by Dolphy
It was the time
of the final exams at the Interstellar Academy.The students had to learn lots
of stuff in every subject,from strange formulas in math and important dates of
etherial history to the proper behaviour when it came to diplomacy with other
races.The teachers weren`t really bothered by their student`s full timetable so
they gave them more and more homework every day.Even Jim,who was one of the
best students at the academy,was relieved as the holidays came nearer.It was
just a week but better than nothing and he,as well as Dolphy,really needed some
spare time.On the last day before the vacations started,Jim was taking a nap in
his bed,Dolphy suddenly ripped open the door and came stamping inside,throwing
her backpack with a loud crash on the floor.Jim jumped out of his bed and
looked around him,shooting Dolphy some confused and shocked glances.Before he
could say a word she kneeled down and started to grab several books out of her
backpack,muttering curses Jim had never heard her use till now.
“Those
damn,blasted teacher-jerks!´You don`t have holidays till your graduation!`What
do they think we are,damn learning-robots!?Those f***ing idiots-“
“Dolph?”
She turned
hastily around,as if she hadn`t noticed Jim being in the same room but then
continued with smashing several of her school books violently on the table.
“Hey,I
don`t know what happened but I guess it`s not so good?” asked Jim carefully.
“I
swear,I`m gonna rip ´em into pieces,rip ´em with a sharp pencil,a very sharp
one!“ she snarled as she clenched a math book in her hands,boring her finger
nails into the cover.
“Don`t do
that,ya know how sensitive the principal is when it comes to damaged school
books.”
Dolphy shot
him a blank glare.
“I was
talking about the teachers!”
“Oh.”
Both were
quiet for a short time until Jim decided to break the silence.
“Wanna tell
me about it?” he asked worried.
Dolphy let
out a despaired sigh and let herself fall back on her bed,not making any
attempt to talk to him.
“Okay,here
are the facts.” she said eventually. “I`m more stressed out than I`ve ever been
in my whole life,have totally messed up my report today,are fed up with
learning,need those blasted week of vacation more than anything else and now
those f***ing educating morons decided to give us some extra homework and books
to read so we won`t waste our spare time!”
She took
her pillow and slammed it against the wall.To her surprise the pillow suddenly
transformed into a pink blob which shook its head dizzily.
“Morph,I
told ya more than once not to pretend to be one of my things!” yelled Dolphy
furiously.
The little
shapeshifter quickly flew to Jim and hid behind his shoulder.
“Sorry,I`m
sorry.” she added hastily. “Morph,I didn`t mean it,I just…oh,man!”
She put her
face in her hands and let them violently run through her hair.Being almost on
the verge of insanity she quickly looked up as she felt Jim`s hand on her
shoulder.
“I can help
you if you want.My teachers aren`t as cruel as yours so I have some time to-“
“No.”
interrupted Dolphy sternly and put his hand away. “You do your work and I do
mine.”
“Okay,okay.”
answered Jim,feeling a little bit offended. “Just wanted to help ya.”
“No big
deal.” meant Dolphy coldly,took some of her exercise books and her writing
utensils and made her way to the door.
“I`m going to
the library,dunno when I`ll come back.”
And with
that she slammed the door shut behind her.Morph left his hiding-place behind
Jim and flew to the door,gazing at it for a moment and then back to face
him.The pink blob transformed into a miniature of Dolphy who quickly changed
into an exploding vulcano and then into his usual form,looking questioningly at
him .
“I don`t
know what`s wrong with her,Morph.I`ve never seen her behave so aggressively.”
said Jim,still being shocked about Dolphy`s sudden bad temper.
She had
been stressed like all the other students,too,but had never lost her good mood
and even made her jokes and laughed a lot…well,until now.
