Friday, January 6, 2012

My New Friend

So there's this guy that goes to my school named Tanmoy, and I strongly disliked him for the longest time. He's a jerk, and he likes to make fun of people. In Jake's words, "he weird and creepy." (I think there was supposed to be a "is" or something in there somewhere... <3) There aren't many people at school who like him.

However, now I have a class with him instead of just seeing him in the library and such. He sits behind me in history. I'm starting to see a different side of him, and I'm starting to see him as a friend.

First off, there's this girl he's been crushing on all year. He walks over to our table every day to ask advice and talk about her. He won't tell us who it is, but she's smart, and she's in his Spanish class, and she likes the color purple, and she dresses well. He gets super shy around her and wants to tell her that she's beautiful and smart and stuff but he gets too tongue-tied. He's constantly stressing about missed opportunities about her. I think it's pretty adorable.

Also, he can be really nice. He does make fun of me a lot, but if I stop making snide comments back he goes "Oh my God did I hurt your feelings?" and keeps asking me until I assure him several times that I just couldn't think of anything to say. And earlier in the year he got beat up in gym. I think that was when my opinion first started to change. When I originally heard about it, I figured his smart mouth had gotten him into trouble. What had actually happened was another kid was making fun of a girl in the REACH program (the classes for kids with mental handicaps), and he stood up for her and got pummeled for it. I overheard him telling someone who responded "Bet you wish you kept your mouth shut." Tanmoy responded, "No. You don't do that to people who can't fight back."

Today in history we were put into pairs to do this group thing and I got paired with him. At first he completely unloaded on me about how he got into an argument with a friend of his who for the most part has always been the one that's there for him. I said the usual sympathetic stuff when I don't really know how to help someone. Then he turned the conversation to me. He asked about my wrist, and how I got along with my family, and my relationship experiences, and whether I had done drugs/alcohol, etc. Somehow we got onto the topic of the only guy I've ever felt primary attraction to, and I told him pretty much everything except his name. And he didn't ask for the name. It was pretty nice to be able to talk about him without hearing "Is it someone I know? Does he go here? etc." for once. I was able to keep it anonymous. It was also pretty cool that he actually seemed to care about what I had to say. Not something I would have expected four months ago. And he told me that I had to be careful with guys because of how quiet I am. He said they're more likely to take advantage of me because I'm less likely to speak up for myself.

Overall, I think Tanmoy's a pretty cool guy. He's been through a lot of stuff he says he doesn't really want to talk about with me yet, and I think that's why he puts up the front he does. And I think part of it isn't exactly a front. Sometimes when he says the douchey stuff that he does, he just doesn't realize how it comes across until it's out of his mouth, and sometimes he doesn't realize it at all until someone like me points it out to him. To be his friend you kind of just have to let it roll off your back and know that he doesn't mean it the way it sounds.

I hope throughout the year I get to know him better, because he is a nice guy, no matter how he acts.


Song of the Day: "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance. Another "I don't like the band except for this song" song.

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