Today was the day I got my report card. You know, the piece of paper that determines whether you're going to college or university or not? Especially when you need to know your average in every class for a specified program you applied to. Yeah. That thing. It extremely crucial when it's your midterm report before the summer leading up to college or university because that means it's make or break.
Sadly, I don't know if I'm going to be going to either. My report was sad. I'm failing in all of my classes!
Just kidding, I'm a straight B student. Do you think I'd let myself fail? Well there is one class that I'm failing. That's P.E. My midterm mark in Phys. Ed. is just below the passing percentage, which is 50%. My mark is 45% to be exact! How does that happen?
"Marian is the ideal student: One who maintains an excellent exercise habit in the class. She needs to participate more and remember to bring her gym clothes to class. Otherwise, great physical activity,
"How does that happen?!?!?" I shouted while reading what the teacher wrote.
"I'm surprised Ms. Norman gave you that high of a mark. And implied that you went to class! You never show up, let alone participate."
"As right as you might be, Erykah, I have priorities. It's not my fault my hijab just happens to break during that period."
" Whatever, Mary." Erykah laughed.
I don't really need a high mark in physical education. It's gym class. Unless I'm going to be a fitness instructor or some contortionist, I definitely don't need an exceptional mark in gym. Besides, I only applied to college which only requires a 65% average in total. How great is that? I've already been accepted in the psychology program so my life is did. You don't even need to go to college to become a fitness instructor! Where's the fun in that?
The question that continuously aches my mind when report cards come out is; Why did we have to get these today? Why do we get them at all? The fact is, I know my marks aren't where they could be or where they should be. Comparing my marks to Erykah even when she's an honor roll student makes me want to cry every time she tells me her grades! You know, she's a straight A but she doesn't tell anyone because she's too hipster? She told me she wants to be a neurologist specializing in biochemistry! You know much flipper-di-dappery stuff she's going to have to learn? Books upon books upon books! Her average is so high that Jack's bean stalk couldn't even reach it. Actually it's only an 82, but that's still better than me. You know that She's so hipster that she tie-dyes her report card before giving them to her parents. That was not true but as far as a stretch that remark was, it seems like she's that hipster. It's not a jealousy thing... I just know my marks could be higher. You could say that I'm suffering from a mild case of senioritis. The high-school condition that happens when you're in your last year in school and you just get lazy and lay around literally doing nothing productive. That's my excuse for my average-but-could-be-better marks.
Since it was the end of the day, Erykah and I decided to walk home together, like usual. We went to our lockers, which were separate from each other, and met up back in the school lobby. I never realized how much of a blessing in disguise it was to live 2 blocks and a bit away from our school. Some people at our school have to bus to school! How ridiculous!
We walked down our pale-grey street with gum every few steps to our houses. The street we lived on was dirty. If you wore white shoes on the sidewalk they'd probably turn grey. Nonetheless we kept our house clean.
Erykah lived right across the street from me. She had a big beautiful house that almost looked like a modernist's dream. It was like a glass house for humans except not. It was white with cubes upon cubes. My house was 2015 and hers was 2060. But to give a touch of 2015, she had a very big window in her living room facing the front of the street, just like I did, and a very normal living room, just like I did.
When I got home I was resistant to show my parents my report card. All they want us for me to get straight As. Straight Bs doesn't cut it for them. You see, however, I'm okay with because Bs will still get you into college. I'm not planning on stressing my mind in university and I like things hands on. I took a very deep breath before entering my house. I slowly walked up the steps and opened the door. I finally took my shoes off, walked inside and turned into the olive-toned living room. I sat down on the plush couch and sat in silence. My father was already sitting in the living room with my mother right beside him. They were watching what I believe was to be a soap opera on the television. Old people tend to watch soap operas so I assumed the best.
My father turned his head towards my face and looked me dead in the eyes. "Where is your report card, sweetie?" My father interrogated.
