Project: Socialize

Seventh period homeroom soon arrived once our last class of the day ended. The day outside was slowly nearing a dusk, but there was still plenty of daylight, which shined in from the windows and into the classroom. In the classroom with the students seated in desks arranged in neat rows and columns, our homeroom teacher, Mura, entered through the front door and stepped to the teacher's podium at the front of the class. She looked around the classroom, taking in the fatigued faces of the students, but she didn't comment on it.

"Alright everyone," she then announced. "I'm sure you all know, but the School Festival is in about two weeks. What we need to do today for homeroom is to choose representatives from our class to attend the Festival Committee meetings. These representatives will also host classroom meetings for ideas as to what our class will do for the School Festival and plan the necessary steps needed to accomplish the selected event. Any volunteers?"

She paused and looked around the classroom. As she did so, I looked around as well, knowing the almost nobody will raise their hand to volunteer for such a hassle.

"Come on people," Mura sighed and shook her head in disappointment. "It'll look nice for college."

Once again, the classroom remained silent despite her encouragement. Mura appeared quite cross about this situation, and I could visibly see the frustration building up within her. This scene made me feel as if something ominous was about to occur by the way she looked at me. It was as if facing a dangerous predator, making me cower down in my seat and avert my gaze. However, even then, my efforts were futile.

"Alevian?" Mura then said with a sly smile. "You volunteered, did you there?"

"No, I ugh..."

My attempts at escaping this responsibility was immediately obliterated by Mura, who progressed the selection progress by giving me a death stare, almost as if saying that my life will be in jeopardy if I do not comply to her request.

"So that's the selection for the boys," Mura said. "Any girls going to volunteer?"

Now she's done it. Now she's really done it. Mura had pushed me onto an execution platform before all the other students in the classroom. Usually, when someone's pushed into a situation like this and another volunteer of the opposite gender is needed, whether or not there will be a volunteer relies heavily on the other person's character and popularity. Either people volunteer because they are friends with the person who's forced to do so, or they like the guy who's forced into the position.

Come on. Do it. Let those looks of disgust, repulsion, and disdain come my way. Let this unwillingness brew into a hurricane and blow all around me. I am the eye of the storm, the center of it all where everything will remain calm. I must remain calm.

"..."

Like I had expected, there was a prolonged period of silence in the classroom as eyes darted across the classroom. No girls dared make eye contact with anyone else, knowing that if they were to do so, they would most likely be forced to become my partner. As the girls did that, the boys did their best to contain their laughter, resulting in numerous muffled snickers.

I knew it. I knew this would be the outcome. I lowered my head and sighed. Look at what you've done.

I glanced over to my right with the slight hope that Muria may help me. I mean that hope basically never existed in the first place, but I was still surprised that Muria appeared to have the intent of helping me. Her left arm appeared tense, almost as if she was preparing herself to raise it to volunteer. I checked her facial expression and there was a countenance of ambivalence, but through the emotionless expression, I could tell that she was contemplating volunteering. For what reason though, I did not know.

While she struggled, the classroom remained silent except for the snickering noises the boys made. Muria took a deep breath, probably because she had made up her mind. I was actually quite excited that she was going to raise her hand to volunteer. It made my eyes kinda water up, thinking that she'll sacrifice herself for me. Like really, it made my heart race.

"Alright," Mura announced. "Then it's decided."

The entirety of the classroom let out a sound of disbelief at the fact that someone had volunteered themselves to be with me. I was surprised to for that person wasn't Muria. Muria's mouth and eyes were gaping from surprise, but she quickly controlled her countenance. The person that had raised her hand was Irina.

"I'll do it," Irina volunteered with a determined smile on her face.

"Thank you Irina," Mura smiled. "But since you're still not very familiar with our school, Muria," Mura called her younger sister's name, "can you help her out on her task."

"If that's your wish," Muria said reluctantly, but for some reason, I sensed that she was actually quite happy for it. How weird?

"Alright," Mura then progressed the homeroom meeting. "Now that we have the representatives selected for our class, let me go over the basic news for the next few weeks leading up to the School Festival. First off, representatives remember to attend the Festival Committee meetings that will take place in the Student Council room starting tomorrow after school. And those of you in clubs, although your clubs might be doing something for the school festival, make sure to also help out the class, alright? As for if you have an event for your club and you want it to be approved, go talk to our class representative. That should be it for today," Mura finished as she checked the time on her phone. "We'll vote on what our class will do in tomorrow's seventh period homeroom. Also, make sure to take into mind that the school trip is coming up soon in about three weeks. Make sure to prepare for that as well. As for where our class will be visiting this year, it has been decided that it will be the ancient capital of Vilheim, Saroff."

Mura then continued to brief the classroom on the upcoming school trip, and as expected, the students were all pumped up for the upcoming trip. To be honest, the School Festival and school trip is one of the reasons why I like October. Not only is my birthday in this month, it's also the month with the least amount of school since most time will be spent preparing for the School Festival. After the festival, it will be only a week of instruction before the week long school trip.

However, my mood was ruined by the fact that I will be forced to be the student responsible for the School Festival. It will be so tedious and annoying. Like REALLY tedious and annoying. I'm not the best at communicating with people already, and now you want me to be responsible for the entire class as well as coordinate with the Committee to ensure the smooth run of the School Festival? That's like asking a dog to fly or something. It's not built to do that.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the school day. Students gradually got up from their seats, carrying their school bags, and started streaming towards the exits. As they did so, I remained in my seat, and I discovered that Irina, Muria, and Loyd did so as well. Irina seemed to notice me staring, so she turned around in her seat so that she was facing me. Then, she winked at me and smiled.

What the hell are you so happy about? We're about to be pushed into an actual hell. Like WTF? But... I felt my facial expression relax. She did change quite a bit since last Friday. There's more genuine emotion from her now, like this interaction she engaged in with me doesn't seem to cause her any disdain.

"Looks like the three of you will be quite busy in the next few days," Loyd said to Muria, Irina, and I. "I'll help you guys out when you guys need me to. I guess our club won't be doing anything major this year," he added, "since most of our members have an important role to play in the Festival."

"How unfortunate," Irina commented.

"There's always next year," Loyd smiled.

"We should focus on this year's Festival first," Muria sighed.

"Right," Loyd concluded with a smile.