Vakhi High

Sta

Chapter 1 – Sweet Nostalgia

The side swept bangs, tattered jeans, and black eye makeup. Who could not remember the late 90s and 2000s. There walking into high school a two-shoe goody girl with knee length skirt, ugly plain t-shirt and no make-up. Dirty blonde hair and chestnut eyes. Her olive skin was nicely tanned. She was shy and to herself. It was 2006, having been homeschooled for her whole life -- this girl had no personal style from being trapped in an overly conservative home. She didn’t know then but soon the pop-punk, emo-style and front layered over one eye hair would capture her heart and discover who she was on inside.

* * *

Already inside her was a birth of the true fire and identity she held inside. Which started with hearing a music video of Creed in between commercials of TV shows as young preteen. Then, verged into sneaking smash mouth on nickelodeon. Danika was only allowed to listen to Hillary Duff, concluded to excitedly binging her CDs every moment she could get. Eventually, she discovered something extraordinary. She fell in love with Simple Plan. She couldn’t get it the song ‘Shut Up', out of her head. It’s like birthing into a teenager revealed something about her personality; she was not quite sure she understood yet. At 13, she knew she was about to leave to another state away from her cousin she felt understood her the most. One day, closing up on the departure to Hawaii, she was hanging out in basement with her cousin Kyle.

Kyle took another hit at the ping pong ball as Danika dashed to try smack it back to him. Inches away she missed it. ‘Bummer man!’ “You win!”. Throwing her hands up in defeat. Danika sits down on the metal chair, arms over the back end and chin rested on her forearm. She couldn’t help but think how cool Kyle was with his own band and with his love for Greenday punk music. He has spiked light brown hair and brown eyes.

Kyle sat down and said, “it’s okay, you’ll get it sooner or later.”

“Can we go up to your room and listen to some your music you just made?” Danika asked.

“Yah, no problem!” Kyle said as he got up and started up the basement stairs.

Danika quickly followed up after him. Turning one last time at the basement she hung out with Kyle so many times. Nostalgia set in as she thought, ‘I’ll miss this.’ No time to waste. She had a plan and she wasn’t going to miss her shot. Exiting the basement, she turned to the living room and then up the stairs to her cousin’s room. Kyle was already digging for his burned CD. So, Danika sat down on his bed and patiently waited. There were posters of Kyle’s favorite bands all over the wall. She decided that one day, her room would look the same.

Kyle got his CD player off the shelf and sat it on the bed. Plopped in his CD and it began to play. You could hear him playing the trumpet in background. She couldn’t contain it, “man this is so cool Kyle!” This time Danika positioned onto her belly feet up crossed at the ankles and chin in her palms. “It be so cool if I could be in a band!” Danika looking somber knowing her parents would NEVER allow such an inconceivable thing.

Kyle turned to her with a sympathetic smile. “You’ll find yourself, don’t worry.” He knew how religious Danika’s parents were, but he had no other choice but to respect that. Kyle and Danika sat in silence for a short while. Surrounded by smell of men’s cologne and peering into his closet with all his cool clothes; Danika sat upright and crossed her legs in butterfly position. Kyle still sat in same position he was in for past 15 minutes.

Danika heart started to race and got anxious. This was her moment. She was finally going to ask him for the pivotal chance of her entire life. Though, she didn’t know it then -- she would know it 15 years later. Heart still pounding. She began to speak, “hey cuz’, would you buy me a goodbye gift and give it to me at the airport?” A wave of relief passed over her. She had been planning this scheme for days!

“Sure, what do you want?” replied Kyle.

“There is this awesome band called Simple Plan with a song called ‘Shut Up!’ will you get it for me?” Danika asked while twirling her fingers together in an anxious way. “But, you gotta give it to me as I leave the airport… so that my dad has no choice but to accept me receiving a parting gift.”

“Okay, I will get it for you don’t worry!” Kyle got up and hugged Danika.

* * *

Danika snapped out of her memory daze as the teacher began roll call. In front of her was Derryk and to left of her was Sharyn, she didn’t know who was to her right. It didn’t matter he was more interested in the boy in front of her who she somewhat thought was cute. He had on these black clothes and chain dangling from his pants. Some type of black shirt peaked from under his school t-shirt. She noticed some sort of black spiked jewelry hanging on his wrist. His dark skin tone matched nicely with his dark clothing. His black hair was long in front of his eyes.

