| an altruistic but mawkish girl befriends her artful but manipulative classmate |
***
Here's Aldora Brandon who always puts others happiness before her own, something she regrets not doing in the past. And the word 'crazy' may be a tad bit triggeri...
Sitting at the far-end corner of the class, I could see everyone and everything ahead of me. I knew who was dozing off or whose chair was unbalanced. The boy with the shaved head, sitting right in front of me, was humming a song that got released yesterday. The girl diagonal to me was tapping her long acrylic nails on the desk. With beaming faces, the students in the front row were talking about the upcoming test. The languid seconds passed by and my desk creaked as I scribbled a paragraph on my notebook. I hoped nobody turned to look at the source of the squeaking steel because then they'll notice me, and I didn't want them to see me.
I liked sitting in the corner, away from the eyes of the people, with nothing but my solitude and my pen and notebook. Life seemed less complicated that way. Nobody knew me and nobody talked about me. Nobody knew me and nobody thought highly of me. Nobody knew me and neither did I have to know anyone.
THUD!
She swung open the door, hitting it on the desk behind in the process. An eerie silence blanketed the class as her big black eyes searched the class for an empty seat. I ducked my head inadvertently. Hushed whispers began because they had seen Marina now and wherever Marina went, whispers followed. Slowly, I raised my head and Marina had taken a seat in the front row, right beside Theo Caldwell.
I had always liked her hair. They looked even prettier from behind. Maybe it was the black color that mesmerized me or maybe it was their shine. Whatever it was, Marina knew how beautiful her hair was. She styled them with confidence and perfection, not a single strand looked out of place, unlike mine. No matter how much I pinned mine down or braided them tightly, they just had to evade my face.
Marina and Theo got busy talking, mostly Marina talked while he listened. Marina was infatuated with him. Anybody could see it in her eyes but I wondered if Theo knew. His face or behavior showed no signs of it, but then again, Theo never revealed any of his thoughts.
Soon my best friend and his girlfriend entered and after waving good morning to me, they sat on my left. Walter and Zoe had been dating since the beginning of the sophomore year and it was our junior year now. Surprisingly, that was the longest relationship my best friend had ever had. I was happy for him. Every single of his previous three girlfriends doubted our friendship.
"It is all about trust, Aldora," Walter had told me every time after breaking up with them. And he was right. Walter and I had been friends for seven years and never had I ever even had a slight crush on him. And as far as I knew, he wasn't attracted to me in that way either. I did feel bad to be the cause of his breakups but he made me think against it every single time.
Our literature teacher, Mr. Jan, started the class. He was my favorite teacher and literature was my favorite subject. He was not an American and was gradually entering his forties, quite gracefully if I dare say. He didn't even have a pot belly like other teachers. Zoe often told that most girls in the school had a crush on him. It sounded too disgusting to me to even think about. He was almost the age of my father. Also, I could tell from his gaze that Mr. Jan was a decent man.
With the help of our class president Kate, he distributed a bundle of blank sheets in the class. After they're done, Kate took her seat again and Mr. Jan rolled up his sleeves. Oh, now I saw why girls swooned at him. Zoe turned to look at me with a frustrated and amazingly suppressed smile and I shook my head with a smile of my own.
"Adam and Eve were sent to the Earth because they did something they shouldn't have," Mr. Jan spoke with his Dutch accent, scanning the class with his honey brown eyes. He reminded me too much of my own Dad to even have a crush on him. "Do you think the man was sent to Earth as a punishment or something else?"
"Punishment," Marina said.
"I'm atheist," the girl with long freaky nails added. A few students laughed, even the girl herself.
Smiling, Mr. Jan shook his head. "Let's just suppose. Imagine a scenario in your head."
"It was definitely punishment and the whole mankind is suffering till date," Marina affirmed.
Walking to the other end of the class, he looked at me. My entire body trembled under his gaze. It wasn't the way he looked, I just wasn't used to the attention. I didn't like it. "What do you think Aldora?"
"I...I think it was a second chance to try living," I hesitated, my palms sweating, "but in different conditions this time."
"Hmm," Mr. Jan nodded and walked back to his dais. "You all have the right to think the way you want to. I like to think that Adam and Eve were sent to correct their mistakes. You see, it would have been a punishment if they kept repeating their mistakes by going against the orders of the Almighty, but they didn't."
He took a pause and picked up the blank page in front of him.
"Humans are bound to make mistakes. But we are not bound to keep repeating them over and over again," he said. "On this page, I want you to write down the mistakes you did last year, and in front of them, write all the ways those mistakes can be corrected."
Mr. Jan and his activities. Last year he had taught us to make a frog by folding paper and then we had a paper frog race in the classroom. The created commotion cost us five extra laps in P.E but it was fun because Mr. Jan was running with us too.
"Come on, everybody! Write something," he clapped his hands. "I am going to admit to having given you less homework last year and correct it by giving you more homework this time."
"NO!" the whole class cried and laughed at the same time.
"But, Mr. Jan," Marina asked, "what if someone doesn't know they have done a mistake?"
"They need to seriously review their life, then," Mr. Jan perked his brow unconsciously. "Nobody is perfect."
"No," she shook her head. "I meant to say that one person knows that she's been wronged, but the other person doesn't realize that she has done the wrong. What is the solution in that case?"
My heart failed to beat rhythmically for a second. Did she just say what I thought I heard? What was she even insinuating?
Walter turned his head and looked at me, mouthing, "It's okay." But he only cleared my doubts. I nodded at Walter and looked down at the blankness of the white page lying on my desk.
"I understand if you don't want to write anything down," Mr. Jan told. " It takes a great amount of courage to admit to your mistakes. Take this page to your homes and think more about it. This homework is like an exercise you've to repeat daily. And if you have some problem then you can contact me any time of the week between 8 am to 10 pm."
To shake off the negative thoughts invading my head, I pondered over my past year's mistakes. I knew I did a bunch and I was not exactly proud of them.
Not paying attention in the algebra class, spending more time thinking and less on acting upon what I thought, giving up when I got scared, not trying to get over my relentless crush on Theo; were only a few, to begin with.
In bold letters, on the top of the page, I wrote;
MISTAKE: Telling Marina what she didn't want to hear.
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