A Cold, Hard Slap to the Face
I was waiting for class to start, but, as usual, the teacher has some announcements. I was lying my head on the desk, and put my earphones in, and I was just about to play some game music when my teacher said something that kiiiiiiiinda captured my attention.
"Students, we have a new boy in the class..." She says.
"Oh, great... Another boy..." I muttered. There were too many boys in my class, and way too many in the grade. I kept on hoping for a new girl to come, but, my prayers never get answered. The hand holding my phone was just about to hit 'play', but then she spoke again.
"His name is Allan. Allan Berry."
I lifted my head off the desk when she said that name. It seemed very familiar, I just didn't know where I had heard it before. I took out my earphones. A blue haired boy entered the room, his hair sticking up. Almost like that one boy that I met on my way home from school one day. Flash something, I couldn't remember his last name. The only difference about this boy is that his skin was much paler, with a tint of grey, and his hair was sky blue with some streaks of greenish blue. He was wearing a yellowish green shirt, with a paintbrush flicking paint imprinted on the front. Most kids had images like that on their clothes, mine being a video game controller.
Wow... He actually looks kinda... Hot. Oh, goodness...
"Now... Where shall you sit? Do you wanna choose?" My teacher said.
"No, I wouldn't be able to decide where would be a good spot." The new boy said.
"Okay... Hmm.... Neon Screen, Allan shall be sitting next to you."
I could feel my face heat up slightly after she said that. Am I blushing? I, and everybody, could never tell. My skin looks like its sunburnt, but it really isn't. At least it's good for hiding blush and hiding the blush most people get when they get embarrassed.
Allan walked up to my desk, and sat next to me. The desks are quite wide, so there was two seats per desk. I opened my mouth to say hi, but I was unable to speak. Then, the teacher started the lesson, writing the subject we are learning about on the board. Today, it was about how TVs work.
I was barely paying attention to the teacher, my full attention was on the blue haired boy next to me. I couldn't help but stare. He didn't notice, thank goodness. I was kinda in my own world at this point, all words becoming muffled...
"Miss Screen! I am asking you a question!"
I snapped back to the present, and I looked back to my teacher, who was now staring at me.
"Now that I've gained your attention, please tell me, how many pixels are in a normal TV?"
"Uhm... Seven hundred and twenty?" That was a wild guess, but I knew for sure that at least some kind of device has that many pixels when viewing in HD.
I instantly knew that I was wrong when a couple of the kids started giggling. Soon the rest of the class followed suit, and I found myself slinking into my chair, and using my hands to cover my face. I felt my face heat up, thank goodness nobody could see my blush.
"Miss Screen, I shall see you after class, to give you a lesson on paying attention."
Now the class was laughing loudly. Oh, just great. One more thing to be made fun of. Everybody in the school seems to have something against me, so they make fun of me for what I can't do. I seem to gather germs easily, even though I bring hand sanitizer everywhere with me. That's how I earned the nickname 'Neon Unclean'. I suck at sports, I have no friends, I can be kinda clumsy, and I always seem to mess most things up.
But, the thing is, they don't know about my actual talent. But they might just laugh at me if they knew. I play lots of video games, and dangit, I'm a pro! I'm on most online leaderboards, right in the top Tens, I compete in most online tournaments, I use most of my money to buy the newest games and to use at the arcade, I have made a huge butt-mold in my couch, and I pull all-nighters. That isn't that good for my health but... Ever since my mom died, I had used these games to push the bad memories away.
When the bell rang to end class and start recess, everyone packed up, but I stayed where I was. I knew exactly what was coming next.
"Neo, you've been awfully distracted. Why?"
I was quite surprised at that question. I was expecting my teacher to clean the board, write down notes for me to copy, and then verbally lecture me on how to pay attention better.
"Well... It's just that..." I couldn't think of the right words.
Something sparked in my memory, and I saw a blue haired boy in the back of my mind. Allan... we met at the cafe, when a couple of bullies were giving me hassle. He stood up for me, even though he had no idea who I was. Maybe he did know, but maybe not. Afterwards, I thanked him and bought him a milkshake. He told me his name, but I then left in a hurry, probably leaving him in a daze. I didn't even tell him my name.
