Chapter Nine: Lower Than Dogs
The next day, Thursday, passed just like the day before, except twice as slow because I was looking forward to the end of the day so I could go to Jeff's house.
My final class —English— seemed to drag by at a snail's pace. Mr. Burr stood at the front of the room, talking in his normal monotone voice about grammar. I was fighting the urge to pass out from boredom even though half the class had already given into the temptation already. Instead, I sat intently watching the hands of the clock move closer and closer to 2:15. Right when I thought I would scream if I heard another word on grammar in the English language, the bell rang and the school day was over.
I jumped up, shoved my books into my backpack, and was about to bolt out the door when Mr. Burr stopped me.
"Mr. Maxwell, if you can wait, I'd like to talk to you for a moment."
I stopped in my tracks. I was seriously two steps from the door and freedom. As if I haven't already sacrificed enough of my life to this god-forsaken class, I thought as I turned and went over to Mr. Burr's desk. "Yes sir?"
He smiled at me. Mr. Burr was a short, thin man, who was so old he probably remembered the dinosaurs. He probably had even dated one or two of them.
"I need to talk to you about your grade for a minute, Mr. Maxwell," he said as he pulled out his grade book. "Your work these first few days has been excellent. Keep it up. However, since you came in after the beginning of the school year, you missed several assignments that were assigned the first few weeks of school. I don't see the point in giving you work that the rest of the class has already done, but you still need to make up those points that you missed. I'd like you to write a composition for me."
"A composition?" I asked, confused. "About what?"
Mr. Burr shrugged. "Surprise me. Write about something important to you. I want it to be no less than two pages typed, and try not to go over ten. It won't be worth too much, only fifty points or so. Does that sound okay?"
I nodded, even though I felt like crying at the idea of even more homework.
"Good," Mr. Burr nodded. "How about we say it's due next Friday, a week from tomorrow. Is that good for you?"
"Sure. Sounds great," I said. Great big pain in the butt, I thought.
"Good. Have a nice evening. See you tomorrow."
I waved goodbye and dashed out of the room.
I was supposed to meet Jeff and everyone at the corner at the end of the block. I hoped I wasn't too late. Of all the days Mr. Burr could have wanted to talk to me, of course he chose this one! I thought angrily.
When the corner came into view, I realized there was a huge crowd there. They are standing and watching something, and when I reached the edge of the crowd, I heard a familiar voice say "Don't you idiots have anything better to do than harass me?"
I was standing next to Kristen, so I leaned over and asked her, "What's going on?"
She giggled. "Oh, Jericho thought she'd be a little smart alack."
Confused, I pushed through the crowd, trying to get a better view. When I was right behind the kids making up the edge of the crowd, I saw Jericho standing close to the edge of the curb, and three of the guys Jeff and I sat with at lunch standing only a few feet from her. One of the guys was James.
"Com'n Fosty, open your mouth. What'd you say to me?" James demanded, taking a step towards her.
Jericho sneered. "Why should I repeat myself? The wit of it will be wasted on your walnut-sized brain."
"I'll give you one more chance, Fosty," James said, lunging at Jericho and grabbing her by her collar. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY TO ME?"
I frowned. I didn't like the way this was going. I looked around, but no one seemed ready to step in and stop it. Taking a deep breath, I made a move to push through the last couple of kids and break up Jericho and James, but someone's arm came across my chest, stopping me. It was Jeff. "Don't get involved, Duo," he said.
I stared at him, wondering why he was stopping me. But I didn't go anywhere, figuring Jeff knew what he was doing, and if he told me not to get involved, it was probably better for me not to.
Jericho was trying to pull free from James' grip. "Lemme go! Why can't you people just leave me alone?"
"What. Did. You. Say?" James hissed, pulling her so close to him that their noses were practically touching.
"I said that a snail will amount more to society than you," she replied. There was a fire in her eyes, but she spoke calmly. "And not just you, but all of you! You and your whole god-forsaken posse put together!"
"You little slut!" James cried. Jericho finally broke free from his hold on her collar and backed up a step or two.
"We're gonna have to teach her a lesson, aren't we, James?" one of the other guys asked.
Jericho snorted. "I don't think you guys have the certification to teach anyone anything."
"You think you're so smart," one of the guys snarled, grabbing her wrist. He yanked her around and flung her to James. She hit James, but he was ready, and he grabbed a hold of her wrist and flung her at the other guy. "Hey, Jericho, why don't you dance with us? It might help you loosen up."
