Miss Otaku

Unwanted

“You stay away, Lily Brown!”

I was unaware of the sudden push that came from my right side so I wasn’t able to dodge it.

Pak!

As a result of the sudden push, I lost balance and fell on the cemented pathway. I looked at my bag and realized it bag fell on the ground and some of its contents were scattered everywhere.

“Hahahahaha!”

I bowed my head as I heard the other students laughing at me.

“Look, she’s still using the manual pencil. How poor!” one student shouted.

“She’s really poor. Why is she in this school anyway when she cannot even afford to buy some school supplies?” another student criticized me.

“Ewwww! Don’t let your clothes touch me!” a girl near my right side shouted as she glared at me sharply.

“You’re so dirty!” another girl with curly hair shouted as she pointed at me. Although my bangs are long, I can see her finger pointing at me.

“Hahahahahaha!”

Even without lifting my head, I know that everyone around me is laughing at my misfortune. My tears started to form. They threatened to fall on my cheeks but I cannot let one drop on my face. I am already this pitiful.

I remained still as I stared at my black pants. This is the only available cloth I could put on my legs today. If only there were others. Now, they are dirty.

Struggling, I helped myself up. I picked up my bag and my pencils that scattered everywhere. I sniffed softly. I cannot fight. 

Slowly, I stood up and noticed that the crowd of people parted like the Red Sea just to let me pass in between. Without looking at anyone, I bowed my head down and started walking. There is no point fighting with these people. I cannot win and I will only get bullied again. Besides, I feel so scared to fight with all of them.

“She’s dirty! Don’t let her touch you!” one teenage girl near me warned the others.

“Yuck!”

The others shouted as they moved away as far as possible from me.

Teary-eyed, I bowed my head and walked away. Yes, I should not fight. That’s what my mother always reiterated every night when we ate dinner together. We are so poor so I cannot afford to offend any of  these rich kids who are making fun of me.

Walking in the middle of these rich kids seems like forever, as if the hand of time moved in slow motion to give me a hard time. It feels like forever. I'm just thankful that my bangs are long enough to cover my eyes so the other students did not notice the drops of tears that accidentally skipped from my eyes. Damn! Why did they fall? I tried my best. Biting my lips, I ignored everyone and continued to walk. It’s really a good decision for me to let my bangs grow down to my nose and not cut it.

Sniff! Sniff!

I sniffed to hold the water that attempted to fall from my nose the moment my tears fell on my cheeks. As soon as I escaped the crowd, the other tears that I have been holding inside my eyes fell like rain without my permission. I wasn’t able to hold them back anymore.

Wiping my damn tears, I proceeded to the toilet nearest to me. Entering one of the empty cubicles, I immediately sat down on the bowl and continued crying.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

Wait, that’s the alarm I set on my cellphone. It must be five minutes before my class. I have to set it for my classes so that I won’t be late.

I took my cellphone out and turned the alarm off. Carefully, I turned off the screen light by pressing the button on the right side and slipped my phone in the pocket of my pants. I have to take care of this since it is the most expensive possession I have. This is where my hard-earned money during the summer vacation went. After working for two months, I earned the amount of money that I lacked and bought the cellphone I dreamed to have for a long time.

Standing up, I pushed the door of the cubicle then went out of the toilet. Thank God there’s no one around when I went out. I proceeded to the classroom where my next class would be held. I entered inside the classroom and spotted the seat in the corner of the room.

“Miss Otaku is in!” one student announced the moment I appeared on the door.

“Here she is,” I can hear other students whisper.

I can feel many eyes staring at me in an instant. I ignored them as I always do. Still with my head bowed, I walked towards the chair that I have personally chosen in the past days. I wouldn’t be easily spotted if I sit here so I decided to mark it as my own spot.

“Hehehe!”

I can hear some mischievous laughter around me but I dared not lift my head to see them. I just let them be. I cannot confront them anyway. Passing some students who are giggling, I went straight to my designated seat and sat down. I placed my bag on the side and waited for our teacher. While waiting, I brought out my notebook and started drawing my favorite anime character. I drew the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the head and then the hair. I was nearly done when I heard the door squeak.

“Good afternoon, class!”

Raising my head, I spotted the most strict teacher in all our classes. Miss Em. Ah, that’s why everybody fell silent a moment ago. 

“We have a surprise quiz today! Keep all your things below the desk except your pens. I want to see clean desks at the count of three. Three, two, one!” 

The moment Miss Em finished counting, all desks were clean and the students are holding their pens.

“Huh!” Miss Em snorted and raised her right eyebrow as if she felt proud of herself. Then she counted five pieces of test sheets and distributed them per row.

“Get one and pass!” she said loudly the moment she finished.

All my classmates sitting in front of the rows obeyed.

“You have thirty minutes to finish the quiz! Time starts now!”

With this, all of us hurried to open our quiz sheets. Soon, the class was so quiet with everyone focusing on their test.

Thirty minutes passed by quickly.

“At the count of three, all quiz sheets should be passed in front. One, two, three!”

For the next thirty minutes, we exchanged our test sheets and checked our answers then submitted them to our teacher again.

Just then, the buzzer rang.

“See you tomorrow!” Miss Em said and stood up.

I stood up from my seat and walked to leave the classroom when I heard some students laughing at me on the back.

“Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!”

Their laughter is too loud that if laughter could kill, I could have died at this time.