Everything Has Changed

Chapter 2

        Silence fell around the room as soon as he finished. He glanced around, noticing all the people gazing towards him with admiration. 

        All except one.

        She was the girl that he had ran into earlier in the hallway, who he had asked for directions. With flat brown hair and plain brown eyes, she wasn't very memorable, but he was good with faces. Sitting at the back of the room, she looked as if she was trying to blend into the wall. It didn't work very well though. At least, not for him.

        Mr. Shepherd stood up from his seat as he walked up to his side. "Thank you Ethan." He looked around the room. All the seats were taken, except for one in the back corner, next to the loner of the class whose name even he couldn't remember. "You can go take a seat next to, uh..." he consulted his class roster, "Ms. Alves."

        Ethan nodded his head, smirking, as he made his way to the back of the room. Unlike the rest of the class, she seemed oblivious to his presence. She was doodling in her notebook as he slid into the seat next to her. She didn't even look up. 

        "Hi, I'm Ethan," he said, figuring that she had missed his introduction.

        She barely looked up. "I know."

        "What's your name?" He asked, trying to make conversation.

        "Marina," she replied shortly. This time, she didn't even bother to look up from her drawings. It was as if he wasn't there.

        Ethan wasn't used to being treated in such a cold manner. He had always been the popular guy that has people lining up in hope of gaining an impression on his mind. His days passed by with praises and applauses from others. He was used to flattery and attention. Not indifference.

        Frankly, he never thought the day would come when someone would treat him as if he was air. Even with the thought of him as a new student, the idea of people treating him in a manner less than friendly never crossed his mind. Perhaps he was narcissistic, as what his grandmother constantly tells him. But he knows admiration when he sees one. And his life is full of it.

        But this girl in front of him, she was everything but. Literally, he could say that she’s the representation of everything he dislikes in this world. She was apathetic, she was weary of the world around her, and she had a cold attitude that could have very well passed by as rudeness. Have he been his usual self, he would have taken offense to her attitude and vowed to stay away from this girl. Especially considering that he was new. 

        Yet under all that disdain, he knew there was something stronger that kept him from turning his back to this girl. Perhaps it was curiosity; perhaps it was amusement. But for whatever reason there is, he knew he wanted to learn more about this girl.

        Regaining his composure, he gave her a smile. As expected, she completely ignored him as she busied herself with the doodling in front of her. “What are you drawing?” He asked curiously as he eyed her doodles.

        “Nothing, really. Just whatever that goes on in my mind.” She said.

        “Well, what goes on your mind?

        Silence.

        She slowly looked up, meeting his eyes. He wasn’t sure what he had expected when he looked into his her eyes, but anger was definitely not what he had in mind. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is. But please shut up and spare me with your small talk. I don’t know if you realize this but there are actually people out there in this world like me who prefer silence over useless chattering.” she took a deep breath and continued, a fierce look on her face, “And really, I’m not sure if you’re blind or something, but I’ve been trying to tell you in the nicest way possible to shut up.”

        Ethan was speechless. He didn’t know what to say. To say that he was shock was an understatement. No one. Not even his ex-girlfriends ever treated him the way Marina just did.

        This was yet again, a first time experience.

        Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Unsurprisingly, Marina bolted out of the classroom the moment class ended. But of course, no one except him noticed it 

        Soon after, sounds of books and pencil cases being roughly thrown into backpacks filled the room. People around him started to chatter animatedly to their friends, no doubt celebrating the end of another school day as they made their way out of the classroom. He was about to follow suit when Mr. Shepherd motioned him to stay.

        “Yes, sir?”

        “So first of all, Ethan. How was your first day?” Mr. Shepherd asked as he put away his books.

        Ethan smiled politely. “It was good, I guess. The people here are pretty welcoming.”

        Mr. Shepherd chuckled. “Well, I’m glad you’re liking it. We barely get new students these days. It was really refreshing to see a new face.”

        Ethan nodded and remained silent. He knew better than to say anything about what happened recently. It was after all his Dad’s job. And if there’s something that his parents forbid more than anything, it is to speak about his Dad’s job outside of the family.

        As if he suddenly remembered the dark times he lives in, Mr. Shepherd sighed and walked to the back of the room. There, he pulled out a box full of textbooks and handed one to Ethan. “You have lots to catch up, Ethan,” he said, “But I’m sure you’ll be fine if you study hard. We can even assign you a tutor if that helps.”

        “Thank you, sir. But I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

        “Well, in case you do, please do tell me. We can have Ms. Alves help you out if you need to. She’s a pretty good student, responsible and all that.”

        The name sounded familiar. Yet for some strange reason, he was unable to remember where he heard of this name before. Not knowing what else to do, Ethan nodded politely.

        After that, Mr. Shepherd gave him a rundown of what they’re learning so far and some important turn-in dates. By the time he was finished, it was half past 4 and the hallway outside the classroom was vacant 

        It wasn’t until he reached his locker that he remembered he heard the name “Ms. Alvez” today. And it wasn’t until he reached the school gate that he realized how much of an idiot he was to forget that “Ms. Alves" was Marina, the girl sitting next to him in English.