It happened a little over a year ago, I think. It was last period, English class. We had a substitute. If our usual English teacher was there, it never would have happened. She's pretty scary sometimes.

Okay, maybe I'm making this way more dramatic than it actually is.

Basically, the substitute was showing an overhead presentation at the front of the class, while a few of us decided to just skip it and just work at the back of the room. I was sitting next to this guy who we'll name Llama for the sake of privacy and such. So yeah, I was sitting next to him, and I was doing an assignment while Llama was  doing his math homework. And then he spoke the words:

"Hey Helen, what's the median?"

Obviously, like hell I'm going to do his math homework for him. So I ignored him.

Now any other ordinary and respectful guy would just give it up and ask someone else if he's that desperate. But no, Llama decides to be persistent that particular afternoon and keep asking. After trying to brush him off patiently and then actually telling him how to find the answer after I couldn't stand it anymore, he was still asking just to annoy me.

So I did what any irritated girl would do: Walk away.

Except maybe I overdid it a bit. I walked away AFTER I shrieked (I'd like to believe that it was not shrieking but rather just... saying it loudly) "Get away from me!"

Looking back now, I always feel a gigantic pang of regret. I remember the dead silence that happened for what seemed like forever, then the twitters of giggles and murmurs. Thank god I had the dignity to move to another table and resume working at the time.

From then on, someone would bring the incident up once in a while. Of course, I got used to it after a bit and rolled my eyes, or even joined in the laughter if I was in a good mood.

So what's my point, you ask?

It's all thanks to math class.

I had a pretty good day today, surviving our oral presentation and tried organic coffee for the first time, plus it was Friday! Everything was pretty much perfect. Until about 15 minutes before class dismissal.

Our math teacher was reviewing some basic data management terms with us. He had written, "Mode, mean, and median" on the board and was asking the class to define these terms.

Of course, Llama HAD to turn around and say to me, "Hey Helen, what's the median?" And of course, someone HAD to reply in a high pitched voice, "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Laughter and various recounts of what happened followed.

God, what a way to ruin my day. Plus, my voice isn't THAT high. On the contrary, everyone has always said that my voice was low.

Maybe it was the coffee, or perhaps just sheer annoyance about this, but before I could stop myself, I heard myself saying loudly "Will you guys just just shut up about that?" over the teacher's shhs.

Again, there was that dreaded silence, and I swear someone mutter, "Oooh, anger management issues."

My math teacher, who obviously had no idea what was going on, asked me to define "median," probably to see what I would say. I kept my face indifferent and said bluntly, "No."

It was over a year ago, and no one had mentioned it for a while, so I just assumed that it was behind us, and I could finally move on without someone bringing it up again. What really irked me is my classmates' pure apathy and inability to consider how others may feel. Okay, maybe I'm overdoing it, but whether it was just friendly teasing or they actually take pleasure in mocking me, they should be over it by now. It's incredibly immature.

It feels strange writing all of this online. Furthermore, if my classmates read this, they'll probably protest and correct what I write. But I don't like ranting to people in person, because they'll probably be incredibly bored by my banter. So why not post it here. No one reads this anyway. But it's fun to do this, customizing the layout and all.

And one last thing. Despite what I wrote in this entry, my classmates are pretty nice people. Llama is hilarious and does mind-blowing magic tricks. I'm really going to miss them.