A girl; a weird girl at that. She was the one who tried to jump that hurdle and close the distance between me and her. It was weird though, because she was the one who kept the most distance from me once I enrolled in this school.

So, yea. A few years ago, I joined this school because I simply wanted to. The teachers here seemed to think I'm some sorta big deal, so I kinda liked it here. Once I joined my class, I saw many people surrounding me, asking me all sorts of questions. However, as I said before, one person particularly stood out because of this boundary she kept. It was like even if I tried to initiate a conversation with her, she wouldn't have bulged.

However, it's not like I didn't try. I once tried talking to her about some random shit, however it seemed like she had an innate ability to turn all sorts of conversations sour. Not even kidding, two minutes into the conversation and all we had to say was Um's and Ah's. I was really curious as to how she ruined a conversation that seemed to go in a right direction.

Anyway, it was in the early times that I changed my name officially to Juan. The reason? Well, mother gave me my real name. I hate her, so I started hating the name as well. And since I decided to change my name, I thought something exotic would be fine. And I slightly tweaked my persona and appearance to match my name. Although I guess this was the event that weirded out many people.

So, I saw many who wanted to know why I changed my name and appearance, however since it was personal stuff that I didn't like to reveal, I avoided the topic. Now that I think about it, I started getting reminded of my mother more when I changed my name because of all the people around me asking the reason.

However, yet again, this girl didn't. Hell, she didn't even talk even if I sat beside her. So, whenever I was riddled with questions, I would sit somewhere close to her and receive that well-needed sense of peace. All this time around her and she never asked me the reason for the name change. So, someday I asked her whether she would like to. I was kidding of course.. But maybe not. I don't know what I was thinking that day. Anyway, she just simply replied no and said that it was my decision to do so and she won't ask a reason for it. I felt it as sweet.

So, then the phase began when people started avoiding me. Maybe it was because earlier people thought of me as a jester who does hilarious stuff and now that a few learned that I kinda am a genius. It was then that this girl started noticing me.. Well, it was less of just noticing but more of a competitiveness. While I came first in exams, she was always the close second. However, it wasn't like she hated me for taking her spot or something. Although we were competitive, she never expressed shame in asking me her doubts on certain topics. I liked that we had a certain level of sportsmanship among us.

However, it was not just the studies though. She started to chase me in sports and everything else as well. I felt the sense of having someone right behind you on a race. It was nice that someone thought of me as a competition. Usually, it was like Juan's so perfect that we can't touch him. However, with her around me, I knew of at least one person who treated me as an opponent.

It was at this time when we were elected as the school leader and the deputy leader of the school. She was pissed about it. Like, if it was up to her, she would've tried to compete against me for the post of school leader, however at that point the school didn't allow girls to stand in that post for some reason. Therefore, instead of standing against me, she had to stand beside me. And oh man, I could see that she was absolutely sour about it.

The time we had as the school and deputy leaders was the one that brought us closer. We had to go to many meetings together that we ended up becoming more familiar to each another. That's when I learned that she wasn't the tight lipped girl that I once thought she was. Once she starts trusting someone, her mouth doesn't have a filter. She continues on with her hopes, dreams, life at home and everything in between. And since she told me all those stuff, I felt like I should tell something about me as well and revealed my past to her. She became the first person to whom I ever talked about this stuff. I guess it would be fine if I said she was my first real friend.

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Juan completed telling his story, although he purposefully changed the gender of the girl to a boy for some reason. Meanwhile, Taro had no idea as to why Juan revealed half the things he said because he had no reason to say some of the stuff. However, now that he learned most of the things about him, he understood the crux of the problem with Juan. Although, he had doubts on what Shivani said since Juan seemed to be a pretty loose lipped person like her as well.

"Maybe, he trusts me or something because I'm that good of a teacher." Taro thought as he gave out a bright smile which creeped Juan out.

"... Okay, now that I told you everything, I'm just gonna go." Juan got up. He felt a bit awkward since he never expected that the second person that he would reveal his back story would be his male class teacher.

"Hey, Juan!" Taro stopped him.

"Yea?"

"Why do you chase around the teachers, asking them out and stuff?" Taro asked as straightforward as possible. He wasn't a smooth talker. He didn't know how to bring up topics in a roundabout way.

"Hmm, do I need a reason to do so?" Juan asked before thinking about it for a bit. "Well, if you're asking me, I guess I wanna have sex?" He spoke.

"Ah, don't you think it's a bit iffy to talk about sex in your age?" Taro asked.

"Well, I mean, why not? It's the age where boys are really horny, right?" Juan took the straightforward route as well.

"You do know that the legal age of consent is eighteen, right?" Taro asked, slightly proud about knowing that fact.

"I guess you're right. I'll wait to get eighteen then. It's not that far anyway." Juan replied.

"So, why do you chase around teachers then? Don't you know kids around your age if you wanna date and stuff after you turn eighteen?" Taro asked.

"It's all about my taste, teach. What can I do about it if it's my taste though?" Juan shrugged.

"Is it really though?" Taro asked.

"Huh?"

"What I'm saying is that is it really because women that age suits your taste or that they remind you of your mother?" He asked.

"Eww, teach! I don't have an Oedipus complex!" Juan replied, showing visible disgust.

"Dude, chill. I'm not talking about sexual attraction. It's more like you expect motherly love from mature people. You used to love your mother and think that she loved you back, right? However, she betrayed your trust and ended up leaving you. So, you crave for it. Now you believe that you can regain that sorta motherly love if you date someone older than you, which is not true at all." Taro explained his observation.

Juan thought for a while. "Hmm, maybe teach is right! But.." Although he felt so, he didn't want to admit it. "Meh, I think it's purely a sexual sorta attraction." Juan replied.

"Is that so. Fine then. However, if someday you actually crave for that motherly love, don't just look out for a mature woman.. There might be someone around your age as well; someone who can give you that sorta attention; who talks and listens to you; who cares about you.. Like that boy you talked about! Although, that would be a bromance then! Anyhow, think about it, okay?" Taro asked.

Upon hearing Taro's explanation, he started seriously contemplating his decisions. Although before he could speak, someone interfered. "Mr. Sadanandan, ready to go? The others have come. Oh, Juan. Hey there. What are you doing?" Shivani asked.

"Oh, we were having our talk." Taro smiled.

"I see.. The talk, huh.. So, are you done with that?" She asked.

"Yea, I'll take my stuff from the staff room and come with the guys. You can wait here." Taro replied and paced to the staff room.

"So, how are you doing?" Shivani turned to Juan and asked.

"Someone who cares about you, huh?" Juan looked at the girl and smiled. "I'm doing fine! How was your day?"

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