Today was so weird. See, this morning, I was looking for something in my drawers when I came across a picture of Casey and me (my sister was in that picture too, actually). I had hidden all his photos/letters when we weren't talking so I wouldn't be reminded of him. For some strange reason, I decided to bring it with me to school. So I placed it on the jacket of my Student's Diary (it's this notebook-like thing where we write our homework and messages from the teachers to the parents) and off I was. I gave no thought of it till after first period. I went to get something from someone and when I came back to look for something in my Diary, the picture was gone. Nikki and Rhea took it while I was away and then Rhea asked if she could hold it for awhile and I said, "Sure. Guard it with your life, okay?"

Of course, people got curious and asked her to take a look at the picture. I was not aware of the chaos in the classroom until my friend, Glyka said, "Oh my God, Lauryn, you are so lucky!"

I gave her a blank stare. "Lucky? Did I win the lottery or something!"

"Oh, you are so humble," Glyka gushed. "I meant to say that I can't believe you found such a cute ex-boyfriend!"

"Umm, you must be talking to the wrong girl. I've never had a boyfriend or anything like that before," I replied.

"Well, then who's that guy in the picture?"

Suddenly it dawned to me. "Oh, shit!" I cried and raced to where Rhea was standing, in a corner of the room surrounded by gushing classmates. It was such a ridiculous sight, Rhea was waving the picture and going like, "Hey, check this out, it's a picture of Lauryn's ex!"

When the people checking the picture out spotted me, they paid zero attention to the picture and started asking me questions or giving their comments. "Oh my God, he is so cute!" "Lauryn, why'd you break up with him?" "I can't believe you have such a hot ex! You are soooo lucky!" "It must've hurt a lot when he dumped you, eh?" Let us not forget, the lovesick variety kept saying, "Can I have a copy of his picture? Please?" or "Is he single right now?" It was obviously too late to deny the rumor now, I'd sure hate to disappoint them. Casey, you will obviously be very pissed at me for doing this, but I decided to play along with everybody else.

"He's my.....old neighbor! Back in my old neighborhood," I began with an ironically bright smile. "We uh....started going out when I was uh.....eleven. We broke up this June." Which was partly true anyway.

"Wow! Two years! Was it legal or illegal?" someone asked, meaning did my parents know about it or did they not?

"Legal," I said in a more confident tone.

"Wow. You are so lucky your parents didn't hit the roof when they found out!" this popular girl told me.

"Why did you guys break up anyway?" someone asked.

Shit. I was totally unprepared for that question. I couldn't tell them the real truth, can I? It would make me look like a real loser. So, I made something up.

"He....had to go back to France," I replied.

"French guy?! Wow!" someone shrieked.

"I can't believe that a quiet girl like you would have such a hot boyfriend! Ex, I mean," someone said.

"Well, believe it, sister," I snapped, snatching the picture away and stomping back to my seat.

But that wasn't the end of it. During class, they kept asking to look at the picture. I was deathly afraid that our teacher might confiscate it so during recess, I told my friend Angelica to hold onto it for awhile. I forgot to get the picture from her after school today; I'll get it back tomorrow. One thing remained a mystery, though: why people thought he was my ex.

Nikki was responsible for it. "I am so sorry, Lauryn, I screwed up the facts," she confessed me after school. "It was Peter who was your ex, wasn't it?"

Casey, I am so sorry I had to fabricate such an enormous lie. If it will make you feel any better, the whole ex bit died down already, and everyone else is back minding their own business. And also they stopped teasing me to this jock. I promise, I will never, ever do anything like that again. I feel so absolutely horrible now, and I would totally understand if you decided that you would never speak to me again, ever.

Let's look at the bright side: no one's calling me Lauriko anymore (Mariko is the name of one of the class jock). I know Casey might understand because when I was 11 , I was teased to this class tomboy at my old school and it was Casey who suggested the brillant idea that he be my instant "boyfriend" to protect me from all that teasing. Hopefully this time, they'll really stop teasing me.

I think angela and I are psychic. Honest. It's so weird the way we know what the other is thinking and the way we say the same things at the same time. This afternoon, I was sleeping in Science class when I suddenly woke up with a start. Angela told me that the moment I woke up, she was reaching out to tap my back cause she wanted to borrow something from me. Weird. And we both like each other for the same reasons, cause we think that the other is deep and a good conversationalist.

Two more days until the weekend and Alex's birthday!

There is a poem page I made for some of my Yahoo visitors that were searching for poems. I also made a page for Casey's poems because his poem site isn't up anymore.