Apprehension, Hesitation, Fear and Regret

It was April 12, 2010, the first day back from the previous ten-day break all the students and teachers received the week before. The effects of the break seemed extremely evident that day, with the majority of the students, sitting idle in their classrooms, were not learning but slightly dosing off. The repeat requests of explanations and constant questions of whether or not they actually learned that the week before break were thrown around in every classroom that day. The equally confused freshman, Denise Orlino, wondered when this spring break daze was going to end, and silently wished for the days when she was not so lost in her classes. 12:30 in the afternoon, Denise mechanically, habitually, and robotically, floated up to her sixth period class. Clad in a plaid button-up shirt, orange sweatshirt, and purple jeans she stumbled into Computer Applications and stepped over to computer number 22. She fell into her chair, exhausted even though it has only been about five hours of school, forty minutes of which she spent sleeping in the cafeteria, and looked around her. The room was relatively empty, save for a couple of other people who arrived earlier than she did. The twenty-six bright gray computers, some black, all shared the same blue screen that begged for somebody to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Denise herself shook her head in an effort to clear it slightly, and entered her account to prepare for that day’s lesson. A few more people came in until the school bell rung. A lot more students ran inside the class attempting to beat the bell. Still a few more stragglers walked in, however still not escaping the eyes of the teacher. It was at that moment when Denise, so intent on the thought of the day’s end, did she remember that, that day was when they continued their presentations of their Machinimas, or animated stories presented using PowerPoint. Denise’s heartbeat slightly quickened as she sighed and opened her presentation.
She looked over the PowerPoint, suddenly regretting and criticizing everything that she had included. Her friends around her urged her to present, but she still refused, convinced that the story was too long and boring to be shown to a large amount of people. She continued to fiddle with the presentations, making quick adjustments just in case she decided to actually present. Denise, at the moment, wished that it was still spring break, the time where she did not have to worry about any of this. The first presenter appeared at the front of the class, her voice loud and clear and as she advanced the slides that flew in on the class’s Smart Board. After the first presentation Denise wrung her hands, still extremely nervous. Eventually, the teacher decided to call out the names of those who have yet to present their Machinimas. When Denise heard her name she nodded to the question of whether or not she was going to send it to the teacher’s email. She sent it, her neighbor wondering why. Denise shrugged and tapped her nervous foot on the ground. It was time to present again, the teacher called another person’s name. Denise was extremely relieved, thankful for a few more minutes until she completely embarrassed herself. The other presenter completed and the teacher stood up to call out the next person. Denise heard her name and swallowed deeply. She stepped up to the teacher, palms slightly sweaty, heart in her throat and fingers tapping on the side of her leg. She turned around to see all of her classmates, who, to her, seemed to be a lot more than she remembered, and looked to her teacher. She explained to her all of the problems with her presentation, that it was too long, too boring, and that it simply went on and on. The teacher, not convinced, went through it once and deemed it worthy enough to be presented. Denise, the nervousness finally getting to her, told her teacher she really did not want to present. She asked if she was sure, and Denise nodded, at that time not trusting her voice. The teacher told her that it was a fine presentation, and that she would receive a perfect score if she simply presented it. Denise shook her head and the teacher nodded. She told her that she would have to take away twenty-five points away from the otherwise perfectly fine Machinima, and Denise, relieved but extremely angry at herself, sat back down at computer number 22. Her friends wondered what happened, and she told them everything. 1:12 in the afternoon, Denise was still in computer class and she thinks to herself if she really wanted all of that to happen. And Denise, at the time a little more regretful than usually, walked out of the computer class with thoughts of what had occured and mentally pulverizied herself because of the simple fact that she could not present the story in class that day. But, she trudged on the remainder of the school hours, trying to focus in her later classes despite the fact that her head was still in the spring break clouds.