The Locker Incident

After that disastrous walk home the last time, I decide not to ever walk home again and so for the past few days I have been taking the bus. A few weeks pass by in a flash and I actually begin to enjoy my self at school.

One day as am standing by the lockers with Cecil and giggling about something, I feel a sudden force slam me back into the locker and the wind gets knocked out of me. Everyone looks towards the sound and when they see it's the football team, they all turn back to mind their business. If there is one thing I have realized, it's the fact that the football at SHIH is practically royalty. They can do anything and nothing will happen to them.

When I try to get up after getting my bearings, I wince when I feel a pull at my back and I am pretty sure it's bruised. I look towards them and find them snickering as though it's very funny to see someone else in pain.

"Ceci, who hit me?" I ask gasping softly at the pain in my back

"You don't wanna know. Lemme take you to the infirmary." She says while trying to steer me towards the nurse's office.

"It was him, wasn't it?" I ask and she just nods looking at me sadly. I try to hold back tears as we move at a snail pace towards the nurse's office but I fail miserably so we end up siting for a while outside the class buildings. I cry as though the world is ending and Ceci just sits besides me holding my hand.

"Why?" I ask and she just looks at me sadly and I break down all over again. If you had told me a year ago that Ryan would become this kind of person , I would have fought tooth and nail to prove you wrong but it seems my faith was misplaced after all because this, this trumps all the bad shit he has done to me before.

We stay there for a while and then silently trek to the nurses office where she dresses my wound and makes me sleep a little on one of the beds in school. I wake up a few hours later and get a permission slip to go home.

I reach home and just rush straight to my room. I am very tried and all I want is to just lie on my bed and block out the rest of the world for a few hours. A few hours later, I woke up to mom shaking me a wake.

"Oh, hey mom." I say sitting up front he bed and rubbing my eyes.

" Baby, why are you back form school so early?" she asks looking at me worriedly

"Oh that. It's nothing. I just wasn't feeling too fine so I got a permission slip to come back early." I tell her

"Your sick?" she says in an alarmed tone of voice .

"No, mom. Not that sick. I am fine already ." I reassure her

"You sure?" she asks and I just nod.

"Ok then. Come down for breakfast." she says.

Dinner is a lukewarm affair since I don't feel like talking. I try my dinner quickly and wish them a good night and go back to my room.

The next day I dread going back to school because I don't want to fact the fact that my best friend has turned to become my bully of sorts. However, I can't remain home forever since that will need me to explain why I fear going to school when I clearly love school.

Soon, my dad is dropping me off at the gate and I wave at him as he steps on the gas.

I enter and tread towards my locker with trepidation thinking that maybe tomorrow's incident might repeat itself but instead nothing happens. I open my locker to find medicine for bruises and I look around as though I might find someone with a forehead sign saying it's them who put it there.

"Twinnieeeeeeeee guess what?" Ceci screeches as she runs towards me with torpedo energy and the fact that she ain't even self conscious of the noise she is making or the looks she is getting makes me just shake my head at her.

"Slow down." I say catching her when it seems like her momentum might just take us both with her."What is it?" I ask after I have finished stabilizing her

"Well, I heard that someone beat up that idiot Osbert from the football team." She says looking at me with twinkling eyes.

"What!, Why?" I ask

"Well not sure but they seem to have had a disagreement." she says shrugging.

"Huh ok. By the way did you put this cream in my locker?" I ask showing he rthe bruise cream I am holding in my hand.

"Nope. I just arrived you know." she says shaking her head.

"Who could it be then?" I say looking down at it .

"Just use it. Don't think too much." she says and I decide to heed her advice.

The rest of the semester is overtaken with small incidents like someone taking my books to hide and then later returning them, another incident is when someone tries to prank me with glue in my chair but somehow I survive when someone slams a book on the seat. All this small incidents point at the fact that someone seems to be protecting me from the shadows but I really don't want to get my hopes up.

The semester comes to a close and we are given a three week holiday which is an absolute delight for everyone as we can use that time to recoup and sleep in.

In my case, this holiday will mean facing the skeletons in my closet.