Morgan Sweeney

Emotional Education

I. A Familiar Scene A newly successful couple walks into the grand ballroom, admiring the white tablecloths covered with silver platters of roasted birds. The majestic golden-wrought staircases are swarming with high society, affluent adults dressed to the nines. The multitudes mill around the meal, absentmindedly discussing the weather or the wine, carefully sidestepping controversy. The couple, after a few missteps, learns to dance with pleasant politeness, no matter how inauthentic it seems. They return home early, exhausted, wondering why they had fought so hard to get to the top. A fifteen-year-old girl is scared to talk to the boy she likes at her first ever high school party. She covers her insecurities with makeup and a new blue skirt, pleated on the sides. Standing on her own against a brick wall, lips pursed to look pretty, she pretends to be too cool to be approachable, and turns away all the boys who ask her to dance. The one she likes doesn’t even try - why should he get rejected, too? She remains on the sidelines, staring at her phone, silent tears falling behind her red solo cup. A five-year-old boy pulls a girl’s brown ponytail as she runs toward the yellow monkey bars. She cries because he is hurting her. He hurts her because he was hurt when she said she wanted to play with her friends and not him. But he doesn’t know how to tell her this; he just keeps pulling.