Chapter 229. Confrontation Before the Valentine’s Day School Dance. (1/4)
The day of the school dance was here. When I woke up Irene was gone. It seemed she’d snuck off at some point to get ready for work. I’d also got up pretty early in the morning with the slim hope of running off to university to avoid the dance, but the small little hope I had was crushed the instant I opened the door to my room.
Rosa awaited me with her arm outstretched with a coupon in her hand, the words ‘Meet Up’ were written on it.
“The school dance, you better be there. I won’t expect you to go all out and dance or anything, but I expect you can at least handle a few slow dances with me now that our relationship is known to everyone.”
Resigned, I sighed, received the coupon, and accepted my fate.
The school dance was in the afternoon after lunch. It would go on until the end of classes. You had to pay to get in. If you didn’t attend you’d be stuck in class to do self-study. You weren’t even allowed to go home. The teachers would still be in classes, but they were just there to answer any questions you had.
Teachers who didn’t have a class to teach during that time slot would be in the gymnasium overseeing the dance. The teachers who freed up the following period would switch out with ones in the gym who had a scheduled class the next period. You were essentially in prison if you didn’t want to pay the small get-out-of-jail fee to escape.
The student council was responsible for organizing these stupid school dances, naturally, they had to try to turn a profit or break even for the expenditure on these school dances otherwise other events they wanted to hold throughout the year wouldn’t be possible. These school dances weren’t cheap, there was the DJ they had to pay for, decorations, posters, food, drinks, items like glow sticks, etc.
All this for a pointless little social event. However, it was good experience for the energetic role model students in the student council. Something they could use as experience on their resume in the future. Organizing large events with hundreds of attendees, managing a budget, networking, and coordinating in teams with people outside the school. These were the types of resume keywords HR managers had orgasms over. Throw in some flashy buzzwords and the HR managers would practically be begging to get in bed with you.
Okay, that was obviously a large over-exaggeration, but it wasn’t too far from the truth either.
Anyway, the point was that there were a lot of things they could gain from this event that normal high schoolers who simply wanted to destress and have a fun time took for granted. It was definitely not something I had any interest in though. I always stayed clear of such troublesome overenthusiastic role model students.
If it was up to me, I’d abolish such an idiotic event. It was a good thing it wasn’t up to me or I’d incur the ire of all the popular kids who for some reason enjoyed these school dances. For them, it was a great place where they could flaunt their superiority in front of all the socially disabled people like me.
Please duly note that I take great offense to vulgar terms such as socially retarded, as such, please do categorize me correctly. I prefer terms like socially challenged, socially inept, socially special, social misfit, socially in need, socially lacking, and socially disabled.
Okay, I honestly didn’t give a damn, I actually hated all these stupid terms people skirted about to be overly sensitive of your feelings.
When I arrived at school in the morning, Jass was already inside the classroom beside my desk. He was unusually early. When I sat down, he immediately declared to me, “Ran, I’ve finally resolved myself. At lunchtime, I’m going to head over to Alicia’s class before the dance and I’m going to ask her out.”
“What? You mean you’re waiting until the very last minute?” I was honestly surprised he hadn’t made a move yet and intended to wait until so late to approach her.
“No, I’m going to go all out. Even if she rejects me, whenever a slow song starts playing, I will try again.” He announced his idiotic plan with so much confidence that it looked like he seriously expected to garner results.
“So... you’ve resolved yourself to be rejected not once, but multiple times today by her?”
“Yes.”
“Are you actually a masochist?”
“Of course not.”
“You know, you’re eventually just going to annoy her with your persistence. Once or twice, maybe even thrice being the limit, may allow you to leave a solid impression, but if you go beyond that, you may end up looking like a bothersome pest.”
“Even then, I’ll do it. Even if I fail with her, it will make me more resilient for the next girl I go after.” This guy...
“Why are you so hell-bent on getting a girlfriend?”
“Isn’t it natural for a guy to want to get a pretty girlfriend while in high school? Anyway, I’m sure if I show her how serious I am I can break down her defenses.”
