May 2016

"Stop doing the Running Man Challenge dance in school! For god’s sake, you’re 16-year olds, not six-year olds!"

"Oh, come on, Madam Mallory!" said Connor as the song My Boo played in the background. "Can’t you keep up with the latest trends for once?"

"Connor, you’re just living off an internet sensation that was recycled from my university days," retorted Madam Mallory as she took Connor’s phone and paused the song. "It’s 2016, not 1996!"

I was not far off from the both of them and laughed upon hearing her remark. Madam Eve Mallory was well-known in my school for two reasons- being an incredible English teacher and also for her witty sense of humour. Her hair was a blended mix of white and black, and the marvel of the other teachers. She was just hitting 50, yet she was certainly far better than the other teachers, who were old, dowdy and terribly unkempt. Madam Eve Mallory on the other hand, wore make-up to complement her slightly-tanned skin and brown eyes which were laced with thick eyelashes.

"She kind of has a point there Connor," I said as I approached him with a jovial expression, "You’re a terrible dancer."

"Please." Connor shrugged. "I’m definitely a better dance than you. And I’m better than you in everything else too."

"Connor’s right you know," interrupted Madam Mallory, with a twinkle in her eye.

"Except in academics," I replied, "I’m an academic amazement."

"Bla bla bla bla, academic genius," said a malicious voice from behind me, which I immediately recognized as my blue-eyed, fair-skinned and petite Spanish friend, Juliana Alejandra. "You couldn’t even clean the class when Connor spilled your drink in the second form."

My face immediately turned pale upon hearing Juliana’s remark.

"That’s not true at all."

"Ha ha," laughed Juliana sarcastically, "You don’t remember what happened when Connor sat on your pretty little red bag?"

Connor’s face was in stitches as he recounted the incident.

"No, I don’t remember."

"Tell me what happened, Juliana," said Madam Mallory with a twinkle in her eye, "I’m curious to know."

"Well, Mark always brought packets of soy milk to school to drink during recess. One day, Connor sat on the bag and the packet broke!" she laughed.

Madam Mallory cocked an eyebrow.

"His whole bag was filled with soy milk until everyone in the class thought it was leaking with his man fluid," added Juliana.

"That’s it?" asked Madam Mallory. Juliana shook her head.

"He couldn’t even clean the mess because he didn’t know how to use a mop!"

Those words were the breaking point for everyone as they burst into laughter. Madam Mallory laughed too, because it was the first time she had heard about how incompetent I was.

"Then again Mark," said Connor as he recovered from his hysterical laugh, "There is one thing you’re annoyingly good at."

"Controlling the morning assemblies," I said with a smile.

"Which is something you’re supposed to be doing now Mark considering it’s already past 7am," said Madam Mallory with a little  sternness in her voice.

"Damn!" I cursed as Madam Mallory gave me a look of displeasure.

"Come on," said Juliana to Connor, walking towards my medium-sized and blue-walled school hall. "If we don’t get going our lord and saviour here is going to turn into the Hulk during the assembly."

"I’ve got to go and see my Physics teacher about yesterday’s homework," said Connor as he picked up his bag and walked in the other direction to the teacher’s office, "I’ll see you two later."

Juliana shrugged, and entered the school hall. Connor smiled, and turned his back to continue walking. I picked up my bag and dashed towards him.

"By the way dude," I said, "I want to say thanks."

"What for?" Connor asked with a Christopher Walken-esque expression.

"Knowing that you, my best friend still believe in me," I smiled.

Connor laughed, and said, "You’ve got to slow down on that mushy stuff dude. I think you’re high on something."

Connor pat my back a few times as my bag fell onto the floor.  He laughed as he walked away.

I picked up my bag and walked towards the school hall. Knowing that Connor still believed me made my day and gave me a little strength to do the hardest job of the morning- handling the morning assemblies in school.

**********************

"Good morning everyone," I said with a voice that was neither strict nor lenient, "The assembly’s going to start in a few minutes. Keep quiet."

And as usual, no one even bothered to give a damn about what I was saying.

In case you wondered why a school in this day and age was still stuck in the 1970s when it came to school assemblies, well it’s because my school, Wellesley Secondary School apparently wanted us to be "well-behaved, respectful teenagers that would make the nation proud." 

It did sound extremely stupid to me, especially when I had been elected as the Deputy Head Prefect five months ago. But being able to yell at people for no good reason was something I’d always wanted to do. That was pretty much the reason that made me sign up.

