Seventh grade was a great year.
In fact, it was the year that people actually began to know me. I was always used to being in the background, blending in with the crowd whenever possible.
But in seventh grade, people noticed me. Albeit...not for the greatest of reasons. Sure, it was flattering, but me attracting attention in that sort of way was a foreign and weird feeling.
And by 'that sort of way' I meant being shipped.
By no fault of mine though. I just began to like talking to a variety of people, and while I had my own individual best friends, I often started to associate with other people. Often it'd be talking about something as simple as school lunches, or it could be an in-depth discussion about whether or not evolution was a real thing.
Either way, I was slowly getting noticed. I talked to a girl every day in science class? People began to think we liked each other. I chatted and giggled with a guy on the bus? People thought we were dating. I was having a heated debate with a couple of people in history class about whether or not evolution was a thing? People called us a love triangle.
While it was entertaining at first, the idea of people actually liking me, and heck, even the idea of me having crushes like I was back in kindergarten, it soon got bothersome and quite annoying.
Especially once I, by no fault of mine, triggered the Felix/Liv/Noam drama that started in seventh grade and continued for a good long while.
Noam and Liv, a dynamic duo of two people with quite differentiating personalities, had joined our little 'group' in sixth grade, the start of middle school. It was you who first met them and invited them to sit with us. We even thought they were a couple at first, the way they interacted so casually and were so familiar with one another, but we soon learned that they were under a strict 'Only Friends' policy.
And unfortunately for them, Liv had confided in me and Rieka that she had started to see Noam as more than a friend, despite their 'Only Friends' rule.
So I was having a good normal day, chatting with Noam about how terrible our school lunch was.
No, it wasn't my lunch, I brought my own lunch every day, but Liv always bought school lunch and it was disgusting.
Noam and I were on a rant about how school lunches should one, be more healthy (Because honestly, serving a chicken patty and hamburger almost every day for middle schoolers isn't healthy) and two, have more options.
"What about the lactose intolerant and gluten-free people, or vegetarians, or even like people on a diet? What are they supposed to eat when all that our school serves is actual trash?" He'd complain.
"I know right! And while I don't mind a good hamburger every once a while, serving that three times a week is terrible! There should be more options for people to choose from, and healthier options too, we used to serve salad and now there isn't any!" I'd exclaim right back.
It was a back and forth of complaints and comments about the school food, with Liv staring at us questionably while hesitantly eating a half-frozen purplish concoction that was supposed to be a berry smoothie.
It soon caught people's attention, with me and Noam constantly talking loudly about the lunches, and they began to ship us.
Which upset Liv quite a bit.
She knew I had no feelings for Noam, but she was suspicious that he might feel something for me, so she started her 'plan'. Her plan which would ultimately fail and cause a dent in our tight friend group.
She was going to use Felix to make Noam jealous so that he would like her.
When Liv first explained the plan to me and Rieka, we looked at her incredulously. Why would she go to such lengths just to get Noam to like her back? Why not just confess and get it over with?
But then again, this was Liv, the girl whose real name was Adeliviana Wendolyn Ophelia Lorwenshmire (Her initials are AWOL), who managed to convince her overly strict parents to legally change her name to Liv Ophelia Lorwenshmire (Her initials are LOL now), who was incredibly stubborn and never admitted defeat.
She loved challenges and to her, it didn't matter if someone got hurt in the process as long as she got what she wanted.
News flash, about 11 months later in eighth grade, she had broken Felix's heart and Noam still didn't like her.
Felix had very real feelings for Liv. He treated her like a goddess and absolutely worshipped her the four months when they were dating. He was innocent and did nothing wrong, yet Liv still used him, knowing that he kind of liked her. She pretended to like him and dated him, all the while pining after Noam and trying to get him jealous.
Oh yeah, Noam got jealous.
But not of Felix, no, Noam was jealous of Liv.
Between the six of us, in our friend group, Rieka came out first in sixth grade, saying she was pansexual and very much proud of it. Then it was Noam, who revealed he was demisexual and biromantic by the end of eighth grade. Basically, he didn't necessarily feel sexual attraction to anyone unless he had a close friendship or was strongly emotionally connected with them, but he was open to dating or romantic attraction with both genders.
Because Liv started talking to Felix more, to 'get him to like her', Noam had started talking to Felix more as well, the three of them becoming a tight-knit group of 'friends'.
And their tight-knit group was unaware that Noam was romantically interested in Felix. Who, unfortunately, was also infatuated with Liv. Who just so happened to be in love with Noam.
A big fat ol' love triangle courtesy of me.
If I hadn't gotten shipped with Noam, Liv wouldn't have seduced Felix, and the three of them wouldn't have been hanging out more, and Noam probably wouldn't have any feelings for Felix, and they would just stay normal friends, with the exception of Liv's feelings for Noam.
Because of the whole thing, our friend group made a pact: We will never use one of our own to our advantage without permission from them, and we will never date another one of our own unless both parties share the same feelings.
It was the only way to ensure that no one got played with again and life soon resumed to normal after the whole fiasco, with the exception of Felix, who was in a sad mood and avoided Liv for a good few months before finally starting to talk to her again.
Hey to you too,
Seventh grade? I almost don't want to remember. Those memories are tucked away in my head, from the shipping to the Liv/Noam/Felix drama. And I don't blame you, I wanted to hate Liv too, but if Felix is learning from the experience and moving on though, I guess it isn't the absolute worst thing.
~Me?
P.S. How's life?
Sent✔
YOU ARE READING
Remember When
Cerita Pendek"Hey, Remember when you and I were sitting next to each other for about half an hour watching a movie and you didn't notice that you were leaning on me and thought I was a wall?" A series of emails about memories of days long past.
