Just A Weirdo ✓

~ 04 ~

Tuesday

I watched as my fellow classmates entered the classroom. They had big smiles plastered on their faces. Talk about energised gremlins. I'm not saying all of them were happy. It wasn't very hard noticing the weak façade they had on display. My school was filled with fake people because everyone was trying to seem cool.

It was a way of protect themselves from being treated badly. But there was nothing we could do about it, the labels would always be there.

The populars, the normals and the nerds. It'd always be like that. The nerds could be separated into two categories; the weird nerds and the stuck up nerds who think you are the dumbest person alive if you take more than two minutes to solve a (mathematical) problem in class.

Nevertheless, this wasn't my main concern. We were in English class and had to do an oral presentation. Our teacher told us to write our own poems and share them with the class. I was nervous beyond belief and everybody else seemed okay.

Relax Debbie. It's not like you're being told to amputate your limbs.

Our English teacher was seating in her desk chair... like a boss. She cleared her throat as soon as everyone got seated and said, "Good to see you all in a good mood. I hope you all came prepared. We'll be doing this in alphabetical order and let's hope we finish by the end of this hour. Don't take these things lightly, they'll be considered in your final mark for the year."

"I'll be following the criteria so don't think you can do things your own way. And I'm talking to you, Acosta," she added, using the dude's surname. She grabbed a sheet of paper from the desk and narrowed her eyes at it. "Oh, would you look at that, you're up."

I breathed out and silently read my poem for the hundredth time today. Coming early to class clearly didn't help me one bit. I took the colourful poster that had been pasted on my locker in the morning. It nearly slipped my mind.

I barely paid attention to my classmate and his poetry skills. I never said I wanted to be a poet.

The poster read:

Spring Break Edition: A MILLION THOUGHTS.
Written by Gabriella Ferrero.

The rest of the details were written at the bottom. Turns out they were going to act out the play on the last day of school. It was a musical and Briella was the female lead. The whole school was definitely going to show up to the fundraiser. Did I forget to mention one of Levi's girl friends - note the gap between girl and friend - was in the drama club? Monica and Briella were pretty much loved by the school but I believed Briella was more popular because of the drama club.

Whoever made the illustrations on this poster is really good.

I put down the poster and waited for my turn to go to the front. Class went on and I started to doubt my poem.

"...the freedom to express,
And to start a new mile..."

The teacher nodded in approval. "Thank you, Mr Reso," she said and checked the list. "Uhh, Ms Tierney?"

After the poem we just heard, I didn't think mine was good enough. That boy was born a poet. I nervously stood up and realised that all eyes were on me. My heart was beating crazily and I could feel my hands shaking. I slowly walked to the front as the world went silent in my ears.

I released a breath and came to a halt in front of the classroom. It was like everybody's eyes had suddenly gone big. And I'm talking watermelon big. I glanced over at the teacher and she nodded, motioning for me to begin.

I gulped and looked down at the sheet of paper in my hands. I stared at the ants I called words. Blinking a couple of times didn't help either.

Just recite the poem Debbie!