Sailing Forever

Part 2: The Beginning

  Cara understood everything by witnessing his body language and prepared herself to face the worst. She stood up grunting in pain and was gasping for air. A couple of students offered her water with a grin on their faces. She drank water silently and was about to walk away without saying anything to them.

“Wait a minute, Cara. We were right all along! Do you understand?” Alvah said.

“What are you talking about?” Cara asked with a confused look on her face.

“You haven’t forgotten it, have you? We told not to be friends with him. We knew that he was nothing but trash! We also told that one day he will take you down along with him. That’s what happened!” Blamore said with confidence.

“Don’t you ever speak a single word about him! You have no idea what kind of a person he is!” Cara shouted.

“Yeah! Shout as much as you want. It won’t change the fact of what happened. Both of you cannot take the exam for 3 years. Whereas, we will be going ahead of you and achieve our dreams. Your life is completely spoiled thanks to him.” Alvah said.

“For the scores we get, we will easily get a seat in a top university. I will do a course on comic editing and she will be doing a comic writing course. We will be a perfect combo. In the future she will be the best comic writer and I will be the best comic editor in the world! Do you see how big our dream is? Do you even have a dream?” Blamore laughs.

“Well said, Blamore. Come on, Let’s go. We should spend time on much more important stuff and prepare for the rest of the exams.” Alvah said.

Cara didn’t speak a word and kept her calm except when they trash talked her friend. She leaped a bit and started to walk the same path, which Emre took a few minutes ago. As she walked on the street, she began to think of the days when it was peaceful; She smiled a bit as she continued to walk. Then her thoughts went way back to the first day, when she met him. She saw the memories running in front of her eyes from the first day. It all started when they joined that school in 9th class around two years ago.

Cara came to the school early and was sitting in the last row silently. As the time passed by, students started coming in laughing and chatting around. All of them had friends already and they sat together. She was gazing outside the window and was enjoying the trees responding to the sunlight and birds chirping beautifully. The school bell rang signalling that the class will be starting soon. A student just ran past the school gate and made it inside the school barely in time. He ran through the corridor to find the classroom, which he belonged to. Finally, he found his class room after he saw ‘9-D’ written on the sign board. He stood outside the classroom gasping for air and breathing heavily as he bent and placed his hands on his knees. He walked inside and looked around to find an empty place to sit. He could find only one seat vacant, which is next to her.

“Um, are any of your friends going to sit here? I am looking for a place to sit.” Emre smiled scratching his head.

“No. I don’t have any friends here yet. You may sit here.” She smiled back.

“Thank you! You don’t have any friends uh? You’re also new to this school?” he sat and took his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his sweat.

“Oh wait, you too?” She laughed.

“Yes, my family just moved to this city a few days back. So, I had to transfer school.”

“My previous school wasn’t good and my parents weren’t happy about it. They told me that this school ranks number in the state and is good at producing rank holders. So, I had no choice but to join this school thanks to my parents. Like I would care about the stupid ranks!” She rolled her eyes.

“Seems like we got our own stories for coming to this school. Probably someone would write a short story based on us.” He laughed.

“Oh Yeah? I bet on it. Oh! By the way, I am Cara, nice to meet you!”

“I am Emre, nice to meet you too. You are talkative, even though we barely know each other. If there was really a short story writer, he would be complaining about writing extra sentences for you.” He smirked.

“Oh my! You’re hilarious! Which idiot would write a story based on us honestly?” She laughed silently trying to control it.

“Who knows? They say the future is uncertain. We are casually sitting here and talking with each other. Probably some secret agent overhears our conversation and he goes on to become the narrator of that short story.” He said with a funny-serious look.

This punk had the guts to even tease me and I am having no choice but to narrate it. Was I really a secret agent? I can’t even imagine this fellow’s imaginations. I better continue narrating their story before I lose my sanity. Or else, this story would also be lost forever, just like the truth, which got lost in the previous part.

“Your imaginations are crazy! Does it even make any sense? What’s your obsession with writing a story anyway?” she asked.

“Ah! I… I never talked about it to anyone, you know. Because no one believes in me.” He looked down.

“That’s okay. Say it to me then! I will hear you out.”

“It’s just that I’ve loved to write stories since childhood. However, I have never written one till now. I am still trying to figure out a good plot, which would make kids have a good night’s sleep.” He smiled with confidence.

“Wow! That’s great honestly! I am also looking forward to reading it!”

“Thanks! I am happy that at least someone wants to read it.”

“Why don’t people believe in you? You’re having a good dream.” She asked, confused.

“It’s because I never get good scores in exams. I failed in all subjects of all the mid tests in class 8 by scoring zero. No matter how hard I tried, in exams the answers never came to my mind and I went blank. In class 8 finals, by some miracle I barely managed to pass the exam. You know how people are right? People judge us based on our score in school. They think I am not worthy of having such cool dreams. They say it will only stay as a dream.” He said with a sad expression on his face.

“Ah! Those people are jobless. Literally jobless! You know why unemployment is high these days? It’s because of these kinds of people, who poke their noses in unwanted stuff. If they had spent this much time on something productive, they would be super rich by now!” She laughed.

“Oh my! You didn’t tell me that you were good with jokes as well. I see you’re my competitor uh! I was really feeling down and you cheered me up. I will cheer you up more than you did!” he let his tongue out and smiled.