Ever since that day, which was actually a couple of months ago, I've been thinking about him. Oh my goodness... I think I have a crush on him.
That memory made my face heat up slightly.
"Well, Uhm... Miss, I think it's because..." Still couldn't think of words.
She put her hand to my face. Her hand was freezing cold against my heated face.
"Are you embarrassed? Or, are you experiencing that amazing emotion teens get at this time of their lives; love?"
"Yeah, I think I'm in love..."
She started clapping her hands excitedly and squealing and giggling at the same time.
"Tell me, who do you have a crush on?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"I want to know, because, my job is to teach, but to also help teenagers understand these new feelings."
"Okay, well... It's the new boy..."
"Already?"
"I've actually met him before, at the cafe. He helped me when I was being bullied..."
"Well, that's very nice of him. Go out and find him. Maybe you can chat about what you like-"
"No! He'd probably just laugh at me..."
"Don't be afraid to tell him what you like. He probably likes it too..." That did kinda reassure me.
"Okay, I'll do it. Thank you so much!" I hugged her, I packed up, then I ran out of the classroom. I went dropped my bag off at the next class, then I ran out and started to look for my crush. I saw him sitting all alone on a wall, and I walked up to him, and sat next to him.
"Uhm... Hi." I said.
"Oh, hey."
"Why don't you go and find some friends?"
"Nobody here seems fitting for my personality. Why don't you hand out with your friends?"
"Uhm... I don't have any."
"Say what now?"
"I don't have any!"
"That is kinda hard to believe."
I wanted to change the subject. Why did I have to start that topic?
"Uhm... What do you like to do for fun?" I asked.
"I like to draw, animate, paint, anything that allows me to get my creative juices flowing. What about you?"
"Well... Err... I..." I took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing...' I thought.
"I like to play video games. Like, a lot."
"What? Me too!"
"Really?"
"Yeah. I like to play online games. There's this one person I'm seeing on all the leaderboards, he or she must be amazing, to be on so many."
I knew that that person was me. I checked leaderboards, and I had only seen a name repeat about three times.
"What would you think if that person was me?"
"Iwould think that you are one epic gamer. But, prove to me that that's you." Wow, this was gonna be easy.
"The player name I use for everything is xXStory_ScreenXx. I'm on exactly thirty-eight leaderboards, mostly in the top tens and top fifties. Sometimes the top hundreds. When I can have a profile picture, it's always of a book, or something that has to do with literature."
"Wow, so many correct facts. That's amazing, that you're on so many leaderboards. We should hang out at your place sometime and have a major competition."
My face heated up at that suggestion, and there was no way I was gonna turn down this opportunity.
"That sounds like fun. It's been forever since I've had someone over at my house..."
It was the night of a special prom Crystal Prep was holding, and Allan had asked me to be his date to it. If he hadn't asked, I was just going to stay at home and pull an all-nighter to try to finish Torchlight on my PC. But, when he asked, I couldn't refuse. I managed to scrape enough money to buy a semi decent dress, I tied up my hair in a bun, I wore a slight amount of makeup, and I was putting my mom's necklace around my neck when I heard a knock at my front door.
I went to it, and opened the door. Allan was standing there.
"Oh, Uhm, I wasn't expecting you to be coming to my house to pick me up."
"Meeting up at school didn't sound like much fun, so... You look beautiful, by the way."
I blushed. He was quite handsome in the tuxedo he was wearing, but he hadn't bothered trying to grease his hair down, because he knew that I liked it the way it was. I walked out into the cool night air, which was wrapping around my arms. I wasn't quite used to my arms being so exposed, since I usually wore a sweater or something. I shivered slightly.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, I'm fine. Just cold night air."
"Here, this will keep you warm." He took of the jacket he was wearing, and put it around my shoulders.
"Thanks..." I blushed more because of his kindness.
We both hot in his car, and he drove off to the school. When we arrived, we got out, and entered the front doors of the school. We headed for the gymnasium, where the prom was being held. We entered the gym doors, and we were greeted by music, multicolored lights, and loads of other kids, who were either dancing, chatting, or doing their own thing.
"So, what do ya wanna do?" I asked.
"Let's go get some snacks. I haven't eaten dinner yet, so..."
