Pitiful
If there was one thing I hated more than anything else, it would definitely be dogs.
"It's okay, Kim. Just calm down, everything will be just fine."
"I might die, daddy! I might die!" Whatever the nurse was pouring over my humongous wound, it made the unbearable swelling pain spread all throughout my right leg. It has been the fifth time in this month that a dog has bitten me, and the fifth time I'm at risk with rabies.
"Okay, little girl. This won't hurt, it will be just like an ant bite." The old, fat nurse assured me. It was useless. I got anti-rabies shots for a gazillion times now, and they weren't anything close to an ant bite.
"Please, please! I'm sure there's no rabies!" The tears from my eyes gushed down my cheeks rapidly.
"Your wound is too deep. The deepest one I have ever seen, actually. It's impossible that there is no rabies, honey."
"No!" I roared. All the people in the emergency room looked at me. I was sure that I looked like a big baby, but that didn't matter now.
"Bobby, I think we need to strap this one in."
"Sure, Brenda." A guy who looked like a drug addict only with green nurse clothes suddenly pushed my arms down the bed and strapped them there tightly.
"Here's the tray, Brends."
"Thank you, Ally." The nurse unwrapped the packaging that contained the injection. I was petrified—the needle was longer, thinner and sharper than before. The nurse squeezed some of the fluid out and dabbed cotton buds with alcohol on my arm. I knew what that meant. The swelling on my leg became more severe, but I didn't care. I squirmed, twisted and turned-- anything to escape the needle.
"Kim, darling, it won't hurt. You did this a lot of times already. You're a big girl, honey."
"Daddy!" It was too late. The long needle already pierced through my skin, and it felt like it was piercing right through my bones as well.
"We need nine more, Ally." The thought of this pain times nine drowned my whole body of blood. The bright fluorescent lamp that hung from the roof dimmed as the seconds passed.
- -
I woke up to a bright morning, and the blinding sunlight from the windows hurt my eyes. Something told me that I wasn't supposed to be here, that I was forgetting something.
"Good morning, beautiful!" My dad's voice suddenly boomed from the left. I unconsciously jerked my legs in shock and a burning sensation suddenly made itself known. Now I remember.
"Hi, dad." I heard gentle purring as something hairy frayed against my elbows.
"Good morning, Whiskers." I brushed my cat's black fur and it purred more.
"You better keep her in the house this time. The dogs might attack her again."
"Yes, da- ow!" My arms suddenly hurt like hell when I flexed it to give Whiskers a longer pat.
"You better be careful with your arm, Kim. You know, I really don't know why you risk your life for a cat."
"Of course, dad. She's my best friend."
"O, Kim! Then you better expand your circle of friends."
"Nah. Hey, dad, aren't you late for work?"
"I told them I'd be two hours late."
"What about me?"
"Two hours late, too." I groaned. The one thing I hated next to dogs was school. There, I was a nobody, a loser, a nerd, a weirdo, a loner…you name it.
"How can I go to school if I'm like this?"
"You don't have to stand up. Just stay in your seat and I'll bring you your lunch in the classroom." Whew. That spared me from sitting alone in the café, like always.
"You dress-up and fix yourself, sweetheart. I'll be waiting for you in the car."
The sight of the schoolyard was creeping nearer and nearer, and my stomach lurched wildly. I had a perfect attendance, but the whole routine of being nervous each day never changed.
"Stay there. I'll carry you to your room." Dad slammed his car door closed and ran to open mine. "Dad, I can walk." Too late. My dad already scooped me up into his small arms and carried me across the schoolyard.
"Good morning, sir Yoda."
"Henry, jokes like those aren't funny. You better stop doing that beca-"
"Hey, hey look everyone! It's Professor Frodo and his little pork dumpling!" The group the bully was sitting with roared with laughter. This is why I hated school so much. My dad was just the most hated teacher here on campus-- and I was his daughter.
"Dad, you can put me down. I don't need this."
"It's okay, honey. Look, we're already climbing up the stairs. Just a few more steps and we'll be inside." My dad kicked the door open and walked across the hallway swarming with devils. Even if my eyes were fixed down on the floor out of embarrassment, I could still feel their eyes on my back.
"Damn it. Alex told me a car hit him. Why is the troll still alive?"
"You know Alex. He's a joker."
"Damn! I was dancing all night because I thought it was true!" My chest sank. It was painful, more painful than rabies shots, to hear your schoolmates wish that your father was dead. They always called him mean stuff like Yoda, Frodo, troll, elf, dwarf, and midget. It wasn't his fault that he was born with the dwarf disease--he never had a choice.
"Thank you, Mr. Ramos. I could take it from here now." We already reached the burning pits of hell that was my classroom.
"Aww! I thought he'd be absent!" Everyone groaned as he gently placed me on my desk.
"Good morning, class! Beautiful day isn't it?"
"It was…a while ago." A roar of laughter followed Mark's joke. Tears were already starting to well up in my eyes.
"No more nasty jokes, please. We have no time for that because I'm giving you a pop quiz on chapter nineteen to thirty-seven."
"You suck, you midget!" Everyone started laughing again, but I didn't pay any attention to that. I was looking at my father, his eyes were teary like mine and his lips were quivering. I wanted to shout at all of my classmates. They were judging a man they didn't know. But if I did, I'd get bullied twice as much.
"Man, why does your dad have to suck so hard, Kim?" Stacey, my popular blonde seatmate, asked me with bitterness in every word. I simply shrugged at her though deep inside, I wanted to pull her hair right out of her scalp.
"Uhh, umm. B-but before we take the pop quiz, I have some news to tell y-y-you." Seeing my dad trying to stop himself from crying made my tears fall down.
"We have a new student. Not really new, but somehow new. He was from the other section but he swapped with Roy so he'll be staying with us for the remainder of this year. Jared, please come in and introduce yourself."
I've never felt this way before. My stomach lurched—in a good kind of way. My heartbeat raced faster and I felt very weak as a handsome man stepped in. The chocolate brown hair above his forehead was gelled into one spike that loomed forward, and the rest of his shiny mane was cropped in a breathtaking way. He had pitch-black eyes, a sharp, angular nose and lips that were curved into a smile that can kill. He had a lean, muscular body beneath his perfectly tanned skin and the tight, white shirt he was wearing exposed his broad chest and his steel abs.
"Hi, I'm Jared Wilson, but you can call me Jared or Jet." The deep, alluring voice boomed throughout the whole room. I could listen to it everyday.
"I hope you enjoy your stay here, Jared. Please take the seat beside Stacey." Ugh! One little seat away from him!
The piercing ring of the bell suddenly echoed throughout the hallway outside.
"Woops. I'm out of time. Looks like the quiz will have to be given another day. Bye, class! Be good to Jared!" They were already being good to him, especially the girls.
"So, Jared, where did you get that body?" Stacey asked him in a voice I bet she wanted to sound seductive.
"I don't know. Maybe I was just born with it." He bragged. All the girls giggled in delight. I was too, giggling to myself.