The Day Anne Parker Lost Her Voice

Chapter One Call me Jesse. Jesse Mendes. Here are a few things you should know about me: 1) I play sports. It’s basically my whole life. 2) I’m not quite the celebrity at school but, hey – I’ve got a lot of friends, so I’m quite well known. And 3) I go to the same school where Anne Parker goes. Who is Anne Parker, you ask? I don’t actually know her. Not yet, anyway. Summer has officially ended and it was the start of the school year. Again. If you ask me, I’d quite prefer it more if school didn’t start at all. I never really get along well with the teachers or keep up with my homeworks, I say that for transparency. You could say I’m kind of a bad egg. But, eh, who really cares? Heading straight into the new homeroom right before the bell rings, I quickly flopped down onto the desk furthest away from the board and right beside the window. That, my friends, is the best spot in any classroom you’re going to be stuck with for the rest of term. Take my word and might as well make out the best of it. And if I ever ran out of ways on entertaining myself by constantly picturing the teacher’s blowing up mid-lesson, there’s always the view outside to enjoy rather than suffer the never-ending, t*****e-inducing lectures. Students were starting to flock into the room. Some of them I knew and was friends with, some I just see every day and have no absolute idea what their names were. I smile and nod at them kids and leaned back onto my seat to relax. God, I was hoping real bad I’d end up in the same class with Dale. “Sorry!” I glare up at this person who’s just smacked their ginormous bag into my head. “Watch it,” I say gruffly and went back to minding my own business. Jesus. I just couldn’t wait for this day to end. Laughter erupted from the back of the room, disturbing the peace and quiet I was attempting to manifest within my mind. The kids behind were happily yammering and laughing over, no doubt, something stupid. Great, something I didn’t ask for so early in the morning – overwhelming positivity. I spot one of them. It’s the girl who whacked me in the head with her oversized schoolbag. I shifted on my seat as I eyed her. Normally, I don’t usually engage into chick-watching but this one caught my attention. I mean, who still brings schoolbags these days? There was nothing really out of the ordinary about her. She looks just the way most girls look, except for that blinding yellow shirt that makes you want to carve your eyes out and replace them with new ones. A shade darker and brighter and she’d pass as a traffic cone. Also, she was loud. So loud you’d hear her from another room two doors down. I could feel a migraine forming. “Jesse!” Dale hollers as he enters the room. Finally. Dale and I would be in the same class this year – same as every year, just the way I like it. I grinned and slapped his hand, glad that there was at least salvation for me in this hell-hole. Our homeroom teacher was a real bore. He’s called Mr. Fitzgerald. I didn’t bother to remember his first name. What’s the point anyway? Such a waste of brain storage. The other kids seemed to like him though. I don’t. But it’s not like I had something against him. To be fair, I never really liked most teachers that much. The kids from the back of the class were still as loud as heck and they were starting to do my head in. I slowly started to faze them out of my peripheral view, until one of them suddenly hit the back of my chair as they writhed around like salted slugs behind. I gritted my teeth and seethed quietly. Maybe I was simply being cranky because I was having first day of class jitters and I didn’t know much people in our class except for Dale or maybe it was because this was the last place I wanted to be in. Either way, I was starting to get irritated. “Can’t you knock it off?” I say finally when I’ve had enough of the unsolicited blows from their wrestling mania at the back of the room. I met her honey-colored gaze as she froze in an awkward position. All her mates have quieted down, including her. Not a single one of them moved as I met with their eyes one by one. Satisfied, I turn back around to face the front. “You still the boss, man,” Dale whispers from across the aisle. Thinking the chaos was over, I smile to myself not expecting this big ball of crumpled-up paper flying in the air to smack me in the back of my head. Fits of quiet laughter erupted from behind me. My eyes narrowed into slits. I was pretty sure steam was coming out of my ears. Amidst the hooligans who should be praying for their lives by now, sat the colorblind girl turning red as she tried to hold her laughter in. She scoots across the aisle towards me to pick up the crumpled ball of paper. “Sorry,” she says. My jaw twitched. “Guys, guys, what is with the ruckus in there?” Fitzgerald asked, pointing a chalk at our direction. “You, what’s your name, miss?” She straightens up, hid the ball behind her and beamed at the teacher innocently. “It’s Anne, sir. Anne Parker.” “Okay, Anne, would you mind helping me out with these books?” He smiles, nodding at the stack on his desk. “Hand them out to the people on your row, especially to your friends at the back who seems pre-occupied with a private joke I didn’t quite catch.” I glanced back at the monkeys behind me, going red from stifling too much laughter when there was nothing really funny in particular. They’ll realize that later on after class. Anne Parker, a kiss a*s, nodded dutifully at Fitzgerald and sauntered her way towards the front. And to make everything even better, her foot gets caught against the strap of my bag lying peacefully on the floor, sending all of the stuffs, even the ones I didn’t want anyone seeing, scattering across the floor in a wild mess, attracting all the other kids’ attention. I fought the urge to wring the life out of this girl as I took a deep, deep breath. “Oh,” was all she could say as I bent down begrudgingly to pick my things up. “I’m sorry. Let me help –” Without