Grievances And Other Things

The Big Day

Some time has passed. Quite a bit. I even have a date for the Christmas Ball. Go me. I guess. I sit with my friends in the Cafeteria and stir my coffee, lost in thoughts. Lyle's busy showing off his bass guitar to all of us and plays the backing track to Wake Me Up When September Ends. That gives me a great idea. "Chloe!" She stares at me. "Åle!" Penelope smiles. "Åle!" I look at her. "Penelope?" Chloe shouts my name. "Åle!" Lyle sniggers. "Skyler!" Oh now I get it. "References aside, I had an idea for a sort of closing piece for tomorrow night's ball!" Chloe puts her head on her hand. "Tell me." I clear my throat. "Basically you can hear those few notes from Wake Me Up When September Ends, then the curtain lifts to show you guys sitting on the floor, Lyle with his bass guitar, Chloe with her electric guitar, and Penelope and Skyler on vocals, and you guys are surrounded by candles. And you've told everyone it was going to be a slow song to dance to, 'for all the lovers out there' or something, and then when the line 'here comes the rain again, falling from the stars' is sung, papier mache snow falls from the ceiling." Penelope and Chloe seem to be considering the idea whilst Lyle practices. "Nice idea, you should write tween romance novels, but is it doable?" I shrug. "I don't see why not." Chloe taps Penelope on the shoulder. "Remember last time? We said our idea wouldn't be possible, but then the drama club came to our aid. Maybe the art club can help us! They should be able to rip up paper and crinkle it." Skyler jumps in. "And at the dollar store you can get packs of candles for basically nothing." Lyle nods. "Yeah, seems like it'll work, thanks for giving us the idea." The bell rings for some more class. Hooray! I can't wait. Yawn.

~~~~

It's not over 'til you're underground. It's not over before it's too late. But apparently it's not over when you want ot to be. Class drags itself during these days. And according to my schedule, Åle-feels-like-going-home-time has already occurred two hours ago. Ah well, this is the last class. It's sadly not watching MTV class, but it's art. Draw a powerful scene. Yeah, thanks for the help teachie, but can you please be a little more vague? I mean, god, how interpretable is that!? So I draw a goth-punky guy slamming an equally goth-punky girl against a wall. Not the violent way. The "romantic" way. What should I do to make it look less empty? I know! With a scratchy biro I write down a few words around them and give the guy a slightly more cheeky smile. I stand back to view the passable picture. It ain't the Mona Lisa but it's better than modern art. "Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your boyfriend!" reads the top line of the picture. The bell rings and the speed of the students' exiting reaches a new world record. Everyone makes a wild dash for the car parks and bus stop. Tomorrow we have the day off, but I've agreed to help with the decorations and preparations. You've gotta do stuff for your friends to keep them, after all. Skyler hops onto the bus with me and reveals an Edding. Holy salamander cuttlefish, an Edding. The school's equivalent to a spraycan. "Just like-" He puts his index finger on my lips. "Shush. Yes, just like on the undersides of the tables at school and the back of the bus seats that go to school." I whisper. "What you gonna write?" He shrugs. "I'll write something, don't worry." He draws a hand holding a heart-shaped grenade. "Now you." I take the permanent marker and wonder what I should write. In all caps I write down "anarki" and put a circle around the A. "Anarchy in danish?" I nod. "Yup, nice and edgy." He laughs. "Oh, you little devil. Well, it's my stop, see ya tomorrow!" He gets off and after a while, so do I. I slowly walk towards Aunt Lissa's house. It's a nice one. Somewhat out of the center of town, but there's always the bus, it goes straight to it without much fuss. I walk inside and dump my stuff in a corner. The smell of cinnamon clouds the kitchen like a very sweet smog. Aunt Lissa or Uncle Theo must've been baking. "Hey!" I shout. "Hey, I've made cinnamon rolls!" is my answer. It's Aunt Lissa. She must've gotten home early today. I take my bags upstairs and get into the kitchen. With auntie, whoever helps, gets the treats. Even if it's minimum effort, at least you did something. As I get the golden spirals out of the oven, Aunt Lissa gets an étagère to put them on. Whenever there's been baking she alway would put it on her trusty étagère. Wouldn't ever leave the States without it. After decorating it she hands me the baking tray which still has some cinnamon rolls on it and smiles. "All yours." I thank her and take one on a plate and one in the hand and run upstairs to get my laptop and phone. Not to forget my iPod. I open it up and start messaging Aatu from Greenland. We haven't talked for a long time. He's pretty envious of me. He's in the city that mastered mediocrity, whilst I'm in a bustling place that has everything you could ever want. I tell him I'll bring him something. I don't know what though. Maybe a Taco Bell menu. Or a transit map, they have those at the bigger bus stops. Maybe something nice, considering we're pretty close friends. Who knows, maybe I'll get him a CD. He likes Nirvana and their CDs are hard to come by in Nuuk. Chloe texts me and tells me to quickly go to hers. Aunt Lissa's okay with it, I get my phone, iPod and wallet and off I go.

~~~~

Chloe told me to follow a trail of papers. If she leads me to a secret cult meeting I'll kill her. I pick up another snippet. "Follow me down to the river." Um okay. Next one. "Follow me down through the trees." Mysterious. After collecting more papers with cryptic messages, I arrive at a small river and see Chloe lying down, holding up the last piece of paper. I pick it up and read it. "You're damn cute." I stare at her, puzzled. "Yeah, I kinda never wanted to tell you, but you're leaving when term ends, so I might as well make my move sooner than later." She gets up. "Aren't you cold, Chloe? Lying down in the snow doesn't sound like the best idea to me, you know?" She shrugs, brushing off some snow, and looks down. "I know, I should be more excited and awkward, but in my experience, that's not ever helped anyone. Åle..." She stares down. "I know I'm your date for the Christmas Ball and everything... But do you mind maybe... Doing more than the usual shit? Like... Holding hands? And... Hugging and all that?" I drop the piece of paper. "I... I guess not... It's pretty sudden, though..." She nods. "I understand. I'll give you some time to think, if you want. Do you mind if I walk you back to the bus stop?" I shrug. "Nah, not a problem." She must have gone through all sorts of preparations for this. All just for me? Just to tell me that she likes me and that she wants to hold hands? Kinda sweet of her. We walk to the bus stop in relative silence and as I catch the bus back to Aunt Lissa's, Chloe smiles. "See you tomorrow at school!" I smile back and get onto the bus. I watch her walk back to her place as the bus runs along the streets of this residential district. The bare trees and the snow give off an eerie atmosphere, as if a bomb hat just gone off. I put in my headphones and select a playlist on my iPod. I take some time to contemplate. My time in America has reached it's halfway point. And I've enjoyed, loved, adored every minute of it. I've even learned something important. Sometimes a 'goodbye' is a kind of a second chance, not just with love, although I still will kill that slut that calls herself my ex, but in general as well. I've even reassessed my hometown. Sure, Nuuk wasn't much, but it had its own charm. And tomorrow's the big Christmas Ball. I can't wait. It'll be so great. It'll be wonderful. It'll be a great send-off to our school days for this year, letting the year go out with a bang. I get to my stop, and walk towards Aunt Lissa's house with a huge smile on my face. Tomorrow's the big day.