Index
Chapter 1 (a) – The Odds Around me
Chapter 1 (b) – The Odds Around Me
Chapter 2 – The Bully
Chapter 6 – The Truth (Last Episode)
Chapter 2 (The Bully)
The driver drove into my school at top speed, in the early hours of a Monday, to
meet a ruckus that had caused an uproar amongst the crowd of students that had them assembling. Surprised at meeting such commotion so very early, the driver gave a worried look and got out of the car to go find out what has the entire students in such a state of disorder but I forbade him from doing that and waved him to return into the car.
I hurried out of the car, prodded the driver to drive home, and went to join the
crowd, then straining to see what could have caused such an uproar this early, there
was in their midst, two girls fighting.
A huge girl stood striking another profusely while the other girl, tiny in stature lay
helpless on the floor, kicking and shrieking at the top of her lungs. The huge girl who loomed over the other one was Lucy, she was the daughter of a Minister.
Lucy’s parents and mine are acquaintances, Her father and mine had been best pals
from childhood.
Lucy’s father is my dad’s confidant and most trusted buddy, their love for each other was so strong that it extended to their wives. Lucy’s mum had been my dad’s first wife’s best friend, their intimacy stems from a myriad of things, from the husband’s relationship and having common interests creating a stronger bond between them. When she vanished and my dad remarried, Lucy’s mum maintained polite amity with my mum.
Our fathers wanted the friendship between them extended to their offsprings as well, That simple determination was what had made Lucy and I become friends. To uphold the bond, our parents ensured we both attended similar schools from
kindergarten to high school and spend the holidays together.
My whole school life was always about satisfying Lucy, it’s either that or she
yells and whines whenever things aren’t going her way. We wear identical clothes, eat the same type of meals, everything we had to do was done the exact way Lucy wanted it. Our primary school days had always been eventful, we oppressed every school mate Lucy despises. By the time we were in the final class, we both had bullied every student in the school. The school kids loathe us but they were too scared to show It, they agreed to call us “The Bullies” whenever we are out of earshot. I and Lucy proceeded into high school, bullying, and threatening every
classmate we had.
As the years progressed in high school, Lucy’s bullying became appalling and violent. I was tired of bullying people, while she became more vicious with each day, I spoke to her about it and Lucy’s reluctance to put an end to her bad behaviors had me reevaluating our friendship with each other and wanting to lead a better school
life. Lucy sensed that I was withdrawing from her and becoming friends with the other students, she began bullying people that wanted to be close to me. I realized Lucy was being bad to all the people I cared about and decided it was time I set her straight
“Rola, I want to speak to you”
She got up from the chair she was sitting on and asked me to go ahead with
what I was going to say.
“I’m tired of the way you treat other students here, you bully them and take their stuff,” I said.
“Is that the reason you want to speak with me?” Lucy asked, her edgy voice showing her displeasure.
” I’m displeased with your attitude towards these people, we’ve bullied them long
enough and I think it’s time to be better and kinder to them”
“I’ve talked to you about it and you’ve decided not to change, all my efforts to change you have been futile, so I think it’s best we quit being friends if you won’t turn a new leaf”
“Are you insane, Annabelle? You are going to stop being friends with me for that bizarre reason?”
“My reasons aren’t ridiculous, you are the ridiculous one here, those people are not
scared of you, they are just scared of your threats” “You have a chance to correct your wrongs and gain friends that will love you”
“I could only threaten them because they are all so naive and gullible, besides I do not want any friendship with those children of nobodies”
“You do know the only reason the school authorities haven’t expelled you is because of who your father is, right?”
“It is not my business the kids here are children of nobodies nor is it my fault that my father is a minister”
Lucy never ceases to vaunt about her father’s wealth and position every time. I
stared at her for the longest time and sighed in regret that she was ever intimate with me. I wondered where Lucy got her attitude from, her parents were compassionate, they cared about children which was the reason they donated to several schools and orphanage homes, then why isn’t she just as thoughtful?
From then on, the animosity between us grew, I never let her bully or frighten
anyone, I protected the students against her bullying and fend her off whenever I see her threatening them, this usually made Lucy furious.
Getting to school this very day and seeing Lucy beating a helpless girl, made me so
mad. Nobody in the crowd made a move to free the little girl from the grasp of her tormentor because they worry she might unleash her fury on them.
