voodoo doll // c.hood

35; mixed messages

A M I T Y

"And that's why the allies in World War II were destined to fail." I conclude my presentation to the history class and receive a lazy applaud.

"Very good Amity, I liked your argument and supportive evidence which went along with it. I can clearly see you have put lots of effort into your presentation." Mr Reading was being oddly polite, not criticising and cringing at my every word- for once. "Please, go ahead and take you seat." His voice returned to his tired, emotionless tone and I did as he said, taking my seat in the second row from the back.

Calum was seated on a desk to my left, two rows ahead of me. I catch his eye as he looks over his shoulder, he just simply nods and smiles before facing the front of the classroom once again.

"Alright, next up we have Mr Calum Hood." Mr Reading calls out to the class.

The sound of him gulping echoed throughout the room. He ruffled his papers, checking they were in order and reluctantly stood at the front of the class.

"So in World War II, Hitler was- I mean Adolf Hitler lead the Nazi party..." Calum's voice was quiet, shaky and he was very jittery. Anyone could tell that he was nervous. In fact, he was beyond the point of just being nervous.

He wiped away the beads of sweat on his forehead and he proceeded to speak. The papers in his hand shook and he barely looked up at the class. I tried to give him a friendly smile, to signal that everything was okay but clearly it wasn't and I think I may ha even made it worse by just making eye contact with him. Now he was beginning to mispronounce words and say the wrong things.

His presentation was just as messy as his appearance. It was dark under his eyes and his face didn't light up like usual. He had lost that twinkle in his eyes and as he stood up there, forced against his will to speak to a classroom full of people that don't give a crap about what he is saying , and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

At least people in the class were paying him the respect to not laugh or make fun of him, they just give him the same blank look to say 'I may look like I'm paying attention but you know I'm really not'. They at least owed him that much. It took a lot of courage to stand up in front of your peers and drag on about some topic that won't be as important in 10 years time. And in his current state- it took a lot of courage.

After Calum concluded his report, he waited for Mr Reading's response.

Mr Reading sat behind his desk and thumped his chin with his index finger. He looked as if he was processing the information laid out I front of him.

"Calum, did you do that all last night?" He asks.

"No sir, I worked on it all week. I really tried, I even found some primary sources." Calum sounded proud of himself, like he worked hard on this particular piece of work.

Mr Reading let out a hearty laugh.

"You've got to be kidding. You are joking, right? This is all some big joke because that was honestly rubbish and sounded like you spent about 10 minutes on it."

"No sir, I- I put a lot of effort into this report...or piece of rubbish as you called it." His voice was soft like a child's when they are yelled at by a parent. You could hear the hurt ooze through his words as he spoke to Mr Reading.

"That was just-" he was still laughing slightly, "You know I can't pass you on that?" Mr Reading admits.

"Excuse me?" Calum says, confused. "I answered your question and presented it in front of the class, what more do you want? Do you know how nerve racking it is for me up here?"