vagary

"Looks like there is a new student"

10th August 2012, Shiloh writes in her notebook on the left hand top corner of the page.

She is one of those people who can never remember the date. She can remember the day well enough, though. It's Friday today for instance and she can confidently say that without glancing at the board.

10th August 2012.

Oddly, staring at the scrawled date in her unmistakable handwriting, Shiloh gets that feeling again. That feeling of a tug somewhere in her guts and a dull throb where her heart is supposed to be. That feeling which tells her something is going to be different today. Different different.

She quickly dismisses it.

It must be because today is 10th and she really likes the number 10. Yes, that must be it.

Or it must be because it is nearing that time of the month. and she feels weird all over  during this time. Yes, that must be it.

But the feeling is concentrated in her guts, she can feel all of it pooling inside her twisted, never-ending intestines.

And her heart. She has never felt like this before, like her heart is dancing to the tunes of some trance music. No, not even when she had ridden in that huge roller coaster in third grade, or when she sat with her dad in a snow sleigh when she was 6, and they slid down a snow-covered mountain at break-neck speed, her short hair lashing all around her chubby face.

Shiloh gulps.

Today is different.

"Hey Lo, look up." Ria nudges her not-so-discreetly.

"Huh?"

"Looks like there is a new student in our class." Ria points at the teacher's desk.

Shiloh can see a boy shyly standing there, fiddling with his fingers, his eyes trained down at his shoes.

He must be nervous, having 30 judgmental eyes staring at him unabashedly, Shiloh thinks.

At that moment, their class teacher chooses to introduce him.

She rattles of his name and the place he has come from, she says something about him shifting here. She also warns the students to behave themselves and help him to get accustomed. Pre-teens can be vicious, you know.

Shiloh doesn't catch most of what the teacher says, but she clearly hears his name.

Eli.

Shiloh thinks it's a nice name.

Eli has dark (very dark) brown floppy hair which cover his forehead partially.

He is not tall. Just average, actually.

And when he smiles slightly, ever so slightly, she can see small indents in his cheeks. Dimples.

And for some unknown reason, Shiloh finds herself smiling too.

She frowns.

"He seems intelligent. He is competition." She mutters to herself.