"A Paper…" - Ch. 1: Assignment
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Prologue
A paper… about anything that you desire. This is your first assignment for creative writing class this semester.
Six hundred... sixty six...
This... this is terrible. You cannot write a paper on this! Do something else or you'll fail this assignment... and the class!
You claim you're all so... righteous.
I thought... A paper? Anything I desire? I'll pass this easily. There is... one thing... I'm very passionate about...
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MH Lutheran Church
"Helen, Helen! Hey!" One of the dirty-haired twins, Mary, poked the girl sitting in the bench in front of her.
The girl turned, looking a little annoyed at the boring lecture the pastor was giving. Helen had jaw-length blonde hair and rosy cheeks. Her eyes were bright blue and she wore all sorts of weird jewelry from... maybe Wal*Mart. Her bangs always hung in her eyes. She blew them away. "Hm?"
"Where's Naelia? I miss her! I haven't seen her for like... a year. Do you guys still go to the same school?" Mary asked wide-eyed. It was apparent she had been reminiscing or something in the midst of her boredom. Church was best only when they were singing. She loved that.
Helen blinked and hesitated. "You wouldn't want to see her."
"Why not?" Mary asked. This caught Julie, the other twin's attention.
"She's some sort of messed up Satanist or something now." Helen shrugged and turned around.
Julie sighed. "That doesn't matter. I miss her too. I want to see her."
The twins' parents shot a glare at them. They both sort of edged in their seats, knowing that their mother was listening to them now. Julie didn't seem to care, but Mary looked very nervous and kept the conversation down to a whisper. They tugged on Helen's hair to regain her attention, and succeeded in gaining it.
"So... she's really a Satanist?" Mary asked cautiously.
"Well... sort of." Helen replied. "I know a lot about other religions, and I wouldn't exactly call her a real Satanist... but she always argues with people about the Bible from Satan's side or something. I usually don't pay attention to her because I'm strong in my faith and--"
"Bring her anyway!" Julie whispered loudly, cutting Helen off. "Ask her if she'll come."
"Tell her we miss her." Mary added.
Helen turned around. "Fine, fine, now shut up. I'm trying to catch up on some sleep."
The twins giggled and sat back.
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John F. Kennedy Public School
Helen jumped through the crowded hallways trying to catch up to that familiar redhead friend of hers. She pushed he way through people in the hallways who liked to stand and talk in front of the door for fun. Once she caught up, she took her shoulder and spun her around. "Hey! Don't even say good morning!" She put a sarcastically upset face on.
The girl slightly bowed her head and let out an exasperated sigh. "Good morning, Helen."
"I copied that one CD for Danielle by the way." Helen said, continuing down the hallway by the girl's side.
The girl grunted and studied the ground, thoughtfully. "I was going to get around to that... Yesterday, she came over and I showed her that sound thing on my computer."
Helen slumped. "Real specific, Naelia."
The girl shrugged. "It's the sound recorder thing. Every windows has one." She took a breath in and looked back ahead of her. "Remember last summer? I turned Duvet from Lain backwards and burned it onto a CD. You and me listened to it when we went to my cabin, remember?" Helen nodded. "I showed her that."
"Oh..." Helen paused. "Oh! I almost forgot! Speaking of your twisted little satanic music, I went to church yesterday and Mary and Julie say they miss you."
She turned her head and wrinkled her eyebrows. "Who?"
"Mary and Julie..." Helen said in a 'duh' sort of fashion and perked an eyebrow.
Naelia took a moment to try to let the names regain familiarity, but she couldn't remember those names for the life of her. She gave her blonde friend a look that clearly told her just to get to the point and describe the two faces behind the names so she could remember.
"The twins..." Helen urged on.
Well that cleared it up. "Oh! Them! I remember them." She adjusted her fifty-pound bag and gasped a little at the pressure on a bruise, squeezing her eyes shut. Before she could open her eyes, the blonde girl took her wrist and led her to her locker.
"My locker first. It's closer." Helen started spinning the dial. "Anyway, they want you to come to church," She pulled her locker open. Naelia made a face. "But! I told them you were some sort of messed up satanic freak." She removed her coat and stuffed it into her miniature locker.
The dark red haired girl's eyebrow twitched and she leaned against the surrounding lockers. "Thank you for the kind description."
"Mmhm. They said they want you to come to youth group anyway. Just because they miss you." She shrugged and grabbed a few books out of the locker.
Naelia pushed herself away from the lockers. "Hell no! Tell them I'll find them outside of church."
Helen slammed her locker shut. "How are you going to do that? They live in Eden Prairie!"
"I don't care. I'm not going to church!" She started heading for her own locker, Helen following close behind. Naelia quickened her pace.
"Oh, come on! You don't have to sing or anything. We can roam the hallways. And we never do anything in the youth group meetings anyway! I bet they won't even mention God or Jesus or anything like that!" They stopped at her locker. Naelia was very quiet, seething. Helen was quiet as well, and let the girl take a moment to calm down. She waited until she stuffed her coat into the locker. Naelia never put any books in that locker. Thus explaining why her backpack gave her bruises on her shoulders.