warning, she leaned in too fast and smacked her steel of a forehead against my head. I swear I saw the Andromeda galaxy forming in my vision. “It’s fine,” I said through gritted teeth. I’ve already lost count of all her offenses in a single sitting. “I’ll do it myself.” Shrugging, she went to collect the books from the desk up front while some other kid helped her distribute the books around the class. “Here.” She smiles, handing out a fat text book towards me all the while dangerously balancing a pile that went past her head. It was my fault for letting my guard down. Also, it was Fitzgerald’s too. I mean, who on their right minds would let a small, scrawny girl like her pick all those books up. As soon as I reached out for the book, next thing I knew the whole tower was crashing down onto me. “What the hell is your problem?!” I froze, realizing I’ve jumped out from my chair and was now towering over this small, pathetic i***t in front of me. It took me some time to notice that all eyes latched on to me so I slowly slid back to my chair. Even Dale was gaping at me. Fitzgerald never noticed anything. He was busily scrawling on the old, squeaky board. Anne Parker stared at me, wide eyed and quiet. “Such a clumsy i***t,” I murmur under my breath, just loud enough for her to hear as I glowered. She looked at me. “Well, I’m sorry!” she says, sarcasm oozing in her voice. She drops the book into my desk with a loud thud and brushed past my shoulder. I sigh as I lithely pick up the book, shaking my head. Girls. I felt a tap on my back. It’s her again. “I’m sorry, okay?” Big brown eyes met mine. I stared back. I wasn’t one to be fazed. “OK.” This is going to be a long morning. “Alright!” I jumped at the sound of Fitzgerald’s voice. I wince as I stared up at him. He was looking at me expectantly. How this old guy suddenly popped out of thin air, I had no idea. “We now move on to you, Mr…?” Fitzgerald raised his eyebrows. I raised my eyebrows at him in return. “Would you mind introducing yourself to the whole class?” All the other kids were looking my direction with hungry, blank stares. I sighed. Right, first day of school means mandatorily introducing yourself to people you don’t even know. Geez, how long have I spaced out? “Jesse,” I say half-heartedly and turned my head away, praying he’d leave me alone. “Get up from your chair and don’t be shy, buddy!” He gives me a punch on the shoulder which I found extremely irritating. I hate it when adults act as if they are close buddies with you. My jaw twitched out of habit as I dragged myself up from my seat. Grumpily, I tugged on my shirt to straighten my clothes and ran a hand through my hair. “It’s Jesse,” I said. “The name’s Jesse.” My eyes travelled across the classroom. Everyone watched me intently, without a word. I had no idea what they were thinking but a few looked nervous, looking away when I met their eyes. Just like that – no applause, no anything. Until the goons from behind started cracking up. “Okay, guys, guys,” Fitzgerald started to say. “What’s going on?” I turn to glower at the group sitting behind me. They were grinning like the lunatics they were and gasping for air to breathe from laughing too much. Unconsciously, my fingers reached out to my back and I felt the unmistakable texture of paper. Oh, they better cherish their last moments of being able to taste air because I will suffocate them myself later. Written on the small, sticky note taped to the back of my shirt were the words: I’M A BIG TEDDY BEAR Furious, I balled it in my fist. Very funny. Anne Parker was proudly brandishing a Sharpie around, proud to announce to the world that she was indeed the culprit. She stops when she sees me and awkwardly hid the marker, refusing to meet my gaze. From that day on, I had despised her down to my very core. I pay no attention to her for the rest of the following days. I do a very good job of shunning her out of my view by pretending she’s not there but sometimes it’s just too much work. Her presence alone irritates the hell out of me. She was one heck of an eyesore. Every single day she wears these really bright-colored clothes that’s so intense, it’s enough sear your vision away. Permanently. She’s like one huge megawatt light bulb casually walking around. And then she has this tiny guitar thing she lugs around with her and makes these awful noises that makes my ears want to bleed. Each strum is like someone raking through my brain. It sounded a lot like Lucifer himself playing the fiddle for the Hellish Orchestra. Every single thing she does narks me. She’s always very loud and bouncy. It’s like she couldn’t keep still and sit down for one moment to save her own life. And all the time she keeps on going like: ‘Hi, Jesse, how you feeling today?’ ‘Hi, Jesse! Did you do your homework?’ ‘Jesse, what are you doing today?’ ‘Jesse, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to throw that Frisbee into your head!’ ‘Jesse!’ ‘Jesse!’ ‘JESSE –’ All she ever did was annoy me as if it were the sole purpose of her existence. She was a pain in the head. Literally. “Damn it,” I muttered, turning around to face her. I bent to pick up the stupid Frisbee from the grass as I rubbed the side of my head. She carefully saunters across the grass towards me. She was grinning from ear to ear as if seeing me in pain was highly entertaining. “I’m sorry,” she says to me for the hundredth time. Honestly, I’ve lost track. It’s all she ever says to me. Like they were the only words she knew. “Here, throw it back to me.” I narrowed my eyes. “Yeah, right,” I say. “You want this back? Here.” With a forceful swing, I flung the Frisbee towards the other direction. I squint through the harsh sunlight as I watched it disappear into a tiny speck in the distance. I turn back to her with a smirk on my face. “My bad, I didn’t mean to throw it that hard,” I said before stalking off. She never picked up the clue that I didn’t like her and that I wanted her out of my sight. Boy, was she dumb.