The Perplexing Guide: Unintentionally Becoming Popular in Highschool

The next step up: Connection

I was deemed acceptable to approach. Though I never tried to encourage socialising I found I could not avoid people as long as I was enrolled in High School.

I found I was approached more regularly by some students than others.

There were daily drop ins that just had to interact with me once a day. It baffled me. Detours and hiding places had become an added High School subject for me. I could write the text book of hallway stealth tactics.

Avoidance of corridors and making my way around buildings and through the parking lot between classes never got me away from someone's greeting. It was inevitable, I could not prevent another connection incident like I had had with Candy's hair.

The school production needed artwork so I volunteered just to get out of the halls. But this is how I met Darren. Shorter and sharper witted than me. He would scrunch his nose and question my life choice of aloof partial silence. However we reciprocated polite encouraging remarks about our artworks. We both could forget to eat because we were painting.

Often I witnessed passing boys kick a snide comment to Darren because of his weaker appearance.

"Hey, little fairy man! Dont forget to add your glitter dust," was a weak taunt thrown at him oneday as we worked near each other on backdrops.

Not even bothering to stop and turn around he called out "This is all talent. No magic needed."

He slowly rose from a low squat and stretched up on his bare toes. Elongating his body and reaching up with his paintbrush to touch the highest corner of the canvas. Balancing on one foot for a second he perfected grace in the human form.

"I dont even need to carry fairy powder in my bag." He added.

The taunting boy's own friends gaffawed in appreciation of Darren's words.

The degrading language spat at Darren bounced off him like he was immune to bullets. He was wearing a smirk and had never let up painting and displaying his stretching abilities.

His bully was now fighting his own friends who had got hold of this foot powder from his sport bag and making it snow all over him.

Boys were such a waste of time because they behaved well below their age. Darren did not fit that discription of boys. He had social skills I had never conceived. With his self esteem intact, he had shot down his bullies with two sentences and flirted simultaneously with them for his own personal joke.

I was amused and clamping down a smile when he looked at me and said "What?"

"You don't normally paint on your tippy toes Darren."

A fleeting glance at eachother and we were in a connected understanding zone. We knew that I had seen and understood what he had done and what he could do.

A master and apprenticeship image came to mind and I squashed and stuffed it back in my mind. It would require too much interaction with the boy Darren for me to learn his skills.