“No, it really might have the complete opposite effect. Her defenses may just rise even higher than ever before. I think knowing when to take a step back is a good skill to have. Only going in hot is a really bad idea. You need to make use of a combination of both hot and cold tactics to truly win a girl over and keep her invested in you. If you only use hot tactics, your actions will eventually come across as you being desperate and it may even negatively impact your future romantic endeavors with other girls. You should seriously reconsider your angle of attack a bit more.”
“Oh! You actually sound pretty well versed on such matters despite the cold way you always act toward the girls in class.”
“I’m not well versed on matters of romance or love at all. It’s just simple human psychology.”
“Psychology?”
“People want the things that they can’t have. But when that thing feels too far away, they forget about it. If that thing is too easily attainable, they don’t value it that much. Hence, why you need a mixture of both hot and cold. To push and pull. To keep them guessing and the spice alive. If you’re too passionate, you’ll burn up all in one go and you’ll never make it to the finish line.”
“By the finish line, you mean…”
“Well, for normal people I guess that would mean sex, marriage, having children, and starting a family together.”
“So you’re saying I wouldn’t even make it to sex if I’m too overly passionate at the start?”
“Correct, the flame will run out of fuel to burn before the target you’re interested in draws close enough for you to fully ensnare them within your flames and block off all their paths of retreat. Hence, this is why you need to reel in the flame to conserve fuel. That bit of initial warmth you provided to your target, when it suddenly weakens, the taste they had will make them want to draw closer to warm up a bit more again.”
“When that happens, you rekindle your flame once again. They might take a step back, but the second they do, you once again rein the flame back in even further this time. They are then forced to draw closer than before without even realizing it. Two steps forward, one step back. It’s a game of tug of war where one side will either run out of fuel to burn, or the other side will be engulfed within your flame and be unable to escape even when you’re conserving your fuel. They will be stuck inside the warmth provided by your flame, grow addicted, and become too afraid to return to the cold world outside the gentle flame they’ve found themself trapped within. In such a state they will be unable to escape.”
“Bro, are you some sort of secret pick-up artist? Is this how you got Rosa to fall head over heels for you? Aren’t you too sneaky? Were you actually gunning for her from the very start?”
“Of course not.”
Chapter 229. Confrontation Before the Valentine’s Day School Dance. (1/4)
The day of the school dance was here. When I woke up Irene was gone. It seemed she’d snuck off at some point to get ready for work. I’d also got up pretty early in the morning with the slim hope of running off to university to avoid the dance, but the small little hope I had was crushed the instant I opened the door to my room.
Rosa awaited me with her arm outstretched with a coupon in her hand, the words ‘Meet Up’ were written on it.
“The school dance, you better be there. I won’t expect you to go all out and dance or anything, but I expect you can at least handle a few slow dances with me now that our relationship is known to everyone.”
Resigned, I sighed, received the coupon, and accepted my fate.
The school dance was in the afternoon after lunch. It would go on until the end of classes. You had to pay to get in. If you didn’t attend you’d be stuck in class to do self-study. You weren’t even allowed to go home. The teachers would still be in classes, but they were just there to answer any questions you had.
Teachers who didn’t have a class to teach during that time slot would be in the gymnasium overseeing the dance. The teachers who freed up the following period would switch out with ones in the gym who had a scheduled class the next period. You were essentially in prison if you didn’t want to pay the small get-out-of-jail fee to escape.
The student council was responsible for organizing these stupid school dances, naturally, they had to try to turn a profit or break even for the expenditure on these school dances otherwise other events they wanted to hold throughout the year wouldn’t be possible. These school dances weren’t cheap, there was the DJ they had to pay for, decorations, posters, food, drinks, items like glow sticks, etc.
All this for a pointless little social event. However, it was good experience for the energetic role model students in the student council. Something they could use as experience on their resume in the future. Organizing large events with hundreds of attendees, managing a budget, networking, and coordinating in teams with people outside the school. These were the types of resume keywords HR managers had orgasms over. Throw in some flashy buzzwords and the HR managers would practically be begging to get in bed with you.
Okay, that was obviously a large over-exaggeration, but it wasn’t too far from the truth either.
Anyway, the point was that there were a lot of things they could gain from this event that normal high schoolers who simply wanted to destress and have a fun time took for granted. It was definitely not something I had any interest in though. I always stayed clear of such troublesome overenthusiastic role model students.
