It was May when I finally realized that I had feelings for him.
He didn't seem like my type in the beginning of the school year, though; He has recently caught my attention. Like always, we usually chatted in the hallways and played ROBLOX together. But, I still remember when one of our friends, Sandy, had asked me if I liked him on the day of the E.L.A. State Exam .
It was right before a.m. homeroom when she asked, "Hi, Raima. Do you like Kevin?"
My eyes widened (I didn't like him at the time),
"NO! OF COURSE NOT!"
I'm such a liar.
Sandy giggled and added, "I know you like Kevin." I glared at her and said, "yeah, no. He's not even my type. He's too childish." She shrugged and answered, "I guess that's true." The bell rang and we walked into the classroom.
Yet, that's the main reason I like him now.
I still don't understand why I didn't notice him throughout most of the year, the thought still confuses me. It was a Tuesday afternoon in May when I confessed to my bestfriend, Aylyn.The day after, she had been giving me tips and advice on how to talk to him. She explained, "you should be nice to him and smile at him whenever he's around. I think that'll make him notice you more." I nodded and she continued, "but don't smile too much. That's creepy." I chuckled at that and asked, "how do I talk to him?" She just laughed and replied, "you always talk to him."
After my realization, I didn't really think of me and Kevin's previous conversations as "conversations". But, I was willing to try to get to know him better... and becoming friends with him was the first step to doing just that. I remember when me, Aylyn, and our other friend, Mayra, started sitting in Kevin and Sandy's table during lunch; that was before I started hanging out with the duo.
Me, Aylyn and Mayra were late to go to lunch due to important school stuff (I forgot what) and we had to run downstairs or else our seats would've been taken. We previously sat with our friends: Genesis (Aylyn's cousin), Angelica and Joselyn. But once we got there, we saw that our seats really were taken by other kids and their friends who didn't want to move. I was searching everywhere for a place for us to sit when I noticed that Kevin and Sandy's table had enough space to sit. The three of us walked over to where they were and put our backpacks down.
I asked Kevin, "can we sit here?" He looked at Sandy and she just shrugged, then he looked back at us and said "sure".
That's when I started talking to him more often. And yeah, Genesis, Angelica and Joselyn came over to say "hi" sometimes, but I didn't want to risk my efforts to try to get to know Kevin better just to sit next to them. That's why I allowed them to sit next to us whenever they wanted to, though they barely came. I also remember the time before I confessed to Aylyn when she believed that if we didn't go to Mrs. Sarno's room for lunch (which was our sixth grade E.L.A. teacher's room where she allowed us to stay and eat) then we'd be kicked out.
It was when we were at our lockers just before going to lunch. I was swapping the books in my backpack for the books needed for the next few classes after lunch.
As I was zipping my backpack shut, she exclaimed, "Raima, if we don't go to Mrs. Sarno's room for lunch she'll kick us out!" I sighed and replied, "that's never going to happen. We were her sixth grade students, remember?" Aylyn crossed her arms and added, "you don't know that. What happens if we come upstairs after not going to her room for days and she actually kicks us out? She'll just allow only her sixth grade students to go there since Genesis, Angelica and Joselyn don't go there anymore." I was trying to think of an excuse for not going to Mrs. Sarno's room for lunch when I didn't want her to know that I just wanted to hang out with Kevin. I put my backpack on and said, "well let's go some other day."
We still haven't gone to Mrs. Sarno's room after that conversation. But, it was one of the best decisions I've made because I started to get to know Kevin. Sooner or later, we became friends. I'll never let him go because I worked so hard to actually bond with him.
But more and more people started to figure it out.
It started with Sandy. It was during the end of gym class after all the students came back from playing outside. Everyone was exhausted. We all looked like as if we had taken showers in our sweat. We got our backpacks and sat on the floor in front of the girl's line.
I joked, "Sandy, you look like a tomato." She just sarcastically said, "yeah, I know." We were sitting quietly until Aylyn started getting impatient and whispered, "should I tell her?" My eyes went wide and I screamed "no!"
"But why?"
"Because no!"
Apparently, Sandy overheard what me and Aylyn were talking about and questioned curiously, "what are you guys talking about?" I laughed nervously and replied with "Oh nothing." But, that didn't stop Aylyn. She explained, "but she'll never tell anyone. I just want to tell somebody else so that I won't have to keep it inside all the time." And again, I exclaimed "no!" Sandy just stared and asked the same question again.
She couldn't keep it inside and blabbered "It's a secret."
I was screaming internally:
WHY?! *Sobs*
That's when Sandy turned to me and started begging to know what the secret was. I just frowned and replied "I'm sorry, Sandy. But, I can't tell you. It's too secretive." After I had said that, Aylyn and Sandy were now pleading me to tell her. Though, their constant pleads and cries stopped when Aylyn came up with an idea:
"Oh I have an idea!"
Sandy turns to her and says, "What is it?!"
Aylyn looks at me and answers, "you have to do something stupid or tell her a secret that you have so she could tell you her secret."
Sandy's joyed expression changed into an annoyed one, "what." Aylyn stretched her arms and said, "yeah." Sandy turned to look at me and turned back to her, she sighed.
"Fine."
I looked at how hard they were trying to get the secret out of me and I gave up. "Alright, fine. I'll tell you, Sandy. But only if you do one thing." Sandy asked surprisingly, "what is it?!" I paused for a while and then a bulb lit in my head. I answered, "you have to do the floss. And you have to walk to the hallway and do it for fifteen seconds." I laughed at how her expression changed when I said that. Sandy sighed again and accepted her defeat, "I'll do it. But, you have to tell me what it is first." I groaned and told her, "okay then. Move closer." Another student who hung out with us, Merna, sat next to us. I agreed to let her know what the secret since she had told us one of hers. I took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Alright, so... you might know this already."
"Yes?"
"I... umm... I like Kevin."
Sandy's reaction was not what I had expected. She just said, "I already knew that, Raima."
