Water Prank

Mrs. Morine never smiles. She always frowns at us through her heavy glasses with old-fashioned frames and picks on those whose eyes begin to sag with sleepiness under her tonelessly delivered lecture. This tedious class has the magical quality where those who are within ear shot of Mrs. Morine’s voice retain nothing of the lecture and desire to fall into a deep slumber. Most will fail to beat her soporific magic and fall asleep. Julia and I are the exception; we hide our phones under the table and mock her way of speaking through text, fending off the magic by shifting attention to gossip. I believe that she sees our tiredness for that we always get picked. I don’t like it when she puts me on the spot, and so I feign not hearing her words while standing up reluctantly till she is weary of my careless attitude and gives in. If Julia is picked, she’ll relish the glare of Mrs. Morine and tease her by imitating her mean voice.

Today, Mrs. Morine wears a black dress decorated with a purple brooch, walking into the class as usual. A bucket of water topples from the half-open door, which Mrs. Morine is trying to open. Instantly the book she is holding and half of her body is soaked in water. The buckets alone side with the liquid hit her on the face and covers her head. Water spills everywhere. Mrs. Morine, who stands motionlessly, is totally stupefied by the boldness of her students. She proceeds to hurl the bucket toward the front row of seats, and I see her face brimming with unmitigated rage. There is no one sitting in the front seats because they knew the water would splash on them. Although uncomfortable at first thinking the prank went too far, soon I start to laugh with the other kids who point and laugh at Mrs. Morine’s drenched figure. Suddenly, she smashes her book onto the table with all her strength and wails regardless of our reaction. We are all stunned as she begins to cry and stare at each other abashedly. A few moments later, this prank is ended by Mrs. Morine as she storms away from the classroom.

“Look at her face! Who does she think she is?” Julia roar with laughter and keeps on slamming the table, “she thought we would be heartbroken to see her left the class!”

“Ugh, I don’t even want her to be in my class!”

They all seem to be satisfied with the outcome and start to chat about something else. Yet, I am pricked by my guilt. Seeing Mrs. Morine’s receding figure brings me anxiety; although she fails to become a great teacher, she never treated us unnfairly. I also see her effort of kept on trying to make us engaged in the class.  

This prank is too much! When we treat our teacher like this, what is the difference between this and bullying people? I suddenly realize that whole thing is wrong. We should communicate with our teacher about our dissatisfaction and help her fit in in the first place rather than fight her and make her uncomfortable. We are allies, not enemies!

As soon as I understand the cause of my emotion, I can not follow the crowd anymore. I leave the room using my fastest speed to follow that disappearing figure.

“Gina! Where are you going?” Julia noticed my act and shouted confusingly.

But I ignored her and left.

“Mrs. Morine, Mrs. Morine! ” I call her name while gasping for air.

She sits on the bench of the school garden with a depressed face. When she heard my voice, she looks up with astonishment and hidden alert. In fact, I am astonished as well by my erupt realization and sudden act. 

“What do you want? ”She cleaned her emotion and pretended to be calm.

My heart is stabbed by her unfriendly voice and her distrust, especially that she regards me as the same as the others. 

“No, I just want to apologize for…” before I finish my word, she interrupted me.  

“There is no need.” Mrs. Morine’s voice is not as cold as before. 

Then she looks away and says: “Do you really think apology can compensate for everything? Naive!” 

For some reason, I know she is not talking to me. I capture the pain and grief that seems to have no connection with what just happened, and later I know that indeed she is not talking about the prank that happened to her. 

That night I discovered why Mrs. Morine acts so emotional and asked me the strange question in the day. My mother tells me she met her early that morning while attending a volunteering session to collect garbage on the beach. As my mother praised Mrs. Morine’s black dress, she told my mother it was in honor of her husband who passed away on April Fools’ day three years ago. The husband saw a teenager who got cramps when swimming in the ocean, but he was unaware that this boy was merely pretending. When a great wave hit them while the man was saving the boy, they both were suffocated by salt water. Eventually, the husband is unable to make his way back to the land, but he lifted the boy and saved his life. From then on, she spent every morning collecting garbage on the beach where she loses her husband. So that the last place of his presence will always be clean. That is why Mrs. Morine hated any prank and disliked teenagers!  

 I am speechless when my mother finished talking, and I can’t hold my regret and guilt for that I did not stop their action. She must be heartbroken by the pranks of the students and be reminded of her husband’s death; that was why she could not control her emotion! I open my mouth for a second, trying to tell my mother about what happened this afternoon and closed it without speaking a word. The shame is too much to speak it in the open and overwhelms me.