Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Narrative 1


I was in Geometry with Mr. Smith going over last night’s homework, when I heard my phone vibrate in my bag. When Mr. Smith went out of the room to get the test that he forgot to print before class, I pulled out my phone. The text said “Claire, come to the bathroom I really need to talk to you.” I responded saying how I have a test soon and that I couldn’t but we could talk after school. With a quick response Michelle said “This can’t wait, it’s really important.” Claire wasn’t the type of person who would ask for anybody help so I knew this was serious.
As soon as Mr. Smith came in the room I told him I didn’t feel good and had to go to the nurse. Of course, if I had told him the truth and asked to go to the bathroom he would tell me to wait until after the test. This couldn’t wait Michelle needed me. He believed me and let me go to the nurse wishing me to get better.
I took the shortest route to the bathroom possible. Usually when I leave class I go the longest way just to get out of class, especially during silent reading. As I was walking all the ideas of what could be wrong ran through my head. Is she moving? Are her parents getting divorced? She has mentioned that her parents had been fighting a lot lately. Did she and Ian break up? Ian always had treated her badly. No, those can’t be it; she could have easily told me after school since we were hanging out later.
I came across the door labeled Girls and was nervous to find out the secret. As I opened it two of the four stalls were full. I knew Michelle was in the first stall because I saw her favorite pink sandals under the stall. I waited until the other girl left the bathroom to talk to her. I stood against the wall next to the sink, waiting for Michelle to come out.
She came out of the first stall holding her sweater that she had worn over her blue dress in her hand. I could see her looking at something inside the sweater, her face looked nervous with fear. Michelle was never the type of person to be afraid of anything. I stayed against the wall waiting for her to talk. Her mouth stayed open as if not knowing what to say. So I walked over to her to find out what was in her hand.
I couldn’t believe what I saw. Everything that I thought was wrong wasn’t. I looked up at Michelle still not saying a word, but trying to understand where her fear was coming from. I hugged her for what seemed forever, not wanting to let go, just to let her know that I was here for her.
Michelle was the last person I thought this would happen to. Her boyfriend and she were serious but this I couldn’t believe. Michelle was an independent leader who always made the right decision. But this decision she could never take back. She did tell me about that night, but I thought nothing of it until now.
Finally the silence was broken, “What am I gonna do?” Michelle sobbed. I held her tighter as if hugging her any tighter would make it all go away. I reassured her that I will always be here for her, as if the hugging didn’t speak for itself. So many questions came out of her. She always knew the answer; I was usually the one with all the questions. But now it was my turn to be the good friend. With every question I made a reasonable answer. But one question I couldn’t seem to find the answer. She asked, “How am I going to tell my parents?” I paused not know what to say, Michelle’s parents haven’t been getting along and this would only add on to the fighting making things harder. Michelle’s dad was also a very protecting father. Michelle had a curfew, her dad had to meet every boy that she wanted to date, and Michelle had to get all A’s and B’s in school or she’d be grounded. Her cry got louder and louder, I had to come up with an answer soon. I finally said, “I’ll tell them with you.” I think she liked this answer because her crying lessened. She said she’d tried tested it two other times but they all came out the same, positive. This was the third time, she knew she was. She also said that after the second time she had told Ian that she thought she was. Ian was in college so he could easily disappear out of Michelle’s life whenever he wanted to. Discovering he could be a father he did exactly that and disappeared.
She told me she has felt more alone than ever before. I told her again that I was here for her. I felt helpless but being there for her was all I could do. We were in the bathroom until the last school bell rang. We waited until the hallways were clear. We left the building and hoped into my red convertible. I drove us to my house, knowing that my mom wasn’t going to be home until later tonight. We talked about how we were going to tell her parents and that we were going to do it tomorrow.
Before we knew it, the day came when she had to tell her parents. We called them into the room telling them we needed to talk about something serious. Sitting on the blue couch our nerves were getting to us. It was time to see how they would react.

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