NonConformity

It was about a week after our shopping trip before I could muster the courage to wear my new outfit to school. I had tried them all on the comfort of my room, but I had never ventured any further with them on.
Walking along by the Quad was nerve wracking, but I was (almost) put at ease by Alex’s appearance.
"Hey, mate, looking good" Alex untangled her orange-prisoner-esque-boiler suited body from the (also orange clad) grasping hands of her janitor boyfriend, (who has an unusual obsession with her rear end) in order to greet me.
"urm, thanks Alex, soo… urm, what do you think, really?" I was dreading the answer, because Alex could most definitely be brutally honest when she so felt the inclination. (This urge was particularly strong when she hadn’t been fed recently- doughnuts, chocolate, ice cream, chocolate, iced buns and, did I mention chocolate? were the staples of her diet. I always marvelled at the fact she wasn’t huge, but then her Karate would help.)
"Yeah, cool mate, looking very good!!"
"Thanks Alex, thanks, urm, Janitor…" I had no idea how to address her boyfriend except as ‘Janitor’.

As I sauntered into my chemistry registration room, I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead. Although I was (I hoped) outwardly cool, on the inside I was panicking, I shouldn’t be dressed like this, I looked a fool, oh god, help! But when Jen entered the room and her gaze stayed on my for a few seconds longer than usual I knew Jo had chosen wisely. My haircut was no longer new, although this was the first day I had styled it the way the hairdresser had, but it was perfectly complimented by my slightly baggy white shirt; top button (collar) undone; tie, still perfectly tied, but at a slightly lower position than usual, over the top of my brand new Road cords, which were baggy, but looked ok, not as good as my chinos, or so I thought, but evidently Jo and Jen thought differently. The haircut was the perfect addition, because although my raven black hair was naturally curly it had been cut so that it was just falling over my forehead; no more ruler straight partings for me!

After chemistry I walked out of class feeling decidedly more relaxed. I’d passed muster with Jen; well I thought I had anyway. As I walked down the corridor to my English classroom I was aware I was getting a lot more attention than I was used to. By now the stories about my "Date" had died down but I was ‘infamous’ because of it, still a loner, but people knew of me now, not for a good reason though…
Even though all the speculation had now died down, I was once again in the limelight, although not so badly, because I was less noticeable now.

I blended in.

I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. Of course if Jen noticed me then it was a damn good thing, but if she thought I was just yet another sheep, plain boring, white and conforming then she would quickly revert to ignoring me once again. It was like that advert for the lunch box meals that wanted to be non-conforming, but all the kids immediately conformed to the meal and club rules, except this one ‘geek’ who shouts ‘non-conformist’ at the wrong time, so everyone looks at him like he’s a freak, just ‘cause he’s a non-conformist, -unlike the rest. Long analogy, but I feel like one of those kids, one of those clones now. At least before I was different, I may have been an outcast, but I wasn’t a sheep, or at least not a white one. Maybe I could work on a compromise. I didn’t really take much in at school for the rest of the day. Once I got home I shut myself in my room and thought about it all.

I went to sleep with my head buzzing, there was so much to think abut and so many options to consider, ones that I’d never thought of before, that when my head eventually hit the pillow, I was off to sleep instantly, thoughts and ideas still swarming round my head.