I realized that I am not well-liked in class, and in general, to be honest. I have always been puzzled about the reason for it. I don't know when it started, but whenever I meet people, they talk to me like a normal human being and smile. However, when I converse with them, their smiles seem so unnatural, almost fake.

I don't mean fake in a malicious way, and I have had my fair share of people trying to take advantage of me, but it just feels like they're not being genuine. During my normal interactions with them, it never seems like that in the moment. We talk normally, share occasional laughs, but there always seems to be a barrier between me and my classmates. I have never understood why, but someday, I do want to figure out the reason.

Frankly speaking, it gets bothersome at times, like when I'm supposed to be grouped with other people. I have always preferred doing school work alone because it's easier and more efficient. However, when I get grouped with others, I always dislike it at first for a couple of reasons. People do not contribute equally to the activity, and it's the reason why I prefer to work alone. Working in a group setting, or even pairing, for that matter, has sometimes been inefficient and time-consuming in comparison to me doing it alone.

Anyway, I got sidetracked. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, not being liked.

Having a terrible reputation can be a bit troublesome, and I, in particular, subscribe to that thought but in reverse. I don't give a crap about what other people think, but now, because of that, it has landed me in hot water a few times in my life, just like my current situation right now.

My classmates constantly stare at me, and it's overwhelming. They ask me, "Yo Malik, are you friends with Lorelai?" Their stares indicate something along the lines of, "How do you know Lorelai?" or "It can't be." I ignore it as I always do, but this time, I'm feeling a little fidgety.

"Friend is a strong word; we are more like acquaintances.“

"So, you're friends with her then, because a great man once said, 'If you are acquainted with someone, then it also means you are friends with them, though the other party doesn't need to know that.'"

"That's the stupidest quote I have ever heard. Who even said that?"

"I did, of course!"

I'm not surprised that it was Neil who said it. I'm not even shocked if that quote is his life philosophy. It may even be the reason he's so successful with girls. I pull Neil closer to me because I want to ask him something. I whisper, "Hey Neil, what's up with everybody? Why are they staring at me like that?"

Neil looks at me quizzically, as if something is wrong with me, but then he smirks as if he remembers something. This punk.

"Oh my dear friend Malik, you're a real idiot sometimes."

"Shut up and just answer."

"Alright, alright, don't be so uptight."

Neil has a wide grin as he explains, "It's simple, really. You're friends with the new smoking hot girl that everybody wants to be friends with, YOU of all people. Even I was shocked by that revelation, and I'm your best friend."

A look of realization dawns on my face after what Neil said, but the way he said it ticked me off. I'm not that bad, no?

"Maybe ex-best friend if you don't keep your mouth shut."

I glare at him with a hint of annoyance in my eyes, and what reflects off of them is a smirking brown-eyed, dirt-blond-haired kid who seems to be amused by my reaction. I need to rethink my decisions concerning my circle of friends, though I don't know if having 2 people in my circle qualifies it as such.

“Calm down princess, it’s no big deal, but i gotta say, you already beat me to it. That new girl seems to like you in my opinion.”

I gazed at Lorelai, bewildered as I saw our classmates surrounding her, and noticed the space getting cramped. I stood up and moved to another seat, not wanting to be swallowed by the human tsunami. At that precise moment, Lorelai locked eyes with me for a few moments as i was leaving and smiled, although the smile disappeared as fast as it came.

I turned to Neil with a frown and exclaimed, “You're fucking insane!”

Neil responded, “Woah there, I just said what I thought. There's no need to get aggressive, but believe it or not, it's the truth.”

Neil was always right when it came to social situations, and most of the time, I wouldn't doubt him. But this time, I was doubting him, and I was doubting him a lot. Why? Simply because Lorelai smiles and brightens up the room for everyone around her. I wasn't going to be the idiot who believed that just because a girl smiles at you, it automatically means she likes you. It's fucking ridiculous.

“Alright class, settle down. Class is starting.”

The English Literature teacher walked in at the right time i finished my conversation with Neil, though I would like to point out that he was late for about 10 minutes now, though its best I don't mention it. He had a receding hairline with had wrinkles in parts of his face, his expression also seems to be saying that he does not want to be here, i would know too since i also have that same expression that hes having.

2 Hours Later~~

"Malik, do you want to grab some lunch? I'm starving after that exhausting mathematics lesson," I said.

"True that, and sure, I could eat," Malik replied.

I packed up my things, which only consisted of a couple of notebooks and a few pens. I bring five pens because I have a bad habit of losing them. It seems like every time I take my eyes off my pen, it somehow wanders off into Narnia.

