Chapter two

Chapter 2

Rock, Paper N’ Scissors!

   Last night I couldn’t sleep well and so when I took in my face in my mirror on my dresser, I couldn’t help but laugh a little. My eyes were puffy and looked slightly swollen. My brown hair which usually has a beautiful wave in it was now nothing more than something that resembled thread when it would get all tangled. My face felt slightly heavy cause of the dried tears. This was going to be hard trying to get me fixed in perfectness.

   I strolled across my room to my cupboard where I kept my clothes. I scanned for my favourite blouse. It was white with golden studs that ornamented near the collar giving it a fabulous look. Next, I grabbed my ripped denim shorts, and black tights. When I was finished dressing up I walked over to my closet and looked for my All-star red coloured converse shoes.

Perfect. Looking fabulous is what a girl needs to overcome her problems.

   I strode over to my dresser and rustled through my makeup and decided to line my eyes with some black eyeliner, a little coat of mascara to the top and bottom lashes, a bit of colour to the cheeks with pink blush and lastly I brushed on some strawberry scented red gloss for some colour to my lips. I took in myself in the mirror before grabbing my backpack, that was settled in the corner of my room near a chair, which I liked to use on my spare times reading my favourite novels from the bookshelf near it.

  

    It was Monday, and the weather was quite beautiful. I shivered a little in my light sweater. Today was a little colder than last week. But, for some reason the cold hadn’t bothered my thoughts right now. What had occupied my mind was that in a few minutes I’ll be facing a test which I had totally forgotten to study for last night. And that was something I knew I sucked at.

    I walked into the school hallways right after the first bell. I thought that, that way I could get a little time before hand to study for my history test, which unfortunately I had I has first period. As I was about to turn my lock I felt a gentle tap on my left shoulder and immediately turned to look, and came face to face with Mark Polymor. Mark was tall, tan and had dark hair and golden brown eyes. His skinny arms were slightly muscular but, lean. When he smiled there’d be two cute dimples on both sides. As usual, he dressed well. He wore a dark blue sweater with a hoodie and a beige khaki shorts. Didn’t he shiver in those?

   “Hey Marilyn.” He smiled and a dimple formed on his right cheek. “How was your weekend? Go anywhere?”

   “Oh! Mark…” I got my locker open and dug for my history binder. “Hey…my weekend was okay. Nothing special but, something had come up. How was your weekend?”  

   “What came up?” he asked.

   I bit my lip. I didn’t really want to remember what had happened last night and I really didn’t want to share with anyone either. But, this was Mark.

   “Is it good or bad?” Mark pressed. “Look…I’m not going to tell anyone so you can tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone. I promise Marilyn.”

   I turned so that I could now face him. I trusted Mark. I didn’t need to worry at all. I knew he could keep a secret. “It isn’t good or bad. I mean…I don’t know. My little brother Todd found an envelope near our entrance doorway and I didn’t feel like even knowing what it contained. But, when I was up in my room I heard them talking quietly downstairs.” Mark didn’t say anything and, just nodded his head. I continued. “At dinner, I noticed mom and dad were giving each other looks but, from what I know, besides me, Todd is also kept from knowing about what the envelope contained.”

   I looked up to see Mark thinking quietly about what I just told him now. “Marilyn…you said that your parents were arguing silently during dinner, right?”

   “Yes.” I nodded.

   “But, what I don’t understand is that they could’ve taken your opinion for whatever this was. And if it was something that’d gotta do with you, shouldn’t they let you know?” He seemed a little angry and perplexed at the same time. For some reason that made me sort of feel strangely calmer. Cause, I wasn’t the only one to feel that way. To tell you the truth, I really wanted to know what that letter had said about me…but, I was scared to know, too.

*

    I hadn’t gotten the chance to concentrate during my history test and probably had gotten a 30%. Getting a 30% or below 3x in a row lead to a meeting with the principal, your subjects teacher and your parents as well. And that wasn’t something I was ready to face. I wasn’t ready to see my parents right now.

I was absolutely not ready.

   It was already 12:05p.m and that meant lunch break. I sat there staring at my lunch bought from the school’s cafeteria. A turkey sandwich with salad sat on a paper plate and beside that was a raisin muffin and a boxed orange juice. I usually didn’t mind the food cause it wasn’t like it was horrible but, right now I just didn’t think a turkey sandwich was with me this time.

   “Feeling like you’ve lost your appetite, huh?” A familiar voice said.

I looked up to see Mark standing there. “Where’s your lunch?”

