Messages on a Coffee Cup

Chapter 13

   "YOU'VE GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING  me!" I yelled as Kimberly desperately tried to restart the car.

   "It won't... budge," she yelled, violently slamming her head against the steering wheel. We both hopped out of the car and vigorously pushed the doors shut.

   "Okay. So we're screwed. Got any other miraculous forms of transportation?"

   "Actually, yeah," she stated and walked over to her garage door, punching in the security code.

   "I have a bike. And Derek has a skateboard. I have no idea how to ride it but, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. Right?"

   "Dear Lord. No need for cheesy catch phrases. You take the bike, I'll take the skateboard."

   "But," she says as I grabbed the skateboard from the garage and placed it on the ground. 

I hopped on to the skateboard and effortlessly rode it to the end

of her driveway, jumping over the curb and nailing the landing.

   "Wait. How did yo-"

   "You really don't know me, do you?" I interrupted.

   "Apparently not."

   ~

   We got to school minutes before the bell rang, signaling the start of first period. I said bye to Kimberly and rushed to my fashion class, via skateboard, on the first floor with seconds to spare, slipped into the room unnoticed and take my seat. I am usually ahead of the game in this class, so after I finished this stupid "paper sewing activity", I pulled out my bible of literature and returned to the fictional world of Hazel Grace Lancaster. After and hour and bit, the bell rang yet again and I shuffled my way through the crowd to French only to be bored out of my mind until third period.

   I don't know how, but I managed to be late for English. Maybe it was that last minute trip to the cafe for a BLT. Yes I intensely enjoyed it, thanks for asking.

   "Holland, so nice of you to join us!" Mrs. Bullard whined as I walked in to the colourless classroom.

   I smiled sarcastically, rolled my eyes, and sat down in the seat next to Ethan.

   "Hey. Didn't get much sleep last night huh? Sorry about that by the way," he whispered, his eyes still on the chalkboard.

   "God, is it really that noticeable?"

   He smiled, "You look beautiful as always. I didn't see you at your locker this morning so I suspected you tried to get some more shut eye."

   "I wish. Kim's car failed to be a car so I took ye old skateboard and Kim biked."

   "A skater girl. Major turn on," he said through that signature goofy-but extremely cute- smile.

   Mrs. Bullard finally began the day's lesson by writing something virtually invisible on the black board. I moved my head forward and squinted my eyes to see what in the hell she was writing. It was a god-damned list of names and mine was the first one.   "Okay, so, now that everyone is here," she said glaring at me, "We can start presentations of the life changing experiences paper that I gave to you last week. You are being marked solely on the presentation of said experience. Ethan, you will be presenting some time in the next two weeks. First up, Ms. Summers."

   Really? First? These were the times when I severely wish I were invisible. I walked up to the front of the class, paper in hand, ready to read the horrifying story of how I became temporarily crippled but instead, I crumpled it up and threw it out. I walked over to my bag and pulled out The Fault in Our Stars.

   "If you don't mind, I'm going to wing it," I said to the teacher confidently.

   "Believe me, I do mind. However, I would like to see how you, Holland Summers, attempt to 'wing it'."

   "Ha. Watch me," I retorted. Ethan held up a sheet of lined paper with the words "Starbucks after school?" written on it. I vaguely nodded in his direction. He gave me a thumbs up and I began what I thought would be the worst presentation in the history of this class.    

   Fuck it.

   “'There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.' John Green, author of one of the best books of all time, taught me that life is merely a little infinity that we must make the most of through love, our jobs, and simply living. From reading this novel, I have gained insight on the meaning behind disease. Disease is a side effect of dying, but in this book, disease brought two cancer stricken teens together creating a relationship so strong, that not even death could tear it apart. I don't have

some extravagant story about how I saved a homeless man from a burning building, but what I do have is a not so extravagant story about an average sixteen year old girl like me who became obsessed with one 315 page book. And I an thankful for my obsession. So deal with it. I have read this book over fifteen times and every time, I pick up new things that I hadn't realized before. This book will change your life and, if you're like me, it will leave you wanting an Augustus Waters and I am happy to say that I am pretty sure I have already found mine."

   I stood up there, waiting for my classmates' reaction. They all looked stunned, like they had just witnessed a miracle or something. After a minute of sheer silence, applause and whistles filled the room. I glanced at Mrs. Bullard; her eyes widened as she regretfully admited something I never thought I'd hear coming from her.

   "Excellent work Holland. 98%."

   Suck it Mrs. Bullard!