“Nope, I will!” she stared at him. “No, I will!” he stared at her. “No, I will!” “No, I will!” “No, I will!” “No, I will!”

“Oi! Oi! Who are these weirdos sitting on the last row? They sure are noisy.” Alvah frowned, while sitting on the first row.

“Yeah, those two are annoying. I wish someone could go and shut them up!” Blamore said, while sitting next to her.

“Don’t waste your time. Let them be. We need time for much more important stuff. Don’t forget we got a score to settle! You got rank 1 last year. You know how sad I was for getting rank 2? I never got any rank other than rank 1 in my life. I won’t be going easy like last time!” Alvah said with a determined voice.

“Let’s see! I won’t go easy either!” Blamore grinned.

“Hey, I think we are shouting.  Everyone is giving an awkward look at us. We better stay quiet.” Cara chuckled.

“I think so too!” Emre smiled and stayed silent for a while.

“Oh! Now that I remember! Which one of us is older? When’s your birthday?” she asked.

“When do you think?” He asked with a smirk on his face.

“Uh? Are you crazy? How will I know? We just met a few minutes back. “

“Yeah, that’s true. What about the idea of me guessing your birthday then? I don’t even know anything about you right?” He smirked.

“Sure, you can give it a try. Before that, tell me your birthday.”

“It’s on the 4th of May month.”

“Ah I see, go ahead and guess mine. Out of the 365 days, I could be born on any day. So, your chance of finding the correct date is 1/365. Basically 0.003%” She looked at him curiously.

“I have never tried anything like this. It’s not going to hurt me anyways. Nothing wrong with giving it a try. Out of the 12 months, I feel like you were also born in the same month as me. I would guess it is the 27th of May.” He spoke.

“You must be joking right? Did you ask any of my friends? Oh! Wait, you don’t know any of my friends and I haven’t talked to anyone else in this school! How did you know? This is totally unbelievable!” Her jaw dropped in disbelief.

“It was just my hunch. I don’t have any reason for that guess. I myself cannot believe that I guessed correctly.” He scratched his head laughing.

“You know what? There was just 0.003% to guess it correctly and you did it. Let’s say 99.997% people degrade you with negative comments about your life. However, there are still 0.003% of people who believe in you. Don’t you believe that you would succeed even if you had a 0.003% success rate in life? Just like how you guessed my birthday, one day you will hit the jackpot with fewer chances to set sail on a long journey.” She patted his head and boosted his confidence.

“Wow, those are strong words. That’s true! I will prove my worth to everyone.” He lifted his head firmly and looked forward.

“I say such big motivating words. In fact, I am like you. I am never good at studies. I barely managed to pass class 8 as well. We are on the same boat, Emre.”

“Oh yeah? Someday, we will be going on the same ship! Believe that! We will build a huge ship and set sail on a long journey.” Emre moved his hands around and expressed with so much emotion while saying that to her.

“Keep your voice down. Our economics teacher had just arrived.” She whispered.

A middle-aged woman walked inside the classroom carrying her text book. This teacher went on to become their nightmare. She was none other than Ms. Monca. They never knew how much this teacher is a factor to change their future upside down. However, when such change happens, it isn’t the ultimate future, is it? It becomes the present and something else becomes the future. There is always a possibility of something good happening to you, even in your worst-case scenario.
“Happy morning everyone! I am Ms. Monca. I will be teaching you economics and I am your class teacher for this year. Let’s start with the basics of economics right away!” She smiled.

The students nodded and opened their books with curiosity. It was their first-time studying economics. Cara and Emre looked at each other with confusion as they opened their books. She started with the wealth definition of economics.

“Adam Smith was a Scottish philosopher, who lived in the 18th century. He is considered as the father of economics. He wrote a book called ‘The wealth of Nations’ in 1776. In that book, he had defined economics, which is now called the wealth definition of economics. He stated, ‘Economics is concerned with an inquiry into the nature and causes of wealth of nations, and it is related to the laws of production, exchange, distribution and consumption of wealth.’ He meant that economics revolves around the wealth of a nation. Anything which we manufacture, buy, sell and use is only for creating wealth.” She explained in detail.

Emre and Cara were whispering while hiding behind the students sitting in the previous row. They were questioning and complaining about this long explanation. Cara flipped through the pages to find what she was teaching. He grabbed the book and shouted “Here it is!”

“Oh Crap!” He closed his mouth

“Hey you! Stand up! Why did you shout now?” she asked.

“Uh, No nothing ma’am. I was just trying to figure out in the book, whatever you’re teaching.” He scratched his head smiling awkwardly.

“First listen to my class properly! Okay, tell me now. Who said the wealth definition of economics?”

“Ah! This is an easy question! It’s Ms. Monca! You just said that definition, ma’am.” he said with such high confidence and the whole class laughed.

“I can’t believe this! After all my hard work of explaining Adam Smith’s history, you say my name? Go and stand outside the class!” she shouted in frustration.

Cara giggled silently on realizing how much he relied on his instincts. Without even thinking he answered it with confidence. She felt that sometimes, it can even be used to his advantage in taking quick decisions. She gazed at the sky outside and questioned whether she found a good person to be friends with. She had never met such an honest person in her life. This began an amazing journey of friendship. The construction of the ship was done. All that was left was to set sail in the vast sea of uncertainty.