He shrugged. “I saw you from far and you seemed to look disappointed.”

   “Yeah…?” I didn’t think I was that transparent. Unlike my parents, they keep their feelings locked in pretty well. You’ll think when you see them that there’s nothing ever bothering them in their lives. And right now at times like this I wished it would do the same for me. “Am I that readable?”

   “Yeah, you could say that. You know I’ve got money…if you want we can go out and get something to eat?” He offered. “I mean if you-“

   “Of course Mark!  I’d love to get something because, right now…” I pointed to the turkey sandwich on my paper plate. “…I don’t think I’ll lift ever lift my mood by eating this.”

   I rose up and grabbed the sandwich. “What shall I do with it?” I searched the cafeteria and then my eyes landed on a group of girls quietly talking among themselves. I walked over to them and waved the sandwich in the air. “Anyone want it?” I asked. A girl with two red pig tails with freckles raised her hand.

    “Um y-you can give it to me.” She squeaked.  

I placed the sandwich on the table in front of her. “Then it’s all yours.”

   “Thank you…”

When we got out of the school grounds, it was warm, not cold as it was in the morning. The weather was as if it was reflecting my mood today. We walked a little before Mark spoke up. “Where do you wanna go?”

   “I don’t know. Anywhere’s good.” I said simply.

   “No.”

   “Hm..?”I turned to my right. “What?”

   “No, you choose. I’m paying.” Mark replied.

I smiled. There were many places with good food that I really wanted to try but, I couldn’t choose which one.

   “I have an idea.” I said thoughtfully.

Mark stopped and turned to face me, with a playful smile on his lips. “And what’s this idea if I may ask?”

   “What if we both closed our eyes and point at a restaurant, then play rock, paper and scissors to make the decision?”

   His eyebrows shot up as he nodded his head. “Marilyn! That’s a great idea!”

   “Isn’t it!” I cheered. “Umm…who’s gonna start?”

   “You can.”

   “You’re sure?”

   “Positive. Go”

   “Okay then, I’ll start.” I closed my eyes and moved my arm from left to right and then paused. I opened my eyes and saw that my finger had pointed to a restaurant called Indian Home Cuisine. It was an Indian restaurant which I never really been to.

   “Ooh an Indian Restaurant!” Mark imitated an Indian gesture by placing both of his hands near his forehead and shaking his head side to side. “Namaste je…”

I laughed a little before he continued.  “Okay, my turn.” Mark pretended to get magic out of his hands and then turned his arm right and left.  His hand pointed at an Italian restaurant called Pizza 24/7.

   “Mmm…Pizza. I’m already starving even more. So who do you think is gonna win? You or me…?”

   “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll win this. I’m not good with this game!”

   “I’m warning you Marilyn Hudson. I’m not called Mark Rock’n Scissors for no reason!” He laughed.

   I smiled. “Okay, then I’ll try my hardest.”

   “Well…good luck to you then!”

We both stretched out our hands and chanted. “Rock, paper, scissors…shoot!” Marks’s hand showed “paper”. I looked at my hand and did a little gasp. My had “rock”. He was right. Mark was good at rock, paper and scissors! I guess I had no luck winning against him.

   “I got a point.” He held up his left hand to show four fingers. “Four more points and then I win!”

   “Well…we’ll see about that Mr.Rock’n scissors!” I laughed. 

   “You wanna bet?”

   “Sure.” I said. “If I win…I want you to do my homework for a week. How ‘bout it…?”

He grinned. “Sounds good…then…if I’ll win you’ll take a silly picture and post it everywhere!”

   “A silly picture?” I asked raising my eyebrow in question.

   “Yeah…”

   “Then the deal’s on Mr. Polymor!” I grinned.

For some reason the person who had won in Rock, paper and scissors was me. I guess its beginner’s luck? Mark seemed to look normal. And then maybe it could’ve his doing. I didn’t know why he’d done that by playing it wrong just so that I can win against him.

  

   We entered into Indian Home Cuisine Restaurant and the smell of various Indian spices wafted through my nose. A few waitresses walked around with what they call thali (a platter that serves an assortment of dips along with your choice of bread) and began to zigzag through the tables to give it to their diners. Walls were decorated with fine-looking paintings and the floors were lined with plants in golden vases. The lights on the chandelier were dim giving the place a warm look. At the counter there was an assortment of desserts. I didn’t know any of the names though, but I could tell they all probably tasted good.

