A Maple Among Elms [2017]

Chapter 6: Fear

As the thought passes through my brain, I glance over to Gabriela. She is exiting the lunch line. Jayla walks by and shoves her to the ground. Gabriela's tray falls and her glasses fly off her face, landing on the floor out of reach. She reaches for her glasses, but Jayla gets there first. "Maybe now if you look in the mirror, you won't look so ugly," she says snidely, and stomps on the glasses, snapping them at the bridge. Gabriela stifles a sob.

"Too bad your so-called friend isn't here to rescue you this time," Jayla says, flipping her hair and turning to walk away. Gabriela picks up her broken glasses and runs out of the cafeteria.

"Crybaby!" Jayla yells, breaking the silence. Her gang laughs.

I slam down my lunch and stood up. "Jayla, stop it right now!" My instincts to protect Gabriela take over. No one deserves to be humiliated in front of the whole grade.

Jayla sneers. "Aww, look, the hero comes to the crybaby's defense. Where were you when she needed you?"

I march over to her and stand up straight. I am shorter than her by two inches. "I'm here now."

Jayla laughs. "Look at this. She thinks she can stop me. Well, listen up, Arce." I wince at the gross mispronunciation of my name. "You're too weak." She spits in my face. "You can't stand up to me any more than you can be Gabriela's friend." She pushes me. I don't expect it; I have come to a realization. I stumble back and hit a lunch table.

"You wrote those messages," I said. "You made a fake account."

"It was easy, really. A little thing like that can get you losers so riled up." Jayla pushes me again, and this time I hit the floor. I'll have a decent-sized bruise on my hip later. While I'm down, she kicks me in the side. Kids laugh and whistle, clearly entertained.

Jayla stands over me triumphantly. "You're worthless," she says in a harsh whisper. "You're nothing. You don't deserve to live."

Her words hurt just as much as the physical abuse. I stand up and catch her fist with my shoulder. She is blocking the cafeteria door. I shove her out of the way and run out into the hall, hearing one last shout of "Loser!" before I run into the bathroom.

Gabriela stands at the sink. She sees me in the mirror and turns. I must look terrible. "Esperanza? What happened?" she asks. Her cheeks are streaked with tears. She looks younger without her glasses.

"Jayla." I examine my shoulder in the mirror. A bruise is already forming.

"I'm sorry. Does it hurt?" Gabriela says.

"A little." I turn to her. "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. Jayla sent me Facebook messages under your name. I thought you sent them."

"Oh no! No wonder you were mad." Gabriela grimaces. "What did they say?"

I take out my phone and show her. She swallows. "She is horrible. What did she say in the cafeteria?"

"She said... she said I was worthless and that I shouldn't be alive." I turn back to the mirror and am startled to see tears on my own cheeks.

Gabriela touches my arm gently, a motion of comfort we use on each other often. "You know it's not true," she say.

"Do I?" I whisper.

Gabriela's face hardens. "Yes. You are not worthless. You're an amazing friend to me."

Somehow that makes me feel worse. "I abandoned you today. I wasn't there when you needed me, and now your glasses are broken. It's my fault."

"You stood up for me after I left," Gabriela points out. "So it's my fault she hit you."

"No, it's not!"

"So it's not your fault she went for me. I'd be mad if she sent me those messages, too." She has a point.

"I really believed you sent those messages," I say. "I should have known you weren't like that."

"At least now we know it's Jayla," Gabriela says. "And we won't be mad at each other."

She smiles at me, but I still feel unsure. What if Jayla is right?