Written Confessions | Boy Story Jia Hanyu

1 - the first letter

✩.･*:｡≻───── ⋆♡⋆ ─────.•*:｡✩

『September 2017』

Erica slapped her hand down onto the blank page in front of her, completely unmotivated.

"You've been trying to do this for ages," whined Jianne, dramatically slumping on the couch next to Erica.

"Yeah, I want to go get bubble tea!" Aira adds, suddenly jumping and landing on top of Jianne with full force.

Jianne let out a big "oof" sound and started a tickle fight with Aira, their screams and laughter resonating around the living room in Aira's house. On Fridays the girls (who collectively called themselves 3ChaCha) made it a habit to hang out at Aira's house after school finished, as her parents often worked slightly later into the evening and her older brother went to extracurricular clubs.

"I haven't even started it yet though," Erica groaned, "and I need to get it finished as early as possible!"

"Then why can't you just...write it?" Jianne asks, looking genuinely confused.

"Because...I don't know! I'm having a major brain fart" Erica sighed in defeat and lay her face down onto the page. "Why did I even sign up to this penpal scheme in the first place?!"

--- earlier that day ---

"Y-you asked to see me, Mrs Lin?" Erica asked after cautiously opening the door to the principal's office. The prospect of getting in trouble during her first week at middle school did not sit right with Erica, and the sweat that coated her palms as a result of nerves didn't do much to help the situation. She hastily wiped her hands on her black pleat skirt for the millionth time and peaked her head into the room, immediately spotting Mrs Lin seated at her desk.

"Yes Erica, just take a seat here." The principal gestured at the chair in front of her, smiling warmly. "There's no need to be afraid dear, this must be quite scary as this is your first week at our school but I just wanted to speak to you about something."

Erica let out a breath of relief and felt the crushing weight that previously restricted her every move disappear.

After she sat down, Mrs Lin proceeded to explain the reason why Erica got a sudden phone call at 7am telling her that she needed to see the principal as soon as possible.

"So," Mrs Lin began, clasping her hands together and resting them on the table, "I wanted to wait until you've had some time to settle in before I mention this to you, so apologies for the spontaneousness of the message that was sent this morning. I looked through your records prior to your arrival at the school and while your grades and attendance at your previous school were well above average, the only problem is the language barrier. I understand that you have only been learning Chinese for about a year and even at that your progress has been impressive, however you are currently only proficient in speaking and listening to the language; unfortunately your reading and writing skills are at a lower level than recommended for your age.

Despite that, I assure you that there is no need to worry. I have put into place an extra lesson plan that will get you caught up to where you need to be, and provided that you work hard for the next few months, there should be very few setbacks in your progression. Since you've showcased a high level of linguistic ability in other languages, I have no doubt that you will be able to complete this successfully.

There is also an extra credits course that I would suggest you consider taking, Erica. This course is essentially a penpal exchange  between schools in this area, and would be especially beneficial to you in improving your reading and writing skills. Twice a week you send a letter to your assigned penpal, and at the end of each semester you take an exam to evaluate your progress. Once your reading and writing skill level has reached the recommended stage you can opt to end the course early."

Erica felt her stomach tighten at Mrs Lin's words initially but as she continued to explain how they were going to work through this barrier the crushing weight that had returned completely disappeared...almost.

While Erica was not distinctively worried about the idea of taking extra classes, the thought of meeting new people through writing letters was definitely not appealing at first. Despite her initial hesitance to follow through with Mrs Lin's suggestion, Erica thought about it and realised that this would help her accelerate her progress in Chinese, which would ultimately contribute to the quality of her learning and how well she does in school. Academics were a priority for Erica, so that reason alone would have been enough to convince her to give in.

Maybe she was beginning to change - it could've been the change in environment after moving countries, the need to adjust to a new school, or even just a slight feeling of loneliness from not making many friends, but Erica found that the thought of meeting a new potential friend actually made her kind of excited.

--- flashback ends ---

Erica groaned with multiple intentional voice cracks and lifted her face off of the table. She forced herself to think of why she needed to follow through with the course she signed up for. "I'll have this letter finished in 20 minutes guys so don't worry. We'll get bubble tea right after I'm done!"

Now filled with motivation, Erica put in her earphones to give her something to jam out to, took a deep breath and put her pen to the  page that had been empty up until now. And with that, she began to write.

✩.･*:｡≻───── ⋆♡⋆ ─────.•*:｡✩

Word count: 965
Written: 13/03/21
Published: 18/03/21