Crazy World

I hate rumours

Andrew

I was heading back to our class from the computer lab with my friend, Parker. Parker was about my only friend in the class. The others were around me because somehow, I was popular. I was kind of sad while taking the staircase with Parker because he was leaving the school in a few days.

So, goodbye to the only person I was myself around.

We didn't talk much about him going away much so right now, we were just discussing some codes and stuff which we had learnt in computer just now. Yep, we were nerds.

"And I was more than shocked when he asked me the full form of HTML-" Parker was saying, just as he was rudely interrupted by my worst nightmare.

"Ooh! Who's that dumb?" May squeezed between Parker and me. I saw Parker roll his eyes.

"Jason," he said.

"of course. Anyway, " she said, completely ignoring Parker," Andrew, I am going to a party tonight. Wanna come?"

I sighed. Why did people keep inviting me to parties?!  I didn't hate socializing but I wasn't too social and everyone knew that.

"No thanks. I have stuff to do."

"Come on, Andrew!  If you're not going then I won't go either!"

"Its really your choice." I shrugged and started walking faster. Parker understood and followed me, and the two of us sprinted, leaving May behind.

"Is it just me or she is actually getting more annoying day by day? " I said.

Parker laughed as we reached our floor. We were walking towards our class when people noticed me.

"Hey Andrew! How's it going?" Someone asked. I didnt even know who it was so I just smiled in return.

"Andrew! Parker! Great seeing you two here!"

What do you mean? We have been studying here for the past ten years or something!

"Hey Andrew. How does my hair look?"

"Andrew!  I heard you are trying out for the school band?"

Parker knew how much I hated this, he gave me a pat on the back and said," walk faster. " Then he yelled, "You know Andrew Wayne can't sing!"

I gulped. What will I ever do without Parker?  He was like the older brother I never had.

***

Sitting in our class,  my head went back to a recent embarrassing memory. Just a few minutes ago, Madison had asked me to help her and her friends with something and without thinking, I went to Anne's system. I mean, what was I thinking?! They probably think I'm weird and stupid.

Okay, I know you are confused about why I started thinking about this and why I went to Anne's system. Let me take you a few years back.

We were in the fifth grade and our teacher made us sit with each other. At first, it was humuliatingly awkward but then we started to open to each other.

Anne was really funny. And yes, that was the first thing I noticed about her. She never talked to many people and used to sit in a corner, minding her own business. I was not expecting this kind of openness from her.

We would crack jokes,  throw paper balls, make faces at each other. Once she grabbed my hand while she slipped slightly. We were just kids but at that moment, I knew she was my first crush.

But then our places got changed again and we didn't talk. I had regrets for a long time. I knew she was not the kind of girl who would come and talk to someone on her own, she needed to be approached. Because of my hesitation, I never did that. We grew apart.

I also always had a feeling that Anne hated me for some reason. Maybe she thought I was overrated, even I thought that. But I don't know what I could have done to make her hate me. She just wouldn't look at me.

Anyway the current situation is that I am not friends with many people. Many students think that there is something between May and me and I wish it were true. A wall between us would have been perfect.

I somewhat grew out of my feelings for Anne but recently, when Parker told me he was leaving, he gave me a shit advice and I could not stop thinking about it now.

"Andrew, we will keep in touch but it wont be like before and you cannot fix it. But you know what you can fix?"

"Telling you about Anne was the biggest mistake of my life." I said as I knew what was coming.

"It was, and I hope you regret it deeply. Anyway, go talk to her, its not too late."

"Why are you doing this now?"

"Because now I won't be around so you cannot harm me if something goes wrong." He laughed.

I didn't generally have crushes. In fact, Anne was my only crush. So his advice hit me harder.

***

Flashback over. Now there is another problem: May. I can ignore her and date anyone else if I want to, but I hate drama and I know she will create a scene if I did, so I had to be careful. I knew what people said about May and me. How we were "together" and "in love". No matter how hard I tried to stop this fake news, it would keep spreading. I knew when May heard these rumors, she would giggle and wave her hand in the air, saying "stop it!".  All I would do was put my fingers in my ears and run around, yelling "la la la la"  at the top of my lungs.

As to why exactly I am popular? The reason is...

I don't know what the reason is. No one likes nerds. I don't even talk to people. I was in ninth grade when a girl asked me out, I said no but out of curiosity, asked her why she wanted to go out with me. She said that I was popular (five marks for honesty though).  I again asked her, why was I popular? She frowned, not knowing the answer.

I was not on any sports team, I was not in the school band. I don't think I even looked that good.

"Andrew?" Someone said my name as I was lost in my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I looked up and saw Madison. Madison was Anne's friend so I was kind of glad to see her.

"We need some board pins and tape. I thought our personal stationery might have these items." She teased.

"And tape!" Came someone's voice. I couldn't see who it was but it sounded like Parker. Putting up the charts wasn't their responsibility,  but they liked to do work for the class.

"I said it!" Madison yelled back.

I quickly gave her whatever she needed. Being around an angry Madison was a bad idea.

Just when Madison went away, I hung my head.

"Boo!" I grunted as I realised May was behind me.

"May-"

"Shush. I wanna tell you about this new T. V.  I bought. We can have a movie night together someday!" She sat beside me and said.

Oh for the love of God, stop it. Came a voice from my head.

I closed my eyes and kept nodding,  making May think I was listening to her.

Full form of HTML?  Hyper-Text Markup Language. LOL noob!