Filed to story: A Girl Nobody Wanted Book by SansaR
I met Sally after the lecture. We went to the canteen together.
“I feel like not coming to this university ever again…” Sally said, sipping her coffee.
Without saying anything I looked at her.
“I don’t really know how they make decisions. There is no transparency or justice in their decisions anymore. They are just playing with our lives.” she said angrily.
I sighed. What can I say, dear… There is one person behind all these sh**. Don’t know why this kind of a prestigious university let him work like this. Yes, of course, his dad is a powerful person. But that doesn’t give him permission to intervene in university work. “I saw Jake… I couldn’t stand looking at him, to be honest. I have never seen him look that disappointed.” she said sadly.
I don’t know if she knows about me and Jake, but sometimes the way she talks and acts make me think that she has a sense there is something between me and Jake…
“Not just him… I saw Bob. He was literally crying…” I replied.
“Bob was on academic probations. He was warned before that he will miss the batch if he misses or couldn’t score a good result in even one assignment. Now he is going to miss everything for fu**ing three months… Not just that, I have heard that his dad has faced a huge loss in their businesses. So they were already in a status that they can barely manage to pay university fees. Now, I don’t even know how they will manage everything, thanks to those ignorant cowards… ” I have never seen Sally speaks like this. She is indeed so angry.
I felt so sorry for Bob… He indeed made my life miserable with his friends… But I don’t care… Even he doesn’t deserve this kind of punishment. Above everything, what made my heart more painful is those guys actually even don’t know why they had to face such a cruel decision.
“Can’t we do anything for this, Sally?” I asked her.
“I don’t think we can do anything, Sarah… As students, we are really powerless… The only thing we can even try is to arrange to boycott against this. But you know how our university reacts to boycotts. We are so helpless…” she replied.
It is true… We are so helpless… People we love and care for are getting into big trouble, but we can’t do anything about that. Or maybe we can… I remembered Mr. Patterson’s offer. NO!!!! I should not even think about that… I shook my head, trying to forget it.
*********
Mom, dad, and Shane were at the dinner table. I prepared their favorite dinner, a poor try to cheer them up.
Usually, I go to my room after they sit for dinner. I only come back when they finish eating. But today, I stayed in the kitchen. As Jake said, I wanted to be there for my brother.
After they had dinner, Shane broke the news to my parents.
My mom got shocked a lot more than I even imagined.
“What are we going to do now? They have destroyed my son’s future… They should all go to hell, bloody idiots.” she was crying, cursing, and complaining.
When compared to her, dad took the news calmly. But he had a lot of things to ask from Shane…
As I understood, dad is worried about two things mostly.
Paying Shane’s university fees if he has to repeat subjects and what will happen to his football career.
I think dad worried more about the football thing.
Shane tried his best to answer, hiding the severity of the situation.
“Isn’t there anything we can do?” dad finally asked.
“No, dad…” Shane replied, looking down.
I will never forget the look in dad’s face for the rest of my life. He looked so disappointed and worrying…
Mom was still crying when dad took her to the room. I was scared if she gets ill, crying like that.
***********
After cleaning the kitchen, I took a wash and rested on my bed.
My mind was packed with so many things… I couldn’t think about anything clearly…
Suddenly, someone knocked on my door.
“Sarah…”
“Shane! Come in…” I said, sitting on the bed.
He entered my room and closed the door. Then he sat beside me on the bed.
“What will happen to me, now?” he asked after staying in silence for a minute.
I lost words to speak. What should I tell him?
His voice clearly stated the pain in his heart.
“There is no doubt I will miss the batch… I may have to sit for the exams with juniors. Isn’t it what going to happen?” he asked, looking at my face.
“I really don’t know, Shane… I don’t know what all these will lead to…” I said sadly.
“If I miss the batch, even you wouldn’t be able to help me doing my assignments and exams right?” he asked.
“Oh, Shane… Even if that happens, I will always help you with your academics. Don’t worry about that.” I said immediately, holding his hand.
He never let me hold his hand. But today, he didn’t care.
“I don’t care about this stupid degree at all. But mom and dad have many hopes about me graduating. I can’t let them down. I can’t let them feel disappointed again because of me.” he said.
I don’t want to see it either, Shane… I know they are not feeling happy no matter what I did. Their only happiness is you. I don’t want them to lose that.
“If it is not for mom and dad, I would ask all those idiots to fu** off. I don’t want their stupid degree. I only care about football… Banning me from playing football is the real punishment they gave me…” he said. That’s true… Football is his life… I totally get it.
“Can you remember, Sarah… When we’re in primary school…” he asked, smiling.
I actually don’t remember much about primary school. I got ill from time to time. Most of my weekends and holidays were spent on hospital beds, as far as I can remember.
“I was just the dumb brother of super-smart Sarah…” he said, laughing. But even his laugh said it was not a pleasurable memory.
“I got bullied because I was a slow learner… People wondered how a smart kid like you got a stupid brother like me. One day a teacher asked mom if I was adopted… That day, it really shattered my heart. I cried alone for the whole day… I had no friends… There was no one for me… No one loved me… I was totally neglected… Not just in school… At home too… Even mom and dad didn’t love me… All the complaints they got from school made them really mad at me… I got beat every day at school as well as at home…” he was talking. It was more like he was talking to himself…
God! I only have a blurred memory of all these. Did he really have to go through all of these… Is that the reason he started to hate me this much?
Shane is always really good at making friends… How he had no friends those days…