It's Only Gossip

1. Presentation

"Let me paint you a couple of pretty pictures:

1) Comfortably slouching down on your bed/sofa all cuddled up with a full pizza box by your side while watching stuff on Netflix.

2) Freely eating as much food as you want, laughing and gossiping with your friends or even strangers and basically enjoying the fact you have a not-so-awkward social life.

3) Exploring all your ambitions and getting that sudden urge of relief because you're realizing that everything's going to be okay.

Now let me paint you a couple of ugly pictures:

1) Uncomfortably slouching down on your bed feeling like an intruder with an empty pizza box left on your lap barely able to see the screen to watch on the Netflix account YOU paid for because he was broke but apparently he felt so guilty, not guilty enough to leave a slice of pizza for you; pizza YOU paid for.

2) Hesitating to grab as much food as you want because you're afraid that he'll secretly judge you; having to hold your laughter because you'll hurt his feelings; not even having the choice to meet new people because he'll think he's not good enough; feeling locked away from the social world: Well basically, being controlled but there's no evidence for that since it's done mentally.

3) Feeling trapped due to the limited choices you currently have and panicking that there's no way out of this mess.

Ahem. Eventually, all of us are asked what we think happiness truly is, I don't think we'll ever know how to perfectly describe it. It's one thing experiencing it but it's another to actually describe it. You can't ever describe something so perfectly that it feels like you're living it all over again. A perfect description makes you emotionally feel again, it takes you on that journey again. However, one can't go on the same journey without taking short cuts."

Amanda shouts desperately trying to catch her ex's attention, but he's too busy falling asleep at the back of the classroom.

Wow, this presentation was so inspiring! Sorry, but I can't fake enthusiasm. I'm not an actress, I'm a student attending highschool.

So that was Amanda for you. Consistently blurting out her personal life yet she still manages to act like the victim whose... Wait, hold on, sorry I need to maintain my straight face.

As I was saying; she manages to act like the victim of her so called 'secrets' and 'personal life' getting exposed from and I quote "fakes, back stabbers, paigons" take your pick, any basic insults from the 21st century will come out of her mouth.

Her boyfriend (so she claims) is the reason why she's failing all her subjects. When I say fail, I mean fail, not even with a capital F. Straight U's. I'll give it to her though, I've never seen that many U's in my life. Even her own report card is screaming that it's her fault, not her so called boyfriend!

As the bell rings we're all dismissed. Even the teacher is begging for a way out of Amanda's pity presentation. Her prayers have been fulfilled and so has everyone's else in our class.

Okay, maybe I'm a bit harsh. Her presentation was good. I'll give her that, only that. In the meantime I'll watch her act like a puppet but little does she know, nobody wants to be her master! I'm not saying she lacks in pretty canal strings but who would care about a typical teen student?

"Once you hand them the strings, they become the narrator of your life."

I'm finally... I was about to say free but that's me being over-exaggerated. I'm not free. I'm still stuck in this prison like school. They pretend we're free by giving us breaks but we know the truth. The truth is that we're never free, we're stuck in school. Even when hometime arrives. We know we're coming back to be trapped once again. We're always trapped.

Well, I need to make this trapped experience worthwhile by having people who I actually can stand. There they are sitting on our bench, probably gossiping. It better be good gossip!

"Did you like Amanda's presentation?" Elisa raises her eyebrows waiting for a response.

My silence was the response. Do I really need to speak? They all just laugh at what they think is going inside my head. They're probably right!

"I liked it. After all, she is lovable..." Tatia responds holding a mutual expression but I see that small smirk begging to be transparent.

"Yes obviously! She does state that her name means..." I sarcastically respond trying my best to hold in my laughter.

"...Lovable, worthy to be loved." We all chant in unison.

Every single day. Every single lesson. I swear this girl loves to tell everybody the meaning of her name as if we didn't hear her a hundred (maybe two hundred) times already.

Secretly, I'm proud of Amanda. She didn't state the meaning of her name during her presentation today. I think that her last slide contained it but mercifully, the life saving bell rang to interrupt her presentation.

It's funny how we only focused on picture one and two when picture three was the most significant and relevant image.

You can't take the same journey without taking shortcuts? Who says the place would remain the same? Things change, fast.