So it was...

She never thought she would enjoy going to a new junior college after the first 3 months. She knew in her heart she was a geek, despite all that she tried to do to appear... well, cool. She wanted a good start so she permed her hair for the first time when she was 16. A not-altogether successful attempt in her opinion because she promptly cut it off after a few weeks with the word "aunty" deeply imprinted in her mind. She made few friends because she felt awkward speaking to people she just knew. She has never been sociable or gregarious, even in the security of her old secondary school. She has the habit of walking to classes alone and sitting with the few people she knew well. She tried to follow what was taught but she never thought that it would be so tough, to be in one of few top JCs. She didn't think she would be able to cope. Eventually, she settled in and felt comfortable in her little circle, laughing aloud and trying to have "fun", as what teenagers her age were prone to do. She developed crushes on boys which were a whole new experience for her after her 4 years in a girls' school. She did the usual walk and glance routine for the boys she liked, her friends nudging and laughing at her sides. It wasn't meant to be anything serious because she knew she could never approach any of them nor did she believe for a second that they would be interested in her. That was how JC was supposed to be.

She met him in one of her classes. An unassuming sort of boy whom, though did not possess the hearttrob boy-band sort of cuteness, had great big eyes that sort of make one smile if they looked a little closer. She thought he was a geek, like her. He sat quietly most of the time with the other guys in class, tucked away in the corner where people would not notice. She didn't either, not in the beginning. Two people, tucked in their own worlds in the opposite ends of the classroom.

When did their line of vision cross, she did not remember. But she began to knew more of him, from his exhibitions and from what others said in passing. "Not quite like me then" she thought to herself. Yet he wanted to be her friend, that she remembered smilingly. She couldn't quite fathom why he would asked her out but he did. It was a time of 'first times' for both. She still could not believe how she almost shouted "just us?" when he asked her out that first time on the bus. It was a mistake and a movie she could never forget.

It was a movie and no more though they remained friends. For her birthday, he gave her an umbrella with happy birthday written in chinese on it. She laughed and laughed at the geekiness of it all yet she never stopped using it. For his birthday, she gave him a paper owl hanging ornament. She never knew what he thought. As days passed and amount of work grew, she continued being a nobody with her small circle of friends and trying to survive school while he continued to win prizes and write love poems.

It was, after all, a time for 'first times' for many.