Danika turned to her left to see the opposite style of clothes. Dangling earing hoops on Sharyn's ears and her tight jeans shown off her form. Danika wasn’t much interested in her sense of fashion; however, she was interested in her personality. Sharyn was outgoing and very loud in the class, somehow Danika felt they would become great friends. She was Asian with mix of local. Her skin was lighter side compared to the other locals. Her brown eyes darted toward Danika.

Danika turned to Sharyn and stated “want to hang out during lunch?”

Sharyn replied. “Yah, we’re meeting in courtyard for lunch!”

Danika looked around at the class room which walls were made of giant bricks the floor was old tile and the teacher was speaking when then bell rang for lunch. Suddenly, like a bull rush everyone started to leave the classroom. Bewildered Danika got up slowly and smiled at her new friend Sharyn. She couldn’t help but notice as she walked down the stairs; Derryk holding hands with this girl also wearing black clothes and chain hanging from her belt loop. She had black eye makeup on her eyelids, black lipstick and raven black hair covering her black choker. Unsure why, Danika was attracted to this style not even knowing what this fashion style was even called.

Just then Sharyn arrived in front of a Filipino girl. “Hey, Rheanna this is Danika!” Sharyn said excitedly to her best friend. Rheanna was a short girl about same height as Danika. She had very dark skin but not African of course. Her dark brown eyes were beautiful and complimented her dark silky hair.

“Hey,” Danika shyly stated. Danika was naturally shy since as far as she could remember. Whenever she met new people, she was socially awkward. But once she opens up, she is incredibly open and silly. The courtyard was huge piece of grass land surrounded by a sidewalk on all sides with a stage to the west of where she stood. Building D, two-story big square building made of giant bricks was north of her which she had just came from. To the east of where she stood was the office main building one story and to the south-east was building O another two-story giant bricked building. Directly behind her was J building which was long and lengthy and south-west was building G with two-stories as well. Honestly, the campus could mask as a college in the way it was designed. Don’t bother looking for any lockers in this school. You won’t find any. Oddly. Nope just a giant backpack you got to lug around this campus with under hot Hawaii sun burning above you.

Just then a girl who was also Filipino walked up to us. “Hello!” she smiled kindly. She was slightly taller then the 3 of us. Her brown hair was thicker then Rheanna, but identical color eyes.

Danika smirked at her new friend, “My name is Danica, but you can call me Danni.” Dani had been her nickname since as far as she can remember. People barely called her Danika growing up; it had always been Danni with two Ns. Which, reminded her of one of her favorite movie’s green gables; where she would always have to correct people spelling her name and say it’s Ann with an E! Everyone would spell Danni with one N. Drove her crazy. How hard was it for an uncle and grandpa to remember an extra letter N. Seriously?

“You can call me JoJo.” Replied the girl wearing normal jeans, no earrings; she was very plain.

“Cool, let’s go walking.” Sharyn said. It seemed she was definitely the leader of our group. The connector to every one of us. As we passed in between O and G building, we kept walking to J building to explore our new campus. It would seem as we treaded into J building that it was filled with what the world now calls ‘misfits'. There was this epic guy with green Mohawk, recognizing him from class his name was Richy, he was Asian with black ripped pants and black nail polish and chain hanging from his pants too. He didn’t have his school shirt on he had some band name on a black t-shirt.

Jojo started talking about something to do with lunch. Danika was to engrossed in her surroundings. It was like a magnetic force in her soul, drawing her; even calling her to this group of people. ‘Forget it,’ she thought. ‘My parents would never let me hang out with what they would consider freaks…’ Danika somberly looked at the group of misfits. She loved the black eye makeup. The cool styled bangs over one eye. One boy had this intriguing hair cut that was spiky in back with bangs over one eye in front. One girl had a colorful shirt with hot pink and lime green almost like splashed paint. Her pants were ripped at the knees and a belt with silver squares were holding them up. She also had this cool piece of fabric on her hand which only shown her thumb and covered half of four fingers. She had dirty blonde hair hanging over her eye too with pink tips on the bottom.

