The air was dry. Rancid from the stench of underhanded methods as well as a spritz of suspense. That night was packed, although it was to nobody’s surprise. After 7pm, security lost track of the sheer quantity of black suits and red dresses, prancing in as if they were the actors at a premiere. The virgin martinis were debuting the night, funnel glass, olives, and all. The room was swelling up, and the workers had no room to sigh over the borderline hearing-hazardous room. They all conversed as any gambler would before losing all their money. However tonight, the casino was different.
“How much are you guessing your cash outs?” Ava leaned against the bar’s counter as she gestured for another drink with the wave of her hand; non-alcoholic of course.
“Well, we’re not setting our eyes on hitting the jackpot now, are we?” Iman pronounced with some sense of sarcasm, enough to make the group burst out in laughter. Like the rest of the gamblers, they looked dashing in fitting attire.
“You never know. Putting 4 years of our bets into that educational asylum, we deserve a reward.” Brianna interrupted as she cleaned the fog off her glasses with their scarlet tie.
That’s what everyone was thinking at least.
“I’ll drink to that.” Ava chuckled as she raised her glass.
“Ditto.” Iman reached out to toast, Brianna joining soon after.
Yes, the gambling had ended for these seniors. Only a trail of pity for the freshmen left on their rusted blue lockers, the sweat adorned cafeteria, and the pitiful gum-victimized desks.
Yet the night had some of these experienced students on the edge of their seats. The sophisticated sparkle in scarlet, the stunning iron pressed suits, all a cover up…
Iman twirled in her ruffled vermillion dress at the thought. Her emerald earrings and hair sprayed curls swiveled behind.
“Are we really going to ignore the-” she subtly whispered so the boy in near proximity wouldn’t hear her “-elephant in the room?” Ava knew what she was talking about. Or at least, thought she knew. As she played with the toothpick left over from the olives in her mouth, she mumbled with a smirk.
“Getting to the point already, huh.” she sighed, shifting her weight off the counter. “No need to be discreet or anything, everyone knows.”
Brianna, grabbing a sample of cheese from a pass-bye waiter, dug for the cardstock invitation in her back pocket. “Doors open at 8pm” she pronounced mouth partially full of the luxury quality gouda. She swallowed “Maybe it’s best for us to keep it on the low. In a room full of over 200 stressed teens, you never know what might happen.”
Iman agreed with the swift nod of her head. “If the dealers found out we were the ones who started a rampage”—she chuckled— “I don’t think they’ll give us the thick of our sum.”
Ava narrowed her eyes in understanding, straightening her maroon maxi, “Understood.”
She tilted her head to face Brianna with a wide smile, “Considering you’re the only one who remembered a watch, what time is it?” “7:58, two minutes left. If you want to talk about it then let’s hurry up and move away from these bartenders.” she placed her hand on the two girls’ backs, “You never know, they could be eavesdropping,” she teased as they laughed at the moments worth.
“True, true, Lets go next to the entrance. I swear either those brown doors have some kind of plague or everyone’s too scared out of their minds to go anywhere near them,” Iman light-heartedly bantered back. All things considered; the backbone of the conversation was bitter however they still spoke full of flavour. Perhaps a distraction from what would come to pass in the next two minutes. The results of their hard work wouldn’t have seemed as if all unleashed tonight, from appearances. As if the engraved brown doors beside them wouldn’t determine their future. As if everything they had consumed in the past hour weren’t churning in their stomachs.
“So,” Iman initiated, “the main dealer is in there.”
Ava and Brianna started to break visage by the mention of the name. Ava twiddled with her long, dirty blonde hair. “Sir H, correct? Never got in trouble so I’ve never shared a conversation with him, but he may as well have the same stance as the casino manager.”
Brianna interluded, “well in regard to us at least.” she tapped on the pearlescent tile floor.
Iman found comfort on the piano’s stool, cross legged, continuing what she started. “Yes. He’s been known to have a keen eye when it comes to party planning, cheese selectioning and, well, failing students-”
Ava straightened up. “Hold up. The reason everyone was so stressed”—she moved her arm in a horizontal motion to exaggerate— “and I mean everyone was because they know this last hoorah was just a cover up for a passing or failing school? Them being here means they passed?”
Brianna, in equal measure of shock added on, “Yeah, graduation. 4 years in Black Jack secondary school and now we’re graduating and the people who failed, well, failed. They’re already going to restart a year. It’s settled. Done. Fini.”
Iman, pressuring the bridge above her nose, was irritated. “Yes, yes, all that. They’ve been tricking us with that same old speech: come to grad, June 18th. If you’re invited you passed, blah blah blah. It’s all just another test.”
“So, this was the elephant?” Brianna said with a slightly raised voice in sarcasm, contrasting with the pleasant, upbeat music.
“Well, I thought you guys figured it out.” Iman let out in a prissy tone.
“Elephant? This is far from an elephant. More like a whale!” Ava exclaimed, more stressed than infuriated.
Iman, walking on thin ice with these two, decided to resume “Some alumni I know said passing rate could be less than-”
“The fact that you said less than means it’s bad.” Brianna interrupted.
“I know, I know, less than 50%.”
Struck by this new intel, silence enraptured the three. Their hearts beat synchronised, pace quickening with each second that passed. They each were in their own game, debating which card they should play next, which die they should roll, how much money they should bet. In a world where the ace reigned supreme, they only seemed to draw common numbers. They were brooding at the thought. After all, these three were the only ones who knew out of all the naive boys and girls, fitted in their best wrapping to be shipped to fail.
Fail.
The word that echoed through their minds.
The word they’d been dreading for these past 4 years.
The word that triggered Ava back into reality.
She hurried to Brianna, yanking her arm to prepare for the worst. She trembled.
“Brianna what time is i-”
“Time?” The door creaked open as if the dealer had been hearing through the eggshell coloured and equally thin walls all along. The girls gulped at their own time, Iman rising from the stool with the summoning of his voice. “It’s 8 o’clock” he smiled at the girls. With both hands on the folds of his pristine tuxedo he gathered his voice to present to everyone.
“Welcome to the graduation-” he lowered his voice so that the awkwardly smiling girls about to get stampeded by the crowd could hear.
“It’s time to gamble.”
Author’s Note: Congratulations on graduating, Grade 12’s! I hope you guys won’t find out some sinister secret before the big day…
Thank you to Iman, Brianna and Ava, Grade 12’s from the newspaper club for letting me use their names 🙂
Written By:
TB, Grade 10
The Stang 
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