Please don't be in love with someone else

1

7th grade. It all started in 7th grade when I first saw him.

He was new and still hasn't got any friends. At first glance I knew already that he's kind of odd. He was sitting in the corner at the back looking outside the window while fidgeting his comb when he could be using it to fix his unkempt dark hair. My old classmate Elliot and Ron is wrestling each other behind him while beside him is Amy, shouting at the two to make them stop. The three are already making too much noise yet this guy just kept on looking out the window, oblivious of what's happening around him.

I didn't realize that I've been staring at him for awhile. It didn't took long, he looked at me too and caught me looking at his direction. He gave me a polite smile, probably as a greeting and even though I wanted to resist I can't deny that in that instant, he got me.

I responded his dreamy smile by looking away. I told myself to get a grip. I'm the top student of the class, which means I have a reputation to secure. I can't be distracted by some simple gesture from a simple transferee.

I tried reading to prevent myself from looking at the back, I pretended reading a blank notebook until our class adviser came. The first thing she made us do is to go in front one by one to introduce ourselves and since i'm in front, I was the first.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Jaymie Espinoza" I was already standing in front of everyone that's why I took that opportunity to look at him again. He's just looking at me with a blank expression. I wonder if I offended him because I looked away when he smiled at me.

When its finally his turn in front, I did my best not to look at him with admiration. I forced a frown but my attention was focused to him. He is no doubt feeling uneasy, His hand's placed at the back of his neck while the other one is inside his pocket. "Hi. Uhh.. I'm Jethro Lewis. Nice to meet you all." He ended it with an awkward smile and went back to his seat. I heard the girls behind me giggling but I don't think it was because they find him cute.

After introduction, we elected our class officers. I was actually chosen as the class secretary. After that, our adviser then made the sitting arrangement. Due to the lack of height I was still placed in front, but it was fine 'cause atleast I was beside my two close friends. Greg (my gay friend) and Julia (my bestfriend). I thought it won't become any more better, but when I checked who's behind me, I saw him, gnawing his fingernails and again, looking outside the window.

This is the first time I craved looking at someone and I despise myself for it because of all people, him. I can't even figure out what's there to like. He doesn't seem athletic nor intelligent and he seemed invisible for my classmates.. But whenever I look at everyone, he's actually the clearest thing my eyes can discern.

In our second day, we were asked to draw of anything in a piece of bond paper. The teacher asked us to freely express ourselves by manipulating lines and shapes and create something. I'm not good at this but as a grade-conscious-person I did my best. Me and my two friends beside me was focused only on our works. The rest were all gathered around Jethro who drew an amazing caricature of Hermione Granger. Eventually, Greg and Julia noticed his work and praised it as well. He received a lot of compliment from our classmates and even our teacher that it made him blushed so hard. He was so adorable with those pinkish cheeks that I didn't realize I was smiling from ear to ear while facing him. I immediately shifted my face to 'unamused' before he could see me and when he did, I tried my best to look like I'm not impress, as if I'm disgusted with his work. From 'flattered', his expression was immediately changed to 'discouraged' that he quickly submitted his work for others to stop asking him to show it, and he's not actually done with it. He could've improved it more but he didn't because I already broke his spirit.

When Jethro was finally recognized as the-guy-who-can-draw, the anime lovers started approaching him. The anime lovers are composed of 8 nerd members, 3 boys (Chuck, Clyde, and Lee) and 5 girls (Bambi, Janna, Ally, Claire, and Angel). Sometimes they're being used to make the decorations for the class since they're the most creative, but most of the time they're being discriminated. They're actually secretly branded as "the weabz" being ignored and if not, the laughing stock in class. Since Jethro is just new, he doesn't know about it or probably just doesn't care because he just openly accepted them and eventually he became part of it. He may no longer be considered as a loner but with a group he's in now, Its like almost no progress at all. After he's got his own group of friends, I started hearing gossips about him, how he deserves to be in that group because he's no diffrent from them. They're always talking about how weird he is and I can't deny because he really is.

Everyday when I got a chance, I'll secretly look at him. I always see him doing the same thing, looking outside the window. But sometimes I do get lucky, like that one time when he's looking at the bird on the schoolbus's windshield and it suddenly pooped, I saw him smirked and heard a faint giggle. I get pleasure in every weird thing he does. I love the feeling but I'll immediately regret it after, because if they find out what will they say to me? The top student falling head over heels with a weirdo? I'll be ruined for sure.