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Come What May [Story Version]
By Aragorn
I have a story to tell you. One of romance, action, drama, comedy, and above all, love, and how no matter how much of it you have, bad things can still happen. This story is also about school life, but mainly, about how all good things must eventually come to an end.
I remember the events that took place in my third year of Junior High. I was in Grade 8 then, and I remember them as if it happened yesterday. I tell you this story, in hopes that you may be able to stop yourself before the same thing happens to you.
If you cry during sad movies, then I warn you that this is a very sad story. For the ending is one of the saddest I’ve witnessed. The difference between the ending of the story I’m about to tell you and the ending of movies, is that this one is true…
St. John’s, Newfoundland, 1999
The yellow school bus pulled up to a stop in front of the school and the doors squeaked open. It was a cold day, around the middle of February. Snow lightly covered the ground, but grass could still be seen in places as there had been a slight warm streak the week before and most of the snow had melted. Of course that was before the sub zero temperatures returned.
As students stepped off the bus, their breaths could be seen in the cold air. Among these people, were Roberta Hammond, 13 years old and in Grade 7, and Ryan Miller, 14 and in Grade 8. Roberta and Ryan lived in the same small town about 20 minutes outside St. John’s, called Portugal Cove, which was really close to the Ferry going over to Bell Island. They were both good friends and had been for a long time. They had lived just down the street from each other their entire lives and were also put in the same schools, although they hardly ever hung out outside of school.
They walked with the rest of the kids through the thick metal doors, then through the porch marked with muddy and wet shoeprints, then through the second set of doors and into their school, MacDonald Drive Junior High.
Once inside the school, they went separate ways in the busy halls, going towards their lockers.
Ryan reached to his locker and started to turn his lock, making the combination to open his locker. Soon enough his friend, Jeff Long, walked up to his locker, which was right next to Ryan’s.
“Hey.” Ryan greeted. “What do we have first?” He started emptying out his bookbag as he waited for Jeff.
“Hang on.” Jeff took his sunglasses off and put them in his inside pocket of his jean jacket. He then proceeded to open his locker and looked at the schedule, which was on the inside of his locker door. “What day is it?”
“Tuesday.”
“No! I mean, what Day!”
“Oh. Day Four.”
“Ok, let’s see...” Jeff looked at his schedule. “We have Math first.”
“Damn.” Ryan kicked his locker, slightly denting it. Both him and Jeff hated Math more then any other school subject and it didn’t help that they had to go to Summer School the year before, for it. They both pulled out their Math books and placed them inside their bookbags.
“Valentines Day is tomorrow.” Ryan stated as they closed and locked their lockers. “Have anyone special in mind?”
“No.” Jeff lied as they turned and walked away. Secretly he liked Roberta, but barley hung out with her because she was a grade below him and the only reason he hung out with her once in awhile was that she sometimes hung out with Ryan and another couple of his friends.
Jacob couldn’t date Roberta though, even if he gathered up enough guts to ask her out, because Roberta was already dating a guy named Shane, who was in the same grade she was. They had been dating ever since the beginning of the school year, when they first met.
They reached one of the stair cases and started to walk up when they were met by Justin, one of their friends who was going down the stairs.
“Hey.” Justin greeted. “You guys going to the Pond at lunch?” A group of students usually went across the street at Lunch to a pond with a walking trail around it. There was also a wooden structure there, known as a Gazebo. It had a short wall, about half the size of an average person. Inside it was a circular bench, attached to the wall. On top of the wall, were four struts, holding a flat roof up. The roof consisted of a bunch of thick boards going across, with enough space between them to fit you fingers through.
However on the other side of the pond, and on the other side of a short grassy field, was another school named Mary Queen of Peace Junior High. But we'll save that for a little later in the story.
“I am. Ryan answered. “Don’t I always?”
“No. I’m not.” Jeff declined.
“Why not?” Justin asked. “All you do anyway is walk around the halls when you’re done eating.”
“So? I just don’t want to go.” Jeff’s parents were extremely strict and didn’t like him leaving the school grounds, but he never told anyone that because he was scared they would tease him.