Naelia started up the stairs, heading for the third floor, not waiting for Helen. She caught up anyway. "Those damn Christian missionary wannabes are gonna try to convert me... they'll tell me I'm wrong."
Helen stomped her foot down on the top stair. "No they won't! Our church isn't like that. Besides, are you strong in your own beliefs? Something like Satan is good and God is bad or whatever-ism?"
She stopped and faced the blonde. "That ain't it. The Bible was told from one perspec-"
She grabbed Naelia by the shoulders and shook her, forcing her to smile. "Whatevverrr!! Do you believe it?"
She chuckles softly, shook her head and looked up at her, much more calm now. "Yeah."
"Then there's nothing to worry about!" She smacked her shoulder. "Just come... please! I won't even bother you for a whole month if you come."
Naelia grinned. "Okay." She said that almost too happily.
Helen tightened her face and folded her arms. "You're mean."
"I know." They continued walking entering more hallways. It was less crowded upstairs. Naelia decided to change the subject. "What classes do you have this term?"
"Uhm... World History, then Advanced Honors 2-D Art," Helen continued as Naelia muttered a short curse at the words 'advanced honors'. They were always in competition. "...Choir, and Japanese 2. What about you?"
Naelia studied her hand where she had written her new schedule. "I have creative writing with Danielle... then Asian World, Intro. to 2-D Art, and College Curriculum Standard Japanese 4." This time, Helen winced. Naelia was satisfied with herself, smirking the whole way to Helen's classroom.
Helen waved. "Later."
"Ja mata, ne. (I'll see you later, huh?)" Naelia said, laughed a little laugh that she had developed over the year, and continued down the hallway headed for her own class. That laugh always was sort of conniving.
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Creative Writing
This teacher was a very large, gray haired man. He had a beard like Sean Connery's and he always wore a plaid shirt. Everyone called him 'lumberjack'. He was talking to some boys in the front of the room, and he told them that he was from Canada. The boys burst into laughter. As if that weren't enough, he always said 'eh.' He was the very epitome of stereotype.
Danielle, a dark girl with log curly hair and thick framed glasses, had already found a seat next to Naelia in the back of the room. They were best friends after all.
The bell rang and the class took a few golden moments to settle down and shut up. The teacher smiled and stood before the room. He looked too happy for his own good. He rocked on his heels once and spoke.
"Welcome to creative writing. I'm your teacher, Mister Johnson." He rocked again. "Now, I'll bet you all came in here expecting an easy A, eh?" The boys laughed again. It's funny how even upperclassmen can act like freshman sometimes. "Well, I hate to disappoint you all, but this class is not gong to be easy." He turned around and shuffled through some papers. "This might be another bummer, but uh… I've already got a handout for you guys." He walked down the front of the room, licking his fingers before selecting the amount of papers he needed for each row.
The paper read:
Welcome to Creative Writing. This will be your first Minnesota Grad Standard for the class. As it is required for each student to pass the Minnesota Grad Standard to pass the class, this assignment is very important. Do not lose this sheet.
Object: You must complete this paper before the end of the term. This must be in an essay form and must amount to 5 pages. Double spacing is not allowed and it must be typed in 12-Point Times New Roman font.
Subject: Student choice.
Mr. Johnson returned to the front-center of the room. She folded his hands behind his back and tilted up on his toes. "A paper…" He began. "About anything you desire. Today, I want you guys to start on an outline. Not too hard, eh? I'm going to go make copies of the paper for those of you who didn't get one. I'll be back, eh." He left the room and the students started to talk freely again.
Danielle leaned over and watched Naelia study the paper. "Thinking hard?" She asked. Naelia just nodded. "What are you gonna do yours on?"
Naelia shrugged. "I don't know, how about you?" She looked up and over at her best friend."
Danielle smiled. "My inspiration."
"Anne Bishop?" Naelia started scribbling something on her paper.
"Yeah." She leaned forward to see what her friend was scribbling. Another upside down pentacle. "Heh, freak."
Naelia stood and took a proud bow. "Thank you." She sat on her desktop. "You know, once I was arguing with Carol, you know, the kinda dorky girl? She was arguing with me about Christianity. I had 'Daughter of the Blood' in my hands and I told her it was the Bible of Satan in three parts and that Anne Bishop was a profit of Satan… then that I was… but hey."
Danielle giggled. "Anne Bishop is Wiccan I think. So what did she say?"
The redhead hunched forward, smirking. "Same thing everyone says to me. 'You're going to hell.' Except… she didn't say hell. I swear to God she hasn't grown up since second grade."
"Oh, heeheehee."
"I've got it!" She stood up again. "A paper. Anything I desire. I'll write about my beliefs! Then maybe someone will listen!" She nodded a little and scratched her chin. "I'll pass this easily.
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Hope you like it so far. Be patient for the next chapter.
