Parallel (discontinued)

Jonah- Chapter IX: Rooftop Revelation

My idea no longer mattered.

My spark of brilliance. My well-crafted plan. In that moment, as I listened to the details of the girl-I mean, Kee's, backstory, I knew that all of it was crashing down. My hope for the future was slipping away.

"if I'm helping you, you have to do something for me," I had said. But I froze. And then I broke.

I couldn't do it. Not after hearing all that. About her parents. About Natalie. About it all.

"...I'm sorry, but for so long, my plan was all that seemed to matter...but I change my mind. It's nothing"

She looked at me. The wind blew coldly on me, but Kee was unaffected thanks to her beaten up HKNA MTTA beanie. We were now just sitting on the rooftop, overshadowing the entire city. But everything was silent from up here, aside from the whispering blow of the wind. Just alone, and nobody watching but the clouds above us.

She gave me a bewildered look.

"Wh-what? What are you saying?"

And for the first time ever in all my life that I could remember, I was at a loss for words.

Yes. I, Jonah Kai, who loved English and language more than anything, was not able to put the right words together.

I suffered a short episode of embarrassing stuttering, until I finally looked away from her and mustered up the willpower.

"I was going to drop out of high school. And you were going to help me."

I kept looking straight, staring into the horizon, so couldn't see her reaction, but I could tell she was in shock.

"And not only that, but you were going to drop out with me."

"Actually, for so long, it had been my dream to be expelled. To flee from the clutches of the school system. To be free of my parents' expectations. I wanted sweet escape."

"I had tried everything, from fire alarms to rude behavior. Nothing worked. No matter how bad I tried, Werschter High had managed, just cause of my parents' reputation and my academic abilities, to keep me for the sole purpose of making themself look good."

"My graffiti, "SCHOOL IS FLAWED--
<3 JONAH", had been my most recent and highest hopes of expulsion. And in turn, my only punishment, or at the time, was to tutor you. It was horrid, until I found out that the faculty looked highly upon your good behavior, and I saw potential."

I stood up and began pacing. She began to follow me.

"Let's go travel to the other rooftops, I suggested. "As a graffiti artist I know my way around well. English started 25 minutes ago, there's no point going now."

She nodded in agreement, and we hopped down to the neighboring rooftops, and we continued our little adventure.

"I don't understand what you're saying. What'd you need me for?" she inquired.

"You see, it's not just about me. I wanted to make a message. I wanted to have a powerful impact on the school by leaving. I wanted to prove that education is flawed, and that I, with all the great grades I had, didn't want school. I wanted people to realize that high grades doesn't make somebody instantly happy, and I was going to be the primary example."

"Why else do you think I've actually made the effort to get good grades in my classes instead of just purposely flunking out and dropping out? I could have easily just played dumb a long time ago"

She looked at me with the most quizzical look that it would have made anyone feel awkward. She probably thought I was insane. Out of my mind. CRAZY...I was afraid of that.

Nonetheless, we kept walking, making our way and hopping occasionally to a new rooftop, as I carried on:

"I couldn't just be the only one to be expelled, or else some people would just think that I deserved it for my behavior. You see, you had something I lack. You have a good character. A clean reputation, as far as behavior goes. That's what was missing from the formula. It's one thing for someone like me to get expelled, but if it was someone with your character, that would have made a huge impact. That would have ensured that the message came across. That everyone, all types of students no matter how different, are just common victims. That it's not students failing school, but school failing the students.

"Here's a quick English tutoring lesson"

She was still listening, surprisingly.

"Are you aware of what character foils are?"

"Uh yeah" she said.

She began to slowly answer "Isn't it something like the two characters are so different that they help make each other look more...."

Her voice wavered. She drew a blank. But I could tell she knew, she just didn't know how to express it.

"You're on the right track! I like to define it like this. Foils are two characters that have such opposite qualities that they help emphasize each other. In other words, they each have something that the other lacks. But together, they can make a good, complete team. I like to think that you and I are foils, Kee."

She said nothing. She seemed like she was really confused. Call me CRAZY, but I would have appreciated even the slightest indication of response.

"You have poor grades, with stellar behavior, whereas I have the opposite. Top-notch grades with the worst behavior, at least in the school's eyes. I'll be honest, I'm quite jealous that you can keep that up. Having good behavior has always seemed like such a struggle for me. I wish I could be more like you, but then again, we would no longer be foils if that were the case."

"Despite our differences, however, we have one thing in common. We are both forced by the school system to our respective weaknesses. Me, my behavior, and you, your grades. I thought that we could rebel against it. Together."

I remembered Mr. Smith's warning. How both her and I could be expelled from the school if my tutoring didn't help boost Kee's grades up. I had wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, and purposely fail. I refrained from informing her about that detail. She has a lot on her mind as it is, and some things are better left unsaid.

There was a long, silent pause.

"But" I whispered..."But now my entire perspective has transformed." I continued.

"I see now how selfish I was being, and how much this really means to you. I'm not exactly the greatest tutor, but I can figure this out"

And it was at that instant, when I began to care about her desires over mine, that I knew I had developed a profound affection for her.

"Your ideas are pretty extreme, but they're interesting..." she suddenly said.

She stopped and turned to me. We were on ground level now, in a shaded alley, but her eyes still shone. We had made our way down without even realizing it.

"We can figure this out, together..." she assured me.

"like you said, we're foils, after all, right?"

"Character foils. Yes. Precisely"

And for the first time ever, I witnessed the single most gracious privilege any man on this Earth could receive. I watched her laugh, for a split-second, before she finally said,

"I like that, Jonah! I like that a lot! It's like we're the main characters in a story!"