Marina's Final Performance

[u/Messy-Emcee]

Marina takes a deep breath to center herself before knocking on the door.
"Come in."
She hadn't spoken to Dean Fausett since he congratulated her for making the Dean's List last semester.
"Ah, Ms. Maldonado. Please, sit. And close the door behind you." His tone had turned dour. "Do you know why I asked you to come speak with me?"
"Your email didn't say, just that it was urgent."
"It's regarding your final paper for History of Performance Art."
Marina's stomach drops. She knows what the Dean is about to say but hopes and prays she's wrong.
"Our systems show that the paper was entirely AI generated."
"Oh! Erm... those aren't reliable, are they?"
"They are not, but Professor Klein and I noticed some suspicious phrasing."
He reads a highlighted passage:

It's not enduring torture — it's highlighting the interplay between working class citizens and their labor.

Marina looks down at her lap, realizing she's been caught. She doesn't know what to say.
"In case you were unaware, submitting a paper you did not write yourself is considered cheating by the university's academic integrity standards."
"What- what does that mean for me?"
"We take cheating very seriously here at Merian University. At a minimum you will fail this course, and without it you do not have enough Culture & Expression credits to graduate."
Marina's world was crashing down around her. She had always been a good student, and now she wasn't going to graduate on time! How would she explain this to her mother?
"Please, Dean Fausett, there must be something I can do. My family is flying out to watch me walk tomorrow, and I can't afford to come back for another semester for a gen ed class."
"Normally I wouldn't make any exceptions, but you have been an exemplary student outside of this incident. I've spoken with Professor Klein, and he informed me that there were two options for his final: a paper, or a performance piece devised and performed by the student. He's agreed to let you do a performance in place of this paper."
Marina is overcome with emotion. She really needs this but has no idea how to pull it off.
"You're telling me I need to come up with a performance art piece and perform it before graduation tomorrow morning?"
"It's that or fail."
"Okay. Okay. I will come up with something. I better get going."
"Best of luck, Ms. Maldonado."
Marina rushes back to her dorm. Campus is quiet. Most of the students had gone home by now. The only people left are graduates and those enrolled in the summer semester, all celebrating the end of finals week. Except Marina. She messages her fellow engineering graduates to let them know she can't party tonight. She texts her family group chat to fill them in and ask for ideas.

Tío Danito: recibida
Received what?
Tío Danito: graduation tradition back in Argentina
What is it?
Mamá: You don't want to do it
Tío Danito: friends and family ambush graduates, cutting and ripping their clothes before pelting them with eggs, flour, whatever they can think of Benji: LMAOOO 💀. Mamá: Daniel! Why would you suggest this por mi gordita? Actually this sounds perfect. Tonight I can go to the big box store for supplies then we can do it tomorrow morning before graduation. Mamá: Por favoooor I need something I can do quick and easy or else I can't graduate.

In just an hour and a half, Marina buys her supplies from the store, spends her last printer credits on fliers that she puts up on her way back to her dorm, and sends an email to Professor Klein:

For my AH138 final, I will be performing a graduation ritual from my homeland, Argentina. Graduates are covered with flour, hit with raw eggs, have their clothes torn, and are generally messed up to celebrate their achievement. I will be doing mine tomorrow morning, outside the auditorium, one hour before the graduation ceremony. My family and friends will be there. I will also be live streaming it on my YouTube so my relatives back home can witness my performance. Attached is a picture of the fliers I've put up around campus with the link to the stream. You are welcome to join us in-person or virtually. Either way, please enjoy Mi Recibida.

Marina double checks that the email was sent and heads to party with her friends. They have mixed responses to finding out about this performance.
"Couldn't you have picked something less embarrassing?"
"That's gonna be so gross, how are you gonna clean up before walking?"
"Deadass? I'm gonna come and empty out my minifridge."
Marina enjoys her final night on campus and wakes up with a bit of a headache. She dresses in a white university tee and light blue sweatpants that she picked up in the bookstore freshman year. She clips her hair back, grabs her supplies, steps into her shower flip-flops, and heads outside to greet her family and set up her performance.

