It was almost midnight and I couldn’t sleep. This day was immensely tiring. I just tranferred to another school due to my parents’ work and my new classmates were too talkative, they were always asking me random things. I didn’t have any friends so transferring to a new school is not a problem for me, but meeting new people was. I never talk to anyone nor care about anybody, and that was why they call me the cold-hearted, emotionless lady. It’s just so tiring to get along with everyone when in the end they will just either forget or avoid you. No one ever stays. They all leave sometime. And I got tired of being left for a mistake that was never mine to begin with. And with that saddening thought, I finally fell asleep.

On the first day of classes, I entered the room without greeting nor looking at anyone. I didn’t want to waste my time pretending to be nice. When someone tried talking to me, I didn’t bother talking back except when it was about school works. I wasn’t friendly to anyone because I found everyone annoying.

It was lunch time and I was looking for a quiet place to be alone when my feet led me to the garden. I sat on the nearest bench and started to eat.

I was halfway done with my sandwich when I heard someone speak. “Oh, someone’s here.”

Surprised to find out I wasn’t alone in the garden, I choked. The person spoke again. “Here, drink some juice.”

I didn’t want to socialize but my throat really hurt from choking so I drank the juice the guy offered to me. “Thank you, but who are you? Why are you talking to me?” I asked.

He smiled. It was a genuine smile, and his eyes twinkled when he did so. And I thought to myself, those kinds of smiles are dangerous.

“I saw you eating and I was surprised that someone even bothers eating alone in the garden. I’ve never seen anyone in this school do that before,” he said.

“Well then, now you do,” I told him sarcastically.

Instead of being offended, he looked happy. “You’re interesting.”

And I think this is my cue to cut the conversation short. “I gotta go, lunch time is almost over. No offense, but this will be the first and last time we’ll ever meet. If you’ll excuse me,” I told him before I walked out.

As I was going back to the classroom, I realized that that was the first time I’ve ever had a conversation with someone that isn’t about school works. Well, he doesn’t even know me and it was just a coincidence that he saw me but something about that guy intrigued me. I shook my head and thought, I should not indulge myself with thoughts about him.

When I got home, I went straight to my room. I didn’t even bother to greet my mom, dad was still at work and Shane was in his room. I plunged myself in my bed and fell asleep.

“Aurora, get up. It’s dinnertime.” I woke up to my annoying brother’s voice and groaned in my pillow.

“AURORA!!!” Shane yelled outside my door.

“Alright, alright! I’ll be down in a minute.” I snapped.

I went straight to the dining room and as I entered, I heard my parents praising Shane about his perfect scores in all his quizzes. I didn’t even care, so I just sat down and ate in silence while they talked. I wasn’t even bothered by the fact that they were all ignoring me. I was used to it. To me, this was nothing but a normal dinnertime episode in our household.

Several months later, I’ve grown accustomed to the daily grind. Our class has actively participated in all the activities and contests in school. And now we were all preparing for a drama play that will be held at the gym in 3 weeks’ time. It will be the schools’ annual foundation day and even outsiders were allowed to enter.

“After class we’ll be practicing one fourth of the script and the production team will be making the props,” Gabe, our president, announced.

Even if I wanted to go home and sleep, I was a part of the production team and I unfortunately need to cooperate.

“Aurora? Aurora? Aurora Glacia!” Dana shouted in front of me.

“What?!” I hated it when people shout at me.

“You weren’t listening, were you? Gabe is calling you.”

I approached Gabe. “What is it that you want to talk about?”

“We have decided that you will be portraying Anna in our play.” He said.

I was shocked. “Look, I’m sorry Gabe, but I am not interested in wasting my time memorizing lines and acting like a lunatic onstage.”

I saw how Gabe smirked at my response. “That is exactly why you are perfect for the role. No offense, but your cold nature and straightforwardness are so alike Anna’s personality.”

“But as I said I’m not—” before I finished talking, Gabe cut me off.

“I don’t take no for an answer. I wasn’t asking you, I was commanding you. You will be portraying Anna and that’s final,” he smiled. “See you at the gym.”

What just happened?!

When I arrived at the gym, both the actors and the production team were in their assigned places and were busy doing their tasks for the day. On the other hand, I was sulking in the corner, furious that I was chosen to be the lead actor.

“Aurora, here’s the script. Read the first two paragraphs, familiarize yourself with it, and then we’ll practice it on stage.” Maria, our assistant director, told me.

I accepted the thick set of papers and began reading.

You are nothing to me. I don’t want to see you again. Just please, go away. Leave me alone…

So our play was basically centered on the crumbling relationship of a guy named Terrence and his girlfriend Anna. Anna has a very cold personality while Terrence, on the other hand, has a demure personality. It just so happened that Terrence made the mistake of showing the side of himself he hasn’t shown anyone to Anna.

