How Far We've Come

Chapter 26

    Sunlight flooded the tent and my eyelids turned a bright red. I covered my eyes in aversion to the light when I heard Madeline's voice next to me.

    "...Another half an hour, I think..." she was saying.

    I rubbed my eyes and slowly got up, running my hands through the frizzy mess that was my hair. "Half an hour until what?" I asked in a sleepy daze, stifling a yawn.

    Madeline turned to me, fully dressed. "Until we leave," she answered. "Oh yeah, how did you do on the pop quiz?"

    Panic filled me and I pulled out my phone, opening the Edline app. As I saw my grade, panic welled up in my chest and my face fell. All the peace from last night left me.

    I had a B.

    Never in my life before had I ever gotten a B as my average grade. And now... and now... I bit back a sob when I saw the actual grade on my pop quiz. 67%. That was a D.

    "I did awful," I whispered. "And I have a B in the class now."

    Madeline placed a hand on my shoulder. "Aw sweetie," she coaxed. "It's okay. He hasn't put in the movie yet."

    "Yeah," I agreed. "But, what if that doesn't bring my grade up."

    She leaned over to see the phone. "What B do you have?"

    I scrolled back up and frustration ran through my veins at the borderline grade. "Borderline. 89.3%"

    She laughed. "I doubt that the movie won't bring your grade up," she reasoned. "Chill. You'll be fine."

    I nodded and ran back and forth between the porta potty, the tent, and the faucet, getting ready. I threw on my dark green Global shirt, tied my hair back in a tight bun, and pulled on a pair of jeans that reached my knees and clean sneakers.

    I ate leftovers from yesterday night's campfire for breakfast and packed myself an orange. I didn't think I had eaten this many oranges in a long time. And soon, we were off.

    The trip was slow and all I could focus on was my grade. But, I tried to take my mind off of it by playing games and listening to music. Suddenly I heard a high-pitched scream from the back of the bus.

    "MR. RICKMAN IS BACK!" yelled a girl from the back of the bus.

    My jaw dropped. The teachers had predicted he wouldn't be back this year at all. But...

    "How do you know?" someone asked, pulling the words out of my mind.

    She held up her phone. "It's on Instagram."

    Suddenly the girl's phone was being passed around the whole bus, followed by gasps and shrill shrieks. Clary passed the phone to me and I grasped it in my trembling fingers.

    There he was, teaching the classroom. He didn't look as strong as before, and certainly not as fit, but the smile on his face was the same as always.

    "He really is back," I whispered, happiness welling up inside me. All thoughts of my grade disappeared. Madeline was right. It would be fixed.

    Suddenly, the bus slowed to a halt and Mr. Cardinal stood up.

    "We need to refill on gas," he informed us. "But everyone needs to get out of the bus."

    "We can eat our lunch now," Mrs. Callie suggested.

    Suddenly, we were setting tables up with leftovers from the days before. But, I remembered something that called my attention more. My stomach grumbling, I pulled out the food that my mom had packed me a few days ago from my backpack and sunk my teeth into the spicy bread.

    "Mmmm," I muttered. "This tastes amazing."

    "What is it?" asked Clary, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich she had put together.

    I held out the bread. "It's called Methi Parata. It's kind of like a spicy bread. It tastes amazing with chutney, but I wouldn't really pack that. Want a bite?" I offered.

    I tore off a chunk and gave it to her. She took a tentative bite. "Wow this is spicy," she commented. "It's good."

    I grinned. "Thanks." I stuffed the rest into my mouth when I heard my name being called.

    "Hey Anasika and Clary!" Nicole called, with Rick by her side. "We're going to the nearby Cafe. Want to come?"

    I nodded, zipping up my backpack and following them into the cafe. There, I bought a small strawberry smoothie. I recoiled at the sweet taste, a stark contrast from the spicy Methi Parata and took another sip.

    "This is good," I complimented. "Really sweet and thick."

    Rick mixed his mango smoothie. "What flavor did you get?"

    "Strawberry," I answered, sipping the rich smoothie.

    Soon, we were boarding the bus and on our way to the school. When we reached, we were flooded with people. I felt slightly overwhelmed, not seeing anyone else other than the people on the bus with me for three days.

    "How was it?" Lina asked, rushing out to hug us and backing away slightly. "Oh man, I thought I told you guys not to stink."

    I rolled my eyes, amused. "Trust me, we look worse than we actually are."

    She laughed and threw her arms around both of us. "Oh yeah," she remembered. "Mr. Rickman is back."

    "So I heard." I bid her goodbye and walked to my dad's car, heaving my two heavy bags.

    My dad smiled, opening the car door for me and helping me load the bags in. "Good to see you after so long," he said, hugging me. "How was it?"

    I burst into a long rant about how amazing it was. By the time I had finished, we were pulling up into my driveway. It felt like weeks since I had seen my house. I hugged my mom and my brother, running upstairs to plop down on my soft bed.

    On the way up, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It had been days since I had seen my reflection and I gasped. My eyes had dark circles underneath them, my hair was in an unflattering bun, my arms were covered with sand, I wasn't wearing earrings, my face was beaded with sweat. my shirt was wrinkled, my face was hopelessly tanned, the list went on and on. I sighed. Was this what I had looked like to everyone else in Assateague? Pushing the thought out of my mind, I turned to my bookshelf.

    "I missed you so much!" I whispered, pulling out a book and clutching it to my chest. I opened it and lay down on my soft, not-sand bed and began reading when my mom walked in.

    "Nuh uh," she shook her head. "No sitting on your bed until you take a long, clean, thorough shower."

    I groaned, slowly getting off of the bed and laying my book down. I pulled out a towel and walked into the bathroom, marveling at everything. It all seemed so fancy and human after three days in nature. The comfort felt alien.

    I let the hot water run over me, washing sand off of places I didn't even know it could collect. My hair transformed into rough and sandy to soft and clean. All the dirt on my body flowed into the drain. My dirty clothes were kicked into a pile in the corner. I was transforming back to my regular self.

    By the time I had towel-dried my hair and put a bit of makeup on my face to lighten the dark tan, I looked more like myself. I pulled out a flowery blue shirt and black leggings paired with simple diamond studs in my ears. I blow dried my hair and looked in the mirror.

    It was much fancier than I was used to, but after days of sweatpants and t-shirts, I felt much more like myself. I grabbed the book and walked downstairs, filling my mouth with warm soup and some pasta. Comfort was nice.

    I spent the weekend catching up on work, relaxing, and getting back into the school routine. By Monday, I was back to normal.

    Classes passed by and life went on. But, Biology class approached fast and Mr. Rickman was back. We were in the computer lab. I walked to the lab, quietly chatting with Clary, Jessica, and Lina about him coming back. Finally, we reached the room and I saw him. Skinnier than ever, but smiling widely through the tired eyes, propping the door open.

    "Mr. Rickman."