We then headed to the refreshment table. I went to the punch, and I grabbed two glasses and filled them with the drink. He walked up to me, with two plates full of different food. He held one out to me.
"Err, that's very kind of you, but... I'm not that hungry."
But, my stomach just HAD to betray me by growling as loud as it possibly could. I passed him the punch that was for him.
"Heh, your stomach doesn't seem to think so. Take it."
He then put the plate on my free hand.
After nearly two hours of chatting, Principal Cadence went on stage.
"Hello everybody, and welcome to the annual prom! I shall now announce the prom King and Queen." She said.
Everybody started clapping, and I followed suit. The Principal motioned us to silence, then her husband, Shining Armor, handed her a sealed envelope.
"The prom king is..." She said, adding suspense. "...Allan Berry!" Everyone in the room cheered. Allan's face lit up, and I hugged him tightly.
"Congratulations, Allan!" I said.
Cadence motioned us to silence again.
"And now, to announce the prom queen..." I knew I had no chance of winning this. It had more of a chance of going to Twilight Sparkle than going to me. And she barely has any friends! "...Neon Screen!"
What? That can't possibly be right... Even everyone in the room was confused; I could tell by the murmuring in the crowd.
"Come on up, you two!" Shining said.
Allan slipped his hands around mine, and I blushed slightly. Thank goodness no one could see it. We both walked onto the stage.
"Congratulations, you two." The Principal said.
Allan received his crown. Just as I was about to receive mine, a bucket of... Some kind of... Liquid, fell on me. I was shocked at this.
"Look everybody, it's Neon Unclean!" Everybody pointed at me and laughed.
I looked down at my dress. Ruined. Wait, Was that a bit of moss? Was I covered in sewage?
My question was answered.
"That's sewage, you stupid gamer! That's sewage!" I wanted to crawl into a ball and disappear. Cadence and Shining was too shocked as to what has just happened to even do anything. Sewage covered nearly my entire body, except for my face, my feet, and my forearms.
I put my hands to my face, and ran offstage while sobbing, quite loudly. The laughter that was echoing in my ears kept me from hearing Allan call after me. I ran out of the school, and I sat on a bench in the front garden of the school. I hugged my knees, and I started crying. I just wanted to be at home, sitting in front of my TV, with a controller in my hands, or to be sitting in front of my PC, pulling off that all-nighter, trying to finish Torchlight.
I wanted it to all go away.
I felt something against me. I didn't bother looking up.
"Leave me alone..." I said.
"If I did that, I wouldn't be able to help." That voice belonged to Allan, he was sitting next to me. I felt his arm come around me, and he brought me closer to him. I let go of my legs, and I cried into his chest. His tux will have tear stains in it, now...
"I know that this isn't really a good time, but, I've been meaning to tell you something for a long time, Allan..." I said, that sentence full of sniffles.
"Anytime is a good time. What do ya wanna tell me?"
"Well... I... I've... I've kinda..." The words were getting stuck in my throat. He lifted my head, and tilted it to make it so that I was looking him right in those blue eyes.
"Uhm.. Allan? What are you-" my sentence was interrupted by Allan placing his lips against mine. I melted like butter. My face heated up, and my eyes grew wide. I closed my eyes, returned the kiss, and I wrapped my arms around him. He pulled away, and looked at me with his eyes filled with wonder.
"Allan, I really like you. As in, the more than a friend way."
"I like you too in that way. Even though you're covered in sewage, you-"
A fellow student slapped me, and I was brought back to the present.
"Uh, are you okay? You've been staring into space for the past ten minutes." She said. "And your face is really, really hot."
"Heh, well, I was thinking back to my Crystal Prep days... And I was actually just about to wrap it up, until you interrupted me."
"Well, thoughts interrupted. Too bad, so sad."
A teacher walked in, and everybody stopped talking.
"Attention class, we have a new student. A boy."
"Geez, how many boys does this school need?" I said.
The teacher gave me the evil eye. A familiar looking boy walked in, his blue hair sticking up, his yellow shirt showing off a paintbrush flicking paint on it.
I gasped. It can't be...
"His name is Allan. Allan Berry."
I was so close to fainting. This can't be true.
It seems like Allan can find me anywhere.
I guess getting my thoughts interrupted was a good thing.