I find it completely comical that Richard thinks that I am intimidated by him. I look at him and feel nothing, actually. How he became the one to worry about for the rest of these kids, I’ll never understand. He’s shorter than most of the guys in our grade, he’s not fit, he wears his clothes way too big, and he’s kinda clumsy. We have gym class together, and he has yet to catch one ball thrown in his direction. He’s not a bully; he’s just annoying.
But ever since our first encounter, he’s been trying to lure me into reacting to his nonsense. He’s not worth my effort. And yet, somehow, people are worried about me because they see me as a target. Imagine that. They think I should be scared, but I’m not bothered. He’s a big old gnat; harmless, always in your face for no reason. Not scary.
He’s trying to intimidate me, but he’s just an idiot, and I don’t have the energy to waste on caring about what he’s trying to do. I have my own stuff to deal with.
Lizzie cares, though, and she’s pissed.
She always uses our lunch breaks to vent about it.
“He’s an asshole. Why can’t he just leave people alone?” says Lizzie out loud, complaining to no one in particular.
“I should kick his ass,” chimes in Gabe.
I laugh out loud.
Gabe looks at me, and I can tell my little laugh hurt his feelings, but that doesn’t mean what he said wasn’t funny.
“If Sam’s not thinking about that jerk trying to mess with her, then why are you two so worked up about it?” asks Jonathan with genuine curiosity.
“Because he just picks on everyone, and it’s gotta stop. I can’t stand it,” says Lizzie.
“And, he won’t stop until he really gets his ass kicked,” adds Gabe.
I stifle another laugh.
After lunch, Lizzie and I have a routine of walking to our next class together, and along the way, I usually stop at my locker to check myself in my mirror as we linger a bit before heading on. I never need anything, but since the locker is right there, we might as well stop.
Today, however, I notice something on the outside of one locker up ahead. I’m still too far away to be certain, but I’m pretty sure it’s my locker. Then I notice Richard “hiding” in one of the doorways nearby. I don’t know who he thinks he’s fooling. You see his belly and that flannel shirt he likes so much from a mile away. He’s just annoying.
Lizzie notices the locker too and says, “What the fuck is that stuff? Ew.”
“Who cares,” I respond, not stopping or staring at the mess that’s now my locker.
All I know is that it’s covering the lock, and there’s no way for me to open it without some major struggle, so, for real, why bother? Besides, I don’t want to give Richard any satisfaction for his little prank.
We keep walking.
“Yuck,” Lizzie says as we walk past, and she gets a better look.
I see Richard’s face and his disappointment amuses me, and I can’t help but let out a little giggle. Lizzie looks at me, confused, then she sees Richard too and gives him the finger. I don’t know which I liked more – her aggression or his disappointment, but I let out another giggle, to which Lizzie proceeds to give me the finger, too, which had me cracking up by the time we got to class.
Lizzie reported that someone had put a big mess on my locker, exaggerating as she explained, stating how I could no longer open it and get my things. I was amazed at how much effort she put into reporting this. She did it so well, the teacher took it upon herself to get the custodian on the phone and remind him how important it was for teenage girls to have access to private storage. Lizzie looked at me, satisfied, and I just rolled my eyes at the teacher’s very loud speech while on the phone with them.
After class, we walk in the opposite direction to head to the gym. When we come out of the classroom, we can see three different janitors trying to figure out what to do about my locker. I wish Jonathan were around to take a quick pic with his camera. That would have been the best. Still looking back at the locker now, I sense why the other kids keep telling me to watch my back. I guess I need to take this vendetta a little more seriously.
Today, for Gym, we get to compete on an obstacle course, and we’re divided into teams. As luck would have it, I’m on the same team as Richard, but Lizzie and I are not. Joy.
This bothers me for two reasons: the number one reason is that I can be extremely competitive, and having this goofball on my team means first place is not happening. I think that’s pissing me off more than I would ever admit out loud. But, secondly, I am not in the mood to be bothered by this jerk after what he did to my locker, and if I overreact, I might get myself into trouble. I’m still too new here for that.
Walking outside to where our team is going to start, I hear Richard behind me with his doofy friends. They say stuff and laugh at their own jokes in an attempt to intimidate me, but I just ignore them as much as I can.