If it was up to me, I’d abolish such an idiotic event. It was a good thing it wasn’t up to me or I’d incur the ire of all the popular kids who for some reason enjoyed these school dances. For them, it was a great place where they could flaunt their superiority in front of all the socially disabled people like me.
Please duly note that I take great offense to vulgar terms such as socially retarded, as such, please do categorize me correctly. I prefer terms like socially challenged, socially inept, socially special, social misfit, socially in need, socially lacking, and socially disabled.
Okay, I honestly didn’t give a damn, I actually hated all these stupid terms people skirted about to be overly sensitive of your feelings.
When I arrived at school in the morning, Jass was already inside the classroom beside my desk. He was unusually early. When I sat down, he immediately declared to me, “Ran, I’ve finally resolved myself. At lunchtime, I’m going to head over to Alicia’s class before the dance and I’m going to ask her out.”
“What? You mean you’re waiting until the very last minute?” I was honestly surprised he hadn’t made a move yet and intended to wait until so late to approach her.
“No, I’m going to go all out. Even if she rejects me, whenever a slow song starts playing, I will try again.” He announced his idiotic plan with so much confidence that it looked like he seriously expected to garner results.
“So... you’ve resolved yourself to be rejected not once, but multiple times today by her?”
“Yes.”
“Are you actually a masochist?”
“Of course not.”
“You know, you’re eventually just going to annoy her with your persistence. Once or twice, maybe even thrice being the limit, may allow you to leave a solid impression, but if you go beyond that, you may end up looking like a bothersome pest.”
“Even then, I’ll do it. Even if I fail with her, it will make me more resilient for the next girl I go after.” This guy...
“Why are you so hell-bent on getting a girlfriend?”
“Isn’t it natural for a guy to want to get a pretty girlfriend while in high school? Anyway, I’m sure if I show her how serious I am I can break down her defenses.”
“No, it really might have the complete opposite effect. Her defenses may just rise even higher than ever before. I think knowing when to take a step back is a good skill to have. Only going in hot is a really bad idea. You need to make use of a combination of both hot and cold tactics to truly win a girl over and keep her invested in you. If you only use hot tactics, your actions will eventually come across as you being desperate and it may even negatively impact your future romantic endeavors with other girls. You should seriously reconsider your angle of attack a bit more.”
“Oh! You actually sound pretty well versed on such matters despite the cold way you always act toward the girls in class.”
“I’m not well versed on matters of romance or love at all. It’s just simple human psychology.”
“Psychology?”
“People want the things that they can’t have. But when that thing feels too far away, they forget about it. If that thing is too easily attainable, they don’t value it that much. Hence, why you need a mixture of both hot and cold. To push and pull. To keep them guessing and the spice alive. If you’re too passionate, you’ll burn up all in one go and you’ll never make it to the finish line.”
“By the finish line, you mean…”
“Well, for normal people I guess that would mean sex, marriage, having children, and starting a family together.”
“So you’re saying I wouldn’t even make it to sex if I’m too overly passionate at the start?”
“Correct, the flame will run out of fuel to burn before the target you’re interested in draws close enough for you to fully ensnare them within your flames and block off all their paths of retreat. Hence, this is why you need to reel in the flame to conserve fuel. That bit of initial warmth you provided to your target, when it suddenly weakens, the taste they had will make them want to draw closer to warm up a bit more again.”
“When that happens, you rekindle your flame once again. They might take a step back, but the second they do, you once again rein the flame back in even further this time. They are then forced to draw closer than before without even realizing it. Two steps forward, one step back. It’s a game of tug of war where one side will either run out of fuel to burn, or the other side will be engulfed within your flame and be unable to escape even when you’re conserving your fuel. They will be stuck inside the warmth provided by your flame, grow addicted, and become too afraid to return to the cold world outside the gentle flame they’ve found themself trapped within. In such a state they will be unable to escape.”
“Bro, are you some sort of secret pick-up artist? Is this how you got Rosa to fall head over heels for you? Aren’t you too sneaky? Were you actually gunning for her from the very start?”
“Of course not.”
