How Far We've Come

Chapter 21

    Editing was fun, but it soon became monotonous as I repeated the same scenes with the same format over and over again. My eyes became blurry after staring at the computer screen so long and my mind became foggy. It was time to take a break.

    I got up from the computer, but a twenty minute break turned into an hour which turned into a few more hours. Before I knew it, I was in bed, falling asleep.

    The next day, in Technology class, Clary had an announcement about some T-shirt designing contest. It was apparently a contest for designing the Global T-shirt for this year.

    "For the first time ever, we have decided that the Global T-shirt should be designed by the actual students," she explained. "So, this year, we are having a contest to see who can design the best Global T-shirt. The winner will get a free shirt and his or her name on the back of the shirt. So design away!"

    I began working for days on the shirt. I came up with the idea to have a globe with the names of all the Global students on the back. It was a simple idea, but I doubted it would win.

    Someone proposed putting Mr. Rickman's face on the shirt. Someone else took that idea further and suggested that we should make a YouTube video for him. Nobody seemed to consider that he was still alive.

    A student in our grade named Alex actually took the YouTube idea and made a video. It went viral around the school, speeding through the grades and classes until pretty much everyone in Prestwall knew about it. One day, during Technology class, Lina told me about it.

    "Have you seen the new Mr. Rickman video?" she asked.

    I shook my head. "What Mr. Rickman video?" I responded, cluelessly.

    She opened the Internet browser, pulling the video up on the computer. I watched intently, cracking up at certain parts. The video was Mr. Rickman's staff picture changing colors from a deep red to a brilliant blue. In the background, the most idiotic music was playing. It was the well known song from The Titanic, except the words were replaced by ear-wrenching recorder playing. The end credits were a bunch of junk about "We Are the Water Buffalo." And just when I thought the video was over, a quick end credit with the words "We're sorry," came up, flashing by. I clutched my stomach, letting out large guffaws.

    "That... Is the most genius thing ever!" I laughed.

    And it was. It was simple and quick, but it was absolutely hilarious. Honestly, I applauded Alex.

    Lina laughed. "I know right! I wonder if Mr. Rickman has seen it."

    "I hope not!" I teased. "It might slow down his recovery!"

    We burst into another round of laughter when Mr. Gandalf came around and asked us what was going on. I immediately stammered into a bunch of explanations. These teachers may have been like my family, but I was still conscious of getting in trouble.

    Mr. Gandalf laughed. "It's fine Anasika," he assured. "Ooh, what's this? Mr. Rickman Video?"

    "Alex made a video 'in tribute' to Mr. Rickman," Lina explained. "It's pretty funny."

    Mr. Gandalf pointed to the play button. "Then, by all means."

    Lina clicked play and the video played again with the awful music and odd color changes. When it finally finished, Mr. Gandalf burst into another round of laughter.

    "John will definitely laugh when he sees this," he told us, referring to Mr. Rickman by his first name. "After the shock, of course."

    I laughed. "Yeah probably." Soon after, I got back to work eager to finish editing that movie.

    About a week later, Clary stood up in Technology class again, ready to tell us the winners of the T-shirt contest.

    She took a deep breath and opened the envelope that contained the name of the winner. "And the winner is..."