"Everyone, meet your new classmate. This is the first time that she will go to a regular school, for she always stays at home and does home schooling."
My grip on the strap of my white Adidas backpack tighten as I was scanning the whole room. My classmates are all looking at me, starring I must say. Some of the girls were smiling at me and giving me small hand wave, but some are looking at me from head to toe, as if I did something bad at them. The boys are whispering from each other, and they will look back at me again and smiled.
Our uniform here is very classy. There is no doubt that just by a single glance at our uniform, you will already know that we are from a prestigious school. For the girls, it's just a simple white long sleeve polo, navy blue cardigan with the school logo on it, red necktie and a navy blue skirt. Habang sa mga lalaki naman ay white long sleeves polo, navy blue vest with a school logo on it, and a pair of navy blue slacks.
I gulped and I could feel my legs trembling in fear. I bit my lower lip and lowered my head to avoid their gaze. This is why I don't like to attend a regular school. I have a fear of crowded places. Fear of boys. Fear of people. I have social anxiety, wherein if I see a lot of people whispering, I will think that they are talking about me.
Which is not true........sometimes
Both of my parents decided to homeschool me ever since I was a little child. This is the only time they pushed me to attend a regular school since I'm a graduating student. I need to at least experience life outside the house.
My professor looked at me and put her hands behind my back, and rubbed it gently, "Introduce yourself now, young lady," she said in a sweet tone.
I slowly walked towards the platform and tried my very best not to stumble on the way. The professor left me and stood beside her desk, so I was left standing in the middle of our platform. I played with my fingers behind my back while scanning the whole room again.
"I uhhhh...." I stopped for a moment to gulp, "I uhhhhhh," I couldn't form a sentence!
I heard some laughs coming from my classmates, mostly coming from the girls who were seated in front. Well, I can't be angry at them because who wouldn't anyway? I mean, I'm already a 4th year high school student, and here I am, standing in front of them and couldn't even form a sentence to introduce myself! What a shame!
"Shhhh! Silence class!"
I can feel my sweat coming from my forehead, going down the side of my cheeks. I immediately wiped it with my Armando Caruso handkerchief, "My name's Leilani......Aster I-imperial, b-but Leila is m-my nickname."
"Okay Leila, am I right hija?" My professor asked again and I nodded my head.
"Everyone. Welcome Leila in our class, alright?" She looked at my classmates one by one, "I didn't like what you all did a while ago. Laughing at your classmate just because she made a mistake, doesn't mean you have the right to laugh at her," she said in a calm voice, "You see, your classmate here is having social anxiety, so please, be patient with her."
No one is speaking nor laughing. Everyone is looking at our professor while speaking.
She then looked at me again, "You can now take your seat beside Mr. Esguerra," she paused for a while to look at the vacant sit beside the one where the guy is...........sleeping?
"Mr. Esguerra!" Prof shouted as she slammed her hands on the blackboard, earning a gasped from all of us. I think most of us were surprised by the sudden change of mood of our professor. I nearly jumped off the platform because of that. Even the guy, who has the surname Esguerra, was startled because of that. I saw how he nearly fell off his seat because of the sudden shout from our prof.
Poor him.
"This is not your house, so you're not allowed to sleep here!"
"But school is our second home, so technically it is also our home."
Silence. No one dared to talk and answered the guy who disrespected our prof. I looked at the guy, and he was looking at our professor with a calm and serious face, as if he didn't say anything to her. From my peripheral vision, I saw how our prof massaged her forehead while shaking her head a bit.
"You may now sit down, Leila," she said in a calm voice so I immediately followed her.
The boy who answered our prof arrogantly, removed his bag on the vacant seat beside him and just threw his bag on the floor. I bit my lower lip as I sat down beside him slowly, making sure I'm not making any noise. I placed my bag beside me and the only thing that I put on the floor is my black hydro flask. I'm more comfortable in this position, so that I will not reach my bag on the floor every time I'm going to get something from my bag. I think that caught my seatmate's attention, and he looked at it and raised an eyebrow.
"Tch, so nitpicky," I heard that! I want to say that to his face, but I don't want him to feel that I was being FC to him.
We didn't talk all throughout the half of our session. He didn't bother talking to me, and of course, I didn't bother talking to him even though I want to approach him and ask his name or what-so-ever. I'm having my anxiety attack right at this moment, so I would rather be quiet now.
"Hey...."
My eyes widened when I heard my seatmate's voice. No doubt, he has a nice and soothing voice, like you are being called to dreamland and at the same time it's cold and intimidating.
"M-me?"
I heard him chuckle. Gosh! Even his laugh is so manly, and not to mention, attractive.
"Of course. I think I would look like an idiot if I'm talking to myself right?"
Tch, the sarcastic voice of his.
I slowly looked at his side, and found him smiling at me. He raised his two eyebrows when I didn't utter a single word.
"Isaiah Jiovanni Esguerra, but call me Ivan," he shaked his head as a sign of disapproval, "I don't like being called Jiovanni and also Isaiah."
I smiled, "N-nice to meet you....Isaiah."