We Can Not Win

Calm down.

Calm down Red, it isn't that bad.

Nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all.

Gulp.

It's gonna be fine. You can do it!

Despite her inner pep talk, Red was certainly having a panic attack. She trembled as she stumbled up to the podium to give her speech. Her green, topaz speckled eyes were itchy and her bottom lip was sore from the constant abuse from her teeth. If you looked closely enough you could see the sheen of sweat that covered her ghostly white face.

Oh, how she loathed her Speech II class. More to the point, she loathed the Speech Department's new teacher Mr. Davis. He was the only instructor that forced everyone to give presentations nearly every grading period. Mrs. Geoff, Red's Speech I instructor had been a lazy and incompetent woman ready for retirement. But she had never made her students so nervous that they felt physically ill.

Mr. Davis took no excuses, everybody would give a speech. Like it or not.

Red's fingers trembled; her cue cards were almost unrecognizable. The ink had smeared in her sweaty palms. Looking into the hungry, hawk-like gaze of her fellow students she attempted to clear her throat. Only to produce a hoarse, croak sound from the dry cavern. All those eyes seemed to read her every moment, mocking her fruitless attempt to successfully recite the speech she had expertly written.

It was one thing to write a proper speech. But it was a completely different matter to give a proper speech.

Red sighed and shook her head, signaling to Mr. Davis that she couldn't do it. No matter how many courses and strategies she tried, her aggressive case of glossophobia always got in the way. With her eyes glued to the floor she say back down in the back of class. The heavy feeling of failure weighed down on her shoulders.

Looking down she reread the original speech she wrote. It wasn't very long, about the length of Red's right hand and a few centimeters of wrist. The whole piece had been eloquently written; it covered the subject and was fairly interesting. Now it was wasted, just like all the others.

-We Can Not Win-

At lunch Red ate the sandwich wrap her brother had made as if she had been a starving child in Rwanda. Turkey and cheese, her brother's favorite. It lasted less than six seconds before being devoured nearly whole.

Next to her sat her partner in crime and best friend of the past ten years Ruby. They had bonded as children easily; the first thing they noticed about each other was their names.

Ruby Franz and Scarlet "Red" Parks had agreed instantly at the age of seven that red was not their color. Both girls hated that their parents forced the bloody color upon them forever. Because everyone knew it was so original to make your child wear nearly all red if their name happened to be a synonym of said color.

"How did Davis take it this time?" Ruby asked while popping the cap off her herbal tea aggressively. "Please tell me he at least read the damn thing!"

Red let out a long, disappointed sigh. It felt like she was tattling on her teacher somehow by admitting her own failure.

"He did. But I still lost major points," she lamented.

Ruby let out an enraged yelp, her manicured fingers left tiny crescent shaped marks on her palms as she clenched her fists tightly. "What is that bastard's problem!" she growled angrily.Red watched her with worry painted on her face. "If he has read your speeches, then he should know that they are perfect. It doesn't take a genius to see that you have problems speaking in front of the class, why can't he just give you a break?!"