The Foyer and Bale Memorial (Part I)

The indoor basketball court or gym room was now packed. After two hours of students and teachers filing in, people finally got settled in the stands. The stands were occupied by the students and just beside them, chairs had been placed for the teachers. In the middle of the court was the podium and five metres to its right sat the victims' families. The chairs were arranged in pairs and in the lead were Justin Foyer's younger sister and mother and behind them were Justin's other relatives and Miss Bale's relatives as well. They had not been formally introduced. All of them summed up were at least twelve.

Sineas and Clarissa were in the top stands, sitting patiently like the rest of the students, waiting for the service to get underway. A few teachers had attempted to quieten the students' conversations down but were barely successful. They decided to give up. Even the hard-shelled Mr. Regwizini had tried his military no-nonsense tactics but had failed. Finally, the Master of Ceremony, Principal Ned Stanley walked through the doors. Right away, the court became dead silent. This was not Mr. Regwizini. This was a man who had the power to throw you out of the school and tell you to never come back.

He brushed the sleeves of his black suit making his way to the podium, his glittering shoes clopping loud on the waxed floor.

Finally, he arrived at the pulpit. He took a moment to browse the students, then the teachers. He gave a sympathetic bow towards the families of the victims then he looked forward again. He adjusted the microphone then lowered his head. He cleared his throat.

He said, 'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and above all; the families of the deceased,' he gave them another sympathetic bow. 'It's obvious that you are all aware why we are gathered here. Only a blink of an eye has passed since Malrich High School lost one of its best star players and its young Biology teacher. Such promising talent snatched away from us by some degenerate that takes pride in pandemonium. But this is not a day to mourn, or weep, or wail. This…is a day of remembrance. A day of honour. A day to remember them and to honour them for the joy and love they brought to us. I never knew Justin personally but news of his excellence always found its way to my ears. Justin had never done any wrong according to my knowledge. He was not into drugs, he was not into school fights and mischief like all the other kids are these days. Instead, he worked tirelessly to earn his scholarships. The fruits of the labourer. Justin played rugby like he was born into it, they told me. And, I met Miss Bale two years ago when she walked into my office on a cool spring afternoon. She was young and hungry and I knew right there and then that she was exactly what this school needed. Anyway, without wasting anymore of your time, I shall call upon our first speaker. One of Justin's closest friends; Miss Viola Jones.'

There was loud applause as Bubblegum girl made her way down the stands towards the pulpit dressed in her highly deceptive attire. She gave a quick, respectful nod towards the families before she stood behind the pulpit. The entire room could hear the popping of her gum. It sounded like someone was getting slapped inside her mouth. She looked around at the audience, chewing away insensitively as if daring anyone to tell her to spit it out.

She began, 'Wassup, everybuddy.'

The audience had been caught off-guard and they all gave different responses. She chewed on her gum some more eyeing the stands. She turned to look at the families. She nodded. 'You cool?'

Their responses sounded like two dying washing machines. They just didn't correspond.

Bubblegum girl returned her smacking lips to the microphone. 'Justin and I was very close. He culled me "V" and I culled him "J". When I first met Justin, it was after a basketball game. He was tired from scoring three touchdowns in the first half. My dude, J walked up ta me and asked me for summa dat C.'

The crowd was hopeless. Their expressions looked like they were trapped between agony and curiosity.

'C is for coolade,' she explained.

The crowds let out an 'Oooh'. They had learned something.

She continued, 'You gotta understand; J was a cool dude…from the heart,' she beat her chest confidently in pride. 'He taught me a lot about sports and stuff and afterwards we would just chill and sip on dat O.J.'

She had lost them again.

'Orange Juice,' she simplified.

They gave another 'Oooh.' There was so much to be learned indeed.

'Okay; my closing statement is this, your honours: my boy, J was too young to die. He was a G before this axe dude sliced him like a carrot.' She finally turned to leave. She had not walked four steps before she quickly returned. 'Oh, and Miss Bales was cool too.' She took two steps back from the podium and threw what could have been a gang sign then started walking back to her seat.

The crowd wasn't sure whether to clap or to do nothing at all. Given no choice by one rogue clapper, they had to join in.

The Principal finally returned to the podium. He had been sitting amongst the teachers. He too looked baffled by Bubblegum girl's "speech". He said, 'Uh…o-kay. Our next speaker was another close friend of Justin's. Please welcome the new captain of the rugby team; Trevor Michaels.'

The crowd applauded him as he made his way down the stands. He had been sitting in the same row as Bubblegum girl and the rest of the squad. It seemed he had taken over from Justin.

The applause was quite loud. Most of the boys were cheering for him and others gave him high-fives and pats on the back on his way down.

Standing behind the podium, Trevor looked like he was fresh out of prison. His five-day suspension had finally ended. He straightened his jacket. He grabbed a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and placed it in front of him. He began, 'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. I won't waste too much of your time because I know many of you have a lot to say about my main man, Justin and our teacher, Miss Brittany Bale. Justin was my best friend for real. We literally did everything together. He had my back and I had his. We were like brothers. Blood brothers. When I first heard that Justin had been murdered, I was deeply wounded because I loved my brother. They say that when you love someone you have to be willing to let them go. That is why I am here. To say that I am ready to move on. R.I.P, Justin.'

They gave him a round of applause.