"You and your favorite fictionnal character do one of the stupidest thing ever as teenagers and get caught."
So, uh, not really as teenagers, not really a stupid thing - worse -, and the "get caught" part isn't really… important. Also I'm pretty sure it's full of mistakes and I invented some stuff I couldn't remember.
"Are you sure your idea is a good one, Jim ?"
He didn't answer. Jim and I were the quiet kids of the class. The ones who sit at the back of the room and don't talk to anyone – mostly because nobody wanted to talk to us. I never had lots of friends, I'd rather read a book during the pause than play with the other kids. But since we were quite alike, we learned to kow each other, and I liked to spend some time with him. I soon discovered that he was really tortured : he was most of the time silent, and when he'd talk, he'd sometimes say morbid things… Also he didn't seem to be really loved by his family. Otherwise, he was a very pleasant kid – well, that's what I thought. We became closer around… the month of January I think, after the Christmas holidays. I remember that because of the thing that happened with this guy, Carl. He was really tall, really impressive, and awfully stupid. Jim was extremely clever, and he didn't like that. Actually I guess he had a problem with the lonely kids in general, since he didn't like me either. Lonely kids make the easiest victims. Carl was the typical sporty boy, and all the girls were after him. Ah, those stupid people. So, I was saying that, after the Christmas holidays, that guy started to bully Jim. At first, he was "only" making fun of him, but then he started to become… cruel. I tried, as an 11 year old girl, to help him, but it only got worse. Carl hated on me too, and soon, everyone in the class was against us. Jim wasn't saying anything. I admired him : I couldn't help but crying everytime I was upset which would make the other kids laugh, while he was holding his tears back, staying impassive. That guy, Carl… was such a mean person. He wasn't even being intelligent in his bullying – some people can be –, just as stupid as usual. Criticizing our physical appearances, our loneliness, telling lies about us… classical.
"What are we doing ?" I asked, hoping he would answer this time.
We were in the gym, a few hours before the kids swimming competition that would take place in London. We both hated sport, and found a way to ditch school at that time. Carl, of course, was training with the other pupils. It hurts me to say that, but he was a really, really good swimmer. He was winning almost everything. And he was pretty excited, since he was sure to win this afternoon's competition. But Jim had an idea – he didn't tell me much about it, yet he seemed quite… happy about it.
"Something that is gonna stop Carl from laughing at us." did he say, with a smile I've never seen on his face before.
We entered the boys' dressing room, and he started to look for Carl's bag – a big blue bag with white stripes. But what did he want to do with it ? I didn't dare to ask again, convinced he wouldn't answer me anyway, and so I helped him looking for the bag. All the boys were leaving their stuff here, no one thought someone would steal anything, we were supposedly young and innocent… After a few minutes, we found it, hidden under a coat.
"Carl sure does love his shoes…"
Indeed, he had those big white sport shoes he was wearing and polishing all the time. Jim opened the bag after looking around him, and took the shoes out of it.
"Here, hold them."
I held the shoes, waiting for him to do something. He then suddenly took a small bottle that was in his pocket. It had some weird liquid in it.
"Actually you should put the shoes on the floor, you don't want to get some of this on your hands."
This was getting weirder and weirder. Though, I didn't say anything, and Jim spread some of the liquid on the laces. They quickly became wet, and Jim looked at them, smiling.
"Hey, you two, get out of here !"
A man with a red face and a fat stomach just entered the room, keys in his hands. He grabbed Jim and I by the arms, making us wince. He was probably one of the guardians, and brought us back to our teacher. I looked down. We were going to have to swim. Oh god how I hated it… I wasn't even listening to the screaming of Mr. Cowen and the laughter of the kids in the pool. I was wondering what Jim just put on the laces. It was definitely not water. No, couldn't be… As we were walking next to the basin, I finally asked him.
"Tell me, what did you do with those shoes ?"
He looked with disdain at Carl, swimming, and whispered.
"Poison. It was poison. He'll certainly die. I hope he will."
I stared at Jim's face for a few seconds, hardly believing what he was saying.
"Hey losers, not even capable to ditch school, eh ?"
Carl was leaning on the edge of the pool, laughing at us. I grinned. He was going to pay for what he did to us. If I wanted to be correct, I'd say "we were young, I didn't understand what we did and I regret it". But no. Oh no, I perfectly understood it, and I have to admit, I never regretted it. Not once.