Adventures Of A Female Loner

The Coward & The Unicorn pt. 4

The sky was looking very grey and cloudy. I had no idea why our teachers were making us stand in crowds on the top fields. A group of students started to walk around the field to distribute cheap plastic raincoats. Lo and behold, my school liked things. Our school soccer team was about to play a game with some famous soccer players and this was going to be broadcasted live somewhere on Supersport. It started drizzling, and all of us were huddling together in our cheap plastic raincoats. The school's soccer players came onto the field. One of those players, was Daniel.

In junior high, Daniel was your typical lanky nerdy jewish boy donned with a generally shaggy hairdo and braces. He was considerably shorter than the typical teenage boy at his age. But in senior high, puberty hit him, and boy did he look good. There he was running on the soccer field wearing the signature navy blue and white team soccer outfit. His hair was cut into a shorter style and was slightly tousled. He didn't wear braces anymore and his lanky short stature became a tall body of lean muscle. In layman terms, Daniel was hot now. I was not interested in the game, and I don't even remember what the score was, but I do remember watching Daniel kick the ball a few times, and I was falling head over heels over this guy again.

Fast forward, he was now in matric (grade 12), and instead of wearing the navy and yellow striped blazer, he was wearing a fitted full navy academic blazer and was part of the Learner Leadership Council (LLC). He had an air about him. He was gorgeous (he always had beautiful eyes), and I knew I wasn't the only one who thought so. He was so popular he could have been the head boy had he not made a terrible candidate speech mocking his favourite teacher thinking it was a hilarious joke. Also, being academically inclined and part of the best soccer team in ages really helped his attractive levels reach new heights. He was so different to the guy who used to greet me. He had changed as much as I did. So what happened?

In junior high, he attempted to get my attention. In senior high, it was my turn. I knew I liked this guy, but I also knew he kind of disliked me... So I started greeting him in the hallways whenever we passed by each other during the short intervals between class periods. This lead to some pretty embarassing situations for me and I had to really gobble down my pride. Once, when I was coming out of maths class, he was already standing outside waiting for my class to leave. I waved hello and giggled, and walked in the opposite direction of my next class, and had to walk back past him again still giggling nonstop. I was also tomato red because I was blushing so hard. The next situation, I was finishing up in the computer lab, and again he was ready to get into the lab (why was he always early to class??). I saw him, and I panicked. I said hello, and took my hand out of my pocket to wave at him only for a piece of straw wrapper to come flying out of my pocket floating to the ground. I wanted to run away, but then I backtracked again to pick up my litter and left swiftly. Again, I was tomato red. I dont know if he ever picked up on how much of a crush I had on him. One day, I was fed up with my small parlour tricks, and I finally mustered enough courage to send a friend invite on Facebook. He accepted :). We had our first real conversation on Facebook messenger. I learnt that he admired my artsy side: drawing and singing, and he thought I was really cool, and I learnt that he genuinely enjoyed the arts, but didn't have the talent for it, that he loved debating and was passionate about recycling, was very fond of soccer, and he could cook. That conversation was amazing, and he asked why we never spoke to each other like this in the real world... After that, I joined the Maths Olympiad competition knowing that he would join it too. I volunteered myself for non-compulsory maths quizzes for this guy... Wow.

I passed the first round.

Time passed by quickly. Before I knew it, the Matric dance was coming up, and I was part of the matric dance committee who helped organise it. The matric dance was the final formal gathering to celebrate highschool for grade 12s and their dates. Suitor D wanted me to be his date, but I had rejected him. I had really wanted Daniel to ask me to the dance. Not because I wanted to use him to be there during the event. I was already invited as I was part of the executive organising team for it. I wanted to be his date...

I waited and waited and secretly hoped he'd ask me. Closer to the date, he brought a new girl to school, and introduced her to all his friends. My heart deflated. I saw him from a distance with her and they looked lovely together. Later in the afternoon when I was coming out of the ladies room, I saw him standing outside again (How can this not be fate?). I waved and said hello. And he waved and smiled back. Feeling defeated, and thinking that I had nothing else to lose, I asked him about the girl.