   A waitress who had her hair tied up approached us. “Here’s the menu. When you’re done choosing we’ll come to take your order and serve-at the latest-in 10 minutes.” When she spoke she had an accent. “Please wait patiently.” She smiled and then walked to do the same with the other customers who came into the restaurant. I looked at their menu. It was maroon and was bordered with elegant golden traditional designs on the front. The dishes along with the names had a description which was written in gold cursive font. It was hard for me to choose since everything looked soo good.

   “What are you taking?” Mark asked looking up from his menu.

   “I have no idea what I want. There’s just so much to choose from!” I sighed.

   “Yeah, exactly! I’m having a hard time choosing, too!” he shook his hair. “Man this looks good…”

   “Which one does?”

   “That daal soup…”

   “Oh! Look at the one that says masala chai! I really wanna try that one day!”

  “Yeah, I and check out the falooda drink! That is a must!”

The waitress who talked to us earlier came by to our table. “May I have your orders?” she asked with a clipboard in her hand.

   “Um…I want the special offer.” He pointed on his menu.

   “And you miss?” she turned her head to face me.

   “Er…” I still didn’t know what to choose so panicking, I pointed at a random item on their menu. “This.”

   “Thank you. Please wait patiently.” She gave us a quick smile before disappearing. In about ten minutes, like the women said, we were served with hot steaming food under our noses.

   “Mmmm…” I took in the dishes on my platter. There was an Indian bread called naan, and to go with it there was, what they called it aloo shaak (potato curry). For the beverages I ordered a can of sprite. “Everything looks so good! Yours looks good, too!” Mark had ordered the special offer and it contained: one naan, two poori, palak paneer and chickpea curry and two veggie samosas to go, as an after dinner snack. “Yeah, it does. Wanna have some of this and that?” He pointed to where the palak paneer and chickpea curry.

   “No thanks. I’m okay with what I took. You enjoy your lunch.”I replied.

   “You’re sure Marilyn?”He urged  

   “Yeah…”

As I was about to dig in, he put a spoonful of his food into my plate. “Here…”

I reached in to give him some from mine, too.

   “It didn’t matter. I was just fine with what I ordered.”

   “But, I wasn’t. I couldn’t let myself have more choices of food.  Look how many choices of food you have in your plate now!” he said.

   “Well…thanks a lot Mark.”I smiled. He’d even given me one of his poori and samosa.

   “Bon appetite!” 

                                                                             *

   The next day, during history Mrs. Goldie returned our history tests. I gulped. I was about to find a note of 30% on my history test, which meant a meeting with my school Principal Mrs. Goldie and my parents. And I still didn’t want that. Last night, my family hadn’t brought up about the envelope and that still got me mad. How long were they planning to hide this from me? I was begging to get a little impatient.

   Mrs. Goldie spoke breaking the silence in the air. “As you all know it is a rule in our school to have a meeting with you and your parents it you’ve got a 30% or below 3x in a row in your tests on any subjects.” I could see her eyes glance over to me when she mentioned this. “Most of you have gotten below 90% and there’s a few of you who’ve got above 90%. I’m very impressed.”

   She continued to hand out the rest of our tests. A girl named Camellia Jones called out bragging. “I got 85%!”

   Another girl at the back with tons of ear piercings and pitch black hair- which was definitely dyed black because its seemed sort of blue to me-and with a pixie cut yelled out her mark without shame. “I got 45%! Ha! At least I didn’t get 30%!”  

 

    I rolled my eyes. She didn’t need to be proud of a mark below 60%! You had to get 60% above to pass. And she didn’t. I couldn’t blame her though, because I got lower marks in history.

   “What did you get Xing Lee?” Jake McNeill asked to an Asian boy sitting right next to him. 

   He looked at his mark on his paper, and then slowly he turned around to see if there was anyone listening. His eyes landed on me. He looked away and whispered in the guy’s ear. “I got 99% on my test.”

He had thought I couldn’t hear him but, I was somehow able to between all the noises everyone was making.

   He turned around to face me. “Did you ‘ear me?”

   “Er…yeah but, I won’t tell anyone.” I smiled to reassure him.

   “Okay, good. Thanks…er…-?”

   “It’s Marilyn Hudson.”

   Mrs. Goldie came to me next. She put my test facing downwards as usual. And that meant-bad mark. For the students with good grades, she would place their test facing upwards. Slowly I turned my test just a tiny bit so that I could take a peek at my mark. My throat brought out a tiny squeak. There written in a red pen was a number I didn’t want to see.

   30%

And I knew perfectly well what that meant. A meeting after school with the school principal-Mrs. Silvie, Mrs. Goldie, -my history teacher and my parents.

