By: CNJ
PG-13
4: First Target
Mary Anne:
I had my hand up when Ms.
Quebec called on me. As I answered her question, I heard snickering. Nervously,
I shifted and looked around. I don't like being laughed at and I had the
feeling it was Alan Gray.
"Looka her, staring around..."
I heard when I finished.
"Huge eyes..."
"Four eyes..." Randy Greenhold
added. Feeling embarrassed, I stared at Ms. Quebec, but she seemed oblivious
to what was going on. She asked more question to other kids. Some of the
kids kept snickering, kids from that "in" group that snobby kids try to
butter up. Finally Ms. Quebec noticed the gigglers.
"Alll right, Lawrence, I
suppose you can answer my next question," she said sharply pointing at
the big guy behind Claudia. Lawrence stifled his laughter with a snort
and looked in my direction with a sneer, then at Claudia, who glared back
at him.
"She's asking the combination
of this compound!" Sara Trenton hissed, holding up her notes.
"Oh..." Lawrence grinned.
"I don't know, but I do know what happens when you cross a bush baby with
an owl..." I squirmed, getting a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as
he glanced at me.
"MARY ANNE SPIER!" he pointed
at me and most of the kids cracked up. I winced, feeling tears well up
in my eyes. I wanted to crawl into the radiator and hide.
"Lawrence, that was not
funny!" Claudia bellowed.
"Allllll right, settle down,
class!" Ms Quebec smacked her ruler on the board. "Lawrence, apologize
to Mary Anne, please." I shook my head, not wanting to be in this embarrassing
spotlight.
"Sorry, owl...I mean Mary
Anne," Lawrence faked a look of contriteness. I couldn't wait for the class
to be over. I know I have the unfortunate habit of looking around nervously
when I'm the center of attention, my eyes huge. When the class ended, Claudia
came up and put an arm around me. Tears filled my eyes again and I cried
into her shoulder as we went out into the hallway.
"Mary Anne the bush baby!"
Alan Gray jeered cruelly.
"WAAAAAAAAAAH!" Several
kids added, laughing.
"Just shut up!" Claudia
yelled. I kept my face buried in her shoulder.
"GET OUT OF HERE, IGNORAMUSES!"
Kristy's voice yelled. Wiping my eyes, I looked up, grateful to see Kristy.
Ms. Quebec was standing in the doorway.
"Oh, Mary Anne, don't let
them upset you." she said. I tried to speak, but only got out a small high
squeak..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Claudia:
I'd like to grab everyone
in that stupid clique and break all of their necks! Who did they think
they were, hurting Mary Anne? Mary Anne was still upset at the BSC meeting
later on today. She managed to control her crying in school, but started
again when the BSC meeting began. And was still crying when a client called
and she wrote down the job. Kristy had told the other BSC members about
what had happened, so they knew why Mary Anne was crying. Mary Anne sucked
in her breath, tears still streaking her face as she wrote down the appointment.
I was amazed at how she could cry and still be so organized. She even grabbed
another tissue so she wouldn't drip all over the appointment book. The
phone rang and Kristy picked it up. As Kristy was talking, Mary Anne covered
her mouth and started a fresh wave of blubbering. Kristy covered the receiver,
then hissed at Mary Anne, "Stop...crying!" Well, Mary Anne tried. She managed
not to sob so loudly for the rest of the meeting even though her tear glands
continued to work overtime. After my friends left, I went down to the kitchen
to get another soda, then Janine and I started on dinner. I never should
have tried to satisfy my sister's curiosity.
"Mary Anne seems to be stricken
with a bad cold." Janine said. "I hope she's not seriously infected."
"She isn't sick," I told
her.
"Then why was her nose stopped
up and she could barely speak when I let her in?"
"She was upset over something
that happened to her in school."
"Oh...God!" Janine laughed.
"She's some piece of work! She was excreting tears again? She is
one piece of wet, soaked-up work!"
"You have a disgusting sense
of humor, Janine," I snapped, then ran upstairs. Mary Anne has enough people
laughing at her without having my sister join in!