“Suit yourself. See you guys later.” Justin continued on down the stairs as Ryan and Jeff continued up.
Ryan and Jeff got to their Math room and their teacher, Mr. Park was sitting at his desk, marking tests. There were a few other kids in the classroom, but the bell hadn’t rang yet, so the entire class wasn’t there.
“Hello, Mr. Park.” Ryan and Jeff greeted as they walked in and took their seats.
Mr. Park looked up to see who greeted him. “Hello.”
The two students took their Math books out and then Jeff took a novel out and started to read it, waiting for the bell to ring to start classes.
Once Math ended, the class started making their way to their lockers to get their books for their next class, which was Options. At the beginning of the School year, they had to choose between three courses – Industrial Arts, Computers, or Home Economics, for that time slot. Jeff, Ryan, and a few others had chosen Industrial Arts, so they went directly to the I.A. room because they didn’t need any books for it.
As they approached the door, it opened and the Grade 7 class that was in there before them, started leaving. Among these people were Roberta and Shane, who had his arm around her. Along with them, were Robyn’s friends, Megan, who had glasses and curly hair, and Jolene, who dressed in dark colours, usually wore black lipstick, and had black hair. Ryan and Jeff often called Jolene a vampire because of the dark colours she always wore and her outcast personality.
“Hi.” Roberta greeted Ryan as they walked by.
“Hey Roberta, sup?” Rick returned the greeting. As they walked inside the room, Jeff took a quick look back at Roberta as her and her friends walked around the corner.
At lunch, Ryan and Jeff met up with Justin and their friend known only by his nickname of Weasel.
Weasel was a friend of Justin's from Saudis Arabia, however he spoke fluent English because he had lived in Canada ever since he was 3 years old. Although no one ever called him by his real name because it was too hard to pronounce, but if one was to describe him as an animal based off his looks, it would be a weasel, so that’s what everyone called him.
“Jeff’s going to hang with us until we leave.” Ryan explained.
“That’s cool.” Justin said back. “We’ve got to wait for the others anyway.”
“What others?”
“Them.” Justin pointed.
Roberta, Shane, Megan, and Jolene approached the group from a side hall. Jeff takes a look at Roberta at turns back to Justin. “I changed my mind. I’m going.” Screw his parents. After all, what were the odds that they’d see him anyway? It was a big city and they had no business in that part of it.
The group left the school and walked across their soccer field, avoiding the ball that was being kicked by the kids playing lunchtime soccer. They reached a sidewalk and waited at the busy street for the traffic to die down.
Megan, impatient as ever, went over and pushed a button on the light pole and after a couple seconds, the green lights above the traffic turned to red and a cross walk sign lit up, indicating for the kids to cross.
They did so and when they got to the other side, they walked down to the walking trail and started walking around the pond until they reached the Gazebo.
They sat on the bench and took their food out and started eating. The day had warmed up since the morning and the little snow that was there, was starting to melt and the sun shinned brightly in the kids’ eyes.
When they were done eating, Justin, Jeff, Weasel, Jolene, and Ryan climbed up onto the roof and took turns running and jumping off, onto the ground below, landing either on a soft spot with tall grass, which still had tall grass growing despite it being winter, or in the snow.
As Jeff stood, waiting for his turn to jump, he looked down through the spaces between the boards of wood and saw Megan, Roberta, and Shane sitting on the bench, watching them jump off. He also saw that Shane had his arm around Roberta’s shoulders and she was cuddling up next to him.
Megan stood up, throwing her garbage in a nearby trashcan, and walked over to Jolene, who had just jumped off the Gazebo, and turned back to the others. “We’re going to the Dollar store before Lunch ends.” Jolene informed them.
“Ok, meet you guys back at school.” Roberta said as they walked away.
Back up on top of the Gazebo, Jacob looked back down below and saw Robyn and Shane kissing. He felt his heart sink and a pang of jealousy. Thoughts began to clutter his mind. Thoughts of Roberta, thoughts of him and Roberta, thoughts of him being with Roberta. He had no control over them and quickly got lost in them.
