Wishing Away

Chapter Eight

JOURNAL ENTRY NO. 4

To the Midnight Blue,

Did that jerk Davis actually know that the meeting for all class representatives he ditched was a very stressing one? The idiotic guy had clairvoyant powers I guess. Using the knowledge he had had in his predictions, he left me to deal with the drudgery by myself.

The nerve.

Oh well, perhaps I should explain further why the meeting was tiresome. Indeed, I must've changed. That idiot altered me drastically. Such a change made me wonder if learning to complain over simple matters is an alteration for the better, not for the worse. Does being true to oneself entail a life abhorred by everyone since humans are innately selfish creatures thinking obky about ways to satiate their never ending desires?

Guess I got off track. Sorry about that. I was at that part of explaining what happened at the meeting, right? To shorten the narration, I need to leave out the unnecessary blather. The gist of it is: the teachers made us run laps around school, do a bunch of rigorous exercise routines and some other military training stuff. They say it's to "show us how to obey our superiors without question and learning to exercise discipline." After that, we were all tasked to reproduce student information forms by hand. Imagine, 35 students to write down, with at least 7 to 8 pages per student! To top it off, Mr. Hermes told us that we're having a long exam tomorrow. Damn, how am I supposed to study at this rate?

I borrowed the keys to Mr. Hermes' office with the intention of finishing them all tonight and then arriving at school early in the morning to carefully place them inside his desk drawer. And at this current moment, I am now unlocking the door to his office.

A job well done without the help of a certain someone. Midnight, I sincerely hope that you get sneezing attacks whenever I write about your insolent lack of self responsibility, just like in the movies.

Because all I can do about it is heave a heavy sigh of exasperation then shrug it off helplessly afterward. I have no choice but to just cross my fingers and hope you revert to your kind self the next day.

Hoping that the weather tomorrow is sunny,

And that you'll smile back at me.

Rhianna can conclude that wishes never come true.

She arrived at school, expecting it to be the mediocre and mundane routine that kept on repeating itself over and over again. Alas, it was not so. The moment she arrived at the classroom, eyes that were flooded with dread were intent on her.

"What?" Rhianna can't help but ask. The looks they gave her creep the living daylights out of her. But she wondered why. Whenever unpleasant things came, her gut feeling constantly warned her of the coming doom she has to prepare for.

Frances Sutra, a girl with short ash blonde hair that reached only up to her neck and striking amber eyes spoke up to explain what was going on. "Rhianna, there was a leakage of Mr. Hermes' exam papers. Just right this morning, when the students arrived, thousand of copies from Mr. Hermes' test papers have been reproduced and pasted in the hallways for everyone to see. And since it was you who last came into his office—"

Rhianna couldn't help but let out a nervous chuckle. "You're joking, right?"

The look on Frances' face told her she wasn't kidding. A deafening gong seemed to reverberate throughout Rhianna's ears as realization dawned upon her how much of a dire pickle she was in.  "I swear, I just went in his office and placed in his desk drawer the papers I was assigned to turn in. I had no idea where Mr. Hermes placed the test questions, let alone know the fact that he kept them in his office! Please, believe me, I didn't do any of this!" She grew frantic, knowing that she has to explain herself. But there was no evidence for her innocence. No matter how hard she pleaded that she wasn't guilty, it was a lost case. She was the prime suspect for this incident and if the real culprit wasn't found, she would be in trouble. Big trouble.

Bon Gerero, a tall guy who was on the basketball team, had a clean shaven head and almond-shaped eyes joined in the conversation. "Rhianna, in Mr. Hermes' fury, he destroyed the table with his bare hands until it was just a pile of debris. He couldn't believe that you— a trustworthy student—would have the gall to commit such a crime. Tell us the truth: did you do it or not?"

"Look Bon, I told you already. I did nothing of the sort. I just went inside his office for no more than two seconds and left. I even made sure that the door was secured by lock and key! You got to believe me. I can't do a deed such as this." Rhianna must have sounded stupid with all the Ls in her sentences but she was too freaked out to even care. There was no more oxygen left in her brains to choose words carefully.

Everyone in the class gave her sympathetic looks. Rhianna felt uplifted by the fact that they didn't judge her immediately and gave her the chance to explain. These people...their deed was so touching that Rhianna felt moved to tears. She could barely keep the tears from welling up in her eyes but she forced herself not to act so weak and pathetic. Crying can wait; she can't afford such a luxury, especially in the difficult position she was in right now.

Frances reached out and grabbed Rhianna's hand. "We believe you Rhianna. I mean, you don't have a need to go through such lengths. Everyone knows how smart you already are and you don't need to cheat to ace an exam. Mr. Hermes, after calming down a bit, also couldn't believe that you are the perpetrator. He believes it's someone else although there is no actual lead as to the person's identity. Don't worry, we got your back."

Rhianna's heart sank because of the weight of the world made her shoulders slump with weariness. It was too heavy, she couldn't actually bear this problem alone. 

A knock on the classroom door disturbed Rhianna's thoughts. Mr. Charles Leroy emerged into view, a treacherous grin formed on his lips the moment he saw Rhianna's crestfallen spirit. Anger boiled in Rhianna's veins as the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place. Her heart rammed in her chest as she tried to contain her mouth from screaming 'It was you!' in Mr. Leroy's face. After all, if she uttered such accusations without proof, the more would she incriminate herself as the doer of the evil deed.

"Ms. Rhianna Lee is summoned to the principal's office for questioning right this instant," Mr. Leroy said with a victorious look on his face, as he knew that Rhianna was badly affected by his revenge, "By the gods, it is only but a miracle if you were to be spared from Heaven's wrath."

In her fury, Rhianna couldn't help but retort a witty remark. "I never knew that executors of Heavenly punishment were minion from the devil."

Seeing Mr. Leroy's eye twitch from her response made her feel a little bit fulfilled somehow. Well, it was barely enough to compensate for the trouble she was facing but right now, nothing else mattered in Rhianna's mind but to find a way to prove that that pathetic excuse of a teacher was the real criminal.

As Rhianna found herself standing in front of the doors of the principal's office, her heart was beating so fast that she actually believed the principal could hear it from over the other side of the door. In her terror, something felt lodged in her throat and remained stuck in there, throbbing painfully. She wanted to run away and hide but alas, Rhianna's treacherous feet were as heavy as a slab of concrete, as worry weighed her down. 

With a courteous knock, she opened the door with only one thing in mind.

Davis, help me, please, said her crying heart.