Rheanna said, “let’s get the hamburger steak.”

Danika snapped back to reality as they exited J building and headed toward the cafeteria. But, in back of her mind, something kept pulling her back to a different reality.

Chapter 2 – Teen Angst

Danika laid in the pull out mattress bed staring at the ceiling in their tiny rental. She sighed as she could hear the bustling streets of Honolulu bright and early. Danni hated getting up at five in the morning but she really had no other choice. The commute was far from Honolulu to Ewa Beach. They had planned to move closer to that area soon, but for now this was it.

Yesterday was an incredible day of school especially afterwards when she got home. Danika had asked her parents to make her a yahoo email so she could yahoo messenger her new friends. Surprisingly, her dad agreed and let her make an account. Her and Sharyn spent hours messaging. It was awesome having a new friend!

Reluctantly, Danika got into the shower to wash up. She was able to dress up pretty quickly. Danika’s brother, Davin, however liked to skip showers... a lot. It was kind of gross, but to each their own in her opinion. She honestly couldn't understand why just because he was a boy--he would get away with a lot stuff.

Finally, her dad Denver grabbed his keys and exited the apartment. Danika waved goodbye to her mom Krisley and headed down stairs. Danni really enjoyed living in town. Especially at night. She was a city person, but also lover houses in the woods.

"You guys want some McDonald's on way to school?" Denver asked as he signaled for a left turn onto traffic.

"Sure dad, I want a egg Mcmuffin and hash brown." Danika said while looking at the street signs passing by.

"I'll have just a Mcmuffin and hash brown." Davin stated while fiddling with a pencil in his hand.

"Okay, I think we will be moving to Iroquois point sometime in a month or two." Denver replied.

Danika’s dad was in the navy when he was a kid. So his father Albert was stationed in Hawaii for a few years and lived at Iroquois when it was still military housing. She recalled about the story of the Tarantula crawling on his chest as a little boy in one those house. Like her dad, Danni was Terrified of spiders.

Danika groaned, "I can't wait. I just hope there is no spiders!"

Davin turned to her saying, "quit being such a scaredy cat."

Danni shoved his arm. "Oh, shut up!" She turned and put on her headphones. She turned on her cd player and looked out the window. Hillary duff song "Metamorphosis" continued to play. Danni couldn't help but remember what happened almost 2 years ago.

* * *

2 years ago

It was an overcast night and Danika was always listening to her cd player. Danika just could not get enough of the Simple Plan cd her cuzin got her. She just loved it so much! She practically memorized the songs whenever they would play.

The song perfect was playing yet again when she saw her dad wave at her. So Danika took her headphones and asked, "what?"

Her dad looked angry. "Give me that cd."

Danni looked at him in bewilderment. "Why?"

"I'm going to play it in the car so I can hear the songs." Her dad stated.

Danika removed the cd from her player and handed it over. She knew it was only a matter of time before he would do this. It had been a couple days since she got the cd on way to Hawaii. She watched as he put it into the rental cars cd player and bit her lip. Hands placed in her lap in defeat dreading what would come next.

The music track began to play. The first song "Shut Up" rang from the speakers. Her dad began to pick apart the song. "Rebellious song!" She didn't get that from the song. What she heard in her spirit was someone who did not listen to the haters who don't believe in them. That nothing anyone says will bring you down.

He then clicked the next track. "Welcome to my life" one of Danicas favorites on the CD started to play. It was about a person who is breaking down and out of place. Someone trying to relate to others if they feel the same. Again, her dad began to hate on the song. "Depressive crap."

Danika heart sank and tears welled up in her eyes. She knew she would not be able to listen to her favorite band on that CD player again. The song "Perfect World" began to play again her dad said something wrong with the song. More tears began streaming down her face. 'This isn’t fair he doesn’t understand these songs the way i see them'

The next track "Thank You" started to play. A song about a best friends betrayal. I guess he couldn't really say much about that because he just clicked to next song.

"Me against the world" started echoing inside the vehicle. The song was about people that tare apart their dreams and others think he’s a disaster. She loved that song. All her dad said was, "crap." Then clicked next song.

