The Twist In Life

Chapter 3_ Broken trachea and nose

"Mary, what happened?" asked Mr. Collins.

"H .... Harvey pulled my hair," I sobbed.

I was a really good actress and I knew Mr. Collins wouldn't be able to see through it. I'd get even with Harvey. I'd make him pay. I always did.

"Set your hair and wash your face. Then come to my office, immediately," ordered Mr. Collins.

I wanted to get it over with very quickly. I rushed to the ladies' room and made myself presentable.

I ran towards the principal's office before anyone could question me and was secretly happy to see Harvey sitting in a chair, in front of Mr. Collins.

He had a very innocent look on his face. As soon as I entered the office, the innocent look changed into a worried one.

He rushed towards me and said, "who pulled you hair, Mary? Tell me. I'll make him pay." He turned around and looked at Mr. Collins, "I am sorry if I sound rude but Mary is constantly being bullied and no one bothers to do anything about it. It's about time I did something."

I was not astonished at his confidence. He obviously didn't know that Mr. Collins already knew that it was him. He was trying to make me say that I was bullied by someone else but I had already told Mr. Collins. Even if I hadn't told him yet, I would have done so.

"He knows, jerk," I whispered.

"Did you just call me a jerk?" he asked loudly.

"No, I only said that he knows," I said trying to sound like an angel.

"You whispered jerk in my ear."

"No, I did not," I said, emphasising on 'not'.

"You did, you liar," he said.

"Look, Mr. Collins, he is calling me a liar," I said.

"Enough of this. Now if you have done fighting like little kids, you can sit down and talk to me instead," said Mr. Collins.

I obeyed him at once. Harvey followed me and sat on the chair beside me.

"Harvey, I have been hearing a lot of complaints about you, recently. What do you say about it?" asked Mr. Collins.

"You heard wrong?" said Harvey as if he was asking a question.

"What do you say about his attitude?" he asked me.

"I should not say anything, sir. He may hurt me again," I said acting like an innocent victim.

"What!" Harvey exclaimed. "When have I ever hurt you before?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know," I said sarcastically, "maybe today, in the cafeteria."

"I was just joking then," he said lamely.

"Joking? You pulled my hair out of their roots," I said. He didn't actually, but it couldn't hurt to say so. I laughed mentally like a villain.

"I didn't ...," Harvey tried to say something.

"He pulled your hair out. And what else did he do?" asked Mr. Collins, interrupting him.

"He punched me and tripped me over a chair. I have bruise on my knee," I said, making my voice quiver.

Mr. Collins eyed Harvey sternly.

"You know Harvey, a decent boy never hits a girl," he said.

"It's not the first time, sir. He has hit me loads of time. He even broke my tooth when he tripped me over, last week," I said pointing to my chipped front tooth. (Harvey hadn't broken it. It had broken when I had tripped down the stairs on my own.)