I soon grew tired of the commotion, I shoved through the crowd to help the little girl to her feet, when she had arisen I made an effort to soothe the girl, reinstated her ripped dress, noticing her bruised lips made me more furious, I then turned to confront Lucy.
Lucy wasn’t pleased with my intervention, and she moved to snatch the girl out of
my hold and I retaliated giving her a resounding slap across her face. The slap was so hard that it had her tumbling down to the ground, rubbing her face in pain while she glared in awe as I turned to walk away with the little girl clutching her side as if afraid of Lucy snatching her away from her savior. Lucy got off the floor quickly, recovered from the shock she was in, shouting in rage, I heard her threaten “This isn’t over” as she hastily walked away from the crowd In humiliation.
The next day was no different from the previous, As I drove into school, I could perceive trouble brewing in the air but was soon to find out. As soon as I got off the car, a junior student rushed to me to tell me I was to report to the principal’s office immediately. I ran as quickly as my legs could carry me, the messenger in tow as we walked to the principal’s office, my heart lurched in fear and wonder regarding why the head of school was calling me and why so early. I got into the office to meet the principal on his seat with two other people, a woman sitting on the chair opposite the principal’s desk, her face buried in a hankie, and a man standing in a rigid poise across the wall. They seemed to be the parents of a pupil.
I walked into the room with the other girl, saluted everyone in the room, and said I was told the principal wanted to see me. The principal sent the girl messenger to go find Lucy as well and tell her to report to his office immediately.
“Are you the one bullying my child?” Inquired a tall man at me, towering upon me
intimidatingly. The principal spoke quickly, his voice calm but stern “Mr. Smith, please calm down, you cannot terrify a pupil that way, especially not in my office”.
” I demand to know why she would hurt a harmless little child, surely, it’s because she is much older” he returned, eyeing me with disdain.
“Now, Mr.Smith, Annabelle isn’t the one who harmed your child, she was the one she declared that saved her from her oppressor “.
That being said got Mr. Smith to ease his intimidating pose, his face turned red in
embarrassment as he looked at me, he simply apologized for his errors and retreated to his position across the wall. At that moment the woman who happened to be Mrs. Smith rose from the seat rushing to me, sobbing, she hugged me fiercely, thanking me for saving her daughter.
” Thank you so much for saving our little girl, I don’t know what would have happened to her if you had left her alone to her plight,” she said amidst tears.
I was still too dumbfounded to speak, I just held the woman till her tears calmed
and I was able to let go of her and return to her seat.
The principal made a sound of clearing his throat and asked me to give her
an account of the story. I began my account of how I got to the school that Monday morning to meet the whole school in disorder, which seem to be caused by a fight going on, I recalled rushing out of the car and pushing through the crowd of students to discover that it was Lucy hitting a girl profusely, I told how I quickly ran to save the little girl while everyone else stood watching, I gave the account of the girl’s bruised lips and ripped dress and also about slapping Lucy for mistreating a young girl and my walking away with the little girl by her side.
At that moment, Lucy came into the office with the girl messenger, the principal quickly dismissed the other girl, telling her to shut the door after her.
As soon as Lucy entered the room and saw me and the faces of the others in the
room, she knew that something was amiss, the tall man wasted no time hauling her
against the wall in outrage.
“Are you the one who bruised my child’s face?”
The principal hurried to pull Lucy off from his grip,
“Mr. Smith will you please calm down, you do not need to grab her that way, please let’s be civil here”
Mrs. Smith ran to also grab Lucy before the principal could pull her away from her
husband and tugged at her hair with as much strength as she had, it was as though a new spirit possessed her, the calm woman is now a vixen.
It took a lot of strength for the principal to be able to pull them off Lucy and even more convincing to get them to cool off.
When the air in the room was considerably improved and no more threats were thrown at Lucy, the principal then asked Lucy the reason for the ill-treatment of a junior girl.
“Lucy, can you tell us why you deem it fit to beat a young girl up and at that in a school premises when the teachers were having a meeting?” Said the principal
“She was being rude to me” Lucy pointed
“How was she being rude to you?”
“When I got to school that morning, I wanted to clear my head before joining the
assembly and didn’t want to take the stress of climbing up to the classroom to drop my things, I looked for who to ask to drop them for and she was the only one I saw, then I asked her to drop them for me, she collected them and threw them to the ground, I was so mad, that I hit her but I didn’t mean for it to get so serious” Lucy accounted
“Then how did it get so serious then?”
