The Awesome Life of Anjelah Della Muertez

Chapter 3: The Bully and The Owl

So years later, in high school, I'd reckon, we had a bully who bullied all three of us and she only had one trick: calling us freaks. Now, we were used to this kind of treatment, but it was kind of annoying. One day I saw her bullying a different girl, calling her a gay slur. Now, I never tolerated any bullying any in any way, shape or form. Especially homophobia. So, I pulled Cindi, the bully, by her shirt and pulled her back. Now, her family is rich, so she also bullies poor or orphaned people, and we were in a special school for kids with special abilities, but Cindi was only there because her daddy paid for it. So I said,
"Cindi, how about we take this to the court? If we beat you, you never bother anyone again and you transfer to a different school, but if you win, you can try to take a crack at me. Or are you too afraid of breaking a nail?" A crowd had gathered around us and they all "ooh"ed when I said that.
"I'm not afraid of anything!" said Cindi.
"See you on the court, then." I said. I saw her run away and went to the girl she bullied. 
"Hey, are you ok?" I asked, offering my hand to help her up.
“Yeah... I'm Cynthia.” she said,
“She was bullying me for being a lesbian and a computer geek.”
“A computer geek, you say? I think you should meet someone.” I said.

So I decided to confer with someone we knew, someone who was a master hacker who could hack into *any* website. In fact, that's how she got into the school: She hacked into the school CEO's database and threatened to release something embarrassing. She told me it wasn't anything criminal, thank God, but it was like, his right foot and left foot were different sizes, but he wore a prosthetic elongation so that they looked the same. But he didn't want the public to know it,  so he promised to pay her tuition out of his pocket, and if anyone could give us information on Cindi, it was her. Her name was Athena, but we called her The Owl, because she was wise beyond her years.

"Hello, dearie." she said when I entered the computer room. She had thick circular black rimmed glasses, a black bob, and she was around 10 years old, but she was so smart that she skipped a few grades. Oh, and she was trans. I know what you're probably thinking, "A trans 10-year-old? ThAt's UnPoSsIbLe!" 

And, yes, that's a Simpson's reference, Disney has taken over everything and Simpsons reruns are regularly played on pretty much every TV for three months every five years on every channel, so yes, I've seen plenty of Simpsons clips, including the one where Homer tries to impersonate Ganesha, the Hindu elephant goddess, to stop a wedding between Apu and a woman that his family arranged, which turned out to be a childhood friend or something, and then he changed his mind but Homer didn't know that and went stumbling around with an elephant mask and one guest said, "That's not Ganesha, Ganesha is graceful!" or something along those lines, and I don't remember what happened next, but I'm pretty sure the wedding proceeded and everyone was dancing to Bollywood music. 

Anyway, back to the trans 10-year-old. So, I was about 14 when I discovered that I was bisexual, so my point is that a child can feel a certain way when they're young and their age doesn't invalidate their feelings. Sure, when you're young, you do a lot of stupid things, but your identity and the way you see yourself and the world is rarely one of them.

OK, so back to Athena. So she asked,
"What can i do for you, dearie?" She called everyone dearie, even though we were all older than her.
"What can you find on Cindi O'Doyle?" I asked
"Hmm, and here I thought you had a challenge for me." she said.
She typed away at her keyboard and found the school's database. 
"Oh, dear. Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh dear!" she said.
"What? You can't find anything?" I asked.
"No, I'm afraid she has carcinoma, or lung cancer." she said.
"How did she get that?" I asked. 
"Well, according to the guidance counselor's notes, her father smokes and her mother is an alcoholic." said Athena.
"No wonder she's so mean, her parents probably don't get along." said Cynthia.
"And on top of that, it turns out her long red locks is really a wig."
"So, she's bald?" I asked.
"That's what it looks like." said Athena.

So that day, on the basketball court, Cyndi was there with two of her minions, and I asked,
"You're bald?"
She looked like she was going to cry, but she slowly took her wig off.
"Yes. I'm bald. I didn't want anyone to know, but I can't live a lie anymore."
"I understand." I said.
Then she started to cry for real, and I looked at Mari and she nodded and I went to Cindi and hugged her and she had a melt down in my arms. I held her like that until she stopped crying because I felt like that's what she needed in that moment. Her cronies looked at each other awkwardly. 

"Do you guys need hugs, too?" I asked.
"Ew, as if!" one said.
"Come on, Miranda. If Cyndi wants to fly with the freaks, let her." the other said.
"Yeah, Leslye. Bye, bitch." said Miranda. 
"DON'T CALL ME A BITCH!" Cindi screamed.
The two girls giggled and turned away from her and that's how she lost her popularity. But, she started to sit with Athena, Ben, Mari and I. She'd listen to us tell each other about our days and I could tell that we helped her improve her mental health by helping her cut the toxic people out of her life and we lost track of her after school, until I went into the army. That's right, I went to a special branch of the military for mutants, called The Task Force, when I graduated. But that's a story for another day.

My therapist said, 
"Well, our time's about up, Ms..."
"Muertes." I said.
"All right, see you next week."
That's right, I'm going to therapy, and trust me, I'll go through a lot of shit, school bullies are the least of my issues.