Her ultimate favorite song started to play called, "Crazy." The song was about the world going crazy of girls dying to be famous and getting plastic surgery. All her dad said again was, "Crap." Clicking the next button.

Another Simple Plan song called "Jump" played softly. Her dad quickly said, "A suicide song!" Danika gave him a 'you're ridiculous' face through the tears. The song to her, was about someone who wanted out of their miserable life and onto a new journey to not care about tomorrow. To her, it was like the scriptures that says not to care about tomorrow for your Father in heaven already knows thy needs. Didn't matter though, with that he didn't bother listening to rest of the CD.

Danika watched as he ejected the CD and told her to get out of the car. Misery plastered her face as she got out of the vehicle and closed the door. She followed her dad over to a trash can. They were parked outside a shopping center in Kailua.

Danika’s dad turned to her and said "Do you believe this CD is good?"

Danni honestly answered, "Yes, I love it."

Her dad gave a wicked angry look. "How can you say that! This CD is the devil!"

"Dad you don’t understand it!" Danika practically begged.

"What do you think we should do with the CD." Her dad asked.

With glistening eyes Danni looked at her dad and the trash can then said, "I want to keep it."

"Wrong answer!" Her dad yelled and then snapped her beloved CD in half! "Get in the car!"

Danni sobbed as she took a last look at the garbage can.

Chapter 3 – Sabotaged Virtue

Danika snapped out of her day vision when her dad handed her the food. McDonalds was directly across the street from Vakhi High, so right after her and Davin was dropped off outside the gate. Waving goodbye to her dad, Danika headed of to J building to wait for her friends to come. She was 30 minutes early. After she sat down she started to eat and watch as new students walked through the building.

As she chewed her food the cutie Richy skateboarded by her and circled around to the other side and sat next to a girl. The girl began to play music and Danika really liked the song. She hurriedly scared her food down her throat so that she could go ask what it was called.

Danika got off her seat and ventured on over to them. On way she threw out her trash. As she got closer she was a bit nervous, but no nerves trumps music. “Hey, what is the name of this song?”

Richy stared at Danika and stated, “It’s complicated by Avril Lavigne.” The song was about a person who is faking who they are to fit in but just making things difficult for themselves. And the girl next to Richy played a other song, “This is Saosins song you’re not alone.” Just then Danika could see Sharyn walking into J building.

Danika ran over to her excitedly and explained, “I’m gonna be moving to Iroquois point next month!” She gave a big smile. “I’ll be right fosn road from Rheanna and 10 minutes from you! We can have sleep over and have a lot fun!”

Sharyn gave Danika a smile and responded, “That’s awesome! I can’t wait!” She said in excitement. Just as Rheanna joined them as they exited J building to head on over to D building for class.

Rheanna fixes her hair and says, “it’s a hot day today!”

It definitely was hot day in Hawaii. In fact summer was the most brutal at times. The scorching sun beamed on their back as they walked across the courtyard. They treaded up the stairs to the second floor and said goodbye to Rheanna and Jojo and headed inside the class.

They sat down next to this girl who looked a bit like Vietnamese . Her hair was black and cut to the half of her neck. Her skin tone was similar to Sharyn’s and so was her eyes. She had a mini Jean skirt on and her uniform t-shirt. “Hey, I’m Krismi, you can sit next to me!”

“Thanks, you can call me Danni.” Danika said. She took a seat to the right of Krismi. As the teacher was preparing the assignment on the chalk board Danika fell into another memory.

* * *

Danika sat in front of a TV at the only shopping center in Tahiti. The island was relatively small and consisted of a mix from French to Tahitian people. Davin was sitting next to her as they watched the music videos on the screens while the parents went shopping.

Danika noticed a song that began to play. They were men dressed in black, with black eye makeup and hair over their eyes. She never really seen this hair style before. She instantly darted her eyes to the song title. It was Vegastar 100etage. She loved it instantly. Since they were French her dad wouldn’t be able to understand unless he worked on translating it. Google is inaccurate for translating sometimes. She thought of an idea to ask her ,or to buy her the CD,

Just as was contemplating the idea, her mom walked into the TV section. “Mom, there is a CD I want can we go get it?” She smiled convincingly with puppy dog eyes and bottom lip pout.