For the
next few days Dolphy didn`t talk very much,all she did was sitting either in
the library or in their room and leaning over her books.When Jim got up in the
morning she was already scribbling summaries in her pad and when he went to bed
in the evening she was still sitting there.The only times she left her place
were when she was hungry and needed to go to the cafeteria.Jim had to do some
homework,too,of course,but since it wasn`t much and not all that difficult it
was no big problem for him to finish it over the weekend.With every day that
passed Dolphy got more nervous and aggressive and the only thing she said
during this time was that she wouldn`t finish her work in time.Jim really
wanted to help her because she seemed to reach her limits but every time he
offered his help she snapped at him that she would manage it on her own.One
afternoon they had a very heavy argument which resulted in Jim storming out of
the room in order to go solar-surfing and letting her pout and curse.Morph
decided to join him since he was way too afraid of Dolphy right now.
“Who does
she think she is!?” yelled Jim as a went out of the academy.
“We`re all
fed up with school but she pretends to be the only one who has to work!”
Inside
their room Dolphy was again letting her anger out on her school books,which
already looked rather abused by now.
“Yeah,yeah,Mr.
I-know-and-can-do-everything-Hawkins!Lemme help you ´cause I`m da genius and
you’re a fool,you poor little girl,you!” she snarled to herself.
Shouting
out curses at everything and everybody quickly made her hungry so she made her
way towards the cafeteria.Since it was 3 : 47 in the afternoon she had to
realize that noone was there,no cook,no other students and the worst of all :
no food.She rolled her eyes annoyed
to the
ceiling and just as she wanted to leave she noticed that the entry to the
kitchen was open.Making sure that
really nobody else was around she slowly went to the door and put her head
through the split.
“Uhm,hello?Anybody
there?” she asked.
As she got
no response she quietly sneaked into the kitchen and started to inspect the
shelves and cupboards until she found something she hadn`t searched for but
appreciated nonetheless.
When Jim
came back in the evening he had calmed down from the argument and was ready to
face Dolphy again.He opened the door to their room and the first thing he saw
was Dolphy sitting on her bed with a book in her lap and putting something
hastily under her pillow.She had an upset and nervous look on her face so Jim
quickly got aware that something wasn`t right.
“What`s
that?” he asked sternly but without raising his voice.
“None of
your business!” snapped Dolphy furiously.
Jim went to
her and violently lifted the pillow,ignoring her wild complainings.
“Hey,what
d`you think you`re doing!?” she yelled.
He took the
bottle which was lying there in his hand and hold it in front of her face.
“Are you
crazy!?Where`d you get that alcohol!?”
“JIM!!!You`re
not my father,so stop behaving like one!”
“You`re not
allowed to drink,you`re way too young!”
“On my home
planet I`m old enough to drink alcohol!”
“But you
aren`t on your home planet here!”
“Yeah,wish
I was,now gimme that back!”
“No.”
“Jim!”
“NO!!!”
She tried
to attack him but failed and landed crashing on the floor.
“Dolphy!Are
you okay?” asked Jim worried.
“Damn,why
don`t you just lemme alone!?” she sobbed while she stared at the floor.
“Dolphy,I-“
“Okay,you`ve
won,are you pleased now!?”
Jim put the
bottle away and kneeled down to her,giving her a concerned and questioning
look.
“What do
you mean?”
“You`re
better than me,alright!?” she answered,still not facing him. “You have no
problem with learning and homework and all those exams,you`re smart,you can
understand everything in a matter of seconds.I`m overtaxed as soon as there`s
more to do than drawing some sketches on a piece of paper,I can`t understand
that complicated stuff ´cause I`m stupid,okay?I admit it,I`m stupid!”
Tears began
to roll down her cheeks and she put her arms around herself.Jim made an attempt
to hug her but she backed away,not allowing him to even touch her.
“Don`t pity
me,I HATE people pitying me!It only makes me feel even more minor and them
feeling like they were the bests!” she yelled.
“I don`t
pity you,I just want to help you.” meant Jim comfortingly.
“Why?`Cause
you wanna show what a great genius you are!?” snapped Dolphy,provoking him on
purpose and expecting another thundering argument.
“No.”
answered Jim softly. “`Cause you`re my friend and ´cause I love you.”
