Riddle Middle Two

Chapter 23: The Attack

Phil (1st person)

Lila woke me up again. I yawned. "Phil, you overslept... Again..." Lila said. "Isn't it Sunday?" I asked. "It's Monday," she said. I groaned. "Hurry up, we're gonna be late," she said. "...Just go without me. I don't want to make you late," I said. "Okay," she said, leaving my room. I got ready and left a while later. I ended up being a few minutes late, and I didn't bother to get a late pass from the office. I went to art, which is my first period. I'm not really all that interested in art, I just took it because Smiley did. I was lucky that me and Smiley both got it for first period. That's probably because they try to group grade levels. That meant Lila also got art for first period. So did Joy.

Since we were only a couple of weeks into school, the expectations are pretty low. Our teacher doesn't really pay attention to us, so as long as we don't leave the room, she doesn't care. Me and Smiley sit next to each other at a table. Smiley's one of the few kids who actually does what she's supposed to. Lila probably does, but I'm not sure. She won't talk to me about what she's doing. Joy stood and came over to us. Smiley didn't seem to notice. I elbowed Smiley, and she glanced at me. I looked behind us, and she saw Joy. Smiley sighed. "What do you want from me now?" She asked. "Do this thing for me," Joy said, handing Smiley a booklet of instructions.

"Is this for science?" Smiley asked. "Yeah. It's due tomorrow," Joy said. "Tomorrow!?" Smiley said, clearly surprised. "Yeah. I forgot about it. Just give it back to me tomorrow during lunch, okay?" Joy said. Before Smiley could respond, Joy went back to her seat with her friends. "You're not gonna do it, are you?" I asked her. "I don't plan to," Smiley said, lowering her voice a bit. "Alright. What about when Joy asks you for it?" I asked. Smiley shrugged. We spent the rest of the period drawing and talking about unrelated stuff.

The next day, during art, Smiley seemed like she was hiding something. "Are you okay, Smiley?" I asked. "Yeah..." she said. She was trailing off again. "You're lying. What's wrong?" I asked. "Nothing, Phil. I'm fine," she said, sounding annoyed. "Smiley, tell me what's wrong," I said again. "I just told you, I'm fine," she said, sounding more annoyed than before. I waited a minute, then I questioned her one more time. "Smiley, talk to me," I said. "Can you just shut up, Phil?! I'm fine!" Smiley yelled, grabbing her stuff and moving to another table. The teacher and the other students didn't react at all, except for Joy, who just glanced at us. I sat there, in shock, staring at where Smiley had just been sitting few seconds ago.

Joy went to where Smiley had moved and leaned on her desk. They were kind of far away, and the room was loud, but I think I understood part of what they were saying. "So... Do you have that project?" Joy asked. "It'll be ready by lunch, Joy..." Smiley said. I didn't know if that meant Smiley had actually done the report, or if she was lying. Then Joy and Smiley lowered their voices. They kept glancing at me, probably to make sure I wasn't eavesdropping on their conversation from across the room. I wanted Smiley to come back and apologize, but she didn't. She sat with Joy instead. Smiley and Joy have first lunch, and I have second, so I missed what happened. I decided to ask Phred, since he had first lunch too. I have band with him, which is our seventh period, so I decided to ask him then.

We sit next to each other, so I asked him if he'd seen anything between Joy and Smiley at lunch. "Oh, yeah, they were sitting in front of me. Smiley gave Joy a report, then they started talking about you," he said, taking his whistle out of his backpack and admiring it. "Oh... What did they say?" I asked. Phred shrugged. "I just heard them say your name," he said. "...Oh..." I responded, not knowing what else to say. He didn't tell me anything else about what'd happened during lunch. After school, my friends and Lila all walked with me, but Smiley wasn't there. I didn't see her at all. I tried calling her, but she never answered or responded. I barely slept at all that night. The next day, I found her walking to school alone and decided to try to talk to her. "Hey, where are you going?" Phred asked. "I'm gonna talk to Smiley," I said. "Of course you are. I should've known," he said, annoyed. I ignored him and went to Smiley. "Umm... Smiley?" I said. She glanced at me. "I... Uh... What happened yesterday, during lunch?" I asked. "I gave Joy her report, like I told her I'd do..." she said.

"Oh... I... I'm sorry I pushed you to tell me what was wrong," I said. "You're fine. Really, I should be the one apologizing. I just..." she said, trailing off. "What did Joy do to you?" I asked. Smiley shrugged. "Well, I'll see you in art..." I said, deciding to look for Joy. I found her by the front door of our school. "Joy..." I said. I would've liked to sound more confident, and maybe even intimidating, but that was hard to do with all of Joy's friends staring at me. "What?" She asked. "I... What did you do to Smiley?" I asked. "I told her to my homework or I'd beat you up and lock you in your locker. I wouldn't do that, since you'd just tell a teacher, but Smiley was dumb enough to fall for it," she said.

Joy's fake followers started telling her how smart and cool she was, so I just went to find Smiley. She was standing with Zack and Lauren. "Smiley..." I said. She looked at me nervously. "...You didn't have to do that," I said. "I know... I'm stupid, and I shouldn't have listened to her..." she said. "I didn't say you were stupid. If Joy had threatened to hurt you, I would've done anything for her," I said. "That's nice, Phil," she said, not seeming to care that much. We went to art, and I convinced Smiley to not beat herself up about what had happened with Joy. She seemed okay after that, which meant I could breathe easy again.