“Hurry up, jump!” Justin shouted from behind him. “We’re waiting!” However, Jeff couldn’t hear. He was too lost in his own thoughts and the scene playing below him. “Ah to hell with this.” Justin sighed. He ran and pushed Jeff off the edge.
“I’m really sorry!” Justin apologized, sitting next to Jeff in the Nurse’s Office of their school. Jeff had an ice pack on Jacob’s arm. Jeff just glared back at him. “What?” Justin asked. “I am! Who could have guessed you would have missed the grass and the snow and hit the only part where there was rocks? Nobody has ever misses both the grass and the snow! Then again, everyone has always jumped off and not been pushed...”
After Jeff had landed on the shark rocks below and sprained his arm, they had all returned to the school and brought him to the Nurse’s office. After they told her what happened, she scolded them for being ‘immature’ and should have known better then to be ‘horsing around’ on top of that structure.
All the others that had been at the Gazebo when the incident happened, all sat around in the room as well making sure Jeff was ok. The bell rang, interrupting any further conversation.
“See you after class.” Ryan said as they all stood up and started to leave.
“Take care, man.” Shane said as he started to leave with his arm around Roberta. Before they walked out however, Roberta turned back and smiled. “Hope you feel better soon.” She turned and left, leaving Jeff in the room all alone. He just sat there, a big smile forming on his face. He was finally on her radar! Who knew that such a wonderful and exciting thing could have come from such a disaster?
Jeff felt like getting up and dancing, but managed to contain himself when the Nurse walked back in the room with a bandage.
That day after school, Jeff was walking down the sidewalk, heading towards the bus stop. Justin was already there, waiting for the bus.
“How’s your arm?” Justin asked.
“The Nurse said that it was only lightly sprained.” Jeff answered. “I only need this bandage on for a couple days.”
“Look, I’m really really sorry.” “I didn’t mean for…”
Jeff cut his friend off, still excited over having Roberta acknowledge him. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t care.”
Suddenly the Metro Bus pulled up and once people stepped off, Justin and Jacob walked on, showed their bus passes, and found a couple seats as the bus started up again.
The next day was Valentines Day. The school was decorated with hearts and cupids all over the walls and doors. It was a custom at McDonald Drive Junior High that on Valentines Day, when classes weren’t going on, (Lunch, before school, and recesses) that in the morning, girls had a paper heart on their shirt and they weren’t allowed to talk to the guys. If they did, the person they talked to got to keep their heart. It was the same in the afternoon, only it was reversed with the guys not allowed to talk to the girls.
At the end of the day, there’d be two winners for whoever got the most hearts. There’d be a male winner and a female winner and they’d get a prize.
Jeff and Justin walked inside the school and saw a couple of girls from their grade. “Hi. How are you? Hey! Hi!” They kept repeating, in hopes of annoying them enough into giving them their hearts.
The girls smiled, trying not to laugh, as they walked away.
“There’s Ryan!” Jeff pointed. They stayed in their spot as Ryan got to them and then they all started walking together.
“How’s your arm?” Ryan asked.
“It’s doing a lot better.” Jeff answered. “With any luck, I’ll be able to take the bandage off soon.”
As they walked down the hall, they spotted Roberta and Shane walking in the opposite direction.
As they passed by each other, Roberta turned to them and started to smile and giggle. “I gave my heart to Shane already!” And then they continued walking further down the hall.
Jeff, Justin, and Ryan continued walking in their direction. Jeff said, in a high-pitched mocking voice, “I already gave my heart to Shane!”
Justin started to smile. “Ohhh! I know who you like!”
Jeff started to flush. He had to quickly cover his ass. “No! It’s just that...” He thought for a second for an excuse. “She’s so annoying! God…”
Ryan also began to smile. “I’m going to tell her that you like her!”
Jeff looked at him, afraid. “No! Don’t! Please!” Justin and Ryan laughed at Jeff’s inner torture as the three of them continued down the hall.
At Lunch, the Heart Thing changed over to the boys. Ryan, Jeff, Justin, and Weasel were sitting together in the Cafeteria. Ryan was the only one in the group to not have his paper heart. They were eating and talking, when Ryan suddenly turned and held up his fingers to make a cross.
“It’s the vampire!” He shouted. Then he started hissing at her.
