Extra Credit Lessons

Communism. The idea that everyone is the same. No one is superior and no one shakes in fear.

That was the topic of my senior thesis that I had chosen for my degree, not because I necessarily agreed with any of the ideas that it presented, but mainly because it was something that interested me. I couldn’t believe that there were countries out there that legitimately imposed an authoritarian regime, under the guise that if everyone pooled their collective resources together, their lives would ultimately be enhanced. It was so fascinating to me that there were people out there who supported these rulers, even though citizens of other nations could easily see how much communism was ruining their wellbeing under a false pretense of prosperity. There was no way people could actually be happy giving up their talents to be part of a totally equal society… right?

As I walked through the next aisle of the history section at my local library, I pulled out as many books as I could find on the subject, nearly breaking my arms as I carried them back to my table. I would probably only be able to glance at half of them, especially since I had procrastinated until my deadline was just around the corner, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t done this sort of thing dozens of times throughout my undergraduate experience.

“This political theory degree had better be worth it!” I thought to myself, shuddering at the idea of having spent all this time and energy just to leave college with a piece of paper, a mountain of debt, and a job that paid just above minimum wage. Before I could stress myself out about my future income, though, I quickly slapped my face as hard as I could, no doubt causing everyone around me to give me weird looks, but at least I would be able to focus on my assignment again.

Just as I had picked up my book on socialist ideologies, however, I began to take notice of a group of kids a few tables over. There were six of them in total, four girls and two boys, and each of them were completely different in looks and personalities. Two of the girls had short, pinkish purple hair, although one of them held herself with an almost overzealous confidence whereas the other seemed much more quiet and reserved. Another girl had long, light blue hair, a slim figure and the ability to speak probably two hundred words a minute, and she was sitting next to an extremely large girl with her brunette hair tied in two adorable loops around her ears. The boys seemed pretty similar to each other, seeing as how both of them seemed pretty laid back while allowing the girls to do most of the talking for them, but the one in the middle--the boy with the green hair--had an expression that didn’t match any of the others.

Suddenly, his eyes lifted up to meet mine, making me quickly bury my face back into my book before I seemed like some kind of crazy stalker girl, but that was just until I could sneak a few glances upwards to fulfill my curiosity.

“Yona no like seafood!” the larger girl shouted, eliciting a dirty glare from the librarian. “Yona prefers to have dumplings.”

“Come on, Yona!” replied the burly short-haired girl. “This is our graduation party we’re talking about! We don’t want it to be like some kind of Thursday night dinner!”

“Because seafood is only saved for special occasions?” said the boy with blue hair sarcastically, lifting an eyebrow.

“Oh, I love having seafood! I have it for special occasions, normal occasions, and sometimes when all I need is a snack! I think it would be a great idea to have it! But then again, I also love dumplings. Oh, has anyone brought up pineapples yet? That’s a good idea too!”

“These all sound like good ideas,” chimed in the timid girl with a quiet smile, “but I think we should pick something that we can all agree on.”

“Don’t you think you guys are getting a little ahead of yourselves?!” Suddenly, the other five kids in the group stopped talking due to the green-haired boy’s abrupt outburst. “In case you haven’t noticed, there won’t be any graduation party unless we actually graduate!”

“Relax, dude,” replied the other boy, bringing his arm around his shoulder. “It’s not like any of us are gonna fail.”

“That may be easy for you to say, but I’m this close to getting a failing grade on my next exam! We’re in a library for a reason, and it’s not to talk about party food!”

The other five kids all looked at each other with mixed faces of concern, but with the sudden mood change in the air, it was obvious to see how awkward it would be to stay any longer. “Right,” the burly girl said, breaking the silence. “Sorry, Sandbar. We’ll let you go back to studying.”

After that, the five kids hovering around the boy with green hair began making their way towards the exit, each with a look of concern on their faces. Before he had the chance to look up and catch me spying again, though, I immediately brought my book up to my face, doing the best job I could to make it look like I was actually studying political theory. Hopefully he would buy it.

“If you’re gonna eavesdrop, you shouldn’t make it so obvious.”

Shoot! Busted! Lowering my book down just below my eyelids, I glanced over at the table he was sitting at, just in case he wasn’t actually talking to me, but as I expected, he was glaring daggers at me with intense irritation.

