Elena

Elena's bible and workbook hit the tile floor, silencing every girl in the crowded room. It was Wednesday niight, AWANA was one of Elena's only social events, and she loved it, up until she became a TNT, where the groups were split up between boys and girls, and she learned very quickly how ugly elementary and middle school girls could be.

Jessica made a big show of slapping them out of my hand once the teacher left the room, and Elena was going to get a drink to avoid this. Nonetheless she had hesitated too long, Jessica began to back her into the corner of the room.

"Where are you headed, Nerd?" Jessica emphasized 'nerd' more than necessary.

Elena bit her lip, and cautiously backed up into the nearest wall.

"I was just going to get a drink. . ." she managed to squeak out. Jessica smiled and bent down to pick up Elena's workbook, flipping through the pages.

"Wow, you must really like to read, huh?" Again Jessica approached her, handing Elena's workbook to her friend Tiffany whom had joined her side.

"Please leave me alone. . ." Elena begged, as her voice cracked she glanced at the door, praying the teacher would come back soon.

Before Elena knew it, they were pushing her into a large cabinet full of study guides, art supplies and bibles. Everyone was laughing, even those who weren't amused pretended they didn't see it when the teacher came back.

"What are you doing in the supply cabinet?" Ms. Amy's voice seemed curious but not irritated.

Jessica told a tall tale of why she needed paper and markers without asking permission first. Meanwhile Elena sat through the whole study period shoved inside a cabinet, in the dark. They warned me not to make a peep or else next week it'd be worse. Of course, Elena could just stop going but she was home-schooled and they probably couldn't find her, but she really loved studying and learning about what God wanted her to do with her life, and wasn't about to give that up because some girls were less than charming. It took her months to get to her second work book, she was absolutely thrilled to be the top of her class, especially since some of the girls hadn't even started the beginners pamphlet, which was beyond Elena who personally enjoyed the time she spent studying. But now she had spend all of her study time for this week in the dark, cramped supply cabinet that smelled like crayons and old wood; listening to everyone else have fun.

Their ditzy teacher never even noticed Elena wasn't present for the rest of the class.

For weeks this kind of thing would happen, from spilling their juice "accidentally" on Elena's handbook to tripping her during game time, four girls were out to make Elena's life miserable. The worst was, none of the adults seemed to notice! She knew some did realize a pattern after several months, but only gave a very brief scolding. Elena had to assume it was because the Jessica and Tiffany's parent's had very high standings in the church, they were popular citizens of the small community and figured if they angered them by saying their children were out of line it would of been bad news for funding. Over 80 kids would be forced to have their fun cut, so she too, kept her mouth shut.

Before Elena knew it, May had finally arrived, summer had come back around, and AWANA was out for the season, which meant her tormenting temporarily ended, thankfully during Sunday mornings at mass she sat with her parents so the girls could only taunt her from far away.

Sadly just as quickly as summer came it ended, and before she knew it September had come. The sun was setting behind the treeline, as the tiny bustling town rushed home from work, moms and dads picked their kids up just to run them off again before they cooked supper. Tired from soccer practice the night before, Elena sat in the sanctuary, listening to the teachers gossip while the first few kids ran around through the double door entrance and right back out, whooping and yelling. Feeling miserable Elena stared at her handbook flipping through the pages, she was nearly done with book two, and had two more years of AWANA with only two more books. She'd should of had this book finished last year, sadly she was held back because of all the endless bullying.