I felt my face go red. That wasn't the way you were supposed to treat a girl, no matter how horrible her past was or how little you liked her. I once again moved to stop the conflict, but this time Brian stopped me. "For your own good Duo, stay put. You don't want to get on James' bad side."
I glared up at him, and he clamped his hand down on my shoulder, making sure I wouldn't go anywhere.
"Hey, what's this?" the second guy asked, pulling at a chain around Jericho's neck. As he pulled, out from under her shirt came a silver necklace. There was a large, oval charm on it.
"Leave that alone!" Jericho cried, trying to take a swing at the guy's face. He easily dodged the poorly placed punch and pushed Jericho backwards, still holding the necklace in his other hand. She fell to the ground, and the chain around her neck snapped.
"This has to stop!" I hissed to Jeff.
Jeff looked at me. "What can you do, Duo? Just stay out of it."
"Hey, I know, let's play monkey in the middle!" James cried. "Toss me the necklace!"
"Give it back!" Jericho cried, standing up. I noticed there were some blood spots on the ground where she had put her hand down to lift herself up. I frowned. This wasn't right, but with Jeff and Brian holding me back, I couldn't do anything about it.
James and the two guys started tossing the necklace back and forth between them while Jericho desperately tried to catch it in midair. Then, one of them missed the toss, and the necklace went flying out into the street. Jericho made a move to run out into the street to get it, but before she could, a huge van drove by, running over the necklace.
"NOOOOO!" Jericho screamed, her voice full of a haunting tone. After a moment she turned to James and the entire crowd. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but when she spoke her voice was steady. "You people are the scum of the earth. ALL OF YOU. None of you deserve the title human being. You're lower than dogs!" Her eyes moved over the crowd and fell on me. For the third or forth time since we had met, our eyes locked. The anger and hatred was replaced momentarily with a pain so deep and severe I thought I would start crying too. "You're all lower than dogs," she repeated, then turned on her heels and ran across the street.
We watched her run for a moment, and then James began to laugh. "That'll teach her. I'd like to see her insult us again." He turned and saw me. "Hey Duo! Thanks for being late! Gave us the opportunity to put Fosty back in her place."
Everyone chuckled and nodded in agreement that it was good that I had been late. I looked around at them all. Wasn't a single one of them disturbed like I was by what they had just seen?
"What did she do to you?" I asked James
"Who? Fosty? She insulted us," he grinned. "But who needs an excuse to deal with her?"
I frowned. "So one insult won her that much grief?" I demanded.
"Yeah," James said, and then he caught the look on my face. "Hey, Duo, listen. It's not like we're the only ones who do that to her. Everyone in school treats her like that. She basically asks for it!"
"So it's okay for you to go and harass her and destroy her stuff because other people do it?" I asked. I wasn't looking at James. I was watching cars drive by, some of them running over the broken necklace even more.
"Dude, Duo, listen, don't get involved," Jeff said, putting a hand on my shoulder.
I turned to him. "So what James did to Jericho is okay with you?" I asked, looking at him.
"Well, I dunno. She does ask for it in everything she does. And if wasn't James, it would be someone else. And besides, it's not like she was really hurt or anything," Jeff said.
"It's just a little fun, Duo. She knows that," Brain said with a shrug
My jaw dropped and pulled away from him and Jeff. "It didn't look like Jericho found it all that fun, Jeff. In fact, it looked like she down right hated everything. And you know it. I can see it in your eyes. And you don't care at all. None of you care."
"Duo--" Jeff started, but I cut him off.
"No matter what your excuse is, she didn't deserve that kind of treatment," I replied as I turned from them. It was starting to rain. I watched as the rain hit the sidewalk, turning it a darker color.
"Duo, we get it. You don't think what happened was right. Now, com'n, let's go to my house and study for Math," Jeff said.
I turned to him. "I'm not feeling very good," I said. It wasn't a lie. I had been feeling nauseous since I saw that look in Jericho's eyes. "I'm gonna go home."
"Duo!" James said. I looked at him. "Listen, Duo, in this school, you can't let stuff like this get in the way of you making friends. Jericho chose her own path, and that's why she gets treated like this. It's her own fault. Don't feel bad for her. Don't head the way she did."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Ironic, the guy who'll amount to less than a snail giving me advice on my life. Sorry, but I think I'm gonna ignore you now. I'm going home."
Looking both ways, I stepped off the curb and walked across the street. There were no cars coming, so when I reached to where the broken necklace lay, I bent down and picked it up.
"DUO!" Jeff called to me, but I ignored him as I straightened up and kept walking.
