Falling Short

1

October 5, 2015
Sophomore Year

I walked into school with a smile on my face. This was the first time I was wearing my brand new jersey to school. I had just gotten it this summer. The jersey was bright red and had a magnificent emblem on it: the Russian national crest. Underneath it, golden Cyrillic letters spelled out Россия, or Russia in English. On the back, MALKIN was printed in big white script. I was proud to be wearing my favorite hockey player's national jersey.

After the bell dismissed us from home room, I went straight to World History II AP. I'd always loved history, and I had an amazing teacher. But I also had a friend in the class. When I stepped into the room, a loud remark pierced my ears.

"Fucking commie."

My head shot to the middle of the room where I found my only friend sitting. He was a short boy, compared to the average guy at least, and was sitting with his legs criss-cross apple sauce in the chair. His brown hair swept across his forehead and nearly covered one of his eyes. His thick rimmed black glasses magnified his humor filled eyes. His round lips were curved into a smirk, clearly proud of himself for coming up with such a witty remark.

I raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"

He leaned back in his chair with a smug grin still smothered on his face. "You're a Communist."

I slowly sat down, putting my books underneath my desk. "I'm afraid I don't follow."

He sighed, irritated that he had to explain his supposedly hilarious joke. "You're wearing a Russian jersey, so you're a Communist. Duh."

I rolled my eyes. "Russia isn't Communist anymore, idiot. But good try."

Completely ignoring my comment, he continued leaning closer to me, "I'm gonna get you deported to Siberia."

"Kevin please, this isn't the Red Scare. Good luck with that."

Moving back from his leaned forward position, he contently said, "Watch your back commie, I'm coming for you."

I chuckled lightly and looked ahead at the power point that had just appeared on the wall. We were continuing the Renaissance today.

"The Renaissance brought about many changes including...." Mr Keith droned on.

I stole a glance over at Kevin to see him already looking at me. He mouthed 'commie' before turning back and tapping the shoulder of the girl in front of him. While the Renaissance was an interesting period in history, I was more curious about Kevin and this girl.

Her name was Sophia. She was a very pretty girl. She was shorter than Kevin, which was surprising considering his height. She had long chocolate hair and pretty eyes. Her petite body feigned in size compared to the chair and left plenty of room empty.

Kevin whispered something in her ear and laughed, smiling wide. Sophia pivoted in her large chair and her bright red lips curved into a smile. She replied quietly and turned around, leaving a smiling Kevin alone in his thoughts. Whether or not it was obvious to everyone else, it was obvious to me: he liked her, a lot.

As he leaned back in his chair, I shifted my eyes to my blank notebook. I didn't want to be caught staring, and I needed to take notes. I let my hair fall in front of my face, creating a curtain hiding me from the world. I occasionally looked up at the PowerPoint to jot down a note before closing myself away from the class again. I never meant to be antisocial or hidden away; it just happened.

It wasn't until the end of class that I fully escaped my note-taking world. I started packing up my binders and notebooks and rearranging my backpack. When I realized Kevin was waiting for me, I slung my bag over my back and hurried to the door.

"I can't believe I'm helping a commie on her math quiz, but it's Mrs. Meyer, and she's worst than a Communist so...."

I laughed, "Communists aren't even bad anymore. And you never defended the fact that Russia isn't Communist."

He sighed, as if explaining to someone so unintelligent was utterly tiring. "Once a Communist, always a Communist."

I rolled my eyes and dropped the topic. Frantically learning what was on the math test was a lot more important at this point.

As we approached the dreaded room 425, I spotted the evil Mrs. Meyer standing outside the door. Kevin wished me a quick good luck as I took my quiz from her wrinkled hand and found my seat. The quiz was as hard as expected, if not worse. Despite that, I was still incredibly thankful for Kevin's help. He'd be the reason I'd pass this class; I could almost bet it.

After I turned in the quiz, I decided it was time to begin the piles of book work she'd given to us. While I do believe homework is helpful to learn something, her assignments were ridiculous. It should've been illegal.

When the final bell rung, we all rose from our seats and headed towards the bus ramp. While I did head to the bus ramp, I didn't ride the bus anymore. My house was in walking distance of the school, so I walked home every day. I did miss the bus rides with Kevin, but it was good exercise and I knew if I ever rode the bus again it would be just like nothing had changed. Our relationship was easy like that. We didn't need to see each other all the time to still be relatively close.

I loved it.

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