"Things" Of The Past

Chapter 7: Chemistry

September 30 2004, I woke up at 8am, class starts at 7:30am. I panicked and immediately dressed up. I didn't care what I was wearing, I just don't want my perfect attendance record to get ruined. The moment I was done, I went downstairs and saw that my parents weren't there. They must've thought I went to school early while they were sleeping. I ran out and locked the front door and caught up with the bus that was about to leave. Things were not going my way, on that day. When I finally arrived it was 8:20 am, I entered campus sprinting, like my life depended on it. When I finally arrived at the room, I saw at the window that our English teacher, was teaching. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door, when it opened the teacher saw me and asked why I was late. I apologized and said it won't happen again. I was lucky she was the teacher, I encountered on that day or else this story might have been different. When I finally went inside the room, everyone gave me the "look" I felt such anxiety, when I arrived. Once I finally sat down, I rested my head on my desc and took deep breaths. When I was feeling such pressure in my head. Someone tapped my shoulder. When I looked to the side. Danica was looking concerned for me. She asked me if I was okay. I told her I'm just not myself today. She then told me that being late one time doesn't mean, I should lose the energy to do better. She was right, one bad moment doesn't define you. It's how you carry on. I was happy she was checking up on me, considering that we don't speak that much. When class was done, Danica invited me to have recess with her. I gladly accepted. When we were eating at recess, she told me many interesting things about her. She told me show knows martial arts, she's part of a Christian family, and she knows how to play an instrument. I was impressed that she was all this things, and I was missing out, on how wonderful of a person she was. When it was time for next period. The teacher announced that we're going to be playing, charades. It was by partner. When I was trying to find a partner, no one wanted to be partners with me. Then she tapped my shoulder and asked if I already had a partner. I told her, that no one seems to be interested of being partners with me. She told me, I shouldn't say that. I asked her why not. She told me, "Cause I want to be partners with you."  I was mesmerized when she said that. The game then began and we were grouped by chairs, so me and Danica were sitting together, waiting for our turn. While waiting, I saw that she was nervous. I told her she had nothing to worry about, cause we're just doing an activity. No pressure. She started to breath normally again, once I said that.  When it was our turn, I decided to be the one guessing, and she'll be the one interpreting the word. I was guessing my hardest, but I didn't manage to get any of the interpretation right. The class laughed at me and called me dumb. She must've saw me looking down on myself. Cause the next thing I knew, she was kneeling in front of me and whispering, "Hey, at least you tried okay? That's what matters, don't be too hard on yourself."  After she told me that, I observed my surroundings and it came to realization, that in a room full of darkness, she showed me light. Once, I got myself back together. It was my turn to interpret. We aced it. Danica guessed every word correctly which placed us in second. I was happy with that result. Once class was done. I left the room and Danica was behind me, she asked where was I going. I told her I'm going to the music room to play drums, since it was still early. She asked me if she can come with me. I told her, why not? So we both went to the music room and grabbed our instruments. I sat down ready to play my drums. When I was checking if nothing was loose or not tuned in my drum, I saw her grab the bass guitar. "She's a bassist?" I asked myself. And indeed she was. She slapped like there was no tomorrow. I kept up with her rhythm, until we were both in sync. We both smiled at each other, when we were playing. Then I tried to make the beat go faster, but there was no stopping Danica, she kept up and was still in rhythm. We tried to contest each other on, who'll be first to go out of sync or not keep up. Eventually, my leg and arm were starting to get tired, so I lost to her fair and square. After we jammed. I recalled that she mentions that she does martial arts. So I said to her, "Try taking me down" she laughed at me and said "Trust me you don't want that to happen" I really wanted her to try and bring me down, so I said "What's the matter? You're afraid, I'll knock you over?" she rolled her eyes and said, "Alright you asked for it." In a blink of an eye, she was sprinting towards me, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground. I stood up and pretended to clean my clothes. When she asked me if I was okay. That was my chance to tackle her, but she had quick reflexes. I managed to fall down twice. "I'm not that easy to take down Daniel." We both laughed and I still continued to take her down, which I failed miserably. After we were done we just sat down and laughed on what we just did. I may have lost the game, but she won my heart that day.