The bell for the period finally rang and Allison and Ella left the classroom in a hurry.
"That was so boring! All she does is review, review, and review. Then, after she's done reviewing, she somehow goes off topic. Man, am I glad to get out of that class!" Allison expressed her opinion out loud.
"Yeah, I know. We learned that stuff back in like 7th grade, didn't we? It was a lot more fun back then than with this boring old teacher. I can't believe she's making us feel as if we were 7th graders instead of mature, grown-up 10th graders."
"Yeah, even my math teacher treats us like we're mature. But this teacher, she must think we're in kindergarten or something because our grades are so easy to bring up."
"Don't jinx us, Ally. Maybe some day, by some supernatural force of nature, she'll realize what a terribly easy teacher she is and make it super hard to pass her class."
"Yeah, but I doubt that's happening anytime soon."
"True." Ella and Allison enjoyed a good laugh before Allison had to leave. Ella walked to her next class alone.
"I don't understand why you insist on avoiding me." The stalker was back, but this time, he'd trapped her in a hallway with a dead end.
Ella turned around and realized that he had been following her. There was no way to avoid him now. He had been planning this with a lot of care, and he knew that Allison had left her some time ago.
"Listen, I have to get to class, and I don't feel like being late. So if you would please step out of my way, I'll be on my way to class." Ella said coldly.
"Yeah, well maybe we wouldn't be in this situation if you had just turned around this morning when I was calling you."
"I don't know if you remember, but you humiliated me in front of you friends. You knocked the books out of my hand, and at first I thought maybe it was just an accident but then I heard your friends laughing their heads off and complimenting you on how well you humiliated me. So I know that what happened was on purpose. Don't even try to lie to me."
"Hey, I'm not denying any of that. I just thought that maybe we can just forget about that and start from scratch. I'm Paul, by the way."
"Yes, I know. Your friends did mention your name earlier this morning." Man, can't he just leave me alone? He knows that I don't want anything to do with him.
"Well, I just wanted to confirm that." Why is she so pissed off at me? Sure, I knocked a few books out of her hand, but I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. What was it that she said? Oh yeah, I humiliated her. It wasn't that bad. People do things like that on a daily basis. "I don't get why you're so mad at me. All I want to do is talk." I can just tell that this girl is one to hold grudges and if I'm not careful, I might land up on her hate list.
"Well, I don't know how clear your logic is, but in case you didn't know, when someone is humiliated, they don't usually take it lightly."
"Look, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything. I just wanted to pull a little joke. I meant it to be funny for everybody, including you."
"Wait a second. Just let me get this straight. You thought that it was possible that I would take the public humiliation as a joke?"
"I know it sounds really stupid, but it's true, and at that time, it seemed logical enough." Now that she mentions it, it does sound really stupid. Man, I shouldn't have let Dan and Richard talk me into this.
"I don't know what mental illness you're suffering from, but it must be severe because in all my life I've never met someone who thought that humiliating someone without bothering to apologize would be considered a joke and a friendly way of teasing. I'm sorry, but you've got to see a doctor and get a test on your cerebral area."
"Man, if you thought that I'm mean, you should hear yourself."
"Good, now you know exactly what I felt. No, I think you feel only a mild version of what I felt. Why don't you try to imagine this? You're just innocently walking down the hallway to your class and you're minding your own business. All of a sudden, someone comes rushing down the hall at full speed, knocking the books out of your hand and putting a loose hold on your balance so that you stagger a little bit. Meanwhile, hundreds of students are staring at you, snickering and saying things like 'that little sucker. She should have moved out of the way' and there's people behind you laughing their heads off and having fun at your expense. Can you even begin to imagine the anger that must have been building inside of you?" With each word, her tone became sharper and sharper.
Paul listened in silence. Wow, she sounds really mad. I must have pissed her off big time if her tone is this bad. I didn't realize the anger that I had ignited in her. Now, it seems as if I've fanned those sparks of anger into a huge flame of rage. I better watch I'm saying from this point on before anything bad happens. All I wanted to do was just see if she was still mad and then maybe talk her into a more peaceful state of mind. Now I feel so bad. The next time I see Dan and Richey, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind. They're always picking me to do things that might get me in trouble. But I must admit, sometimes it's fun. This experience was kind of fun. But now, I regret it. He looked into her hurt eyes and looked away. "I didn't realize the pain that I've caused. I guess you really can't realize the effect of your actions until you put yourself in the victim's position. I know that if I were put in your position, I would absolutely hate the jerk that caused me so much humiliation. I would be pretty mad if that person didn't apologize. I don't know if it'll mean anything to you now, but I'm sorry."
"No you're not. You're just saying you're sorry because you want me to calm down. Trust me, I've met many people like you in my life and I know from experience that what comes out of your mouth is complete bullshit." He's a waste of my time. I'm not one to get mad easily, considering my situation at home, but he seriously gets on my nerve. I'm hoping this is the last time that I'll have to deal with this obnoxious jerk.
Paul didn't say anything. For the first time ever, he had nothing to say. He usually was full of insults, but this time he didn't have anything to say. "Well, I guess I'm a waste of your time. Besides, I just ate up a whole minute of your time to get to class." He stepped out of the way so that she could just move on. "I guess I'll be seeing you later." He said, forcing himself to smile tightly.
"I hope not, but I'm sure we'll pass each other in the hallways."
"Yeah, I guess so. But I'm guessing we won't talk much?"
"Of course not! Why would you even think of something like that. Just use your logic. Why would some really obnoxious, rude, popular kid want to spend time with a lowly unpopular kid?"
"But that's not what I think of you! I know you don't care about what I say and I know that no matter what I say, you'll consider me just some jerk who likes to go around messing with people's emotions, but I want to make one thing clear. The one thing that I would never do is categorize someone as unpopular. Maybe my friends do it on a daily basis, but everybody that I see or talk to is my equal. Well, maybe a little less than equal, but not unpopular. Never would I use the word unpopular." It was Paul's turn to snap. I just can't stand that automatic judgment. I know that it's what people do all the time, but I would never stoop so low as to call someone unpopular. Dan and Richey don't realize how mean they're being when they clump people in a social hierarchy.
Without another word, Paul turned around and left. Ella was flooded with a sense of relief. I guess I won't have to be dealing with him any time soon.