Status: Complete.
Scribbles of a Broken Heart
More Scheming
I woke up in the middle of the night, finding it hard to breathe. Drops of cool sweat fell down the side of my face as the dream I had slowly pieced together in my mind. I ran both hands through my damp hair as I tried to regulate my breathing. Hesitantly, my hand reached for the cord phone on my bed stand. I glanced at my alarm clock, seeing that it was just past four in the morning.
Praying that my parents were sound asleep, my fingers shakily pressed the familiar sequence of Garrett’s cell phone number. The plastic of the phone slightly cooled my flushed skin as I listened to the rings.
“Please pick up, please pick up.”
I sat up completely and pulled the covers to my shoulders. Anxiety set in deeper as I heard two more rings.
“Constance?” Garrett’s voice was laced with slumber, “Is something wrong?”
“I-it’s not gonna work. Our plan, it isn’t going to be enough.”
“Wait…what? Why are you saying this?”
“Don’t laugh, okay,” I pleaded. “I had this really really bad dream.”
“What happened?”
“It was Christmas day, and my mom invited your parents to our Christmas party. Your parents talked about how you were failing a lot of classes, and my mom started to soften up. But, then my dad walked in, and he heard what your parents were talking about. He started yelling and saying things like, ‘They are never getting back together’ and ‘it isn’t our fault that Garrett’s doing poorly in school, Constance’s grades have never been better.’” I took a breath, “Or something like that.”
“It was just a dream,” he tried to pacify me.
“No!” I denied, failing to keep my voice at a whisper. “Call me crazy, but I think it’s a sign. I mean, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Why should my dad care that you failing when my grades aren’t suffering, and on top of that, have even improved?”
“Don’t you think that you’re just a little overreacting? We haven’t even put the plan into action.”
“But don’t you see, Garrett? We only have one shot at this. My parents will see that we’ve been up to something. If this goes wrong this time, I don’t know if I’m gonna have the strength to try to put things back together again.”
He sighed, not saying anything for a while.
“What are you suggesting?”
I closed my eyes; just saying what I was thinking about doing was difficult. “I’m going to fail the Biology test tomorrow.”
“What?”
“I’m failing that Bio test tomorrow,” I repeated. “I studied really hard. I’ll choose all of the wrong answers.”
“You’re gonna fail on purpose?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that what you were going to do?”
“…Not exactly. I didn’t study, but I was still bound to get a couple right.”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see the gesture. “I’m aiming for a zero percent.”
I could hear his sharp inhale of air. “I can’t believe you’re saying this. Do you know what that’s going to do to your Bio grade?”
“Not just for Bio, but all my classes.”
“You’re talking crazy, Constance! That’s suicide. You’ll go from an over 4.0 GPA to less than a one.”
“I don’t care anymore. Midterms start next week. If I bomb all of those, it'll show on my progress report and deeply effect my semester grade. Progress reports get mailed on the twenty-third. It’ll probably arrive on the twenty-fourth or fifth, just in time to spoil Christmas.”
“N-no, I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? You’re going to do it, what’s the difference?”
“Because I’m not in the top ten percent of the class. I didn’t make Summa Cum Laude last quarter. You have a shot at becoming valedictorian at the end of high school. I’m not going to let you jeopardize that.”
“But I need you back. I want you back for real, so badly. And this will get my parent’s attention for sure.”
“But what if it’s too much?”
Both of us were breathing a little harder. I pulled my knees to my chest and said softly, “They have nothing else to take from me.”
He groaned, “What if they overreact and suffocate you in that house until you’re barely breathing?”
“I trust you’ll resuscitate me,” I replied, keeping with his metaphor. “But we both know this is the best way.”
“It’s suicide,” he said again. “This won’t just gain your parent’s attention, but all your teachers and counselors as well.”
“It’ll be okay.”
His voice was strained, “And how do you know?”
“’Cause we are at the bottom of this shit hole, and we can only go up.”
Praying that my parents were sound asleep, my fingers shakily pressed the familiar sequence of Garrett’s cell phone number. The plastic of the phone slightly cooled my flushed skin as I listened to the rings.
“Please pick up, please pick up.”
I sat up completely and pulled the covers to my shoulders. Anxiety set in deeper as I heard two more rings.
“Constance?” Garrett’s voice was laced with slumber, “Is something wrong?”
“I-it’s not gonna work. Our plan, it isn’t going to be enough.”
“Wait…what? Why are you saying this?”
“Don’t laugh, okay,” I pleaded. “I had this really really bad dream.”
“What happened?”
“It was Christmas day, and my mom invited your parents to our Christmas party. Your parents talked about how you were failing a lot of classes, and my mom started to soften up. But, then my dad walked in, and he heard what your parents were talking about. He started yelling and saying things like, ‘They are never getting back together’ and ‘it isn’t our fault that Garrett’s doing poorly in school, Constance’s grades have never been better.’” I took a breath, “Or something like that.”
“It was just a dream,” he tried to pacify me.
“No!” I denied, failing to keep my voice at a whisper. “Call me crazy, but I think it’s a sign. I mean, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Why should my dad care that you failing when my grades aren’t suffering, and on top of that, have even improved?”
“Don’t you think that you’re just a little overreacting? We haven’t even put the plan into action.”
“But don’t you see, Garrett? We only have one shot at this. My parents will see that we’ve been up to something. If this goes wrong this time, I don’t know if I’m gonna have the strength to try to put things back together again.”
He sighed, not saying anything for a while.
“What are you suggesting?”
I closed my eyes; just saying what I was thinking about doing was difficult. “I’m going to fail the Biology test tomorrow.”
“What?”
“I’m failing that Bio test tomorrow,” I repeated. “I studied really hard. I’ll choose all of the wrong answers.”
“You’re gonna fail on purpose?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that what you were going to do?”
“…Not exactly. I didn’t study, but I was still bound to get a couple right.”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see the gesture. “I’m aiming for a zero percent.”
I could hear his sharp inhale of air. “I can’t believe you’re saying this. Do you know what that’s going to do to your Bio grade?”
“Not just for Bio, but all my classes.”
“You’re talking crazy, Constance! That’s suicide. You’ll go from an over 4.0 GPA to less than a one.”
“I don’t care anymore. Midterms start next week. If I bomb all of those, it'll show on my progress report and deeply effect my semester grade. Progress reports get mailed on the twenty-third. It’ll probably arrive on the twenty-fourth or fifth, just in time to spoil Christmas.”
“N-no, I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? You’re going to do it, what’s the difference?”
“Because I’m not in the top ten percent of the class. I didn’t make Summa Cum Laude last quarter. You have a shot at becoming valedictorian at the end of high school. I’m not going to let you jeopardize that.”
“But I need you back. I want you back for real, so badly. And this will get my parent’s attention for sure.”
“But what if it’s too much?”
Both of us were breathing a little harder. I pulled my knees to my chest and said softly, “They have nothing else to take from me.”
He groaned, “What if they overreact and suffocate you in that house until you’re barely breathing?”
“I trust you’ll resuscitate me,” I replied, keeping with his metaphor. “But we both know this is the best way.”
“It’s suicide,” he said again. “This won’t just gain your parent’s attention, but all your teachers and counselors as well.”
“It’ll be okay.”
His voice was strained, “And how do you know?”
“’Cause we are at the bottom of this shit hole, and we can only go up.”