Violet

Chapter 28: Teachers and Bullies

My homeroom teacher, Mrs. Zechy, was the nicest teacher ever. The rest of the teachers I met throughout the day were moody. It seemed they were used to the kids and didn't have the desire to make a good impression of themselves anymore.

The bell rung, ending the fifth period. Next was recess and lunch. I got my stuff and rushed to my locker where I stuffed all my belongings. Liz told me to wait for her by my locker before recess, and I did. Teenagers ran through the hall while I looked for Ryan. I finally saw him putting his things away in his locker. He looked angry. I wasn't sure if I should approach him or not. When I finally thought about walking over to him, Liz showed up.

"Hey, how was science?" she asked me.

"Boring," I said. We began walking out of the hallway and out the door that led to the playground. The air was warm and smelled of honeysuckle. Mariel and Desiree met up with us by the slide that was for the kids in elementary school. Although some of the middle schoolers played on it.

"I can't wait for school to end," Mariel said. "We have a soccer game today and I'm ready to kick butt."

"What position do you play?" I asked her.

"Goalie," she said.

Desiree nodded. "Liz and I play midfield."

"You should join us, Violet. We're low on players," Liz said.

That actually sounded like a good idea. "I'd love to!"

"Good," Mariel said. "You can fill out a form in the nurse's office. Do it today. Maybe during intervention."

"All right," I said.

Liz was just about to say something when Ryan approached us. All three girls scowled at him.

"Violet? I didn't know you started here," he said with a smile. All the other girls looked at me with their mouths hanging.

"You know him?" Desiree asked.

Ryan rolled his eyes. "That's not really your business."

"She wasn't talking to you," Mariel said. I forgot to mention that Mariel was super tall and towered all of us.

He took my hand and led me a few feet away from them. "What a bunch of jerks, I can't believe you're friends with them."

I wanted to say something to him, but I couldn't. I was still shocked by what I saw in the hallway. "What's wrong?" he asked.

I looked up at him, then back at the ground. It was hard to keep eye contact with him. "I... I saw you slam a guy against a locker."

He hit his head with his hand. His face began to turn red. "You saw that? Oh, geez."

"Why did you do it?" My words came out fast and I felt my heart beating quickly. "How could you do something like that? I thought you were better than that?"

He leaned close to me. "Better than that? Better than what? Don't act like you know me so well. You don't know what that kid said to me."

"Okay," I stuttered. "Maybe I don't know, but you can't just bully people."

He laughed. "It's funny that the same people calling me a bully around here are the ones that started bullying me in the first place. Everyone around here calls me names and push me around, but when I defend myself, I'm the bully." He waved his hands in the air. "Reckless Ryan, Reckless Ryan. Don't believe everything you hear. I thought you were better than that."

He walked away, leaving me speechless. I wanted to reply, but it was too late. He was gone. Liz and the others walked up to me. "Hey, you okay?" Liz asked.

"Yeah," I lied.

***

When I got back to Denise's house, I avoided everyone as much as I could. I didn't want to talk to anyone, but everyone was there waiting for me to tell them about my first day at school. Even Katherine and Nadine were there. Nadine entered my room and smiled at me.

"I saw you talking to Ryan today," she said. "He looked pretty mad. I thought he would give you one right in the eye." She punched a fist into the air, adding a "BAM" sound effect.

"Shut up," I said. Nadine looked at me with wide eyes before she stuck her nose in the air while closing her eyes.

"So rude." She turned to face me. "No wonder he was mad. You probably acted like a snob."

The only snob in the room was her and I wanted nothing more than for her to leave. The phone in our room began ringing. "Excuse me," I said, pretending to reach for the phone. My plan worked and she left, although I was stuck with the phone. I answered it.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey, pumpkin!" my father said into the phone. For some reason, my heart began pounding. "Pumpkin?" he said again.

"He-hey, Dad," I said.

"I miss you so much. Are you enjoying yourself?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"I heard you were in school," he said. "Tell me how it went."

I told him about my day and my new friends and my crummy teachers. He laughed a few times. I didn't mention Ryan. He told me about how he was having a hard time keeping up with all the flowers in the garden and that he needed help. He told me he loved me and I didn't reply. I told him goodnight before we both hung up.

I walked into the living room to answer everyone else's question about my day. Denise was washing dishes to get started on dinner. "Who was on the phone?" Denise asked me.

"My father," I said.

"What did he say?" my mother asked.

I took a seat on the couch and shrugged. "Nothing. Just how am I doing and how's school."

"You told him you started school?" she asked.

"No, he just asked," I said.

"Well, I didn't tell him," my mother said.

"Neither did I," Denise said.

Then who told him? I wondered. From the corner of my eye, I could see April coloring on the floor. She kept looking up and nodding her head as if she was talking to someone. She even laughed a few times. When she saw me looking at her, she stared at me and stuck her tongue out at me as if I did something wrong. What was the matter with her?