To My Dearest Roseanne- Chapter 23
The first lesson was physics, which passed much in the same vein as chemistry the previous day. The teacher would mumble something mainly to himself, whereas Emily, Isa, Natasha, and other students were consumed by TikTok reels of Instagram stories. Cho, on the other hand, persistently took notes from the board and also made sure to review the currently discussed topic in the coursebook. Emily continued to glance at Cho from time to time.
The next lesson saw the return of the greatest show in the galaxy, which was geography. On the basis of her experience, Cho sat through the battlefield under the desk, again carefully inspecting the subject's curriculum.
"Fabian, why are you leaving the classroom through the window? Why?!" the old hag shouted.
"Because it's the ground floor, baby!"
"That's it! You're getting a write-up!" Suddenly, a paper plane hit the hag in the forehead. Her face burned with frenzy, "Who threw that? Who threw that?"
The next two hours consisted of physical education classes that were conducted by the formidable Sergeant Warwick. The students grouped in pairs were supposed to combat an elaborate obstacle course filled with ropes, tyres, and wooden walls to climb on. Cho felt like on a movie set.
"Each team has 5 minutes to finish the course. Now, go, go, go!" Warwick ordered.
Cho sprinted together with Emily, The friend who had done this sort of thing before quickly got ahead of Cho, who was struggling with rope swinging or getting across 8-feet walls. She would jump, hand onto the edge, and sluggishly get over to the other side. Rinse and repeat with two more walls. By the time they were finished at the 4 minutes 58 seconds mark, Cho was completely knackered.
"Juzynski-Champignon team, you can do better. Again!" Warwick yelled.
"Again?" Cho asked.
"Again!"
They did as they were told. The second time around, they finished well over 5 minutes.
"Again!"
"Again?"
"Again!"
The third pass was completed in 7 minutes.
"Again!"
"Look sarge, Roseanne is sick. Can you cut her some slack?" Emily intervened.
"Don't disobey my instructions, or you're in for a write-up. Again!"
Cho and Emily went in for the fourth time. On the spur of the moment, Cho recalled an old movie she watched on TV–The Hill with Sean Connery. In the film, Connery played a prisoner in a military camp who had to climb a steep hill in a blazing desert heat as a form of punishment. Cho felt exactly as exhausted and bitter as Sean Connery but she persevered.
***
The time has come for an English class with Mr Orville. At least this lesson was much calmer because the class was divided in half, and the groups attended the language course simultaneously under the supervision of two teachers. Mr Orivlle was in charge of the more advanced group, but he wasn't as demanding as Sergeant Warwick or as lackluster as the aforementioned losers of chemistry, physics, and geography. Even though Cho didn't know him, she felt a sort of peace and kindness emanating from the teacher. Still, to avoid any possible trouble, she showed him the note about pharyngitis.
"I'm very sorry to hear that you're sick, Roseanne." Mr Orville raised his eyebrows with genuine concern. "Did you by any chance do the homework assignment? Description of the best day of your life?"
Assignment! What assignment? Cho had no idea about any assignment. Best day of her life? She shook her head to signal the negative response.
"In that case, please do it as soon as you can. You may sit down."
Mr Orville did not do a "hot chair" session this time, but a regular lesson from the coursebook. The difference between his approach and that of other educators was that he made an effort to actively engage each and every student in the lesson, even if a student felt disinterested. To Cho, it was very commendable.
Towards the end of the lesson, Mr Orville prepared an extra activity. He distributed handouts around the class, which had lines of text neatly organised into separate stanzas.
Oh, a poem! How wonderful! Cho thought to herself, her eyes widened with amazement.
Mr Orville described that the purpose of this activity is to practise pronunciation, and there's no better drill to do this than reading poetry.
"Emily, could you give it a try?" he asked.
Roseanne's friend turned pale at the prospect of being ridiculed in front of the group, but she cleared her throat and read the poem. Cho heard that Emily struggled, but it wasn't a total disaster.
"Thank you very much, Emily," said Mr Orville. "It's clear that you were stressed, so you lost the rhythm down the line, and there were also a few issues with pronunciation. You have to be careful with such words as 'grinning' because it's not the same as 'grinding', and there is a fine difference between 'craftsmanship' and 'companionship'."
"I'm sorry," said Emily with visible embarrassment.
"Don't be sorry, and don't be afraid. That's why we're learning. Is there anybody who would like to read the poem on their own?"
Cho had no idea how this happened, but her hand shot up in the air. Emily and Mr Orville looked at Cho in surprise.
"But Roseanne, you're sick. You sure you want to do this?" asked Mr Orville.
"I want to try," Cho said faintly.
The girl stood up and read the poem titled Skip or Stay? A poem for the undecided:
What should I do? Skip or stay?
All the work and no fun
make me sad
that I really can't play.
It's been like that from the beginning,
through decades,
through generations,
since the cavemen started grinning.
Maths, physics, biology,
chemistry, oh no, sir!
These are things of evil,
the worst types of ideology.
I need to come back home
by tram,
by bus,
to get away from this dreadful foam.
It's so boring my mind is boiling!
Mommy, write me a note,
Daddy, pick me up,
I need to stop guessing and start expressing!
Go ahead and let's ride away
into the comfort of our getaway.
Let's feel the sun and the wind,
caressing our colour-blind wit.
But remember, whenever you skip,
you don't just escape the hellish grip.
Someone still cares,
even when all is done and dusted,
someone still cares.
Skip or stay?
That is the question.
Skip! Skip! Skip!
But would you stay and learn English craftsmanship?
When Roseanne was done reading, the whole class was completely silent. Emily kept gazing at her with an open mouth, whereas Mr Orville put down his notebook with comments and began clapping. In an instant, everybody joined him and the room erupted in thunderous applause.
Unfortunately, Cho's magical moment of triumph was cut by the bell.
"Roseanne, you read this poem perfectly," Mr Orville said as she was packing her books. "It sounded even better than in my head when I wrote it."
"Oh, thank you! You wrote this poem?!"
"Well, I'm no Charles Bukowski, but I thought it'd be an interesting exercise for you. Did you enjoy it?"
"Enjoy it? I loved it! I also write poetry!"
"Is that so?"
"Girl, since when did you start dipping your toes in poetry?" Emily asked.
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