linger. Their jokes were muffled, and one laugh extracted every single one, utterly forcing me to look up. And there he was, Lucian chuckled at the joke his friend Marcelo made.

December 2021

Lucian and Vivian's continuous love was lunging to termination. Fogged fate had stirred in the atmosphere and plunged onto earth drenching on them. Vivian was composed to the feeling; Lucian was stricken with suspense. Those smiles they wore on their faces eroded to plain frowns disguised as fake smiles.

"Vivian, don't leave me stranded here with your lies. You don't love me anymore, and I can't leave you. You don't care about us; and you won't bother to tell me what's wrong with you. What's wrong with us. Something has changed about you and me and I hate it. I'm losing you and it scares me. I don't know you anymore. Where is your love?  Can you trust me? Talk to me confidently like you did!" Lucian pleaded, he wanted her to tell him the heartrending truth, her truth. He couldn't have Vivian look at him with soulless eyes that replaced the spirited ones he found himself drowning in. "You're making a scene, and you know I hate that! I want you to leave me alone. I don't want you. Why don't you get that? I loved you and I can't find that in me anymore. You should move on." Vivian scowled; divulging the irritation she absorbed amidst Lucian's cries. She was sickened by his ruptured heart. She tried to flee away from the hallway they were encased in, and Lucian chased after her.

"Not like I loved you; you were all I wanted! I'm sorry that I didn't want to throw away our yearlong relationship. I'm sorry that I ever loved you!"

Who are you?
'Cause you're not the girl I fell in love with, baby
Who are you?
'Cause something has changed, you're not the same, I hate it.