How could they treat someone like that? She's human too. God, I totally screwed up. How could I be friends with them? It looked like someone was killing her when that van ran over her necklace.
It was raining fairly hard by the time I got home, and my hair was soaked. I guess I must have been walking slower than usual because when I finally reached home Diana's car was already in the driveway.
I went inside, closed the door, and leaned back against it.
"Hello? Who is it?" Diana's voice came from upstairs.
I didn't answer. I just kicked my shoes off and started up the stairs to my room. Diana came out of her study and gave me a funny look when she saw me. "Duo? What are you doing home so soon? I thought you were going over to Jeff's house."
I didn't answer her. I just stood at the top of the stairs, my hair dripping water onto the carpet and Jericho's broken necklace clutched in my fist. I supposed I looked a mess, but at the moment, that was the last thing on my mind.
"Duo? Is something wrong? Why are you all wet? Did you walk home in the rain?"
I sighed. "I don't feel too good," I said. "And I figured I could study just as well by myself."
"Oh, okay," Diana said, sounding relieved. "Well, if you don't feel well, why don't you go change into some dry clothes and lay down for a while, okay?"
"Okay," I answered as I headed to my room.
When I got to my room, I closed the door, tossed my backpack into the corner and began to undress. I pulled off my wet clothes and pulled on my priest outfit, even though it hadn't been washed yet. It was familiar and comfortable, and that's what I needed.
I collapsed onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling. I couldn't get the sound of Jericho screaming "NOOOO!" out of my head. The fight just kept replaying itself in my brain. Jericho asking them why they always bothered her. James grabbing her by her shirt and demanding to hear what she had said. The guys pushing her to each other. The guy pushing Jericho down and her necklace breaking. The blood on the sidewalk from her hand. The necklace flying into the street and being run over. Jericho screaming, then turning, crying, and yelling at the whole crowd before finally running away.
It had been horrible, and no one had stepped out to help her. I hadn't stepped out to help her. I sighed. Even a dog would have run in and tried to protect her. She's right, I thought. We are lower than dogs.
Her scream kept echoing in my ears. The haunting sound of it sounded so familiar to me. But where had I heard it before? I closed my eyes and tried to think. Where had I heard a scream that sounded like someone's soul was being wrenched in two? The only person I knew who had ever come close to that sound had been…
Me. I sat up like a bolt of lighting. I had made that exact scream of pain and loss when I had watched as my Gundam Deathscythe was destroyed. I had stood in the middle of the colony and screamed out in pain and suffering and loss and despair. Deathscythe had been the only thing in my life that meant anything to me, besides Hilde.
I looked down at the necklace I still had clutched in my hand. This necklace had meant a lot to Jericho — more than I had first thought. I opened my hand and looked at the necklace. It was golden, and the charm was fairly large. It was an oval, and was about half the size of my palm. There was a golden rose on one side, which I assumed was the front. It had been pretty bashed up and flattened by the traffic, but it was still pretty. I noticed that there were hinges on one side. Frowning, I tried to open it, but I couldn't. I grabbed a pen from thy desk and used that to pry it open. It opened, and inside there were two pictures. One was a black and white photo of a bride and groom. The bride looked an awful lot like Jericho. The other picture was in color and was of the same couple with a little girl in a Girl Scout uniform.
"It's a locket," I murmured. "Who are these people?"
After a few minutes of staring at the pictures, I got up and slid the locket into a pocket in my backpack. I'll give it to her tomorrow, I decided.
That night at dinner, Diana and Jon talked about their days. I only half listened as I ate. I was thinking about the locket and Jericho.
"Oh, Duo," Diana said, pulling me out of my reverie. "Please don't make any plans for Sunday. Our friends, the Van Burens, are coming over for dinner. They have a daughter your age; she's a very nice girl. I think you'll get along well."
"Van Buren…that name sounds familiar," I said.
"Well, you met Megan, the mother, a few days ago. She told me she met you while you were out walking Benny."
"Oh yeah, they live in that huge Victorian-looking house with the tower, right?" I asked, remembering the woman clipping her hedges.
"Yes, that's right. They're looking forward to coming over and getting to know you better."
"Don't worry, I'll be here." I cleaned my plate. "May I be excused? I need to go study some more."
"Sure thing Duo," Jon said with a smile.
I went upstairs and sat down on my bed, my math book and notebook in my lap. I studied until I didn't think I could stand anymore, and then I switched to other homework. When that was done, I laid down on the bed with my math book. I woke up the following morning, finding that I had fallen asleep in my clothes and had drooled a little on a page talking about polynomials.
