Torn Souls (15 page)

The next morning my alarm clock went off reminding me to get up for school. I didn’t want to go, not ever. I thought about telling Mom I didn’t feel good so I could stay home, but then she’d make a big deal out of it. Plus, I was pretty sure she’d try dragging me to the doctor’s office which was the last place I wanted to spend part of my day. I knew I didn’t have much of a choice, so I pushed myself to get dressed and headed off to school. The whole day, I walked around in fear. Waiting, wondering, when Bridget would show up. The only time I was at ease was when I was with Alex.

The end of the day came and Bridget stayed away from me for the most part. Yes, there was the occasional name calling, but I did my best to ignore it. I figured as long as I could get through the next week of school without being beaten up, I’d be good. I was counting down the days until Christmas vacation.

The week had passed by pretty fast and Friday finally came. I was more than excited to get out of school for a while. Alex and I had plans to go shopping after school with my mom for Christmas presents. Even though Alex and I never discussed exchanging gifts ourselves, I had planned on buying him something. Over the past year I’ve managed to save three hundred dollars from my allowance and birthday money. I figured after buying my parents a gift I’d have enough money to buy Alex one too.

There was only a half an hour left of class until the bell would ring. I couldn’t wait to get out of school. I kept watching the clock as the time crept by until finally the bell rang. Rushing to my locker, I shoved all my books in, but just as I went to close it, I felt a hard blow to my ribs causing me to fall to the ground. Trying to catch my breath, I felt a kick to my leg and before I knew it I was getting beat up and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Sad to say I didn’t know what to do except to curl up into a ball and hope it would stop soon. It felt like a lifetime had passed before I heard someone from a distance yell, “Stop it!” For a moment I blacked out until I heard Alex’s voice along with someone else’s calling my name.

“Julia. Julia, let me help you,” I heard Alex say.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw Alex leaning down next to me. My body hurt and I wasn’t sure if I could get up off the floor. I wanted to cry, but there was a crowd of kids standing around watching, so I forced back my tears.

“Here, take my hand,” Alex said.

As he wrapped one arm around my lower back and lifted me, I could feel a sharp pain in my side. I knew something was wrong. It felt like something was broken. Once I was up on my feet I could see the principal through the crowd of kids making his way over to me. “Come on, everyone get to your buses or head outside to wait for your parents,” I heard him say.

I thought the first thing he was going to do was ask what happened when he approached me, but he didn’t. Instead he helped Alex bring me into the nearest classroom. The entire time I was walking, I cried out in pain. I could see the expression on Alex’s face. I wanted to die. There was no way I could live like this. Alex tried helping me sit down in one of the classroom chairs, but it hurt too much, so I just continued to lean against him.

“Julia, Ms. Crane in the front office has called your parents and an ambulance. They should be here soon. I know you’re in a lot of pain, but can you tell me what happened?” the principal asked.

“I… I can’t tell you much. I didn’t see anything,” I explained to him while holding my side.

I felt bad, that I couldn’t even address my principal by his name. For the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was. Then again, I was lucky if I could remember anything. I was sure someone saw, but was also sure no one was going to come forward. It looked like a lot of kids in my school were scared. I knew exactly who it was, but in reality I really didn’t see Bridget with my own eyes. I only felt pain and then I was down on the ground being beaten mercilessly. I didn’t expect Alex to speak up, but he did. Apparently he saw Bridget.

“Mr. Joseph, I only saw Julia on the ground and Bridget kicking her. That’s when I ran over yelling at Bridget to stop. She turned and looked at me for a second before running out the doors of the school,” Alex explained.

“Okay then, but Julia I have to ask you...did you start it or did she? Please don’t get upset with me. I’m just trying to figure out why she’d go after you. Do you have any ideas?” Mr. Joseph asked.

I froze. What was I supposed to say? I really wasn’t sure why she never liked me, never mind why she’d beat me up in the hall at school. I thought for a minute or so before answering with the only explanation I had. She didn’t like me hanging around Alex. I really didn’t want to bring Alex up to the principal, but I had no other choice.

“The only thing I can come up with, Mr. Joseph, is that on my first day here, she confronted me about hanging around Alex.”

“Really? So what you’re telling me, Julia, is that this might all be because of Alex?” Mr. Joseph said with a puzzled look on his face.

Before I could say anything back, Alex turned his head toward me and said, “What are you talking about, Julia?”

I could see he was upset and he had every right to be. I never told him about Bridget when I should have, but I didn’t want to discuss this in front of the principal either. Luckily, I didn’t have to. The paramedic’s came the same time my parents arrived. Of course, my mom was freaked out and said she was going to ride with me to the hospital. Dad pulled the principal aside, but I had no idea what he was saying and poor Alex was just standing there. Dad had told Mom he would meet up with us when he was done talking with Mr. Joseph.

Because Alex was supposed to come over to my house after school he rode with Mom and me in the ambulance to the hospital. Mom was asking me a million questions while Alex sat quietly, unless Mom directed a question toward him. It didn’t take very long for us to get there, and I actually saw a doctor much faster than I was expecting, which may have been the one perk of being taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Dad showed up when I was heading to get an x-ray done on the left side of my rib cage. The doctor said it probably wasn’t broken, but to be on the safe side he wanted to check everything thoroughly. Once I was back in the room, it was twenty questions all over again. I just wanted to go home and forget the whole day, but with my parents, that wasn’t going to happen. I also wanted to try and fix things with Alex. I knew he was mad at me.