“Shut up, Ryan!” Jolene yelled as her, Megan, and Roberta walked up. Megan looked down and saw Ryan still hissing and still making the cross symbol with his fingers in front of Jolene. She shook her head. She was embarrassed to even be seen near this guy.
“Where’s Shane?” Jeff asked Ryan. Ryan was able to talk to the girls because he already lost his heart earlier.
Ryan sighed. “Where’s Shane?” He repeated to Roberta.
“He’s at his locker. We’re meeting him in here.”
Jolene passed by Ryan, who still had his fingers up, and went to Weasel. “Hey, that looks good, what is it?”
“Homemade Soup.” Then he added, “Shit.” He took his heart off and handed it over to a smiling Jolene.
Roberta walked over to Justin. “Hey Justin.” Justin just shook his head. “Fine then.” Roberta turned to Jeff. “Hey Jeff.” Jeff just shook his head as well. Roberta reached inside her bookbag and pulled out a really long Toblerone bar. When she lowered it down in front of Jeff, his eyes went wide.
“If you give me you’re heart, you can have this.” Roberta bribed.
“Ah, fuck this!” Jeff ripped his heart off his shirt and gave it to Roberta as he snatched the bar from her and ripped it open, starting to eat it.
“Thank-you!” The girls turned and left.
Jacob looked up and saw the others looking at him. “What?”
During the afternoon recess, Jeff and Ryan were walking through the halls, heading for their next class. Jeff felt someone tap on his shoulder and when he turned around, a kid literally barked in his face, started laughing, and ran away.
“What the hell was that?” Jeff asked. They shrugged it off as they continued walking, but soon enough they felt a tap on their shoulders again and when they whipped around, a whole group of people were there, barking. Jacob counted about five, but there might have been more, and two of them were bigger then both Jeff and Ryan were.
Jeff and Ryan decided to ignore them, and continued walking some more, but then they were tapped on again.
“Look, why don’t you leave us alone?” Jeff asked as they turned around. The group however, ignored them and continued on to cause havoc through the halls. They shoved random people into lockers, or tripped them up. They tapped a few other people and barked at them a well.
“What a bunch of asses.” Ryan said.
They saw Mr. Park walk towards the group from another hall and heard him say, “Young men, come with me to the office. Now!”
Ryan and Jeff snickered, glad that there’s at least some form of justice. The bell rang and they rushed the rest of the way to their next class.
After school, Jeff was at his locker, getting ready to go home. He looked down the row of lockers and saw Roberta at her locker and saw a short kid from her grade, Robert Peirce, hitting on her and saw her laughing at something he said. Jeff hated Robert. He was the average short-for-his-age smoker that everyone and their dog thought was cool.
Then Jeff saw Shane approaching Roberta, and also noticed that Roberta saw him as well, because he started walking away.
Shane reached Roberta and smiled. That’s when Jeff saw that Shane was holding a white teddy bear behind his back, with a heart on it’s chest. Jeff watched Shane give it to Roberta and saw Roberta’s face light up. She hugged and kissed Shane.
Jeff slammed his locker shut. ”Stupid Valentines Day.” He muttered as he stormed off.
The next morning, Jeff got to the school and started to walk to his first class. Justin hadn’t been on the bus that morning, so Jeff hoped that he got a ride to school and that he wasn’t home sick or anything like that.
Jeff felt a tap on his shoulder and whipped around, seeing the same group as from the day before, running down the hall away from him. “Bastards.” Jeff whispered. The rest of his journey to class though, was uneventful.
Once Jeff got to his first class, which was French, he saw Ryan already sitting down. “Looks like the Tappers are getting more bold.” Jeff said as he took his seat next to Ryan. “They’re still causing trouble, despite getting in shit yesterday.”
“It’ll die off.” Ryan said. “Always does. Just give it time.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” But Jeff didn’t want to give it time. He wanted it to be over now.
At Lunch, the usual group went back to the Gazebo, along with Jeff, and had lunch. When the people were up on the top, jumping off, Weasel turned and saw the doors to the other school, Mary Queen of Peace, open. It was the start of their lunch and dozens of kids their age and slightly older, walked out. Then he noticed a group of them brake off from the rest and start heading in their direction.
