Someday, I'll Find My Way Home

Karl meets his blocmates.

Introducting myself in front of a class is nerve-wrecking. It wasn't my strongest suit. When I had to do that in my first year in high school, the class laughed because my teacher kept on saying, "Louder!" in a funny way. Then, when I need to do it in a leadership seminar, I was the most boring and unappealing of the bunch of leaders with so much charisma and swag.

Combine both scenarios in our Guidance Instruction class. I was surrounded by, presumably, cool, confident, and charismatic people that were born leaders, intellectuals, or gifted. After all, they all passed the UPCAT. They are the cream of the crop, or how the saying goes.

When Axel and I arrived at the Makiling Ballroom Hall at the second floor of the Student Union Building, we were surprised by four other bloc sections that joined us in their own, separate circles. The pillars of the hall had portable airconditioners that barely chilled the whole room. We found our bloc, positioned at the far right, already formed in a circle and talking to each other.

"Looks like we're almost complete?" a lady, wearing a navy blue polo shirt and a name tag that says Hello, I'm Karen, nice to meet you! I smiled at her while Axel and I sat on two adjacent seats. 

And it seemed like Axel wasn't kidding when he said that it is bound for at least one person in a bloc who would have a crush on him. I caught in the side of my eyes two girls who are stealing glances at him while he was checking his phone. This bastard, trying to look cool. 

I don't like the attention! I want to change seats instead. It was as if he was a god and I am a mere peasant. He was a blooming flower while I was the sunken leaf. In short, he was cute; I wasn't.

A few minutes later, a girl--no, a grown-ass woman--sat on the empty chair beside me. In every move that she made--from entering the hall to seating beside me--she was graceful. Not the type of supermodel who looks down to peasants. More like an angel who have graced Earth with her presence. 

She wore a pastel, off-shoulder ruffled dress that covered her petite body and heels. The only thing that ruined her look was her leather back pack, but she looked gorgeous nevertheless.

When she sat beside me, I swooped closer to Axel. 

Seating in between a god and a goddess makes me want to be a plant more than ever. They both looked matured; I am not. And these thoughts are coming to a guy who wore his high school tee on a normal weekday.

I forgot to listen to Karen after trying not to get too much attention between these two. When I got my senses back, my blocmates are starting to stand one by one, introducing themselves.

My eyes widened. My feet tensed, and I kept tapping my left foot faster. I tried to make sense of their answers: their name, nickname, province, favorite food (what?), hobbies, talents (WHAT?), and randomly pointing to a person (WHAT???).

"Hey, help me out here," Axel whispered on my ear. "I couldn't memorize their nicknames. I could only remember Alex, Lucky, Robin..."

I leaned closer to his ear. "I'm not paying attention."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, I spaced out."

"Or you're having a huge crush on your seatmate!"

I pinched his back, trying to minimize my actions with him. "I am  not."

"Oh please. I could feel the tension here."

"Shut up and listen. I think the name of the guy who just spoke was Mark."

"Marc, with a C."

I found out, after some context clues, that I need to point to the person I want to be friends with. Ugh. This activity is a pain in the ass. When Marc (with a C) pointed out the girl next to me, the whole bloc (yes, even me!) swooned. And he wasn't the only one! The two girls I've been observing earlier picked Axel, and they all swooned, except me. Ew.