"Hey you back there! Keep quiet!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. The very same guy showed me a middle finger, and so did countless other students as well.

"Keep quiet you ass! Your voice is so annoying!" yelled a student.

"Shut up!" I started yelling in a voice full of anger.  For some reason, today’s assembly was a challenge to control. I started to look around to see all the students talking to their friends, blissfully unaware of my instructions.

And that was when I first saw Rhett Evans.

He was the ultimate definition of a cute, 16-year old teenager. With a face resembling Chad Michael Murray in A Cinderella Story, my eyes were instantly attracted to his fair and light-toned face. And his lips too- he was probably the first boy I knew to have clear, pink lips like an anime character.  

I felt a little strange looking at him, because he was the first guy to made me feel like this. But for some reason, Rhett was  attractive to me. 

Rhett suddenly realized I was staring at him. Our eyes met- and he smiled at me, probably admiring at the way I was handling assembly. I smiled back at him, and at that very same time, I felt a strange sensation in my pants. 

However, I had no time to gloss over the fact that a guy had given me an erection- for the teachers entered the school hall and I scrambled to control the situation and noise level in the hall.

"Alright everyone, KEEP QUIET!" I yelled with the newfound strength I had acquired from seeing Rhett. And at last, it worked- for the entire hall, including Rhett, fell silent. My eyes fell on Rhett once again, and I smiled at him. He smiled at me too.

"Wow," I thought to myself, "What the hell was that? I barely even know him and we somehow met each other for the first time today."

I had a feeling that something was bound to happen. We were in the same school for three years, and never knew each other. Yet today, we had established eye contact in a weird way- something that guys usually wouldn’t do. As I stood at the side of the hall, I looked at Rhett again- this time focusing on his awesome hair, not knowing that I was in for something incredibly strange.

*********************

The annoying sound of my school bell buzzed right into my ears as I walked towards my locker at the end of the school hall. I’ve always hated the sound of the bell, especially when it came after an annoying school assembly.

"PLAP!" came the sound as I ran into a male student and my bag fell onto the floor, sending my books flying in different directions.

"Shit!" I yelled as I squatted down to pick up my books.

"I’m so sorry!" said Rhett and I looked up at him, jaw-dropped at hearing his voice for the first time. 

I was completely frozen in time when I saw Rhett profusely apologizing to me while simultaneously picking up all my books so swiftly.

"There you go," said Rhett as he got up and gave me my books, "You okay dude?

I was completely oblivious at Rhett’s remarks, for I was still in my dreams of seeing him pick up my books as swift as a model. 

"Dude," said Rhett as he pressed my books into my hands, "You still with me?"

I snapped back to reality.

"Yeah I have," I quickly replied, "Sorry for spacing out."

I smiled at Rhett.

"I’m so sorry for knocking your books down," apologized Rhett, "I didn’t see you coming at all."

"I should be the one saying sorry. When you’re lost in your own thoughts it’s pretty hard to keep track of the real world."

Rhett laughed.

"You’re pretty funny in real life Mark," said Rhett, "Nowhere near that pest who keeps on shouting like a dog during assembly."

I was slightly offended.

"I’m not a dog or a pest!" 

Rhett realized that he had gone too far with his jokes and retroactively corrected himself.

"Chill dude," he said with a swagger, and withdrawing his nose and eyes like he was exhaling, "I was just joking."

"I can accept a joke," I replied, "Even from people I don’t really know that well."

"Well you know me now," he said, "I’m Rhett Evans."

"Neat," I said as I shook Rhett’s hand, "Then again, I don’t think I need an introduction considering everyone in the school knows me."

Rhett laughed again.

"Narcissist," he playfully teased.

"Narcissist but amazing too," I declared.

Rhett and I stared at each other for a moment.

"Well then, I must go," Rhett suddenly declared, "It’s going to be crazy if people see two guys staring at each other in the corridors. They’ll think we’re gay or something."

"I’ve got to get going too," I said, "I’ve got English now."

"Same," he replied.

We both said "Bye" to each other in unison as we walked in different directions towards our respective classes.

************************

I knocked my class door and entered my class for my favourite lesson of the day- English. I always loved English lessons for two reasons; one, Madam Mallory was the best English teacher I ever had. Two, English was the only lesson where I could speak my mind freely without depending on boring textbooks and scientific facts.

"Ah Mark," said Madam Mallory, putting an end to my thoughts, "You’re finally here."

"Sorry I’m late Madam Mallory," I apologized, "You know how it is with the traffic and all."

