Four Years Apart

Cold People

~Shane's POV~

After morning assembly, we all returned to our classrooms for our silent reading period, which lasted for fifteen minutes. However, one thing I noticed right away was that, no one was reading. Everyone was busy talking with their friends while I am huddled up in my corner, engrossed with the words in my book. I didn't want to deal with any drama on the first day of school so I just decided to ignore them and read till reading period was over. The teacher came not long after reading period started. She signalled to us to continue reading until the period was done. At exactly 7.45 am, she told us to keep her books. The nervousness in my heart started to build up as I realised what would happen next: ice breaker activities. I really didn't feel like conversing much and just wanted lessons to start already. Give me my literature! "Good morning, class. I am your English Literature teacher, Ms Sim. I am also your form teacher. Now, let's get to know each other better. We'll go down the rows. Everyone say their name, hobbies, and birth date."

As people started standing up to introduce themselves, my heartbeat started increasing, my hands started to get clammy. I was a nervous wreck. The person in front of my had just introduced herself. I stood up reluctantly and tried to speak as loudly as possible, but my voice came out as a squeak that was barely audible. "My name is Shane. I enjoy reading and I am born on the sixth of September," I managed to rush out before hurrying to sit down again. Thank goodness Ms Sim didn't ask me to repeat myself. Ms Sim continued with the lesson, telling us about what to expect in this school. However, I have already read all the numerous emails sent by the school before school started, so I already knew all of what Ms Sim was talking. Despite that, I still listened to her, not wanting to come across as inattentive and rude.

Back in elementary school, most of the teachers were okay with me, so I didn't get into to trouble much. Good thing about high school is, we do not need to sit on the floor during lessons. Plus, our tables are spaces equally apart, like the exam format. So, I do not have to worry about people talking to me. Seriously, human interaction stressed me out! By the time Ms Sim was done with her briefing, it was time for our recess break. I sauntered to the canteen, and bought a simple bowl of chicken porridge. Never could I stomach a heavy meal at 9 in the morning. After finishing my meal, I realised that I still had fifteen minutes of recess left, so I headed to the library to browse through some of the books. Calling me a bookworm was seriously am understatement. My freetime was always spent on reading and nothing else. Opening the doors to the library, I was welcomed with endless rows of books. My eyes widened. The number of books available was humongous! My eyes basically had an orgasm.

Reading the library protocols, I understood that I can borrow a maximum of seven books per transaction and I had 21 days with the books. I walked around the shelves, looking around the books. I singled out three books that caught my attention. Right then, my phone started buzzing, signalling that I only had five minutes of recess left. I hurried towards the front counter to register my books before going back to my classroom. I reached the classroom at 9.28 am, with two minutes to spare. I decided to continue with the book I was reading, while waiting for my geography teacher to arrive. Not long after, I heard the sound of high heels clicking against the floor. I closed my book, and looked up to see a woman, roughly in her late twenties walking into the room, dressed pretty professionally. "Good morning class, I am your geography teacher, Ms Lee. Please introduce yourselves and we will get started with lesson." Self introductions again. I dreaded first days of school at there is just so much talking to do. When it was my turn again, I managed to spurt out my introduction, at a volume that was barely audible. Human interaction just isn't my thing. I don't want to talk or anything. I want to crawl into my purple quilt and read. Ever since young, I knew I was not a normal guy, even my parents commented on my abnormality. Slowly, I just accepted the fact that I was just a tad bit more on the feminine side as a male. Okay, a tad bit is too much of an understatement. You get what I mean, right? I was just born like that. Femininity shouldn't be shamed on a guy right? Wrong. Bullying was pretty bad in elementary school. The painful memories resurfaced almost daily, paining my heart, reducing me to tears. Sometimes, even my parents scold me for being too feminine. Somehow, I managed to numb myselves to all these insults. Deep down, my heart was crying its, well, heart out.

Bringing myself back to geography lesson, everyone had just finished introducing themselves and proper lessons were about to start. I opened up my geography books and quickly began to be immersed in the lesson. So far, not a single person have spoken a single word to me and neither have I to them. I was perfectly content with my life of solitude. I began jotting down some notes for geography. In a blink of an eye, geography lesson had already ended. Time pasts fast when you're enjoying it, huh. Being an introvert meant having a lot of alone time. During the short five minute break between lessons that we have, I removed my large round glasses from the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes, resting it. The bell rung, to indicate the start of the next lesson. It was general paper lecture now. I prepared the necessary materials and got ready for lesson.

The rest of the day was a breeze as lesson flew past just like that. The final bell rung and I packed all my books into my bag. Now, I braced myself for Co-curricular activities (CCA)  tryouts.