"¡Hola! In about an hour, inside this auditorium, I will be receiving my Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Merian University. In my homeland of Argentina, graduates receive... something else. Lots of things, actually. A trashing at the hands of their loved ones. I am here with mi mamá, mi tío, mi hermano behind the camera, and my friends. I have invited them to celebrate my graduation the Argentine way and even brought some supplies for them. Please enjoy Mi Recibida."
The camera shakes as Benji hurls an egg towards his big sister. She jumps as it smashes into the wall of the auditorium.
"Hey! That woulda hurt me! And keep it on the tarp please."
"How about we start you off easy sobri?" Daniel grabs a bottle of chocolate syrup and approaches his niece. He hoists it over her head, causing her to hunch her neck and shoulders in anticipation. Marina looks up as he squeezes the bottle, squirting the sweet syrup onto her face. She looks down, buries her face in her hands, then pulls her hands away once they contact the chocolate. Daniel keeps the drizzle steady, dark sauce disappearing into his niece's jet black hair, much more visible as it seeps past her neck onto her white shirt. The bottle sputters out the last of its contents and Marina lifts her head.
"Gracias, Danito." She forces a smile. "Who's next?"
"Mana, aren't you proud of tu gordita?" Daniel goads on his sister.
"I'm very proud of you sis!"
"Thank you Benji! You showed me when you tried to take my head off with that egg. Just make sure the stream keeps going. Mamá, dale, animate."
"Fine, si insistís." Marina's mother picks an egg from the carton, taps it against the table, and approaches her daughter.
"¡Felicitaciones!"
Marina shudders as the egg shatters against her scalp, raw egg rushing down her body in a flash.
"That's it, ya terminé."
"Gracias, mamá. C'mon everyone, don't be shy."
Marina's roommate Madison takes the egg carton and starts handing them out to the rest of the group. They approach their friend, incredulous that she's asking them to do this. Marina feels another egg slam into her hair, then another, then another. The back of her collar is pulled open and an egg is smashed against her neck, sending raw egg down her back. Eggs continue to crash against her. She doesn't know how to react, this is an assault on her senses. When the mess stops Marina opens her eyes and sweeps the eggshells off her crown. Before they hit the ground, she hears the distinct sound of a soda can cracking open. She's suddenly showered with sparkling liquid that soaks her shirt. It has the unmistakable taste of light beer.
I didn't buy any beer for this, Marina thinks as a shiver goes down her spine. The beer is chilly and her now transparent top offers little protection. I guess he is emptying out his minifridge.
Marina feels a tug on her left pant leg.
snip
"Jabob you perv!" Madison protests.
snip-snip
"What? She said this was part of it."
sniiip
"The scissors were on the table, did she not want us to use them?"
Jacob continues cutting until he reaches he waistband, revealing white cheeky hipsters underneath. It takes some doing but he manages to cut through the elastic and tug the destroyed sweatpants away from Marina. She instinctively does a slight squat, knees barely crossed, hands joined in front of her crotch. Jacob isn't done cutting, and makes quicker work of her top, revealing a white triangle bralette underneath. Marina crosses her arms over her chest, both for warmth and for modesty.
This part, the clothes cutting, is the part she was most hesitant about. She has insecurities about her appearance, just like everyone else, but that's not why she dreaded being stripped to her underwear. It's the context. There's a difference between showing off on a sunny beach and standing on a messy tarp outside the auditorium as families walk by, wondering what the hell is going on. Madison's voice snaps Marina back to the moment.
"You look so clean now."
"I don't feel clean!"
Marina looks down and most of her skin is indeed free of mess. Her clothes, now a tattered heap around her ankles, had taken the brunt of it. Other than what clung to her hair, of course.
"I feel cold."
"We'll have to cover you up then."
Marina turns her body as she hears the hiss of silly string streaming towards her. The sprayer waves the can left and right, up and down, leaving a chaotic colorful pattern across her olive skin.
The spray continues as more cold liquid splashes over Marina, white milk draining through her black hair. She hunches her back as the dairy runs over her shoulders and down her torso. A squirt of mustard connects with her face, sending her upright with her hands out in front of her. Another squirt lands on her chest, mixing with the milk as the glob creeps between her breasts.
Marina is too overwhelmed to react. The tang of the mustard on her face, the silly string crossing her trunk, the cold milk all over, it's just too many new sensations all at once. The mustard squirter moves up to her head, leaving yellow lines that stretch from her hair down to her chest. Marina leaves her hands out in front of her, feeling totally helpless.
She's not helpless, of course. She knows she can be done at any moment by just saying so. But on some level, she feels she deserves this. If she had just taken the time to write her final paper instead of cheating she wouldn't be in this mess. At the time she felt she was owed an easy one. She applied herself much more in school than others, and at the end of the day they're all getting the same degree. Why not cut corners, just once?
This was why. The grit and aroma of coffee grounds sprinkling over her, sticking to the mess building on her bare skin, this was why. The texture of the coffee grounds is the least pleasant sensation so far. The coarseness makes the rest of the mess just that much less bearable. Marina's friends are in full swing. Everyone has a bottle or can or bag and is emptying it over her with abandon. Ketchup is squirted up and down her legs. The last remnants of Marina's favorite salad dressing is plopped over her head. Flour joins the coffee in absorbing the more liquidy mess, forming a gross paste. The last of the silly string sputters onto her belly. Someone undoes her hair claw and shampoos the mess into her raven locks as the deluge subsides.
Marina clears her eyes with the back of her wrist and turns to face her brother.
"And now, Benji, with the broche de oro."
The camera approaches our graduate and assumes an oblique angle looking down over her head. A rainbow of cosmetic glitter sprinkles all over Marina, giving a metallic sparkle to the foodstuff clinging to her. Benji retreats with this camera, giving everyone on the stream a full shot of Marina, arms held wide at the end of her ordeal, messy and exposed. Some friends began to clap and cheer.
"That was Mi Recibida! Thanks to everyone here for participating, thanks to Professor Klein and to my family watching the stream, los quiero mucho. Now I need to go clean up before we walk."
Some friends let out a chuckle. Marina's mother procures a towel from her bag and wraps it around her daughter. Marina hustles back to her dorm to shower while her friends all head into the auditorium to pick up their robes. She does not have time to get completely clean, especially given the pastey consistency of the slop covering her. She does her best and makes it back to the auditorium just in time. Marina carries the discomfort of her mistake throughout the day. Looking back at pictures of the graduation ceremony, she can sometimes make out a bit of ground coffee still stuck to her as she gets her diploma.

[u/Brilliant_Week_3313]

Great story. Really enjoying reading it!

[u/Messy-Emcee → u/Brilliant_Week_3313]

Thank you! I'm very pleased with how this came out. 

[u/Messy-Emcee]

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

[u/Messy-Emcee]

No parts of this story were generated by AI, including the part that is supposed to be from an AI-generated essay. The entire story is my work.