And Terrence, the love interest of my character, was going to be coincidentally played by the guy I met the other day at the garden.

Ugh.

It wasn’t long until I saw Maria standing onstage. I went to my position, saw Terrence doing the same, and sighed. This was going to be a long day.

“Get into your positions, are we ready? In three, two, one. Action!”

And so the acting began.

Terrence said, “Anna! Are you free today?”

“Why?” I boringly looked at him.

“I heard there’s a new cafe near the school and I was wondering if we could go check it out together. So we could spen—”

“Sorry, I’m busy today.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Are you done talking? I should be going now,” and then I walked away.

“Anna, wait!”

And after hours of practicing more scenes, finally Gabe called out, “Cut! That’s a wrap. Good job everyone. See you again tomorrow.”

Thank God it was finished! I’m so tired I just wanted to go home. We’ve been rehearsing for almost 3 hours to get our lines right and our emotions in check. That’s why I didn’t want to be a part of any of this. As much as possible, less priority and responsibility is what I preferred.

It was the second day of rehearsals. I was thinking of ditching our practice but I couldn’t get out of our classroom without being noticed. This was a real pain in the ***. If I don’t go out and breathe some fresh air soon, I’ll explode. I needed to get a grip.

The next scene was all about Terrence trying to help Anna in her studies.

“Hey, Anna? Anna? Anna? He—” Terrence said persistently.

“What now, Terrence?!”

“Whoa there! Chill, Anna.”

“Chill? You want me chill?! You’ve been bothering me since yesterday.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to talk to you but it seems like you’re too busy studying.”

“Of course, I’m studying. We have a quiz on physics later.”

“Physics? I love physics! If you want, maybe I can teach you?” he smiled.

“Thank you, but no. I can study on my own Terrence. So, please. Leave.” I said as I massaged my temples.

“O-ok. Then I guess I’ll see you later.” Clearly not wanting to leave, he walked away with a sad look on his face.

As long as I do my part and say my lines loud and clear, I won’t be exerting too much energy. After my scene, we were given a 5-minute break to relax. I do hope next time it will be a 20-minutes break because 5 minutes isn’t enough.

“Here, drink,” Maria handed me a bottle of water.

“Thanks,” I replied.

“You are really getting in the character of Anna. Our classmates were amazed by your performance so far.” She praised.

Uninterested in what my classmates think of me, I just said, “Okay.”

“You sure are a girl of few words,” Maria said with a sigh as she walked away.

It was the third day of practice. We have no classes today but rehearsals were still pushed through. Gosh! Surely one day of rest won’t be such a bad idea? I don’t know why my classmates were so eager to win. Was it because of their pride? Their ego? Maybe I’ll never know.

When I arrived at the gym, everyone was already busy doing their work, with Gabe and Maria coordinating to polish some of the scenes. I was about to sit down when one of the production staff saw me and reported it to our director. And so, rehearsals began.

I was walking in the hallway when people around me suddenly formed a straight line. I didn’t bother to ask what was happening. I continued to walk with my earphones on. I wasn’t really interested on what was about to happen. Maybe a couple was having their monthsary today and their significant other was hosting a surprise. Well, I HATE SUPRISES.

I was nearing the end of the hallway when people began giving me stuff.

“Anna, here have this!”

“Anna, take this!”

“Here!”

“You are so lucky!”

“We all wish you happiness!”

People were crowding me and I was beginning to feel irritated. I just don’t know what their deal was. Before I knew it, I was outside. I didn’t even notice that they’ve pushed me towards the garden, where a tall man dressed in a suit holding a bouquet of roses was standing. It was Terrence.

“Happy 2nd Anniversary Anna! I love you.” He smiled. The students around us all screamed in joy.

But I was anything but happy. “I know it’s our anniversary today, but you know how I hate these kinds of surprises. Because of you, I’m gonna be late for my third class! I gotta go,” I said with irritation in my voice.

“Wait, Anna. I’ve put a lot of effort into doing this stuff. I even asked for help to those students who led you here and this is all I get? NOTHING?! No, I love you too? No, Happy 2nd Anniversary too?”

“Don’t blame me! It’s your fault doing these stupid surprises when you know in the first place I. NEVER. LIKED. THEM. So stop whining because it’s annoying. I’m leaving.”

“FINE! LEAVE. THAT’S ALL YOU EVER DO. YOU ALWAYS WALK AWAY!” Terrence shouted with anger in his voice.

For a second I felt the emotions surging in every word he spoke. I felt oddly affected by what he said. I felt guilty. But I shrugged it off. It’s natural for an actor to adjust himself to his character’s personality.