   The bell had rung to indicate the end of the school day. As I stood to tuck in my chair I saw someone staring at me from the door way of my class. Mark Polymor. . He wore black skinny jeans and a dark shirt that fitted perfectly on his lean but toned abs. On his feet he had on his favourite Adidas high tops. He waved his hands motioning for me to come over. Just when I was about to walk over to him I heard Mrs. Goldie’s voice calling out my name. Great…

   “I’m sorry Mark. I think I’m in trouble.” I whispered to him. He stared at me intently.

   “You’re in trouble? You…?” He shook his head. “Marilyn…you never get in trouble! This probably has got to-“

   “Sorry but, I need to talk to Marilyn Hudson. You can see each other later tomorrow.” Mrs. Goldie said sternly.

   He sighed. “Well…see you tomorrow Marilyn.” He stared at me a little before leaving.

   “Yeah…” I said even though he was already gone out of earshot.

That evening instead of being in my cozy bedroom or sitting in my chair in the corner of my room by the window, I was stuck for two hours in the stuffy little Principal’s office. How nice. The school principal, Mrs. Silvie sat behind her desk as Mrs. Goldie stood beside her right. Mom and dad sat in chairs in front of the principal’s desk. I sat in the chair in the corner that was used by the students who were in trouble. And without doubt, I felt like that, too.

   “I’m glad to have you here Mr. Hudson and Mrs. Hudson.”The principal spoke.

   “We’re glad to meet you Mrs. Silvie.” Dad shook the principal’s hand. Mom merely nodded giving her wide smile like always. Then she eyed me closely. “Your daughter Marilyn has gotten 30% on her history test three times in a row. That’s why you’re here. To discuss why Marilyn’s grades are low.”   

    “I would like to say some words.” Mrs. Goldie offered, looking from my parents to me. “Marilyn seems to be in a daze for quite some time now.  She doesn’t focus in class either. She needs to let us know if there’s anything.” Mrs. Goldie turned to me. “What is there that’s bothering you? Can you tell us?”

   What was there to even talk about? It was true that the mysterious letter took up most of my thoughts and that it didn’t let my mind focus or study for my history test. But, of course, I couldn’t bring this up. Not in front of my parents.

   “I wasn’t feeling well lately. That’s what got me distracted. I’m sorry.” I lied.

   “Sweetie if you weren’t feeling well you should’ve told either me or your mom. That way we’d know. If there’s anything that’s bothering you, we’re here for you okay honey bun-bun?” Dad’s soothing words warmed my heart immediately. He always knew how to make you feel better.

   “Okay dad. I’ll let you know…” I said.

The meeting hadn’t lasted long than I expected. So when we returned home it was only quarter to five. Which meant only 4:45pm? Todd was at home already from his soccer club. As soon as we entered our home mom started lecturing me.

   “Marilyn! Have you ever thought how much you make me and your father worry? We’re doing so much to help you in your education! Getting lower grades isn’t an exception!”Mom shouted.  

 Clearly mom had hid her emotions during the meeting.

   “Jessica calm down.” Dad soothed mom.

   “No Ben! You don’t understand! She has to be aware of her life in the future! She can’t jus-“

   “I know Jess…I know. But, isn’t her future already better enough?”

   “How is it better?”

   “The letter-“

   “WOW! There are many things like that but, this is about her Ben?!

 It’s about Marilyn!” Mom seemed to be avoiding dad now.

   “Mom…? Dad…? What’s going on?” I asked looking from mom who stood with her hand on her forehead to dad who stood beside our couch his arms crossed and shaking his head lightly. 

   “It’s nothing dear.” Dad replied. “Just go to your room. Todd, the same goes for you, too. Your mother and I need to talk in private”

   “But, Dad I need to know what’s go-“

   “Now, Marilyn.”

I huffed angrily as I turned away to leave and stomped up to my room, shutting the door behind me. Seconds later, Todd came up to my room and knocked. “Marilyn? Can I come in?”

   “No.”

   “Why? I’m coming in.”

   “I said no.”

   “Please? I wanna know what were mom and dad arguing about! … Marilyn?”

   “I said go away!” I shouted throwing a pillow at the door.

Everything had happened so quickly that it had token quite a while for everything to settle in. What were they arguing about? What was dad about to say? And what’s about the letter? Why were they arguing about it? Why are they discussing my future anyway? All these questions piling up one by one and still, not a single answer to them.           

   Not only that, I was beginning to get a little more impatient…