"How did you know we got our report cards today?" I hesitated.
"You gave us a newsletter. Yesterday."
Right! I did give my parents the newsletter yesterday. I took another deep breathe and put my hand in my knapsack. I pulled out my report card and handed it to my father. We sat in another minute of silence as he read the paper.
All they had to say was that I shouldn't be slacking in gym.
"It's GYM, for god's sake. Inshallah." My father emphasized.
"It's not my fault the teacher doesn't take horizontal running as valid!" I replied.
"You're silly, you know that Marian," Mother said "You know your father and I met when we were in Advanced Advanced Functions!? When are you going to be able to go to Advanced Advanced Functions?!"
As I started walking to the kitchen, I replied "Not ever, dad." I started to giggle.
Honestly, I don't really want to be the smartest person in the world. I'll leave that to Erykah and my parents. Until then, I'll stick to eating and making food. I'll be smart in cooking and I'll be a genius in eating.
It had been a few hours since I was home and the sun hadn't set so I asked Erykah if she wanted to relax outside for a while. She agreed and we left. As we were walking we talked about school and life, like usual. She explained to me that her mom made her wash the dishes when she got home and that she felt as if she was being taken from her duties as a Tumblr warrior who saved the world with every reblog and post she made. She's very funny. It doesn't help that her hair is always lighter than the sun, it makes me want to laugh even more even though it does suit her very well. Not in the sense that blondes are dumb. It's kind like yin and yang. As dark as she may seem, she's really light-hearted. I told her she should dye it back to her natural colour, though. I think that suits her much more. She always fights me when I tell her that. At least I'm honest with her.
"I'm so glad we live in Canada." Erykah mentioned.
"Right? Imagine if we lived in The States?." I responded.
"I don't feel like getting eaten by zombie Floridians and crazy soccer moms."
With that nationalistic burn, she put on her signature sunglasses. Her hair blew with the wind and left a golden imprint along with it. We continued to walk but she continued to strut. She was really confident today. We walked for a while. This is a daily thing that her and I do just to get away from the rest of the world. We go to the lake 20 minutes from our house and we sit on the hill just after it. We're out in the open but also surrounded by a giant Evergreen forest. When you get there, you feel one with nature. You can smell the fresh pine and I bet you could taste maple just by licking one of the maple trees in that forest. As we got closer to the hill, I ran so I could lay down and enjoy the sun. She followed shortly after but she sat down crosslegged.
Surprisingly and without my knowledge she had brought 0her bag. It was big and elaborate bag with the word "Moschino" written across. Obviously she had make-up in it, it couldn't be anything else.
"What, are you going to give me another makeover? Your make-up didn't come off my face for DAYS." I had an outburst of laughter.
"No." She said calmly.
She started taking out books and binders and papers and pencils and- "Are you doing homework?" I gasped.
"Yeah. It's not like we haven't done this before."
She's right. We've done homework before. But I always forget. Who wants to remember to do homework, let alone do homework? I remember once I told my teacher I got a chronic migraine from all the homework she gave me, and I paid 25 Dollars for a doctors note. I didn't have to do homework for the rest of the semester and I still got an 85% in that class. The class was Art. I'm not good at art.
Erykah took out a pencil and started doing her homework. As disappointed as I was, I watched the sunset. It was beautiful. The sunset is beautiful. And it's such a beautiful concept. In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun sets, and in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun rises. We're all seeing the same sun but it's effect is different.
My mind was all over the place, especially since it was quiet. I don't do well in quiet situations. There needs to be talking or at least something going on or else I can't function.
I started to think about my report card and how I should start doing my homework. And then I remembered how much I hate homework.
"Who has time for homework anyway? I have too many games to play. OH! I CAN PLAY ANGRY BIRDS, WHERE'S MY PHONE?" I searched frantically on my body for my phone. It was in my back pocket. I turned it on and started low-level gaming.