“Sorry!” I exclaimed loud enough for him to hear a few tables over, eliciting another angry look from the librarian. “I didn’t mean to snoop or anything! I just happened to overhear--”

“Don’t you have a book to read? From the looks of it, you’ve got plenty to study for yourself.”

“I do, but--”

“SSSHHHH!!!!!”

I flinched at the sudden angry shushes coming from practically everyone on my side of the library, clearly indicating how loud our conversation was, but I didn’t want to end the conversation there and leave him angry at me forever! Closing my book, I set it aside with the other mountain of text I had collected and made my way over to the aggravated boy, who stared at me unenthusiastically the entire way there. With a bright smile, I took a seat down next to him, hoping that my attempts to make him less angry wouldn’t end up backfiring on me.

“Anyway,” I began in a much more quiet voice, “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just kinda got caught up in hearing the six of you talking.”

“You’re fine,” he replied, looking back down at his book with a depressed expression. Then came the awkward silence where I felt like I should leave him alone, but by the same token, it would probably be even more awkward if I just left without saying anything else, which would have been the opposite effect of what I was going for!

“Soo… You’re… having trouble in school?”

“I guess you could say I’m having a little bit of trouble staying focused.” There was an obvious bite in the way he spoke, but this gave me the perfect way to play into my next move!

“Well, lucky for you, I happened to graduate with honors when I was in high school. What are you having trouble with? Maybe I could help.”

The boy then sighed, dropping his angry act and flipping over the pages of his textbook with total despondence. “I don’t know if there’s anything you can do to help. I’ve got this paper on the philosophy of friendship that I need to have done by tomorrow, but I’m just not getting the subject matter at--”

“Did you say philosophy?!” I asked, cutting him off with a beaming smile. “That’s what I’m studying for my bachelor’s degree! Well, it’s political philosophy to be exact, but how much different can that be from the philosophy of friendship?”

“Really?” The boy’s eyes suddenly lit up. Yes! If I helped this kid graduate, there would be one less person in the world that hated me! “If you could help me out, I’d really appreciate it! It would be so awkward if I was the only one of my friends who didn’t graduate, and Thursday is the last day I can turn this assignment in.”

I cocked my head to the side, tilting my eyebrow. “Wait. I thought you said you had to have this turned in by tomorrow?”

“Yeah… Today’s Wednesday…” I pulled out my phone just to make sure, but of course, right on the screen was the word ‘Wednesday’. Without giving him any explanation, I quickly began packing up my things into my backpack, moving faster than I probably ever had in my life while leaving him to sit there in confusion. “Uhh… You OK?”

“No time! I thought today was Tuesday! I have my senior seminar in twenty minutes!”

The boy continued to stare as I tried stuffing all eight political theory textbooks in my bag at once, which I was too anxious to be embarrassed about. “So does this mean you can’t help me with my paper after all?”

At that moment, I froze up, realizing that I was about to make him hate me all over again if I just abandoned him now. Pulling out a piece of paper from my notebook, I wrote down my address and phone number, placing it down on his book as I went back to packing.

“Here,” I said hurriedly. “Come to my place at seven o’clock tonight. I’ll help you write your report. I’ll see you later!”

“Wait!” Then, just as I had slipped my backpack over my shoulders, I felt his hand grabbing hold of my wrist. His palm was so warm, and although I was a little embarrassed to admit it, I felt a wave of goosebumps arise across my skin. “Can I at least get your name?”

“Oh, right! I’m Starlight Glimmer.”

Finally, I saw him smile for the first time today, giving my heart another unexpected jolt just from how surprisingly cute he was. “My name’s Sandbar. I’ll see you tonight, Starlight.”

“R-r-r-r-right! I’ll see you later, Sandbar!” I didn’t take three steps forward before I ended up tripping over my own shoes, collapsing onto the ground, but looking back up to see Sandbar’s reaction, I noticed him laughing quietly, which was both adorable and embarrassing at the same time. With a huge blush growing across my face, I got up and made my way out the door with as much dignity intact as I could have hoped for.

Hopefully when he saw me later that night, I wouldn’t end up doing anything that would embarrass myself further, but I probably knew that that was almost inevitable for someone like me.