“Ah, Fatty. You’re early today.”, said a classmate to Calix.
Calix’s lips automatically turned into a curve, he smiled from ear to ear and nodded, “Of course, I’ve missed you so dearly I came earlier than usual.”, albeit saying he misses the person, in reality, he only misses the attention.
People would normally show wrathful reactions at the nickname ‘Fatty’, yet it was different for Calix though he was the biggest boy in the classroom. He was unbothered and unconcern because to him the nickname was just a trivial matter as what truly interested him was the amount of attention he received. Truth to be told, he loves and yearns for more attention, so he began to put on additional weight just to get his classmates or schoolmates to notice him. Oddly enough he was never bullied for his weight and unexpectedly, even the meanest bully in the school ground secretly favours him.
Calix was also narcissistic in nature. Despite being chubby, he pictures himself as the most good-looking person in the world. His name ‘Calix’ is from the Greek origin that has the meaning very handsome, this boosted his confidence to the roof. Occasionally, he would take out a small mirror he stored in his pocket and while looking at it he praised himself in his mind. ‘Oh my god, you’re a work of art Calix.’, but sometimes he would accidentally blurt it out loud and his peer would stare at him for a while and laugh.
Life was good for Calix until one day, a new teacher transferred to his school. He was a young physical education teacher, people call him ‘Mr. Hercules’. Everyone including Calix’s classmates thought the teacher was extremely handsome with his neat appearance and sturdy muscle. He was as fit as an athlete. All attention started shifting to this new teacher and he gained immediate popularity. The situation was already difficult for Calix, but thing got worse when Mr. Hercules became his class teacher. It filled void emotion within Calix, ‘Ugh!’ he expressed in his head. Seeing the teacher was like being pulled into a dark black hole. He despised Mr. Hercules, ‘how dare he steal the ‘attention’ from me’.
A month has past, Calix thought things will settle down and he will once again experience the happiness of being the centre of attention. However, people are still discussing Mr. Hercules which frustrates him to the core. Today, Calix was looking more tired and gloomy than ever all due to Mr. Hercules class. He was never a sports person. A brief jog could leave a week worth of sore muscles, so he never tried moving too much. It was recess time, Calix went somewhere quieter as he knew the class would be talking about Mr. Hercules again. He sat by a bench located behind the school building, people rarely go there as most of them eat at the canteen or in the classroom.
As Calix was eating his food, he felt a tap on the shoulder. ‘Who might this be? Did a classmate notice that I was upset lately and came to comfort me?’ he thought, he turned around and unfortunately it was Mr. Hercules. His excitement depleted and he hoped it did not show on his face. Mr. Hercules then took a seat beside him and asked, “What are you doing here alone, Calix?”
“The class was a bit noisy talking about…someone. Anyway, I have a question. Sir, what would you do when you suddenly became unnoticeable to people?”, Calix asked, curious of what the famous Mr. Hercules would say.
Mr. Hercules seemed bewildered by the unpredictable question and stayed quiet for a while, probably thinking. Then a few moments later he replied, ‘I think…I will surprise them with things they least expect me to do.”
The answer was short, but Calix understood what the teacher meant. He snorted a little thinking how foolish he was to blame Mr. Hercules for his problem when the problem was him. “I see. Thank you, sir.” Calix said.
Now, he knew what he ought to do, he must outshine Mr. Hercules.