"You're nuts. That game is so boring." Erykah spoke as she scribbled
"How is it boring?!" I shrieked.
"You're flinging birds with a slingshot."
"AND? I hate birds! This is the closest I'll get to hurting one!"
"You. Are. Flinging. Birds. With. Slingshots. To. Kill. Pigs."
"Oh, let me have fun."
"I'll let you have fun, bitch." She giggled.
"I love you bitch." I replied. She's honestly my best friend.
As she did her homework, I made some pigs disappear.
It was starting to dawn a bit, so Erykah started to pack up her things. She started making jokes about her family and how she thought her brother was an idiot. He shook a can of soda and tried to give to Erykah but opened it himself to see if it was good enough to give to Erykah. He was soaking in cola, she told me.
We started walking.
We were laughing and having a good time as usual, but then something wasn't right. The air suddenly felt thicker. It wasn't hard to breathe, the weather stayed exactly the same but there was something wrong.
And there it was.
A piercing shriek went through our ears and shook our bodies. My brain was having trouble processing what just happened. Erykah snapped the pencil that I didn't know she in her hand, and now it was on the ground broken. Have you ever heard nails on a chalk board? It was worse than that. My body was heating up and I was little bit dizzy.
We heard another loud scream coming from the forest in front of the hill we were sitting on.
Should I stay or should I go, those words kept running through my mind. Nothing like this every happens in this city.
"HELP!!!!!!!" A voice scream. It was a girl. "HELP!!!!!!"
The voice started to cry
"HELP!!!!!!"
While I was still wondering what to do, Erykah was running toward the voice.
"Where are you?" Erykah shouted. "I am coming to find you!" She searched everywhere in the forst
"I'M OVER HERE!!!!!" She was crying louder "PLEASE, HURRY UP."
You know when you know someone was innocent just by hearing their voice? This is exactly what this voice was. Some girl who had just been violated and still retaining her innocence, holding on with every last grasp she could. But what could have happened to her?
With the voice contiously crying and saying help and directing us to her voice, Erykah found her.
She was naked.
What happened to her? I didn't want to think the worst but with her tears almost breaking my eardrums.. I couldn't think the best.
She started to choke on her tears and it was apparent that she needed help.
"What happened?" Erykah asked her, rummaging through her bag for something. She was rummaging so fast I was unaware of what she was doing I kept talking to the girl to calm her down. Erykah finally finished rummaging. She grabbed some clothes for the girl who was in the fetal position. She looked like she was about to go 6-feet-under. I was speechless and was still warm. I think my blood was curdling.
The voice was mumbling, but she wasn't inaudible.
"It's okay, we're here. We're not going to hurt you." Erykah said while handing the clothes to her.
"I know..." The voice said as the tears subsided. She was warming up to us.
"What's your name?" I wondered. I like making new friends. I mean what an odd situation this is to make a friend, but she looks like she needs one.
"My name? It's Rosalina.." Rosalina's tears almost came back. She finally grabbed the clothes that Erykah had in her bag.
Erykah told her to start breathing calmly and it was working. We were sitting with her in silence as she started to change into the extra set of clothes. She stopped crying loud but tears kept running down her face. As she was looking around to see where she was, she started hyperventilating.
"He ran that way!" Rosalina screeched and she started to silently cry and whimper.
"He? What..."
"I was just hanging out with my friend. I dropped him off and walked to my house. This man came up and he started to talk to me,
I swallowed a big amount of air, metaphorically trying to digest this story...
"He was being nice so I didn't think nothing of it. He had a cloth in his and and I don't remember anything after that. I was drugged! All I remember is waking up sore and naked. I was brought to this forest somehow."
Her tears came back. How can someone strip her of her innocence? She doesn't look older than 16.
"Oh my god." I sighed
Silence ensued as Erykah and I were both shocked. I couldn't contain what she was telling me.
Rosalina started to talk
"I think I was raped."
A black figure ran in the forest.