Page 18 of Barefoot Chaos
7
Hessa
Tuesday was a hellish day of questions from my students regarding my mystery dare. I explained over and over again that a dare from outside the program, not endorsed by the program, was not acceptable. There were rules and checks in place in the program so that dares were handled responsibly. I would not be engaging with my mystery dare partner. Period.
By last period, I was sure I'd have a mutiny on my hands soon. My students were hell-bent on making me see their side of the situation. If they had to stretch out of their comfort zones by their dares, I should have to also. The whole point of Care Dare was to stretch yourself and do something that was previously thought beyond your limits. To their minds, my song writing, something I never spoke of before, was perfect for a dare.
I did see their point, but beyond my fear of publicly singing my songs, I didn't feel comfortable being forced into something by a masked instigator hiding behind his or her keyboard. It was like a terror negotiation and they always say not to give in to negotiating. So there I'd stand, not giving in, but also facing the wrath of my students who felt I was holding myself to a different standard, one that had the luxury of not choosing to face fears in the form of dares. Never mind the fact that I was a teacher, not a student and therefore exempt from the dares.
A headache was brewing and I was as joyous as my students to hear the bell ring, signaling the end of the school day. All I wanted was peace and quiet. And my e-reader loaded with a good RomCom to transport me to another place, where Happy Ever Afters were guaranteed.
I jammed all my papers to grade in my tote bag and started the long trek to my car. My phone rang from somewhere in the depths of my bag. I placed my dirty travel coffee mug on my car's trunk. I rummaged around at the bottom of the bag, finally snagging the phone. I dropped my keys as I swiped to answer it before it quit ringing. I was a mess.
"Hello?" Damn, I should have checked who was calling before answering. It could have been my father, needing money from wherever he happened to be in that death trap of an RV he lived in.
"Hessa? It's Bailey. You okay?"
"Yes, hi. Sorry, dropped my keys when I answered the phone. What's up?" I swung my hefty bag onto the back seat and dropped into the driver's seat, immediately propping the phone in the crook of my neck to reach down and take my heels off. I was hoping to get feeling back in my toes sooner rather than later.
"I heard about you being dared to sing. I thought Esa and I should swing by and talk to you about it. You got plans tonight?"
"Um. No." Wait, how did she hear about it? And why did they want to talk about it?
"Okay, great. We'll be over around seven with food. You like sushi?"
"Yeah, sushi is great."
"See you soon then!" Bailey hung up on me before I even gave her my home address.
I was on my second glass of wine, which was unusual on any night, but especially on a school night. But saying no to the twin hurricane that was Bailey and Esa was nearly impossible. The sushi went down easy and I found the company stellar. I was finally seeing the benefit of being part of the Beach Squad. It wasn't all running on the beach till you thought you'd puke your guts out. It was also drinking wine and talking about anything and everything with friends who understood.
Esa dropped her voice way down deep to imitate Ivan, "No babe, we can't have a pig carry the rings down the aisle." Bailey and I cracked up laughing. She continued in her normal voice. "But they're so cute! Have you seen the micro pigs? I don't understand why he doesn't want that at our wedding." Esa was pouting and I felt for her, but I kinda saw where Ivan was coming from. There's a time and place for pigs and I didn't think a wedding on the beach was the right one.
"Oh girl, you gotta let that shit go. There's no pig, micro or otherwise, that's gonna hoof it through the sand to deliver your ring. Just be normal for once and borrow someone's kid to use as ring bearer." Bailey, shockingly, was the voice of reason.
"Aha! I know! How about a tortoise?" Esa jumped up from the couch, thinking her idea was the perfect solution. "I mean, they're made to trek through sand!"
Bailey and I cracked up again. This was going from bad to worse. I had to stop her and the wine in my system was going to help. "You know how slow a tortoise is, right? You'd have to start it down the aisle before you even start your vows, just to get it there in time. What if it stops to nibble on someone's dress? Or worse, takes a shit in the middle of your wedding. I love you, Esa, but you're a blithering idiot right now, fueled solely by that third glass of wine."
Esa shot me a frown, crossing her arms and sitting back down in a huff.
"While Esa gets over her snit, why don't you update us on the singing thing?" Bailey put her glass down on the coffee table, leaning closer to make sure she got the full scoop.
I sighed. Hopefully this would go better than when I talked to my students about it. I brought them up to speed on the social media hacking, the dare, and my arguments with my students.
"Ah, that's a rough situation you've been put in, Hess." Bailey looked sympathetic. Esa had dropped the pout and was now wrapped up in my predicament.
"I think you should totally do it!" Esa was back to clapping her hands and bouncing on my couch. "Practice on us. Sing a song."
"Oh no. I'm not singing in public or for you. You guys, this is so crazy private. No one was even supposed to know I wrote songs! I write as a way to process my feelings. It's an outlet for me that was never supposed to be public." Now I was the one pouting.
"So you've never shown anyone your songs?" Esa asked, mouth dropped open.
"No!"
"Wait, is it the singing or the song writing you like?" Bailey asked.
"Mostly the song writing. The singing is just what I do to make sure the melody works with the lyrics."
