Chasing Nadiya

Dream 1: Of Love

“Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired”

-          Jules Renard

Boy meets girl. It was the age-old story of unrequited love and ultimately its happy ever after. I smiled to myself shyly at the thought of “happy ever after”. Before that could happen I would have to muster up the courage to confess my feelings.

My entire graduating class was sitting cramped in an oversized room decorated with cheap balloons and fake flowers. It was so stuffy that my curly black hair was stuck to my scalp. The Commencement had already been running for the past three hours and showed no sign of winding down. A host of technical difficulties, gaffes and pompous speeches lead to the outrageously long ceremony. To make more productive use of my time, I daydreamed of Nadiya, the girl I’d had a crush on since the third grade.

She wasn’t actually here, though. Nope, Nadiya had other ideas. If things were going according to her plans, she was probably riding through China on the bullet train already. Her sense of adventure was utterly insane. I couldn’t even bring myself to imagine what running around in other countries must be like...Yet, that was exactly what I planned to do. Once I got out of this mind-numbing ceremony I would jump on the first plane to East Asia and never look back. The things I do for love.

Squirming a little in my rigid seat, I wondered why they would make the “most memorable day of our high school careers” so unpleasant.  Everyone around me seemed just as uncomfortable. Despite now being Young Adults, as we were often being reminded, the way the other guys and I squirmed in our seats made us look more like impatient kids. The girls were faring much better, though a bunch had taken off their shoes underneath their dresses and were shifting their jewelry to keep from chafing.

“The future of our great nation,” the orator made huge sweeping gestures, “sits in this very room.”

I fought back the urge to snort. If the future was held in shallow, sex-crazed teenagers, boy, were we in trouble. I tuned him out again and fought in vain the urge to go to sleep. I was tired and the heat of the auditorium was strangely comforting -

....

“Noah Caedmon!” I dragged myself from my dreams. The principle was red in the face and screaming my name. It was only after realising that I was the only person still sitting in my chair that I realised I had fallen asleep. Everyone else dressed in their finery was trooping along the stage to collect their diplomas. Or they had been until my name was called.

“Would you please come and accept your diploma?” The question sounded more like a threat.

Feeling the eyes of the hundreds of students, their relatives and school staff on me, I slowly got up - only to pitch sideways and take a bunch of the surrounding chairs with me. Just my luck, my leg fell asleep. Muffled laughter filled the room. I immediately felt my face flush. Limping cautiously, I shuffled to the front of the line of students waiting to receive their certificates. After a very awkward limp-jump-shuffle up the stairs to the stage, I finally held the concrete proof that I had survived the past four years.

“You have no idea how glad I am to be rid of you.” The principle muttered to me through gritted teeth. We forced fake smiles and turned to the flash of my embarrassed dad’s camera. No need to take things personally. I wasn’t intentionally rebellious, just a bit lazy and sleepy. Both of which landed me in the office more often than either one of us had liked.

I awkwardly walked off the stage and took my place in the line of people who were returning to their seats. My leg was starting to wake up with all the familiar pins and needles. The good news was that I’d stopped hobbling around like a drunkard.