10/31/12

Alrighty so this is the second of a possible one-shot series. That is, if you vote to continue it. Someone suggested it to me a while ago and I decided to give it a shot. So if you want a series of one-shots of different keepers helping each other, please vote yes. Also, this is a one-shot that I wrote about bullying, considering this is the last day of Stop Bullying Month. Sorry if it's badly written and has a lot of mistakes, I did this speedily to get it up.

I was shoving some books hastily into my locker, minutes after the bell, the hallways basically cleared fully. My teacher decided that it'd be fun to make everyone leave late just for the sheer heck of it. The locker door shut with a slam. I checked my watch again. Great! 5 minutes late! My bus left by now, no doubt.

I grumbled, hurrying down the hall, with hope that it might still be there. But, as I passed the girls' locker room I heard laughing and a loud bang. Knowing the bus probably left anyways, I found no harm in investigating.

My book bag settled against the wall, I pushed the door open. There was more laughter from deeper in the maze of lockers. I followed the noise. Then, the muffled noises began to clear, forming words and distinguishable voices. "What're you gonna do, freak? You gonna use your weirdo witch powers or voodoo dolls to kill me?"

There was a mumble, though I couldn't make out exactly what words were being said.

"Oh, come on. Don't be expecting us to give up like that. We're just getting started." There was another slam. Then silence. I heard footstep run past through a different route, and the locker room door swing closed. I was about to depart, thinking the room was now just as vacant as the corridors but was stopped but a grunt, of someone obviously in pain.

"Hello?" I called. "Who's there?" Silence again. Whoever was there clearly wanted to be left alone. But, no way was I just leaving them there! I began to walk around, up and down the lengths of the halls until I found them. I gasped.

"Jess!" I ran over to her. She looked up at me, but quickly looked away, ashamed and humiliated. "What happened?"

"Nothing." She muttered, trying to stand up. But her leg gave out and I just barely caught her before her head collided with the bench.

"What. Happened." I argued. Before she could answer however, I began to take notice of certain things. The bruise just below her cheekbone. Small trickled of blood in her blonde hair. Badly scrapped legs and battered arms. I swallowed, running my fingers gently over the damaged skin. She gasped in pain. I murmured sorrowfully, "Jess."

"Just go, Willa. I'm fine." She protested. Another attempt to stand was at play, but I stopped her.

"Quit it! You'll hurt yourself even more." I supported her, trying to relieve her legs of as much weight as possible. "Who did this to you?" She was quiet. "Answer me!"

"Who do you think?" She snapped at me, wincing, both at the pain and at the fact that yelled. I knew who she was talking about immediately. The four most popular girls in school, three of whose names we forgettable, simple followers that liked to squeeze themselves in enough to get a smidgen of their leader's limelight. Veronica. I hated her.

We were just barely making it out the school doors, when she decided we needed to take a break. "She did this to you? She's so got another thing coming if she thinks she can just-"

"You're not doing anything." Jess interrupted me. "This is my problem."

"But-"

"No! You are not getting involved!"

"Fine, I won't get involved." We sat there, silence heavy between us. "So what do you suggest we do in terms of transportation? All the buses are gone."

"You just go on home. I'll find a way home."

"That's not an option." She groaned at my persistence. "Philby usually stays after school a while to go do a little rock-climbing. We'll just wait for him. I'm sure he won't mind."

"Well, I will." Jess crossed her arms. "It's demeaning having him see me like this. I don't even want you to see me like this!"

"Like what? We all see each other get hurt when we cross over."

"This is different." She said simply. I kind of knew where she was coming from. It's one thing to get a bad cut from a sword, it's another to be bullied by snobby girls who like to pick on people.

I was going to get into a long speech about how the people who should be ashamed are them and all that stuff but instead simply said, "We're waiting for Phil." End of discussion.

Jess's P.O.V

The classroom speaker went off in the middle of Ms. Divoli's lecture on how being late is wasting class-time, while managing to take up 15 minutes with the speech itself. "Yes?"

"Can you please send Jessica Lockhart to room nine?" I gulped. Ms. Divoli looked at me.

"She's on her way." The class erupted into oooh's. Room 9 was the counselor's office. I was in trouble. She handed me a pass and I hurried out the door, down the halls.

I came up to the wooden door painted green; staring up at it like it was unreal. Then summoning courage, pushed it open. In front of me, three chairs we set up, facing Ms. Smith's desk. The middle was empty. The others were occupied by Willa and Veronica. Oh, perfect.

Shakily I asked, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, please sit down, Jessica." I did as I was told, slightly scooting the chair away from Veronica.

Before Ms. Smith could speak, Veronica shouted, "Them. These two! They always bully me." You've got to be kidding me.

"Isabella tells me another story." Ms. Smith, level-headed and considerate to both sides of an argument, replied. "From what I've heard, you've been tormenting her ever since the beginning of the school year. Pulling her braids, calling her names, mocking her." She stated, undeniably knowing this side of the story was a more logical one.

"Excuse me." I butted in. "But, how do I fit into all this?"

"Depending on whose story is true, you're either a second tormenter or a second victim." She explained. "Girls, unless someone is willing to come forward and tell the truth, we might be here a while." Good, I could miss science for once.

"Just the other day, she was slamming Jess repeatedly into the lockers. She's scrapped and bruised all over!" Willa said.

"Jess, is this true?" I hesitated to answer, and in this time, someone did for me.

"Of course it's not! She's making it up." Veronica complained.

Ms. Smith simply turned back to me. I looked down at my pants I'd been sure to wear to cover my bloody legs, accompanied but a long-sleeve sweater to cover my arms. "No. That's not true."

"Is it true, then, that you have been bullying Veronica."

Again, I was hesitant to answer. Again, someone answered for me. But, this time, without words.

Willa reached over and yanked up my sweater sleeve, revealing long nail-scratches along my arm. Dark pink. Fresh. There were deep marks where her nails dug into my skin. "Wait, there's more."

"Willa, stop." I told her.

"Show her." She asserted. I sighed, ashamed, and further rolled up both my sleeves and my pant legs, revealing black and blue skin. . "Jessica, did Veronica do this to you?"

"She…yes." I hung my head.

Ms. Smith looked deep in thought. "You just said she didn't. Which is it?"

"She did, ma'am." I couldn't stand to even look up.

"Well, then. Veronica, you have detention for the next week. We'll go over further details tomorrow."

"What! But-"

"We'll discuss it tomorrow. You're dismissed."

As soon as those words left her mouth, I jumped out and ran out the door. When I was going down the hall, I heard Willa call behind me.

"What?" I turned around, exasperated.

"Are you mad at me?"

"You didn't listen to me. You went against your word. You almost got me in trouble with the counselor. And, thanks to you, Veronica's going to kill me." She looked at me apologetically. "Of course I'm not mad!"

"You're not?"

"Nope, at least now, I know I have someone to face her with." She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

Please R, R, and R! And don't forget to vote!