“Ah, guys. We’re going to be having company!” The others looked back and saw them coming.
“Ah shit.” Justin sighed. It was common knowledge among the students of MDJH that the students from MQP thought they owned the pond and everything around it, so they hated it when other kids were around it.
“Let’s get out of here.” Shane suggested.
“Why?” Jolene asked. “I’m ready to fight them. Just let me throw one punch!”
Weasel, Justin, and Jeff jumped off the roof and with the others, they quickly gathered up their stuff and started walking away, not wanting any trouble. Megan suddenly turned back and saw Jolene was staying put. She ran back to her.
“Come on!”
“Just one punch!” Jolene yelled. Megan looked up and saw the kids now running in their direction and getting really close. She saw them pick up rocks as they ran towards them.
“Let’s get out of here!” Megan and Jolene turned and ran, catching up to the others, who were walking.
“Run you idiots!” Megan shouted. The others turned back and saw the group of kids running towards them with rocks in their hands. They turned back around and started running.
After a minute, they changed directions and ran to the road. It was just their luck that no cars were coming, so they ran across. Thankfully before the MQP kids could cross, cars had reached the area and it was busy again.
From their side of the road, Jeff and the others started yelling out insults and the MQP kids turned and walked away, dropping their rocks to the ground.
“Come on. Let’s get back to school.” Ryan suggested. They turned and walked back to their school. As they walked, Shane and Robyn held hands and kissed, and again, Jeff felt his heart sink, knowing in his heart that he’d never be able to go out with Roberta.
That night, Jeff was in his room, looking out his window at the stars, wondering when he’d finally catch a break.
Over the next month, a lot of minor events transpired. The snow start to melt and green grass started to return. Jeff was witness to many more Roberta and Shane moments, such as they hugging, kissing, roughhousing, annoying the other but in playful ways.
There was even a time that they all went to the Gazebo and Shane stayed behind. They ended up getting chased away by MQP again, and along the way, Roberta tripped. Jeff started to go back to help her up, but then Shane appeared out of nowhere and helped her up and helped her run and Jolene had to pull Jeff part of the way before he turned around and continued running.
Flowers finally started blooming by the beginning of March, and trees were starting to turn green again. Jacob was walking downtown one rainy day, and looked in the window of one of the stores and saw Roberta and Shane shopping together.
Roberta and Shane were seen together after that, at the mall, and any witnesses that saw them that went to MacDonald Drive would be able to say how Roberta and Shane got into a major fight. They didn’t know what it was about, but whatever it was, caused Roberta to slap Shane and storm off, crying.
Over the following few days, Shane tried to talk to Jolene and Megan, hoping that they could talk to Roberta for him, but they refused to do it and then they too, stopped talking to him.
Jeff and Justin walked up to the school from the bus stop one morning. Grass, flowers, and trees with leaves on them were all out, coloring the scenery.
They walked inside the school and started going down a hall, when Justin felt someone tap him and he turned around and was met by a bark that came from one of the Tappers. During the last month, a rumor had started that the Tappers originally went to Mary Queen of Peace, the school on the other side of the road, and transferred to MacDonald Drive, just to cause trouble and make MQP a better school by ruining this one, therefore making people want to attend MQP instead. It was never proven that the teachers of that school were behind it, although it was speculated.
Justin ignored them and so did Jeff as they continued on down the hall. “I’m going to beat the shit out of one of them soon, I can feel it.” Jeff whispered as they walked. Ryan caught up to them from another hall and started walking with them.
“Did you hear?” Ryan asked.
“About what?” Justin asked.
“Roberta and Shane officially broke up!” As Ryan said this, Jacob’s eyes lit up.
“Why’d they brake up?” He asked, trying to sound casual, but it was hard to hide his excitement and he tried his hardest not to smile.
“I don’t know and she won’t say. The only people who know is Shane, Jolene, and Megan.”
Soon enough, Roberta walked past them, a sad look on her face. “Hey, Roberta.” Justin said. “I just heard about you and Shane. I’m really sorry.”