Her mom said, “Okay, it’s over there.” Pointing to a section with a bunch of rows. They walked over and began searching the shelves. Danika caught her eyes on section V and began to check out which one she wanted. She smiled excitedly as she found the correct CD.

Handing the CD to her mom Danika stated, “Here it is!”

Her mom gazed at the CD. Danika got lucky the only thing on album was a V with a lightning bolt. “What is the music sound like?” Her mom asked.

Danika looked over at the shelf and spotted the scanner. She scanned the barcode so her mom could hear the CD. “This sounds nice. Okay, you can get it.

Danika couldn’t wait to get back to the house and listen to the entire CD.

* * *

Danika came back to her current reality when Krismi nudged her shoulder. She whispered “Danika, role call.”

Danika suddenly heard the teacher saying, “Danika, is Danika here,”

Danika rose her hand, “I’m here.”

Danika looked very sheepishly to Krismi and whispered, “Thank you.”

Krismi smirked teasing, “Why is your head always in the clouds?”

Danika responded, “ I just often think of memories.” Danika turned in her seat to pay attention. Now that class began.

In this class Derryk was a rooster from where she was. Too far to talk to but she vividly looked at his cute hairstyle.

It felt like forever when class finally ended. Only 4 classes a day makes it to very long periods. As she excited the class room. A boy named Chris slapped Danika on the butt. She was utterly shocked and embarrassed. He was so cute but she felt violated. Partially because of the things she had been through. Which, once again made her transport into another memory.

* * *

Danika suddenly woke up in a jolt out of her sleep. She could feel someone touching her right breast. In a circular motion. She pretended to wake up from a nightmare. She sat there scared. Her brother Davin laid there pretending to sleep. She was confused. He was 15, her only sibling, her best friend. She couldn’t understand what just happened. She tried her best to remain composed. She laid back down. Trying to convince herself that it didn’t just happen. He wouldn’t have touched her. He couldn’t have. Hours later they woke up. They were on their way back to Hawaii. They came back to Nashville for a court hearing from a prior car accident that they had gone through.

Danika got into the van and tried to make sense of what happened that night. She had decided it was best to pretend it never happened. The entire flight home she couldn’t get what happened out of her mind. Replay after replay happened in her recollection.

When they got to the new rental house. Danika was so tired from flight and it was bed time. She fell fast asleep. She felt safe because her brother was now in a separate bed and not same bed like the hotel pullout couch.

Suddenly, again she had her eyes pop open. This time it was worse. He was touching her breast and trying to put his other hand down her pajama’s bottoms. This time she shot out of bed again pretending to wake from a nightmare. Scared. Unsure. She sat in bathroom and couldn’t leave. She waited there all night long. Until she heard her dad wake up. She quietly left the bathroom and sat next to her dad. She was so nervous.

It was apparent now that what happen to her really did happen. It was real. Her brother. Her best friend. He touched her.

“Hey, why are you awake so early?” her dad asked.

She sat there for a while scared to speak. Finally, she blurted out, “Davin touched me.”

She watched her dad shocked get up and go in room and drag her brother out of the room. Out the door and into the car they sped off somewhere. A couple hours later they returned. My dad and brother sat next to her. Danika’s brother was weeping and apologizing to her and pleading forgiveness. Sure, she forgave him, but their relationship would remain tarnished forever in her perception. She just wished she had Simple Plan CD to cope with what was happening.

* * *

Danika stood there by the rail in disbelief. Who did he think he was!? Why would a stranger slap her butt? “How can someone do that!”

Sharyn turned to Danika. “That’s just Chris, he is just being a jerk.”

“So that makes it okay!?” Danika was livid.

“No, but just let it go.” Sharyn stated.

Danika could not understand why anyone would just get over something. However, she was a new friend and she did not want to argue and ruin their friendship. So, another occurrence of violation added onto her and again she must go on like it never happened.

Danika followed her friend to the next class and sat down. Looking around she didn’t know what to say. She was broken inside. Nobody could understand that because no one but her parents know what Davin did. She should have reported Chris but she didn’t. She listens to her friend and remained silent. Still wishing she had that her Simple Plan CD Welcome to my life song to cope.

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