If Only

Shit! I'm Doomed.

"Hey, do you have a map?" a tall blond boy asked me as I was keeping my books in my locker. Good thing that my face is hidden behind the locker or he would have seen me rolling my eyes. This is the fifth boy this week and it's only Wednesday! Don't they have anything better to do than providing me with their knowledge on pick- up lines?

"No. I don't have any." I told him as I was taking out my book for the next class.

"You better get one. Or I would keep getting lost in your eyes." He said and gave me a lop-sided grin.

I better buy sunglasses so he can't even look in my eyes.

"Of course I would. I would even mark the road to hell for you in that map." I smirked at him when his face fall hearing my reply.

I closed my locker and walked to my next class passing by the guy who I guess is still befuddled about the situation.

He's hot, I must say that but seriously I'm not interested in dating any guy right now. I am not going to entertain any jerk with my so called antics.

I reached my class and sat on my usual seat, right hand corner second row, after giving a slight smile to my teacher. The seats are assigned by the teacher, Ms. Collins in this class so unfortunately I can't sit with Jess. But it's okay. My seat partner never either bother to attend the class or maybe he or maybe she's out of town. It's a good thing. I like to sit alone anyway.

Since I had ten minutes before the class start, I took out my notepad and start brainstorming all the songs I am planning to use for the Inter-school Music Competition before Christmas break. It's already mid-October so I better start preparing. I kept writing the name of all the songs and was quite busy in it that I didn't notice the sudden silence that hovered over the class until I heard the scrape of the chair beside me. From the corner of my eyes, I saw a boy taking the seat beside me but I didn't bother to introduce myself to him. I'm social but not that much. After few minutes, the class started whispering to each other but I kept scribbling in my notepad. They must be talking about my seat mate cause he was absent for so many days. Speculations and stories were being made about him, for all I know, and I don't want to be another person going creative about his life. So I kept doing whatever I was doing.

MS. Collins cleared her throat after the second bell rang signalling the start of the class.

"Class! Today we are going to discuss one of the poems of John Keats. Now, have anyone of you ever read the poem 'Endymion'? "She started the class.

I swept my eyes all over the room hoping to find someone who might have read it. I saw Monica raising her hand, a wide grin on her face. Of course she must have read it. She loves poem. I befriended Monica on the first day of school here. She's in business class with me and we have talked enough times for me to know about her hobby.

"Yes Ms. Gravel. You want to say something?" Ms. Collins asked Monica.

Monica blushed a little; getting self- conscious knowing that the whole class attention is on her right then.

"Yes miss. 'Endymion' is a poem by John Keats published in 1818. It's based on the Greek myth of Endymion, a shepherd beloved by the moon goddess Cynthia originally named as Selene. Though, we only got a part of the poem in our text book titled as 'A thing of beauty' but it would be better to read it as a whole cause it's quite enthralling .Here Endymion stands for the man and Cynthia for ideal beauty and the moon as the manifestation of that beauty in nature." Monica told us with a huge blush on her face. I really appreciate her knowledge in that topic. I did read the text in the book but I couldn't decipher that much from it. All I remember is the first line from the poem 'a thing of beauty is a joy forever ...'