“I slapped her, she then retaliated by punching my stomach, that was what prompted me to beat her but she wasn’t badly injured, maybe it was when Anna dragged her, she was perfectly fine when I left her alone”
“You mean perfectly fine with a ripped dress, a bruised lips, and staggering” I
countered
“She wasn’t staggering when I left her yesterday”
“You are lying and you know that you are” I yelled.
We continued to brawl until the principal ordered them to silence.
” it’s enough, both of you, you both seem not to have regards for me or the parents you are in the presence of ” he turned to the parents
“Now Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I’m expressing my deepest regret regarding all that happened to your child, it’s quite an unfortunate incident to happen”
“I apologize on her behalf and I promise you it won’t ever happen again”
Mr. Smith was the first one to speak
“I do not like when people bully anyone just because they think they could especially not on my child, I’m not going to take this lightly
” Our child told us that this girl has been a bully and there is no student she hasn’t
threatened in this school, we are not going to watch her continue with such acts, are we?” Asked Mrs. Smith
“Now, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, you must have been misinformed on that part, this is the first time I’m hearing such a thing happening in my school, I can assure you that this will be the last one” The principal fabricated
“I’m sorry, principal Sam, but my child has never lied to me, not once, not ever, so I’m going to have to believe her on this issue, that been said, I do not think I can let my child continue her education in such premises with someone that threatens her freedom”
“Mr. Smith, I think you are taking this too far”
“Are you telling me, protecting my child is taking it too far, Mr. Sam!
” We are taking our daughter out of this school if she does not leave,” Mr. Smith said
pointing to Lucy
“We are not taking chances on this matter” Mrs. Smith decided.
Principal Sam looked dejected at Lucy, he was confused about how to persuade the
agitated parents to dismiss the issue and also how he was going to tell the Minister that his child had to leave the school.
He had known for the longest time about Lucy’s bullying and threatening the other
students but he had played ignorance to every allegation he got about her, just because he knew if he was to punish or expel Lucy, the Minister might withdraw his yearly donations to the school which he could not let happen because his school counted on that Fund to keep running.
He was still in his confused state when Lucy’s voice pierced through his thoughts
“I will leave” she announced
“Fine by me,” Mrs. Smith breathed out
“What did you just say?” asked the confused principal, thinking he couldn’t have heard her clearly
“I said I will leave, I was getting tired of the school anyway, I was waiting for the right
time to tell my dad I wanted out of here”
” You will do no such thing, Lucy” the principal shouted in rising fury
“I want to leave”
The principal eyed her furiously, he wanted badly to yank her aside and tell her she was out of her mind but he could not do that especially not when they had other agitated audiences.
“Principal Sam, what are you going on about here, we want the girl to leave and she
agreed to, and here you are asking her to stay, are we jokes to you?” Mr. Smith inquired
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Smith but in this school, every student is extremely valuable, which is why we strive hard to make sure harmony prevails amongst them, which is why I’m trying to persuade you and also her to agree to drop this topic and I guarantee you, nothing like this will ever happen again”
“This does not look like you are trying to ensure we agreed, this looks like you were
pleading with her to stay”
“Mr. Smith, please try to understand, I’ve pleaded with you to let go of this issue, and agree”
“My child cannot stay in the same school as this girl, she is unapologetic and not
remorseful about what she did and it seems you care more about her staying than about us going, so if you don’t mind, I and my wife will be leaving now and we will never return except we see that you have made changes to your school”
“It’s either she leaves this school or we leave, do have a nice day, Mr. Sam,” Mrs. Smith said as she walked out of the office pushing me to the side.
The principal ran after them to further convince them to let them resolve the issues,
after a few minutes, he returned looking furious.
“Now, you listen” he turned to Lucy
“I have had enough of your troubles in this premise, and today should be your last, I do not want to hear about you causing problems in my school from now on, do you
understand me?”
“Principal Sam, I do want to leave this school, and you do not need to lose any student on my behalf, my dad sent me to this miserable school because of Anna, and since we are no longer civil with each other, I see no reason to why I should keep hanging around her especially since I have no liking for the school nor the students in it”
“You need not get furious over me any longer or worry about me getting into troubles, with that said, I am dismissing myself”
Lucy strode out of the office with a swaggering, leaving me and the principal
dumbfounded, as they stared after her.
I took the cue and excused myself from the office, easing out of the door, and closing it quietly.
Read the continuation (Chapter 3) Here!
You will definitely love this Fiction story titled 'Annabelle'. Click to read
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