Evergreen

Chapter 6

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy – Martin Luther King Jr.

*

It was another day, another lesson in the English classroom that was over-saturated with naively optimistic posters extolling virtues that didn't come to fruition in real life. Meanwhile, the trees outside were growing leaves and extra branches and homing the brazen squirrel who dared to run along them. The sun looked inviting, but for now at least, Everett and his mate Jade were stuck in these four walls.

"Today," announced Miss Leverett, "we're going to do a group project."

The reaction was instantaneous. Friends made signals to each other, clearly saying, 'I'm totally going with you'; some pupils were on the edge of their seats, ready to go over to their mates at the first opportunity. Being lucky enough to sit next to each other, Everett and Jade did a triumphant fist pump.

"I'm going to pick the groups." Groans reverberated throughout the classroom. "The last time I trusted you guys to pick your groups, you spent most of the time messing around, and the standard of your projects was, to put it mildly, awful."

Everett thought that Miss Leverett was not being entirely fair. Sure, Jade and Everett had messed around a bit during their previous project, but they got their work done to a very high standard (mainly thanks to Jade). But he wasn't prepared to provoke his teacher to get what he wanted – something so small wasn't worth the trouble.

"Okay, so in group one, we have Jade, Leah and Glen; in group two, it's Priya, Tyler and Brendan; in group three, it's Everett, Fajah and Freddy..."

All the rest of the names went unnoticed by Everett. Did he hear correctly? Was this some sort of joke? Every teacher knew about the rivalry between him and Freddy. Everyone knew mixing the two was like mixing gunpowder with a flame. He could feel his heart starting to pound and his mind starting to whirl –

"Yes, I have a question, Miss. Why are you putting Everett with Freddy? You know they hate each other's guts." That was Jade's voice. Thank goodness Everett had someone to stand up for him. Now it would be alright –

"Well, they will just have to learn to put their differences aside for a while, won't they? The world of work doesn't care for silly quarrels. I'm preparing you for the world of work, not for perfect land."

"But-"

"No buts, Jade! Chop chop, everyone!" Chairs squeaked and pens were flung back into pencil cases, masking the sound of Jade cursing under her breath. Everett made sure to take his seat after Freddy – the only thing that could make this worse would be the two of them sitting next to each other. He took a deep breath, read the printout Miss Leverett had handed out and picked up a pen.

"Hey, that's my pen!" said Fajah.

"I'm sorry," Ev said, hastily handing it back and grabbing another pen with shaking hands, hoping and praying it would be his this time. "So, do we have any ideas for what this poem is trying to show?"

"Well, you clearly don't have any if you're asking us," said Freddy, "but I have an idea. See this alliteration here? It gives the poem flow and shows how positive the poet feels."

Everett blinked. How on earth did Freddy deduce that? "Sounds good. Write it down."

The project carried on like this, with Freddy making casually cutting remarks and coming up with most of the ideas (although Fajah and Everett did chip in a bit). The clock seemed to be taking its sweet time to move on – this hour felt like a day. Slowly but surely, move it did – and by twenty to ten, they were ready to present to the class. First was Jade's group's presentation, which was predictably incredible. Everett made sure to clap loudly for that one. Then the second group presented their observations which paled in comparison with the preceding presentation. It was soon time for Everett's group to go to the front.

Fajah spoke first. "This poem is about trees. This is shown with the semantic field of trees, with words such as leaves, oak and trunks."

The class looked at Everett expectantly; he took a deep breath, willing himself to focus on the task at hand and not all the things that Freddy had said. "Um... there's a simile somewhere, 'as soft as cotton wool', which also adds to the natural theme because, you know, cotton is natural."

"Great spot, Everett," said Freddy condescendingly, "there is anaphora in the first stanza..."

But Everett was no longer listening. His heart was thumping so fast that he thought he might be having a heart attack; his stomach, it was churning, his breath was speeding up way, way too fast, and all eyes were on him, judging him, seeing him the way he never wanted them to see him, and he couldn't calm down, couldn't think of anything but bad experiences, bad moments, what was going on? Too much, too much, too much –

"Everett!" cried Jade, jumping up from her seat. Her friend was on the floor, hyperventilating and shaking – the signs of a panic attack. Sure, she'd thought he seemed a little on edge, but this – this was something more terrible than she'd expected. Without asking Miss Leverett's permission, she turned on her phone and searched for what to do on Google.

 By this point, the class was in chaos: some pupils looked at each other with wide eyes, a few close to hysterics; others took the opportunity to chat, seeming unbothered by what was going on; Miss Leverett had gone outside the classroom to fetch help. And in the middle of it all was Everett, her friend, going through inner chaos that Jade could not imagine.

When the relevant webpage finally loaded, Jade gave Everett instructions on breathing, which at first proved hard for him. In a few minutes, though, he was breathing more slowly and deeply, he'd said a few words to Jade, and by the time Miss Leverett returned with the nurse, Everett was sitting up on the floor and felt nearly normal again.

"Thanks, Jade," he said.

The rest of the day went by in a fearful blur. Going to the medical office, knowing that his parents knew about it all, having a GP appointment arranged. Then, returning to classes, being asked by everyone if he was alright, giving them a broad fake smile to ease their minds. Before this, he'd been unshakable. He'd believed himself invincible to illness and anything awful, save for trivial things like colds. In short, he'd felt like a normal person. But how could he be classed as normal after this?