It must be a sad sight, me walking alone and the jerky boys behind me, because as the gym teacher passes, he stops next to me to make sure I’m okay. I reassure him that I’m good, and he moves on. Almost immediately after that, I get hit on the back of the arm by a little rock, and I hear Richard say, “Bullseye.” I stop for a second but decide not to turn around, and I keep moving. I get hit by another little rock, then another, and another. I can’t take it. This I can not ignore. I stop, turn around, take two steps towards them, and say, “Listen, big boy, you’re messing with the wrong girl. I will defend myself, which you’ll probably really regret, so leave me the fuck alone.”
They look at me for a moment, then burst out laughing. I shake my head, turn back around, and head to where we’re supposed to go.
Our team is posted to begin at the monkey bars part of the course. There are monkey bars, but also these ring things that they use in gymnastics and other stuff similar to that. A kid falls off the rings, and the teacher runs over to check on them. I look around and see tires laid out for a run through at one post, and a high wall with a rope climb at another. This is gonna suck.
I see Lizzie, and she’s looking at me. I smile and wave, just as someone decides that pulling my hair would be a good idea. I turn around and, to no surprise, it’s Richard. He’s in my face, so I push him back away from me. This shocks him. He wasn’t expecting me to put my hands on him, I guess. He regroups himself, walks back up to me and in one motion, pushes me back. Now I’m shocked. I wasn’t expecting the push back at all, and I lose my footing. Down I go, right on my bum. Richard looks so satisfied. No, I can’t go out like this. If I don’t do something to embarrass him now, he’ll never leave me alone. I don’t want to fight; that would be too easy, and he could use the excuse of not wanting to hurt me because I’m a girl if I get the best of him.
No, I have to make him so embarrassed that he will want to stay as far away from me as possible, so I decide that when I get up, I’m going to pull his stupid gym shorts down to his ankles. I want to kick him in his privates, but shorts down should be enough.
Just as I get up, Lizzie appears out of nowhere, stomps right up to Richard, and punches him dead in his nose.
“I told you to leave her alone, you butt-tard!” yells Lizzie.
“Whaaaa?” I start to ask with a little laugh, but Lizzie cuts me off.
“I know. I don’t know,” she says, looking confused, walking to stand next to me.
We hear Richard screaming out about his nose, but we ignore him.
“You broke my nose, Lizzie,” he says.
Continuing our conversation, I say, “What in the world is a butt-tard?” now laughing.
“Oh my God, I know. I couldn’t think of anything else. I was mad at him for pushing you; it just came out like that.”
Were both laughing pretty good now and start walking back to the school.
The teacher is near Richard, trying to help him, asking what happened, and Richy just whimpers. I look back and am surprised at all of the blood coming from his face.
“Holy shit, Lizzie, maybe you did break his nose.”
“Good,” she says. “He deserved it.”
“He is a jerk,” I say quietly in agreement.
“Oh wow, that’s a lot of blood,” she says when she turns back to see for herself.
“Yeah, that was some hook you threw at him,” I say, squeezing what would be the muscle on her arm, and she puts her arm up, making a fist like she’s flexing.
We look at each other, then burst out laughing again. We walk with our arms looped together all the way back to the locker room.
Lizzie only got into a little bit of trouble comparatively because the other kids told how they saw Richard throwing rocks at me, pull my hair, and push me down. So she only received a one-day out-of-school suspension for defending me, the new girl. Ha!
He, however, received five days out-of-school and two days-in-school suspensions for being the aggressor and bullying.
It was delightful. I could not have asked for a better outcome if I had come up with that plan myself. It was so peaceful with him out. When he returned, he had this huge bandage covering his nose, and every time Lizzie and I saw him, we started cracking up all over again.
As far as his tough guy reputation went, it was cooked.
Since we were outside during gym with other classes, almost everyone knew right away that Richy had been beaten up by a girl. And since that girl was sweet, quiet, lovely, little Lizzie who never bothered anyone; things got blown out of proportion. I heard a story where she gave him a one-two punch – pow-pow. I heard another story where she ran over, jumped in the air, and drop-kicked him in the face. And there was even one where she jumped on him like a crazy person, knocked him to the ground, and went psycho punching him over and over.
I love all of that for her.
It was so awesome, and now, of course, she and I will always be forever friends.
**Image: Rings hanging on an OCR race obstacle By Victor Vázquez