As I was getting ready to leave, Lorelai approached me and asked, "Hi Malik, where are you going for lunch?"

I didn't need to turn around to figure out who it was, but I still spun around and saw that it was indeed Lorelai waiting for me to respond.

"Neil and I were just about to grab some lunch. What about you?" I asked.

"I was about to eat too. Some of our classmates asked me if I could eat with them," she replied.

"So are you going to eat with them?" I inquired.

"I don't know. I'm not really feeling it, but they are nice people," she said.

"Yeah, they can be nice sometimes."

The two of us were pervaded by an awkward silence. I didn't know what to say after that, so I just stared at her for a good minute, wondering why she was still talking to me. But to be honest, I didn't mind. Finally, Lorelai broke the awkward tension between us with a sigh of relief.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Well, I gotta go eat. Bye, Malik,” she said.

I nodded and replied, “Bye, Lorelai.“

She turned around and left with some of our classmates, and if I wasn't seeing things, they were glaring at me again while I was chatting with Lorelai. Strange.

“Yo dude, I told you she was into you. She was definitely trying to go with you to get lunch. I told you, man,” said Neil, my somewhat good friend.

As I eyed him, I seriously wondered how he always managed to get girls.

“Stop looking at me like that, man. Just trust me on this. She definitely likes you,” Neil insisted.

“You know, Neil, you're a little delusional at times. I'm wondering how the hell you date new girls every other week. And dude, she just asked me something, and you're already thinking she likes me. Delusion is a good term to describe you,” I retorted.

Neil rolled his eyes, yet still smirked and looked at me with pity.

“Dude, your hopeless, fine if you don't believe me, then your loss.”

Neil shrugged his shoulder and dragged me to get lunch, forgetting the previous fiasco that happened, i obliged of course since it was a small interlude in the day. For a few moments i considered what Neil said and came to the conclusion that it was bullshit. Anyway, time to eat.

A week has passed since Lorelai transferred to my class and everybody gradually calmed down from the buzz of Lorelai's arrival. Everything went back to normal as the various friend groups started to form, it consisted of a few factions, a term that i believe is appropriate.

You got the mixed group, filled with various types of people from the musicians, the academically smart ones and the gamers. Then there’s the cliche popular group like those showed in the movies, containing the varsity basketball players, the cheerleaders but what makes this group different is that there’s a new addition to the group, it was of course Lorelai.

She radiated brightness like the other people around her, but I noticed a subtle difference between Lorelai and the rest, although I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Let me not forget about the third group, which was undoubtedly the best.

It was me, Neil, and Ace who finally attended class after a week. Now some might wonder why Neil, the extrordinaire Fuckboi, was not with the popular clique since he's also popular from a logical perspective. It's simple, really: he thinks they suck.

Neil never explained to me why he felt this way. When I asked him at the time, he said:

"Because they suck. I don't like them, but I like you Malik. You're different, more fun, in my opinion. Now, let's go grab some Proyo. Your treat, of course."

That was a few weeks after we became friends, and it was constant fun and some trouble - mostly caused by Ace and Neil - while I was the one who had to clean up their mess.

How could I forget Ace? Ace was a bit odd, like Neil, but in a different way. He was also handsome, with his unique green eyes and long black hair that reached his shoulders, and a round face with a sharp jawline.

He is undeniably handsome and might be with the popular kids. I even heard that some of the teachers are attracted to him, but thankfully, there are laws against that.

I also asked him why he wasn't with the popular crowd, and he gave me a brief reply:

"Because I want to."

Ace was the silent and stoic type. If you didn't talk to him, he wouldn't start a conversation. However, he has a weird obsession with Beyblade, and he wouldn't stop talking about it if someone brought it up. I didn't want to ask him why he liked Beyblade so much, as I was afraid it would shatter my image of him.

It was Monday, and the weekend had ended. Personally, I was saddened by it, but at least I got to hang out with Ace and Neil after not seeing them for such a long time. I had my reasons for not seeing them over the summer, but I'll talk about that in the future.

It was the last subject of the day: Earth Science, taught by our homeroom adviser, Mrs. Isabelle Garcia. I only found out her name through the schedule form; she must have forgotten to introduce herself.

"Mam Garcia was currently teaching us about animal reproduction, which involves the formation of new animal individuals through asexual or sexual means. All animals must reproduce asexually or sexually to create new individuals of their-"

While everyone else was busy listening to her lectures, even Neil, I was busy thinking about Lorelai. Over the past week, she had been ignoring me for some reason. Even though we rode the bus to school together and sat next to each other, Lorelai just kept a blank face and ignored me throughout the entire ride. I didn't pay it any mind, as I didn't appreciate the feelings she made me feel. I was a bit happy about it, though some part of me was also saddened by it. I still don't know why.

