Love in Many Forms V.1: How It All Started

Chapter 1: Attraction

What pops up in your mind whenever you are asked to describe what love is like? Is it a feeling? A chemical reaction? A bond between two strangers? Or the most painful experience? Well let me tell you my story on my perspective about love, maybe it'll help you understand a thing or two about love, oh and this book is about him.


It all started on August 29, 2023, another school year has started and all I ever planned was to be with my best friends and survive the year together. When I was on the way to my classroom, my earbuds were playing Slow Dancing in the Dark by Joji, I was flustered and I felt goosebumps because the song really explained my current situation in life. As I found my room, I was panting so much because it was on the 4th floor, but all that panting turned into joy when I saw my friends in the room. They called by my nickname "Aya", and I immediately entered and saw that they had already left a spot for me to sit in.

We hugged each other and laughed so loud like there was no one else in the room, suddenly our adviser sat on her respective seat in front of us and the whole class was still as noisy as the zoo but all I did was increase the volume of my tunes and I loved it. As our adviser was introducing herself and the rules of the class, it was exactly 8:30 and we noticed that our adviser suddenly stopped talking and I wondered why, but I didn't care that time and just continued listening to Freaks by Surf Curse, but then I saw someone, it was a student who seemed lost, it looked like he was having trouble finding his classroom. But I saw the student parked his bike in front of our room, I just knew he was going to be in the same class as I am. But as he took one step in the room, the whole world just became silent, and my phone started playing Daydreamin by Ariana Grande. I looked at him as he greeted our adviser and the whole class with a soft "Good Morning, I'm sorry I'm late" and bowed gently. I laughed at him because he was late, but I stopped and starred at him and in that moment, I realized: I think he looks cool yet respectful. I liked him when I first layed eyes on him, but I couldn't help but ask myself if I had seen him before. As he went in the room, I stared at him the whole time, I couldn't keep my eyes off of him but when he sat down and caught me starring at him, I looked away instantly and hid myself. I felt stupid and embarrassed that time, I kept thinking: "What if he sees me as a weirdo or a freak? What if he thinks I'm crazy?". My mind was going insane that time, but I had to keep my cool if I didn't want him or anyone to know that I admired him, so instead of being a chicken, I introduced myself and said Hi! And offered to shake my hand and he accepted. Inside I felt light but was melting too, I saw him hang out with one of my close male classmates and some random transferee, they mingled well as they shared the same hobbies and interests. I just knew they were going to get along well this school year. Then it was time for introduction, the one thing either all students are prepared for or just don't give a crap about. Except this year we got lucky since the students in this classroom were all in one section last year, but as for the transferees they introduced themselves because they were told to do so. I waited for his turn, then when it was his turn, I quickly turned to look at him and listened carefully. His voice was calming yet clear,
it made me weak and right after he introduced himself, I said: Kent huh? nice name and he just said thanks with his bittersweet expression, and it gave me a hint of what his personality may be once we get to know each other: Nonchalant. The only emotions he ever showed for the past months was either neutral or grumpy, he looked funny whenever I saw his resting face and not once during those school days did I ever see him smile. It took me weeks to get it out of my head but I couldn't stop but I just distracted myself by studying and listening to music. Days have passed, I didn't interact with Kent and focused on studies to get into the honors list but of course while studying I had the help of my best friends, I still had feelings for Kent but I was still so hesitant to tell him and wanted to get to know him more. Weeks passed and our Filipino Teacher gave us an activity or rather it was an event in where we'd all have to wear our National Attire.  So of course, everyone was excited while I had no idea what to wear. So we had 2 weeks to find our outfits and I had no choice but to wear my aunt's Filipiñiana because I kinda expected that some of the girls in the room would wear something nice too so I was like: Ehh no one would even notice and besides, I'm only doing this for the grades. The day of the event came, and boy was I wrong on what the girls were wearing, majority of them wore like these scarves and just wore their uniforms, only a few including me wore dresses but mine stood out. I felt like my outfit was too much, But then I saw Kent, him in his Barong Tagalog, simple and clean and his hair neatly put together. He looked really handsome, and he really caught my eye, even our Filipino teacher thought he looked great too. Then our Filipino teacher called everyone to compress to take a class picture and some will stand and sit. Ma'am chose specific students to stand up cause apparently, they were the best dressed and as I was sitting down, Ma'am told me to stand up and stay in the middle because my gown stood out the whole class and she told me: My dress would go to waste if I sat down and it's really pretty. I was flustered yet shy cause everyone was looking at me, but then ma'am suddenly was looking for someone, it took me a while to realize that she was looking for a partner for me. Then she pointed out at him, Kent. I can tell you I was very shocked and blushing a lot knowing my crush was gonna be my partner. When me and him stood together, ma'am told us to compress more, and my heart just stopped for a second because I felt his skin and while that happened my mind went blank, and my vision went blurry and I decided to hold his arms to show that we were the partners in the photo. I was nervous as I wrapped my arms around his, but my heart skipped a beat because I was actually holding my crush. I had this gut feeling that something felt wrong, but I just thought to myself that I shouldn't overthink it too much and just went on to get our photos taken. After that happened as I arrived back to my house, I quickly ran to my room and had this strange but good feeling, but I just couldn't describe it, the next few weeks came, and I still couldn't stop thinking about it. I tried to make a friendly connection with him but all he did was avoid me, and when that happened, I just told myself: Maybe he doesn't like me or he doesn't have the time to find love or entertain someone, but in that moment, I too started avoiding him 'cause I don't want him to think weirdly of me. So, I admired him from afar.