Roseanne's Graduation

The author's note: The herein story is an excerpt from a project I'm working on right now. It's meant to be the continuation of my second novel. Since I posted the story today on StoryStar, I figured I may post it here as well.

*** 

The sisters hugged each other tightly. Cho whispered in her ear, “I agree with what Mr Orville said. Pursue your interest. That’s what makes you special. Dare to be great, Roseanne Juzynski.”

Roseanne Juzynski heard those words last year, and she tried to do just that. She dared to be great. She wanted to be great, so she could secure a spot at a decent university, get a job in the army, and help support her family. Her dream was, of course, to continue writing and eventually publish a novel. But that could wait. A hobby was important, but it shouldn’t overshadow her responsibilities. At least, that’s what she thought. Roseanne didn’t believe that a hobby could lead to steady paychecks.

But why does life have to be so unpredictable and cruel? If something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Roseanne learned this the hard way some time after she collected her high school diploma and the results of the Maturity exam. She still remembers that day.

“How much did you get from Maths? Show me! Show me!” Natasha Wierzbicki, her loyal friend, tried to snatch a sheet of paper from Roseanne’s hands, but to no avail. Roseanne held onto her paper firmly when they were leaving the Secretary’s Office on a cloudy July afternoon.

“I got sixty-six percent,” Roseanne read out her result. “What about you, brainiac?”

Natasha’s face turned red immediately. “Get out of here!” She took a deep breath and pursed her lips. “I only got forty-one.”

“This means you passed. Congrats!”

“There’s nothing to congratulate me on. Look at it! Just look at it! Never in my life will I get accepted to military studies.”

The two girls went outside through the school’s main doorway and sat on the steps leading to it. They exchanged their exam sheets. Roseanne immediately realised that her friend wasn’t exaggerating. How could one get enrolled at a university with a little over forty percent in subjects across the board?

“At least you scored well over sixty from Maths, Geography, and you maxed out in English,” Natasha commented, returning Roseanne’s sheet. “I guess the glorious career as a convenience store clerk awaits me.”

“Please don’t say that.” Roseanne raised her voice in concern. “To be honest, I’m not sure if I will get accepted either, but I’m not calling it quits. You passed the exam. Please don’t give up now. Even if the university rejects your application, you can still enlist in the army—”

“—and I will start from scratch, as a private,” Natasha sighed. “Then what was the point of attending the military class in high school?”

The friends’ discussion was disrupted by the noise of a rumbling motorbike. Roseanne’s other friend, Emily Champignon, has just started her machine, ready to depart from the parking lot.

“How come I’m seeing you just now?” Roseanne asked Emily, who was already mounting her bike and putting on a helmet. “Did you collect your sheet or what?”

“Yeah!” Emily nodded in the helmet.

“And how did you do?”

Emily shook her hand in response. She then added, “I barely passed, alright? The military isn’t for me. I don’t want to get myself killed.” The girl on the bike waved goodbye and left the school’s front yard with screeching tires.

“It’s hard for me to imagine her working any job. She has always been an easy rider,” Natasha said. “Come on, let’s eat something.”

***

The girls went to their usual place, which was KFC in the nearby shopping mall. Given the fact that it was July, the dining area wasn’t that crowded with people, mainly because all the students in the Land of Po were on vacation.

Natasha was gulping chicken wings one after another as if trying to fill with them the void of worry and uncertainty about future career that formed in her gut. Her dark hair waved slightly as she swallowed. She no longer had it tied in a bun, letting it loose. Roseanne did the same with her own red hair, having been bored with a ponytail, though she retained the tiny fringes on her forehead.

Roseanne couldn’t muster up the mental strength to come up with a sentence that would cheer up her friend without sounding too cliché. Instead, she looked at her with her brown eyes and said the following, “I guess this is the last time we eat over here, huh?”

“Mmmph…” Natasha mumbled through chicken wings protruding from her mouth and shook her head. Roseanne’s friend clearly disagreed.

“What do you mean?” Roseanne asked.

Natasha carefully chewed down the last bits and swallowed. “I mean that we will, for sure, eat here again and again, you know.” She took a sip of Coca-Cola through a straw. “Maybe not every week like we used to, but every once in a while.”

“Can you promise me that?” Roseanne extended her hand and grabbed Natasha by the wrist. The Coca-Cola cup got jostled in the process and wiggled dangerously on a table, but it didn’t fall. “Can you promise me that even if we go our separate ways, we won’t lose contact with each other?”

Natasha was startled by Roseanne’s reaction, but she said, “I promise.”

Roseanne couldn’t help but feel this was an empty promise. She wanted it to be true and sincere, but everything was changing. She knew it all too well because the same thing happened the moment she finished primary school. Old friends were gone in the blink of an eye. A new order of things ensued. She had to take a new bus to a new place and get along with new people.

Now that high school has finished, the cycle will repeat itself.

In truth, Roseanne was not a fan of school. All in all, who in their right mind would miss boring subjects and wasting time within the confines of an institution every teenager was forced to attend by the law? But then again, the school administered a routine she got accustomed to. She is going to miss Natasha, Emily, and her favourite teacher, Mr Orville.

The thought of Mr Orville brought another wave of memories. Although he seemed grumpy and reproachful in everyday contacts, Roseanne knew that, deep down, Mr Orville was a man who deeply cared for his students. He showed this to her time and time again. She especially remembers a summer trip last year, when he encouraged the girl to submit her novel to a literary competition.

Not only that. They used to exchange short letters between each other, be it on Christmas or their birthdays. Mr Orville would always write something heartwarming and encouraging, without sounding like a hack from a self-help book, and Roseanne would write him back. He was the only teacher thanks to whom she stopped being afraid of English, and significantly improved her performance in this subject.

What is she going to do now? She already misses her teacher and the English conversations they had during the classes. Roseanne tried to muster up the courage and say goodbye to Mr Orville at the end of April, right before the Maturity exams were about to commence, but she broke down in tears right in front of him.

Mr Orville held her hand and said, “There are too many goodbyes in life, too many doors closed behind. People move back and forth in front of our eyes, as if we were a passenger forced to live in a waiting room, unable to leave it. Many of these people aren’t that important to us. We are not going to miss them. But just a few… made such a big impact on us that we wish we could have been with them forever.”

Roseanne desperately tried to stop the tears. Mr Orville gave her some tissues. He always carried a pack of them in his pocket. While the girl gasped for air, the teacher continued. “I’m not saying goodbye, Roseanne. I’m saying: see you soon. I am no longer your teacher, but I can always support you and give you advice. Just contact me.”

“In that case…” She blew her nose. “I promise I will stay in touch with you.”

I promise, Roseanne thought.

I promise…

“I promise,” Natasha repeated.