Monday, January 12, 2004
Chapter 2: The warmth of his hands
"Wanna sing? Dance? Show off your talent! Signups today in Room 302 after school!" Whoever was reporting the annoucements was sure getting attention due to her high vocal extenuation.
It was the yearly recruitment of talent show and the announcement club was getting the voice of this event out to all the students. I couldn't sing, dance or juggle. Heck, I couldn't even walk down the stairs without tripping at least once. So, needless to say, the talent show didn't appeal to me but it was always refreshing to watch. (Well except the rock music talent because of the level of noise and the racing of my pulses).
What was great about this talent show was that the performance was held in the cafeteria during lunch. So all the applauds or criticisms, which was rarely the case, were often gossiped between groups of friends. Besides, it was good entertainment. Like watching TV when you're eating.
I should tell you that the cafeteria tables are all adjoined to form several rows as opposed to the usual seperation of table by table. So me and my group of friends sat 3rd row down from the stage. Billy and Fanny's group of friends joined our table as well. And what do you know? Gabriel sat right across facing me. And we still didn't have much to say to each other besides the 'hey, how was your day?' But just like usual, we were distracted by the talent. The show was good for awhile until the performance of the rock music. I dreaded the hardcore rock music, partly because I don't understand it at all, and the abundance of music with no beats. Hard Rock music was like someone constantly yelling in my ear.
So I covered both my ears for the whole performance, ocassionally letting go of my hands to hear if they were done performing. Gabriel, seeing this, just laughed and teased.
"Here, let me cover your ears." Gabriel offered.
"Ok!" I found it a very weird gesture but took up the offer anyway. Besides, my arms were getting tired.
So that was how I escaped listening to the awful playing of the strumming of the electric guitar and the beating of the drums. Well almost. Gabriel kept taking his hands off, as if it was his way of telling me that rock music is great to listen to. Then he'd see my frustration and put his hands back. The exposure of his skin on my ears felt soothing and warm, my frustration was actually when he took his hands off but he thought otherwise of it.
One of my good friends, Jeremy, who was sitting beside Gabriel on the left, eyed me the whole time. I knew he wanted to tease me but refrained from doing so, which was actually a good thing.
It was the yearly recruitment of talent show and the announcement club was getting the voice of this event out to all the students. I couldn't sing, dance or juggle. Heck, I couldn't even walk down the stairs without tripping at least once. So, needless to say, the talent show didn't appeal to me but it was always refreshing to watch. (Well except the rock music talent because of the level of noise and the racing of my pulses).
What was great about this talent show was that the performance was held in the cafeteria during lunch. So all the applauds or criticisms, which was rarely the case, were often gossiped between groups of friends. Besides, it was good entertainment. Like watching TV when you're eating.
I should tell you that the cafeteria tables are all adjoined to form several rows as opposed to the usual seperation of table by table. So me and my group of friends sat 3rd row down from the stage. Billy and Fanny's group of friends joined our table as well. And what do you know? Gabriel sat right across facing me. And we still didn't have much to say to each other besides the 'hey, how was your day?' But just like usual, we were distracted by the talent. The show was good for awhile until the performance of the rock music. I dreaded the hardcore rock music, partly because I don't understand it at all, and the abundance of music with no beats. Hard Rock music was like someone constantly yelling in my ear.
So I covered both my ears for the whole performance, ocassionally letting go of my hands to hear if they were done performing. Gabriel, seeing this, just laughed and teased.
"Here, let me cover your ears." Gabriel offered.
"Ok!" I found it a very weird gesture but took up the offer anyway. Besides, my arms were getting tired.
So that was how I escaped listening to the awful playing of the strumming of the electric guitar and the beating of the drums. Well almost. Gabriel kept taking his hands off, as if it was his way of telling me that rock music is great to listen to. Then he'd see my frustration and put his hands back. The exposure of his skin on my ears felt soothing and warm, my frustration was actually when he took his hands off but he thought otherwise of it.
One of my good friends, Jeremy, who was sitting beside Gabriel on the left, eyed me the whole time. I knew he wanted to tease me but refrained from doing so, which was actually a good thing.