The doctor came back in no time and informed all of us that my ribs weren’t cracked just a lot of bruising from being kicked repeatedly. I didn’t even realize I had been kicked more than once, but then again I didn’t remember much.

“Take some Ibuprofen and try to avoid lying on that side, Julia. You’ll be sore for a couple of weeks, but you’ll heal. You’re young and healthy,” the doctor said with a smile.

When we got home Mom wouldn’t stop babying me. I wanted to go in my room, but she insisted that I stay out in the living room so she could get me what I needed. I didn’t need anything except to be alone with Alex. I needed to apologize to him and make things right. I wasn’t sure what to say to Alex except to tell him that I was sorry, but I wasn’t sure that was going to be enough.

“Hey, Julia, are you alright?” Dad asked.

“Yes, I’m okay. Remember what the doctor said? I’ll heal in a couple of weeks,” I reminded him.

“Sorry, I know your mom and I can be a little overbearing sometimes. Anyway, I’m heading out. Do you and Alex want me to bring back some pizzas? I think your mom will be fine with not cooking tonight. Her nerves are shot.”

I turned to look at Alex and said, “Cheese or pepperoni?”

“Whatever, I don’t care really.”

I could hear the anger and disappointment in his voice. I couldn’t take it anymore, so as soon as Dad left, and Mom was busy doing whatever she was doing, I took Alex’s hand and said, “Come on.” Slowly getting off the couch we headed into my room. I closed the door and sat just a few inches away, directly facing him so he could see how sorry I really was when I spoke.

“Alex, look at me, please.”

As he picked up his head to look at me I didn’t see anger in his eyes anymore. What I saw was sadness. His eyes looked glazed as if he was going to cry and I wasn’t sure why. My hands started to sweat a little. My side was hurting so bad yet I needed to push through the pain and tell him why I did what I did.

“I know you’re upset with me Alex and you have every right to be, but please let me explain myself.” He didn’t say anything. He just sat there waiting for me to continue, so I did. “I didn’t say anything to you because I was hoping Bridget would just get tired of harassing me. Don’t get me wrong, I was bothered by her name calling, but that’s all it was, at first. Then one day she happened to see you and me hanging around and for some reason she didn’t like it. That’s when she first started threatening me, trying to force me to stop hanging around with you.”

Before I could continue Alex stopped me and asked, “So if she told you to stop hanging around with me, then why wouldn’t you come to me for some answer?”

“I’m not sure, to tell you the truth. There were a couple of times where I wanted to ask you as much as I wanted to tell you what was going on, but I didn’t. I think I was just embarrassed, and hoped the problem would resolve itself.”

“Julia, the only reason why I’m upset is because you didn’t trust me enough to share what was going on. I would’ve protected you.” His sincerity made me tear up just a little. He was right, I should’ve trusted him.

“Alex, I have a question,” I said, wondering if I’d get an answer.

“What question is that, Julia?”

“Why would Bridget tell me to stay away from you?”

“Bridget and her family moved here a couple of years ago from Washington. I met her when she transferred into middle school in seventh grade. She was different back then. We became friends like you and I are, but over time she didn’t want to be just friends, she wanted us to be more. I tried to explain to her that I didn’t feel the same way which didn’t go over so well with her. Bridget became possessive of me. Every girl I talked to she’d have a problem with.”

“At one point she started telling people we were in a relationship which made me upset. At the end of eighth grade we had a falling out and she said she no longer wanted me around. It was never my intention to hurt her. I tried my best to make her understand and told her that I still wanted to be her friend, but she insisted that our friendship was over. “

“Julia, you have to believe me when I say I didn’t know that she still wasn’t over this obsession. I would’ve protected you. I would’ve made sure she stayed away from you. I never wanted any of this to happen.”

“It’ okay, Alex, I don’t blame you. Part of me feels bad for her because she’s very angry. Maybe there’s more going on in her life for her to bully me, or for anyone to be bullied. I’m not sure if I can even go back to school. I’m not going to lie or pretend that I'm not scared, because I am. This girl attacked me right in the middle of school with people all around me. What will stop her from doing it over and over again?”

“I think you’re safe. I’m pretty sure Principal Joseph has contacted her mother,” Alex said, trying to reassure me.

Maybe he was right. Surely they’d have to reprimand her for what she’s done, but what if she does it again? What if she continues to do it? Maybe she won’t bother me anymore from fear of caught, but what if she decides to do it to someone else? I remembered the fear on other students faces as they passed Bridget in the hall. The memory bothered me enough to wonder if I wasn’t the only one being bullied by this girl.

Soon after Alex and I talked things out and repaired our friendship, Mom came in the room to ask if everything was alright. I had a feeling she was in the hallway listening, but I didn’t want to say anything. I knew she was just worried with everything that had just happened.

“Yes, things are good,” I said to her and then looked at Alex, just to be sure.

“Things are going to get better, Mrs. Stone, I promise. I’ll never let anything happen to Julia again, cross my heart,” Alex said.