As I thought about it more, I asked myself why she had been ignoring me on the bus. If she wanted to avoid me, she could have moved to another seat. Being as popular as she is, I'm sure the other people on the bus wouldn't mind sitting with her. But she continues to sit at the back and hasn't moved. I also thought about moving, but I disregarded it and reasoned that it had been my seat for years. I refuse to change to another seat.

This is strange, very peculiar.

"Mr. Tirion, can you please answer the question: what are the two forms of sexual reproduction in animals?"

Startled, I snapped out of my thoughts and realized that Mam Garcia was glaring at me. That was not a good sign.

"Um, Mam Garcia, can you please repeat the question?"

"No."

Fuck.

"If you don't answer me within the next minute, Mr. Tirion, you may vacate the class."

Shit.

“Its Sexual and Asexual, Ms Garcia.”

Suddenly, someone answered the question before me, and when I looked over, I was a bit shocked. It was Lorelai.

"Lorelai, you may be right, but you were not the one I asked. But I'll let it go this time. Don't do it again," Mam Garcia said.

Lorelai just smiled and replied, "Yes, Mam."

As our eyes locked, I saw a smirk at the side of her face for a second before she went back to her blank expression. She is indeed strange. I smiled at this revelation and felt a little happy about it, although I had no idea why. I felt like a broken record at this point.

The bell rang, which signifies two things in high school. First, there's a fire caused by ace and neil, and second, school is done. Thank God.

"Alright, class, that's all for today. Oh before I forget, there will be the annual acquaintance party this month, so get ready for that. Okay, class dismissed," Mam Garcia announced.

I felt relieved that I could go home now. As I saw Ace and Neil approaching, I gave them a brief nod, and they did the same.

"Dude, the annual acquaintance party is starting again, and this time I'm planning to hook up with two girls," Neil announced with excitement.

I looked at him quizzically as if there was something wrong with him, but then I realized that there actually was.

"Neil, remember what happened last year when you did that? Both sides of your face were as red as a baboon's ass," I replied.

"Well, this year's different. Last year didn't work because they found out I was two-timing them before I could tell them what's up. But this year, I have a new game plan, and I'm sure it's going to work," he replied confidently.

I turned to Ace, pleading with him through my eyes to stop this nonsense. Ace just shrugged and sat down beside me, watching Neil like a good show was about to start. I always favored Ace to Neil but I’m having second thoughts about it now

I sighed and turned back to Neil, only to realize that he was no longer looking at me. Instead, he was looking in another direction, and there was a strange smirk on his face.

"Malik, would you look at that?" Neil pointed in the direction he was looking, and I followed his gaze. That's when I saw Bradley talking with Lorelai.

Curious, I tried to overhear their conversation. Luckily, Bradley's arrogant and loud voice was enough for me to hear what he was saying.

"So, Lorelai, the acquaintance party is coming up, and I was wondering if you want to be my date for that event," Bradley said.

Feeling dismayed, I focused even more on their conversation, annoyed at what he said. Although Lorelai was smiling, she had her arms crossed, and she wasn't looking at Bradley most of the time.

Bradley was the typical jock you'd seen in movies. He had blond hair and blue eyes, with a round face and a cut jawline. He was attractive by society's standards, but to me, he looked like a damn insect crawling on the ground.

My interactions with Bradley were bad, to say the least. He was a jock who played for the school's varsity basketball team, and I heard that one of the Ivy League schools even offered him a scholarship, proving that he is damn good. I couldn't even hate on him because he was an excellent student, consistently getting A's, and he even served as the student council president. This guy was more than just a jock; he was the typical all-American kid.

But despite all these achievements, he was secretly an asshole who threw his weight around like he was royalty. He made life difficult for the lower-class students so many times that it almost felt dictatorial. The school didn't do anything about it because he was the "shining star" of the school, but to me, it was all just fake bullshit since his own dad was the principal. This was one of the many reasons why I hated this school so much.

As Lorelai replied with a cold smile, "Yeah, about that, I already have a date."

The atmosphere dropped to below zero degrees so fast that it felt like I was in the arctic tundra for a second. Bradley didn't seem too happy with what she said and asked, "So, who's this date you're talking about? I'm very curious to know who the lucky guy is."

I felt a chill down my spine as I saw Lorelai directly looking in my direction. Maybe Ace was the lucky guy?

"It's Malik," she replied.

Fuck me.