Nervous

Alexa

October 1985

Second Grade

Miami,Florida

FlashBack

Alexa was sitting on the playground, wishing she was anyplace but there. Everyday her mother dropped her off at school,she dreaded walking up the front steps and through the large metal doors. She loved her teachers and desired to gain knowledge but the way the children bullied her was depressing to a seven-year-old girl.

The teasing never stopped,nor did the names. Retarded. Fatty. Ugly. Alexa's self-esteem was nonexistent ,having long been destroyed  by many students; one in particular. Her name was Brittany Morris and all the kids adored her or at least pretended to adore her. There was nothing really special about her. She just carried herself and talked about herself like she was unique to the point where all the students started to believe her.

This particular day,Alexa was sitting on a bench while all the other second graders enjoyed their recess time after lunch. She hated the outfit she had on which had to many colors,she preferred dark colors that matched her mood,depressed.

She was lost in her own little world when Brittany marched up to her with three other girls behind her.

"What are you doing fatty?" Brittany hissed at her. "Where's my money?"

Alexa shrugged. Every single day Brittany would demand she give her a quarter.

Brittany leaned down and punched her in the arm. "You heard me retard. Where's my quarter?"

Alexa lowered her head to the ground. "I don't have it."

"Excuse me?" Brittany asked angrily. "Did you just say you don't have my money?"

"Are you going to beat her up" Sarah asked

"No,I'm not going to beat her up . Not today. I'm just gonna slap her."

Before Alexa could block it Brittany's hand smashed across Alexa's right cheek sending an incredible pain to shoot through her entire body.

"Tomorrow you better have my money. Two quarters instead of one or I'm gonna beat you up for real."

Alexa broke out in tears. How could someone be so cruel? Two minutes later, the tears were gone and anger replaced the sad expression on Alexa's face. Alex had had enough.

Brittany and her groupies were in the bathroom, they didn't even glance when Alex came through the door. Their mistake. Alex slipped into a stall not bothering to lock it. When she came back out she had a ceramic toilet top in her hands, clutching it like a paddle. By the time they saw Alex bring it up over her head, it was to late. She was already swinging. She nailed Sarah right across the stomach first. She screamed and fell down on her knees. Then she went for Amber, another girl who constantly had Brittany's back. Amber tried to duck but Alex stepped on her foot, causing her to stand back up partially to lift her foot and grab her toes. That's when Alex got her across the right shoulder. Amber fell to the tile floor but was in to much pain to even voice a scream.

Brittany just stood there at first, wondering if she could make it to the door safely without getting a major beatdown. It was obvious that she couldn't so she resorted to intimidation. "Fatty you know you're not gonna touch me with that. That would mean I'd have to beat you up everyday for the rest of the school year."

Alex let out a horrendous laugh. "You must think you're talking to Alexa."

Brittany eyed her with confusion.

"Sorry, Alexa's not here right now."

"What are you talking about?" Brittany asked

"I have a message for you" Alex responded. "Don't ever talk to or touch Alexa again or you'll have to deal with me."

With that Alex slammed the ceramic top across Brittany's head and three teeth popped out of her mouth on impact. She hit her three more times with it. Once more across the face,   once in the ribs, and once on the knee. Brittany lay motionless and Alex was satisfied. She looked in the mirror. While Alexa could stand to lose some weight, there were numerous kids her size or larger in second grade.

She stared at her reflection. "Don't worry, I'm here to protect you."

Alexa didn't know what was happening. All she knew was that the P.E. teacher was restraining her for some reason. They were loading Brittany,Sarah, and Amber into ambulances in front of the school. There were police cars in front of the building and everyone was glaring at her and shaking their heads.

She saw her parents pull up practically jump the curb coming to a halt. The look on their faces as they emerged from the vehicle was frightening.

Alexa fell down to her knees and cried.

"What did I do?" she screamed as her mother approached her with outstretched arms. "I didn't do anything!"