The excitement in Jacob left when he saw Roberta hug Justin. “Thank-you.” She wiped a tear from her eyes and sniffled her nose as walked away.
“Thinking about asking her out?” Ryan asked Justin as they walked.
“Yeah, I’m thinking about it” Justin answered, much to Jeff’s dismay. “But first I’m going to wait to see if she likes me as well.” Justin looked down a side hall. “Well catch you guys later. My class is down here.” He turned and walked down another hall.
“Oh Jeff, you’re coming to my house tonight, right?” Ryan asked as they continued walking down their hall.
“Yeah, definitely.”
“Good. Robert Peirce’s birthday party is tonight and he doesn’t live far from me.”
“So? I hate him! Why would I want to go to his birthday party?”
“Because Roberta might be going.” Ryan smiled. Jeff was totally caught off guard. A stunned look came across his face. “Don’t act so surprised.” Ryan continued, smiling. “I knew you had a thing for her. I’ve seen the way you look at her. The way you looked at her and Shane. Well now Shane is out of the picture. Tonight can be your chance to get to know each other better. Talk to each other.”
“But we’re not invited...”
“That’s the thing about Robert’s parties. Anyone’s invited. You just have to show up.”
“So we’re going, right?” Jeff asked, suddenly changing his tone.
“Oh, of course.” Ryan smiled. He knew this would be good. He also knew that Robert liked Roberta as well and personally asked her to be there while they were on the school bus. Ryan wanted Jeff to go out with her, not Robert, and so that was his reasoning behind telling Jeff about the party.
At Lunch, the group went back to the Gazebo again, except this time Shane wasn’t with them and Roberta looked sad. As they sat and ate, Roberta, Jolene, and Megan sat together and talked about Shane, but Jeff couldn’t hear much because they talked quietly and he was too far away. He only knew they were talking about Shane, because he heard his name get mentioned a couple times.
Suddenly a rock flew by Weasel’s head and hit one of the wooden struts. They all stood up quickly and started running away, just as a group of kids from MQP started chasing after them, throwing rocks.
Justin and Roberta broke away from the rest and ran in a different direction. They were soon cut off by the MQP students and Justin stood in front of Roberta.
“Look! That kid’s trying to protect his girlfriend!”
Jeff looked back when he heard that and even though he knew they weren’t going out, he felt like a ton of bricks hit his heart.
“Hey you!” Jeff yelled. The MQP kids turned to look at him and Justin and Roberta turned and ran, catching up with the others. Soon, they were all running again, the MQP kids throwing rocks.
One rock hit Roberta in the back of the leg and she tripped and fell. Jeff looked back to see how far away the MQP kids were and noticed that Roberta had fallen. He looked and saw that the MQP kids were almost at her.
He ran back to her and picked up a rock and threw it at the MQP kids to keep them back. They started swearing and threw a rock at him, but missed and hit the pond, splashing water up.
Jeff helped Roberta stand and they started running with the MQP kids in close pursuit. Jeff looked ahead and saw that the others were too far ahead to help.
As they ran, Jeff reached down and picked up a rock and threw it behind him. It hit one of the other kids in the shoulder and caused him to fall back.
Jeff and Roberta reached a second Gazebo and started to climb. Jeff let Roberta go first, helping her climb as he quickly followed. The MQP kids started climbing as well, but as they got close to the top, Roberta and Jeff started kicking them in the heads, causing them to fall back to the ground.
After a minute of that happening, the MQP kids gave up and left. Roberta and Jeff climbed down and started walking away.
“Why’d you come back to help me?” Roberta asked. “If they had caught you, they would have thrown you in the pond! And that’s if you’re lucky!”
“Is that concern I hint in your voice?” Jeff smiled, trying to playfully bug Roberta. Suddenly Roberta shoved Jeff and he went flying into the pond.
“No!” Roberta said. “It’s just...it’s just...ohhh, it’s just that if you were caught, I would have been on my own and they probably would have caught me too.” She turned and stormed off. Jeff, quietly chuckling inside his head, climbed out of the pond, dripping wet. It was a good thing it was a warm day.
1/9/2005 11:23:50 AM
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