Four Years Apart

First Day of School

~Shane's POV~

Today was my first day of High School. I woke up extra early and prepared myself for school, leaving home twenty minutes early. I must not be late on the first day of school. I worked so hard for my Promotional Examinations last year, all in effort to get into such a prestigious high school. I remembered studying for hours on end, downing cup after cup of coffee, in hopes to stay awake and to continue mugging. Hence, I must not be late on the first day of school.

I whistled a light-hearted tune as I walked to the train station, to catch the very first train of the day, at 6.15 am. School starts in an hour and fifteen minutes time, but getting to school will take a half hour, so I should reach school early enough. I was blessed with a caring family who nurtured good habits into me, and being punctual was one of them. I waited for the train, which came not long later. I boarded the train and took a seat by the window, and plugged my earphones into my phone, and started listening to my favourite composer Chopin. The nocturne I put on repeat soothed my racing heart. Who wouldn't be nervous on their first day of school? I looked out the window, taking in the darkness. Darkness has always soothed me like no other way can, other than my Chopin nocturnes of course. I found my eyelids growing heavier by the second, succumbing to sleep not long later.

I awoke a good fifteen minutes later, to find that I still had to more stops to go before reaching school. I took out my timetable and began to scan through the day. A week before school was due to start, the school emailed a copy of the layout of the school, in case we got lost. Being the worrywart I am, I memorised the school. My first lesson today was English Literature, my favourite class. What a great way to start a Monday! I was thinking about my subject combination, the best I could hope for. Scoring one of the highest scores in the country was no easy feat. Fighting for my spot in this school, came with restricted subject combination choices. Thankfully, I got what I wanted. I opted for the humanities course, consisting of history, geography, English literature, math and general paper. All my life, I had always been interested in humanities. Being a guy, it wasn't common. All of my guy classmates back in primary school were spazzing over the science combination, so I actually wasn't surprised to see that the humanities combination was wide open for selection, while science students had to undergo rounds of interviews and even balloting. Drowning in my own thoughts, I realised that the train had arrived at my stop. I got off and took a slow walk to school.

Ever since my first day in elementary school, I was shy. I didn't converse much with my classmates, and only concentrated on my work. The idea of being solitary was appealing to me and I really liked being alone, some hardcore introvert I am. I didn't fit in in class either. All the guys talked about soccer and of course, science. While the girls talked about fashion and humanities. I, related to the girls so well, but they didn't like the idea of having guys in their clique. I have always thought of myself as being different from the other guys in my class. Somehow, I felt like a girl in a guy's body. Apparently, all the guys in my class thought so too. They threw insults at me like "girly", "wuss", "coward", and the classic: gay. The girls were okay with my existence but they did not warm up to me, so that's how I came to enjoy solitude.

Before I knew it, I had already arrived in school. I was told by a senior to report to the general office to register my name and then head to my classroom, until assembly commenced, which was roughly in 35 minutes time. Knowing the school quite well already, I found the general office without any difficulty. I registered my name and headed to my classroom. It was empty. I switched on the lights and fans, and found a seat in the middle, towards the left windows. I put my bag down and took a book out and started to read. The words that filled my brain made me so happy, my heart was content being around books. I didn't even notice that another person had entered the room. It was a guy, much taller than me, and buffer too. He looked at me as if I was an alien, and headed to the back of the class, smashing his bag onto the floor, and started swiping on his phone. I decided to ignore him and quickly began to be immersed in my book once again. The classroom started to fill as students started trickling in. A shrill bell indicated that morning assembly was in five minutes. I closed my book and made my way down to the field. No one in the class moved though. It seemed that a lot of people came from the same elementary school, as everyone seemed to have a friend or two that they talked to. Me being me, I was totally alone. I reached the field with two minutes to spare. It was 7.13 am. The school also briefed us, through email, about where to stand during morning assemblies. I headed to my class queue, which was labeled with a sticker on the ground with the writing '1H' on it. I stood there while waiting for the others to reach the field. Hopefully high school won't be as bad as elementary school. Hopefully, I won't get bullied anymore. Hopefully, I can be happier here.