Named (Original)

 

Life is fragile. I learned that when my baby sister died at birth.

Life is short. I learned that when my dad died from cancer. At thirty five years old.

And- life sucks. I learned that when I was shoved against the lockers. But that wasn’t it. No, that would have been too simple. Too easy. I flinched when antagonists’ fist landed mere inches from my head.

“Aw, poor baby,” Sandra mocked as she turned to her friends. “Little Aya’s scared.” Sandra’s clique laughed. Then, her hand slammed down on my books, making them fall. I held back tears of humiliation when everyone laughed.

“Look, Sandra!” Michaela laughed. “Our little baby’s gonna cry!” Laughter consumed the hallways. I tried to walk away, but another one her Sandra’s crew, Valerie, shoved me back. My head snapped back on the lockers with a crack. Where’s a teacher when you need one?

Sandra tossed her hair over her shoulder, and walked away. Thoroughly kicking my books everywhere in the process. The bell rung, and everyone disappeared. I slid to the floor, rubbing that back of my head. No blood, but there was going to be a huge knot by the end of the day.

I squinted my eyes shut, and let out a breath. Then another. And another. I’ll skip today, I thought.

No, I argued. Pointless. Why let them get you down?

If I go to class, Stupid, they’ll cause physical harm. Think about what happened a few seconds ago.

I groaned. I was definitely going insane. I couldn’t skip anymore. I already missed to many days, I was not going to fail because I missed another one. I was a straight A student after all. I rubbed the knot again, and winced. I rested my head against my knees, and focused on the colors, not the pain.

“Why are you not in class?” I flinched at the loud voice. “Answer me,” the voice said again when I didn’t answer. I looked up to see Mrs. Teller, the Hall Monitor.

“Oh, my. What happened?” She gasped. “Your eyes are so bloodshot. Are you nauseous?” I squeezed my eyes shut again.

“Headache,” I managed. “It’ll pass.”

“No, no. You’re coming to the nurse. Can you stand?” I shook my head and rose slowly. “Leave your books,” Mrs. Teller continued. “I’ll get them in a minute.” Mrs. Teller then grabbed my arm and helped me down to the office. I sat down on the small cot and closed my eyes.

The nurse bustled in with a clip board. “What happened?” she asked.

Crap. “I fell,” I lied.

“Mmhmm,” She muttered. “And hit your head on…”

“The lockers,” I replied. She looked skeptical. She wrote a few things down, then handed me a cold compress. I looked at her confused.

“For the knot in your head,” She said. “Lie down, I’ll be back in a few.” I sat back against the cot, with the compress behind my head, and rested my arms over my eyes. What is up with this headache? I asked myself. I’ve never gotten one this intense. After a few moments, the nurse came back with a thermometer.

“Under your tongue.” I obeyed. The bright light in the nurses office was making the headache worse, and I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. “One o’ three,” The nurse said. “I’ll call your mom.”

I groaned. She was the last person I wanted to see.