Fast Forward to us

5- First Period

Jeremy

With the ringing of the bell, I was still recovering from the toilet soaking. Thankfully, it was mostly my hair that was the problem. With wet hair, I sat at my seat waiting for Emma and everyone to arrive. Fingers crossed that my hair would be dried up by the time the two of us presented our speech for Mr. Hymn.

"Dude, I can't believe Ted let Hailey beat the crap out of him," claimed a random classmate finding his seat in front of me as he was talking to someone else.

"Dude, I know. Ted was an idiot and had it coming to him."

Gossip was something that I never found interest in. But apparently, Hailey knocked out Ted. What the heck was going on? Everything inside of me had to know.

"Wait what happened?" I interrupted in hopes this was somehow good news.

"Seriously dude?" my classmate asked. "Man, you shouldn't have run off like that. After you ran off, Hailey got seriously pissed off at Ted. Let's just say that Ted said something he shouldn't have and Hailey ended up knocking the crap out of him. They are officially broken up."

They broke up? If I hadn't run off, I could've said hi to her. Oh well. My heart began beating quicker every second at the fact. At that moment, anything felt possible. I could do anything now that Hailey broke up with Ted. If I was lucky, we could go to prom together. If I had a car, we could go together.

"What are you so happy about?" asked Emma who found a seat next to me. The girl had caught me off guard as a large grin lit up my face. "You enjoy getting your head dunked in the toilet?"

"No, but I just found out that Ted and Hailey broke up. Dang, I wish I had stayed to watch."

The girl rolled her eyes and opened her backpack getting everything needed out. Clearly, she didn't want to discuss what happened. We stayed silent for the next thirty seconds as everyone else walked in and found their seats. The bell rang and everyone got quiet.

"Alright," began Mr. Hymn with a pointer in his grip. "Good morning class. I hope everyone is having a nice Tuesday Morning. It looks like everyone is here. I'm sure I don't need to take attendance. Do I?"

In unison, everyone agreed that taking attendance wasn't necessary.

"Good. Now I hope everyone is ready to present their speeches today. We'll be covering your speeches on the past for the next two or three days." Our teacher began walking around the room until he reached the other side. "Gary and Lucy, are the two of you ready to present first." They were not ready.

"We're ready to present," announced Emma in a confident tone.

What? Emma seriously volunteered us to go first? Couldn't we go last? My hair wasn't completely dried up. Of course, Mr. Hymn gave us an approving nod and let us walk up to the front of the class. As soon as I reached the front, everything I heard about Ted and Hailey left my head. It was all just a distant memory. It was as if it never happened.

"Good morning," began Emma as she began reading the paper while I held the Hot Wheel and the picture in my hands. "Everyone has a story of how they met. Each and every one of us has a special connection to each other. Some of you met in kinder and bonded over glue. Some of you met during your senior year and bonded over coffee. Ten years ago, back in second grade, Emma and Jeremy came together. Emma was a new student and Jeremy came to her rescue. They bonded over a car. A special race car inspired by a '64 Shelby Daytona."

As Emma read her paper, I began to feel a little bad that I edited what she wrote. Maybe it should've been left alone. She kept reading until it was my turn. And yes, I felt bad that I edited my own writing.

"While it was a '64 Shelby Daytona that brought these two friends together. Their friendship grew past something more than just a car. They got to spend time together as they worked on the car. They got to play together. They got to study together. So many adventures were to be had." The next few sentences could've used some fixing, but it basically talked about the Selena Concert that we went to. "In the end, we didn't need a car to bring us together. Of course, that car will always have a special spot in our hearts."

Once we finished reading, Emma allowed the Hot Wheel and the picture to be passed around the classroom. Nobody seemed that interested in either object that was being passed around.

"Very nice," complimented our teacher. "It was a nice speech, but it seemed like it was missing something. I'm giving the two of you a C."

Emma quickly made her way back to her seat once she gave me a look. With that look, I knew that I somehow screwed this up. My heart sunk. The girl would hate me forever. Over the next several speeches, my mind wandered off to the part of the paper that never made it into the speech.

After editing the sucker, I hated those three paragraphs that I had written. Because of that, the paper was crumpled up and thrown into the trash. It was only three paragraphs. Let it go. At this point, it didn't matter. We didn't need to worry about the presentation anymore. We could move on with the rest of our lives. After all, what was one letter grade?

When the bell ended class, we walked out. Emma didn't say a word to me and headed straight to the next class. The hall was packed with students. It somehow felt foreign without Emma who would usually walk with me to my next class. At one point, I passed by Ted who was taking a drink from the fountain and would not share as he hogged it up. At least he didn't see me.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to comment and vote! You enjoying the story so far?

Do you enjoy public speaking?

Thoughts on the speech?