Everyone in the class laughed.

"Finally a bus has arrived in class," smiled Madam Mallory as I sat down and took out my English books.

The lesson proceeded amazingly, as usual. As Connor and I were deskmates, I had to help him with everything- because as I said, English was my trump card. Madam Mallory was an interesting teacher, but the real action always began right after the class. Just like today.

"Mark!" called Madam Mallory as everyone left the class when the bell rang, "I’ve got something to tell you."

"I’ll see you later, Connor," I told him as I went to Madam Mallory’s table and pulled a chair to sit down in front of her.

"What is it, Madam Mallory?" 

"Is everything okay with you?" she asked.

"Of course it is, Madam Mallory," I replied, "What made you think otherwise?"

"Well, I saw you struggling to control today’s assembly," she replied, "I thought you had the power to make everyone fall silent with just your voice."

"Today was just an anomaly Madam Mallory," I replied with an air of confidence, "A great person always has a bad day."

Madam Mallory smiled.

"Look Mark, I admire your overconfidence," she began, "It’s been the greatest asset to the whole school. But I don’t think it’s going to help you sail through this year easily, especially if you’re using it to feel better about yourself."

Here comes the usual Madam Mallory lecture of the day, I thought.

"That overconfidence is making you sound like a narcissistic person," she advised, "Narcissism is just going to make people hate you."

"Madam Mallory, by you telling me all this irrelevant stuff, it’s only going to downgrade my opinion of you."

"MARK!" she exclaimed, "I did not expect such a low-level answer from you! How dare you!"

I realized that I had screwed up and quickly attempted to rectify my mistake.

"I’m sorry Madam Mallory," I apologized, "It’s just a spillover effect from the shit I have to go through at home.

"Your sister’s still not out of solitary confinement yet?" asked Madam Mallory.

"No, she’s not out yet," I said with a heavy heart, "It’s been three months. She still thinks that running away with that gangster was a good thing to do."

"And how are your parents doing? Are they still fighting?"

"They’ll never stop fighting, but at least they’ve toned down," I answered, "Thank god we’ve moved on from what happened last September."

I suddenly buried my head in my hands, remembering how precarious my family situation was just a few months ago. 

"Mark," said Madam Mallory as she extended her hand and pulled mine from my head, "I think it’s time you take a break from the stress of school. This whole matter is even affecting with what you do best."

"That’s not true, Madam Mallory," I said defiantly, but Madam Mallory was not convinced.

"All these heavy responsibilities are just bogging you down with unnecessary stress. You never know, stress might change you as a person. You’ve got to stay away from all this stress."

I was not convinced with her explanation either.

"I’m sorry Madam Mallory, but that’s not going to happen," I said defiantly, "These heavy responsibilities make me want to come to school every single day. I’m not going to trade them for useless complacency."

"Well then, if you say so," she said. A silence proceeded.

I got up from my chair as I wanted to go for recess.

"Hold on Mark," said Madam Mallory, "I forgot to tell you about something else."

I stopped and waited for Madam Mallory to take out a blue file from her bag.

"I want you to be in this year’s Teachers Day play for our school."

I was dumbfounded. Was she really saying that?

"Are you serious?" I smiled. She nodded.

"As the new Head of  School Productions, I want you to take part in the annual school play for Teacher’s Day," said Madam Mallory, "Your essays are always interesting to read and I’m very confident that you’ll be able to turn them into a proper drama script that’ll entertain the entire school."

I was super pleased. Me being a part of drama team? That was an exciting prospect, especially with the fact that I’d be able to perform in front of the entire school.

"I’m in, Madam Mallory," I said confidently, "I want to be the head of the school play as well!"

Madam Mallory smiled.

"Do you think you’ll be able to handle such a gigantic responsibility? Being the head isn’t going to be easy, you know?"

I smiled with confidence.

"Of course I’ll be able to," I said with full of confidence, "I’ll put on the best play the school has ever seen!"

Madam Mallory laughed heartily.

"I’m very sure you’ll be able to," she said, "Just make sure you don’t ruffle anyone’s feathers with that attitude of yours."

"I’ll try not to," I promised as I got up and smiled at her again.

I screamed in delight in my head as I walked out of my class, jovial at the prospect of me being in charge of the school play. 

"I’m going to be as amazing as Quentin Tarantino!"

In retrospect however, I was foolish to set those goals. Because the play would kickstart a turn of events that even I could not have imagined.

Next Chapter: Chapter II