Love At First Sight? Maybe, Not! (Part 5)

"KEN!!! Can you concentrate?!!! The function is not long from now. Stop fooling around" "Okay! Okay, miss stressed up... Hehehe..."

It had been a year since I confessed about my feelings to Ken. A lot had happened since then. In the beginning of Standard 5, I realized that I had to use spectacles. My attempts of memorizing the eye test card was a failure and I was declared with short-sightedness... At first, I was excited about wearing glasses but as the days went by, I only regretted it more and more. I never looked as attractive as I once used to. The glasses were rather annoying and left weird scars on my nose. And yet, I had to live with it because without it, my vision was a blur. Fortunately, Ken found the glasses rather cute on me (But truth is, it looked like those Harry Potter glasses which were rather weird.)

The year went by rather fast but there were many conflicts and slight problems that I can still remember. First, there was the fan in our class. Ken, being as naughty as he usually is, decided to play a little football/soccer game in class and kicked the ball a little too high for comfort. The fan took a direct hit from the ball and slanted in a weird direction. Ever since that day, we all sat in fear in class during lessons, anticipating for the fan to drop.

The second biggest conflict was the fight between Ken and Aden. Aden had become the new class monitor and was really a responsible one. He took care of the class quite well and was liked by all. But the problem arose one day when Aden made a report to the teacher about Ken's usage of foul words towards the teacher. Until this very day, I don't know the truth of that story but all I remember was the anger in both Ken and Aden's eyes...

We were all just running about in class and doing normal stuff every 11-year-old does in his/her class. Talking, arguing, laughing, smiling. Ken and Aden were standing together and talking but I was too distracted by my other friends who were laughing on the other side. Suddenly, Aden stormed out to go see the teacher and Ken was yelling after him in an angry tone. I rushed to the door of the class to see what the problem was. Then, I saw Aden and our teacher walking back towards Ken. There was so much anger in both Ken and Aden's eyes. I stood there dumbfounded, shocked at the hatred these two close friends suddenly developed for each other.

"Aden! What's the matter? Why did you call our teacher?" I whispered. Aden just ignored me and continued to complain to the teacher. "He used a foul word against you, sir. Ken actually said it and I heard it MYSELF!" Aden said. "No, I DID NOT!" Ken replied in a harsh tone. " You so did! Tell him Gina! Tell the teacher what he said!" Aden yelled. Aden looked at me with such trust and hope in his eyes, expecting me to back him up. But I couldn't even hear his words. All I saw was his expression... First a look of hope which then changed to aggression, followed by anger. “Aden... I…. I don’t know what he said. I didn’t hear anything,” I responded in a weak tone. He looked at me as if looking at a betrayer. He thought I had decided to side Ken since I had feelings for him (by this time, everyone in the GAKSYD gang knew of our feelings for each other.) “Gina… How could you? Just tell the teacher the truth, Gina. PLEASE! Don’t support Ken. Speak the truth,” Aden half begged. “I can’t, Aden because I really didn’t listen to what he said!” I replied and stormed off before the situation got any worse.

That day, the teacher punished Ken by deducting his penalty marks leaving a black mark on his records. Ken stared with fury at Aden. Both glared back at each other as though they would have bitten each other’s throats off. I stood inside the class and watched with sadness at my two most favourite guy friends’ hatred towards each other. Why had fate done this to them? A tear was about to trickle down my cheek but I strengthened up and just accepted it. After all time would heal all. Eventually, Ken and Aden began talking again but never with the same closeness they once shared. Neither could trust each other anymore and it pained me to watch all this from a close range.

“Hey, Miss DREAMY!!!” Ken shouted in a joking tone. I snapped out of my daydreaming about that year and looked back at him. “Well, if you’re not gonna be serious about this dance, don’t expect me to do so either. I’d daydream all I want!” I stated and began to walk off in a sulky manner. A hand held my arm back the way it did a year ago when I had first confessed my feelings. Butterflies started building up in my tummy. I wanted to giggle but I didn’t because I didn’t want to show my weakness, especially not to Ken. “Come on, you don’t wanna leave. I’ll be serious. Don’t go. Let’s start again and make sure we do this dance well,” he said with that smile that never failed to mesmerize me. I just smiled back as usual and warned him (half jokingly) that if he stopped focusing, I’d be marching right out the hall’s door. He agreed and we started out dance rehearsal again.

Ken and I had promised a dance performance for the Prefectorial Board’s party. We were both quite talented dancers when it came to Indian contemporary dance so we thought we would do it again after a hit performance back when we were 9. The day of the performance arrived and I was quite nervous. “Hey, don’t be worried. We practiced more this time. We’ll do great,” Ken said encouragingly and patted on my shoulder. I was panting and trying to calm myself down. We managed to do a quick rehearsal before being called up to perform. In truth, the dance was alright but what ruined it was the loose jean I wore. That wretched light blue faded denim was just a bit too loose on the waist which caused me to often pull it up during the dance. With only one weird pant adjusting girl and one dashing boy on stage, I managed to capture everyone’s attention with my weird action. The crowd started laughing and at the end of the dance, we had a loud roar which was laughing even louder. I could no longer hold the embarrassment I felt.

I bowed after the dance and rushed out of the hall and just ran, ran as fast as I could, as far as I could. I ended up in the girl’s toilet which blocked my path of escape. I entered a cubicle in the toilet and started weeping. It was just too embarrassing to bear, the laughter of so many people despite practicing so hard. I ruined it big time, not just for myself but for Ken too. I was expecting him to be super mad with me. “GINA! GINA! Are you in there?” a familiar voice shouted from outside. “Come out, Gina. Please. I wanna go sit in the hall. Come join me.” “I’m not coming! They’ll all just continue laughing at me. I was terrible and I looked horrible,” I roared back from inside the cubicle. Ken answered from outside the toilet, “It was just your pants Gina. They’re not laughing anymore. I thought you looked beautiful and you danced wonderfully despite the loose jeans.” I walked out slowly towards the exit of the toilet and spotted Ken leaning against the wall nearby, eyes closed, just waiting for me. I stood there in front of him and sniffed as every person who stopped crying does. He opened his eyes and smiled. He wiped away my tears and said, “Such a crybaby. Come, let’s go. Don’t let this ruin your day. We can enjoy the day together.” He pushed me gently forward and I walked with him, side by side hoping that someday this sweet, awesome guy would be mine forever.

Would my dreams come true? Would Ken become mine forever till death do us part? Or will we go our separate ways due to fate? Tune in to Love At First Sight? Maybe, Not. Part 6 coming soon…