Chapter 9: The attention

As someone who was not the subject of the attention in the past. I was oblivious to the fact that I was having the attention of almost all the students just by walking to the front. Being the unbothered queen that I was, I was not the kind of person that looks around and so I did not see the attention I was getting. I was not the type of person who gets the attention of everybody in the room in my past life, as such, I have the notion that it was the same this time. Oh how wrong I was.

But at the moment, all I was thinking was dreading the flag ceremony because I know that it takes up more or less an hour and it would be too hot by then. I knew because it always happened in the past especially when there is an occasion or important situation and first day of class is a defintely important situation in their eyes.

While all I was thinking of was the time spent on standing and being under the sun, the students still haven't taken their eyes off me. Which was only taken off when a teacher went in front of the whole student body to conduct the national anthem. After singing the national anthem, it was followed by the oath, then the prayer. However it was not yet done and a speech was held by the school direction and the principal. After that, there was still the introduction of teachers. And so when the ceremony was finished, The sun was already blazing. The bell rung and we immediately went inside our classroom still lining up and in orderly manner. And the teacher was there to make sure we are disciplined.

Entering the classroom, we all seated and the teacher stood in front and introduced herself again.

"I am your class adviser as well as English Teacher, Chrisnela Cordero. As your class adviser, I am here to guide you along the way and teach you all I know that will help you become better learners. " We all clapped as a way of response. Ma'am Chris then said, "So one by one, go in front of the class and introduce yourself. Start from left to right."

And so introductions commenced and as new students eager to know more, most of their attention was in front. After a short while, my seatmate was next, after him, I will be introducing myself then.

"Good morning. I am Darren Bautista. I am 12 years old. I graduated from Central Primary School...-"

I was not much interested in what they were saying since nothing was new in their introductions and I was bored. Then finally it was my turn. I stood up confidently, went in front then said.

"Hajimemashite! Watashiwa Carmela-desu. Watashiwa Central-kara desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Nice to meet you. I'm Carmela. I'm from Central. Please be kind to me. "

After saying my piece, I immediately went to my seat and the teacher was the first to recover and said,"Well that was a nice way to introduce yourself. Very different and unusual. Thank you Carmela. And that concludes the introduction part of our class. I hope you all are able to quickly become good friends with each other. Get ready for your next class since it's almost time." And the bell rung.

After the teacher went out, all of the class' attention was suddenly on me. So I said,"Yes?!"

And one of my former classmates in primary school, RJ, asked,"Carmela, what language was that."

"Oh, that? It's Japanese." I answered.

"You are great Carmela, you even know Japanese."

Almost all of them has surprise and wonder on their faces as they looked at me and I was getting really bothered. It was only broken when the next teacher was present. And another round of introduction commenced.

This time, I introduced myself normally to avoid being the center of attention again. I was just really bothered by the continuous same introduction that was why I wanted to be different to show others that they can introduce themselves differently. Still, it went well because the next round of introduction, some of them opted to try differently. But not much was able to get the attention like me.

Although there were some who came close to me, they were also popular in my past life, always the center of attention, not only because they were beautiful but also smart. Which I appreciated this time because it would help get out some of the attention on me.

My first love, Treize, was also popular, he has a boyish boy kind of charm. What I was relieved this time was that I was able to prove that my feelings were not as strong as before maybe due to my changes also. I became more confident and became a better version of myself. Though there was a bit of nostalgia, I was hoping it would also fade away someday. However, another worry also came because we are classmates again and I worry that my feelings would come back and I just hope I would be stronger this time.

Most classes usually would be all about introduction at first especially for us grade seven. We have two classes, snack break, 2 classes again then lunch time. The afternoon typically consist of 4 continuous classes and with the last 30 minutes as cleaning or in some cases when there are events, it was usually taken as practice time.

Our classroom is located near the staircase and all the classrooms are in the second floor where they are arranged as follows, from left to right Third year-2nd year-Stair ase-1st year/Grade 7-Fourth year.

Our class should be called Grade 7 but since we are the pioneers of the new curriculum in the school, we are the only one called as such and the 2nd year to 4th year still follows the old curriculum. And so our class is near the fourth year class where we can find our senior sisters and brothers.