Dolphy
finally looked him in the eyes only to see him smiling understandingly at
her.He hesitantly touched her cheek with his hand,removing the tears that
wettened her face.Then she collapsed into his arms,pressed her face against his
chest and couldn`t hold back more tears any longer.Both teenagers kneeled on
the floor,Dolphy sobbing in his shirt and Jim holding her tight and stroking
her back comfortingly.She had thrown her arms around his upper body and hold on
to him for dear life,it seemed.
“Ssshhh,it`s
alright.” whispered Jim reassuringly while he gently let his fingers run
through her hair. “It`s alright.”
After a
while Dolphy had calmed down a bit but was still hugging him tightly.Jim
observed her with worried eyes.
“Have you
really thought I`d be one of those guys who love showing off?” he asked,his
voice not angry or reproachful but apparently earnestly concerned.
Dolphy
didn`t respond.Instead,she hesitantly began to play with the collar of his
shirt,her hands slowly stroking over its surface.Jim put one of his fingers
under her chin and lifted her head carefully so they were face to face.
“Please
tell me.” he added urgently.
Dolphy
wanted to look away but he didn`t let her and hold her face gently but firmly
in his hand.She searched for words,made an attempt to talk but stopped before
she had said anything.Eventually she forced herself to reply.
“No…no,I
didn`t see you that way.It`s just…I-I felt so inferior to you ´cause you have
this ability to learn so-so fastly and I`ve never seen you having problems with
anything…Guess I was…well,jealous.”
There was
an uncomfortable silence between the two.
“I`ve
worked so much and for so long but that stuff won`t stay in my head,ya
know?…It`s too difficult.”
“But why haven`t you told me that earlier?And how does it come that
you`ve been so aggressive since Friday and haven`t shown any sign of stress
before?I always thought you had everything under control.”
“…I haven`t
told you this yet,but…it has nearly driven me crazy for the last…for many
weeks.”
Jim shook
his head in disbelief.
“Why,you-you
appeared to be so relaxed,you made jokes and-and why didn`t I realize that you
had so much to do?”
Dolphy stood
up and sat down on her bed,followed by Jim who did the same next to her.
“I thought
making jokes would save me from drowning in stress so I acted like nothing
would bother me…And the reason you haven`t noticed anything was quite simple.”
Jim shot
her a questioning look which begged for her to continue.
“I`ve done
my homework and learned at night while you and Morph were asleep.At first I
fell asleep in the lessons some times but coffee can cause real wonders.”
She tried
to smile but Jim`s serious expression didn`t vanish.
“You`re not
the stupid one of us.” he said suddenly.
“What?Why?”
“I should
have noticed that something`s wrong with you but-“
“Jim.”
interrupted Dolphy him and laid her hand on his. “Blaming oneself is my
job,´kay?”
She
squeezed his hand softly and he looked at her,a small smile appearing on his
face.
“Can you do
me a favour?” she asked shyly. “Could you…help me with some of my exercises for
school?”
Jim`s smile
widened.
“Sure,if
you want.Uhm,what`s your biggest weakness?”
“Math.” she
answered without even pondering.
“Oh,that`s
gonna be so much fun!” laughed Jim sarcastically.
“Yeah,so
funny that we`ll wanna die!” agreed Dolphy and was gently hugged by him.
She grinned
satisfied and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
“Thanx,Jim.And
sorry again for behaving like a mad dragon.”
“No big
deal.” he smiled and kissed her softly,making her feel like everything was
gonna be okay.
No matter
how much stress and work was waiting for them,no matter how hopeless a
situation was going to be,he would always be by her side…
You
think there`s no hope left
You fear
the night will never end
The
darkness is too powerful
Despair
has got the best of you
makes
you feeling so alone.
You`re
searching for the light out there
You
cannot find it anywhere
The pain
is too intense
Coldness
has the upper hand
makes
you feeling so alone.
You`ve
almost given up to fight
You`re
weak and miss the light
But
don`t stop having faith
Listen,do
you hear the voice?
You are
not alone.
There`s
somebody who cares for you
Offers you
a helping hand
Gives
you strength
And
gives you hope
You will
never be alone.