Green school

In my second year of high school, my homeroom teacher suggested a so-called "green school" program. Most of the class agreed, except for three. One of those students was Marcin. He rarely went on any field trips. He was friendly, but he didn't make friends with anyone; he was a bit of a classmate. Everyone asked why he didn't want to go, and he always replied angrily, "I won't go, that's it! Leave me alone!" I decided I'd help him with his finances. He wouldn't tell me where he lived; no one in the class knew where he lived, so I asked my homeroom teacher for his address. I was shocked when I learned that Marcin lived in an orphanage. The teacher saw my reaction and asked, "You didn't know?"

"No one knew," I replied after a moment, my voice trembling.

That same day, I knocked on the door on Słoneczna Street, where the orphanage was located. Within seconds, I was in the principal's office. I explained why I had come, about helping Marcin. When I finished, the principal said she didn't know anything about the trip, but they didn't have the money. I explained that my parents would pay for it, just to get Marcin to agree. A few days later, at school, Marcin announced he was going. We were all thrilled. He'd never been on a trip like this before, so he asked everyone what he should bring, etc. Everyone offered various ideas for what to pack. I could see he was very happy with the trip. A month later, we left. The center was in a remote area, with lots of trees, peace and quiet. The building wasn't big, but it was very cozy. We stayed in double or triple rooms. In the evenings, we went for walks or sat in one room and talked or played cards. A few days after arriving, I noticed Marcin sitting far away from the center under an old tree. I decided to see what had happened. He hadn't heard me coming toward him. He only turned around when I sat down next to him.

"Hey... is something wrong?" I asked politely.

He looked at me as if I were hostile and said, "Get away from me!" I know you paid for my trip?? Why did you want me to go?? He said a lot of things that were hurtful to me. The sentence that made me leave was: "You don't understand anything!! You don't know what it's like in an orphanage!" When I heard that, I left him. When I returned to my room, I was incredibly upset. I slammed the door and threw myself on the bed. Ola – the friend I lived with.

"Hey...calm down...what happened?" she asked immediately after I walked in. I told her about the "conversation" with Marcin. "You don't understand!" I kept hearing those words in my subconscious. At dinner, I pretended not to see him, but he seemed to understand that he was overreacting, which is why he kept staring at me. After dinner, my teacher suggested we go for a walk. I'd rather go for a walk with my teacher than think about Marcin. When we left the center, Mrs. Maria said that Marcin had been to her and that he felt bad about what he'd said. He was afraid to come to me and apologize because he knew she wouldn't understand him anyway. He explained to the teacher that if he were really embarrassed, he would have come because he clearly didn't know me, if he thought that way. That was the end of the matter with Marcin. We talked about everything that had happened at the outdoor school. We returned to the center quite late, so I went straight to bed. The next day before noon, we were supposed to go on a longer hike. My friends and I were walking last. About halfway there, the girls told me they'd made a bet on when Marcin would ask me out. I started laughing like crazy. "He'd ask me out? Never in my life! I'd argued with him, and they said they were waiting until we were together. Ridiculous!" I told them, but they stuck to their guns. We climbed to the top of the mountain. I sat on the edge and watched. I didn't hear footsteps behind me. Then I felt hands on my back.

"Can I sit down?" Marcin asked timidly.

"If you have to, sit down," I replied reluctantly. He then apologized for what had happened a few days ago and told me about his life in the orphanage. We talked about life in the orphanage the entire way back. When we were near the orphanage, I said,

"Do you know why I went back then?" It wasn't because you said such harsh words, but because of your last words: "You don't understand." I also lived in an orphanage...

Then he looked at me and was so shocked he didn't know what to say.

"I didn't know... I'm sorry..." he replied after a long pause...

"Exactly, so you didn't know why you said that?" The question remained unanswered. That same evening, the boys threw a disco. We spent most of the evening lying together in a dark room, talking. Only at the end did he ask me to dance. We cuddled up to a slow song. "

What's wrong with you?" I asked quietly.

"Nothing, what's going on?" he asked just as quietly

. "If nothing, calm your heart down, it's beating too fast," I whispered.

"As if it were that simple," he said so quietly he thought I hadn't heard, but he was wrong.

After the disco, he walked me back to my room. We entered the room and silence fell. We didn't know what to say. Marcin sat down next to me, hugged me, and asked if I'd like to be his girlfriend. As a sign of consent, he kissed him. He kissed me back. Lost in our embrace and kiss, we didn't hear Ola enter. After a moment, smiling at us, she said, "Well, I win." We jumped out of bed, not knowing what to say. Marcin kissed me goodnight and left. I talked with Ola for a long time that evening; the main topic was Marcin.