Songs About You [Ongoing]

Chapter 1: Chasing Pavements

I'll always remember that embarrassing moment that I did on the first day of junior year. I was sitting with my friends at the back of the room, gossiping about what we all did during the summer vacation. Catherine, or Kate, as she prefers to be called, excitedly told us about their family escapade in their province in the south. Her twin sister, Danny, butts in the conversation and spilled the sweet, juicy gossip that Kate had a fling with their neighbor's son. She described him as a tall, dark, and handsome stud. That guy also runs for the position of a Sangguniang Kabataan councilor in their town.

There were still so many stories to tell, but our homeroom teacher arrived very early. Bummer. Everyone went back to their respective seats and suddenly became quiet because of the terrifying old lady... I meant teacher that entered our classroom.

She introduced herself as "Mrs. Hechanova". My friends and I refer to her as Supernova because sometimes she just bursts whenever she feels angry. We knew her as the grumpy head of the Mathematics department. She's known to make students cry because she gives very low grades. Oh good, it was the first day of classes and we've started it with numbers. Good thing I like studying. Don't judge.

I think I wasn't listening at that time because I was ranting in my mind about how awful this teacher could be. Talk about a good start. I heard her call my name and motioned me to go in front of the class. My heart jumped and I didn't know what to do, but Mrs. Hechanova was staring daggers at me and pointed in front of the blackboard. She even knocked on it: yi, er, san, si*, four times. Seriously?

I stood up and quietly walked towards the front. I smiled a bit when I looked at Mrs. Hechanova just to be polite, but she did not smile back. Talk about being monstrous. I faced my classmates. Most of them look familiar, but some of them are new. I quickly composed myself, then I started talking.

"My name is Celine Co, I'm 16 years old. I live at...." I stopped when I heard Mrs. Hechanova cough exactly four times. What is it with her and the number four? That number is unlucky! Looks like I'll be ill-fated today. Fu*, help me.

"Ms. Co, what are you doing?" She asked me.

"I'm introducing myself, Ma'am." When I said those words, everybody in the class laughed at me, and that includes Mrs. Hechanova. Well not everybody, I still have my friends who look worried. Well, at least that's what I think they're feeling that moment.

"Oh dear, I asked you to lead the prayer and not to introduce yourself."

Those words echoed in my head. I was dumbfounded. Suddenly, tears just started rolling down my face, so I ran back to my seat in shame. On my side, Kate comforted me by patting my back. That was the most embarrassing moment of my life... so far. Throughout the day, everyone was still teasing me. I still heard some people laughing behind my back. Just realized that moment that crying a river would lead to these consequences. Too much drama. I sighed.

Finally, when school was over for the day, Danny and Kate waved at me to hop in their car. Every end of every day for about three years now, this is the same scenario that happens. I always needed a ride back home, so these two are my saviors. Zhufu tamen. Together with us are another two of my best friends, Velma and Jia.

Let's describe my friends, shall we? Kate and Danny had the silkiest, blackest hair I've ever seen. I think that's the only thing they have in common; they are fraternal twins. Even though they came from two zygotes in the same place, at the same time, they both have their own, very unique personalities. They're complete opposites, and when I say complete, that includes their clothes and the way they talk. Danny has long, black hair, cut into layers. She loves wearing skirts, usually flowy ones, and dresses that are mid-length. She also likes watching old romantic films, usually from the 90's and mid-2000's. She's our go-to whenever we want to have a movie night sleepover.
On the other hand, Kate has straight, mid-length hair that goes just about an inch below her shoulders. She like things simple; she just wears shirts and jeans almost all the time. She doesn't want to make things complicated, she says. Unlike Danny, Kate usually spends her time reading and writing stories, and listening to music. She wants to be a bestselling novelist by the time she's 18. Good thing their parents support what they want to do in life so she has all these great books about writing they bought for her.

Velma has short, black hair and very round glasses. The reason for having those glasses? Netflix binge-watching. We share a Netflix account and all I can see on her list are animé and Japanese films. When a local show aired a host saying watashi wa tamago to a seller when she wanted to buy eggs, (which means "my name is egg" in Nihongo) it took her days to get past laughing. She was the person that introduced animé to me, and I must say, the content of these animated films and series are fascinating I might need to save up for another pair of eyeglasses with a higher grade. Yup, you read that right, WE wear glasses. Well actually, the four, I meant, three of us wear glasses. Danny wears contact lenses because she says eyeglasses are so eww. Wow.

Lastly, there's Jia, the oldest of the group and a senior. She has really straight, long, black hair that goes below her back. She has this strange addiction to scarves and Korean stuff. If I'm not mistaken, she already has 50 up to date. Or maybe even more. That, I am not sure. She owned that too many scarves because of a childhood sweetheart she had when she was about 7 or 8, but that is another story to tell another time. And about her Korean addiction, she always listens to Kpop, and watches a lot of Korean dramas that make her cry.

We've all been friends since the first year of high school, and Jia came along when we all met her at camp. It was our first time attending Camp Pines for the summer 2 years back, Velma, Kate, and I. Danny did not go that summer because she attended music lessons instead. Jia was our bunkmate and that was the start of a beautiful friendship.

"Did you notice that new Asian guy in our class, Celine?" Velma asked.

"No, I wasn't really paying attention on people today, Kate. Remember what happened earlier?" I said with a really sarcastic voice.

It was about to rain that afternoon, so I frantically looked for my umbrella inside my very messy backpack. I did that while walking on the pavement just beside the school across the parking lot, not paying attention to where I was walking. Suddenly, I slipped on the wheelchair ramp. My butt fell first, and it was a very hard fall. I felt my skirt was already damp. All my friends laughed at me instead of helping me. Then, an unimaginable thing happened.

I noticed a guy's hand extend to me. I reached for it and he helped me get back on my feet. That moment, time slowed down for a bit, then I stared at the guy. I didn't think this happens in real life. I continued to stare at the guy, but I don't want to look like I'm enamored so I looked the other way. I don't know him; I think he's new. He looks like he came from one of those manga books that Velma likes to read. His features that I most noticed were his pale skin and his expressionless face but smiling eyes.

"Be careful next time." he walked away without even smiling.

I just froze there, dazed, looking at his direction while he walked away from me. Then, Velma snapped her fingers to wake me up to go back to reality.

"Oh my God, Celine. That was the Asian guy Velma was talking about. Isn't he dreamy?" I agreed to what Kate said. "Do you know his name?" I asked Kate. "I remembered earlier when he introduced himself he said Kentaro, but I forgot his last name it's too Japanese I can't remember. Maybe Velma knows it? You know how she likes Japanese stuff so much." Kate replied. Velma shook her head. "I don't know much about gossip here at school so about Asian guy's surname... wakaranai. Sorry. I meant, I don't know." We just shrugged.

When we reached Danny's car. I quickly opened my phone and searched Kentaro on Facebook. Tons of results came up. How will I find this guy? I wanted to personally (or digitally?) thank him for helping me earlier. Scanning through this list will make my eyes strain. Oh well, I can still see him tomorrow, it's just the first day of school.