Emma: Seventh Grade

Chapter 13: Projects

It was Monday morning, and Emma was in the school library with the rest of her history class. Mrs. Frazier had sent her entire class to the library to get started on their group research project. So Emma was stuck at a table with Kendra and Alyssa. And she was not happy about it.

"Sooo...." Kendra began as she looked at the information sheet. "Alyssa and I have already decided that we are doing the PowerPoint. So I guess that leaves Emma to do the research paper." She exchanged a knowing glance with Alyssa, who was sitting beside her.

"Sounds good to me," Alyssa agreed.

"But that's not fair!" Emma was quick to protest. "We're supposed to work on the paper and the PowerPoint together! You can't just leave me to do a ten page paper all by myself!" She knew that being in a group project with Kendra and Alyssa only meant trouble. They were already trying to force the majority of the work on her.

"Listen, Fatass!" Kendra yelled, banging her fist on the table. "If you were here on the day she assigned it, you would have had a say in this. But you don't, so keep your damn mouth shut!"

"You dumbasses knew I was in the hospital!" Emma cried. "I couldn't help it!"

Kendra angrily got up from her seat and marched around the table and grabbed the front of Emma's shirt, pulling Emma close to her snarling face. "If you don't cooperate with us," Kendra snarled, "we'll take a knife, cut off all your clothes, and force you to walk naked throughout the entire school. Would you like that?"

"N-no," Emma stammered, struggling to hold back the tears. The memory of Kendra and Alyssa pulling down her pants last Friday was still vivid. She would never forget the horrific embarrassment that came with that moment.

Kendra let go of Emma's shirt and forcefully pushed her back into her chair. "Then you need to do exactly as we tell you, got it?"

"Okay," Emma replied quietly, staring at the ground.

Kendra took her seat beside Alyssa. "So the project is due on November 15th. That means Emma needs to get her part done by the 8th, so we have enough time to work on the PowerPoint."

"Well, you've figured out how to get her to do what we want," Alyssa commented happily.

"Yup," Kendra smirked. "She's our bitch now."

"Better get to work, dummy!" Alyssa yelled at Emma. "We can't do the PowerPoint until you get the paper done!"

Emma hung her head. She grabbed her backpack, which was sitting beside her on the floor, and slowly headed over to a library computer to start on some research. She was furious with Kendra and Alyssa for making her do the whole paper by herself, but she dared not say anything about it. She knew they weren't kidding about stripping her naked for the whole school to see. Kendra and her friends were savages and would do anything to get their way. They knew exactly how to manipulate Emma so she would do what they wanted. It made Emma mad, but there was nothing she could do about it. The only way out would probably be to commit suicide, but Emma was too scared to try it. So she was forced to live in misery, as long as was in school with Kendra and her pals.

Emma made some progress during the class period, but she still had a ton of work to do. All the while, Kendra and Alyssa were joking and chattering, acting like they had a free period, while Emma was busy slaving away. She was relieved when that class period was finally over, but Mrs. Larson's class next period wasn't much better. It was the class where she was forced to sit up front because of a seating arrangement, and she hated it because her classmates always invaded her personal space.

As Emma entered Mrs. Larson's room, she spotted Laken, Nate, and their friends gathered at the front of the room having a loud conversation, as usual. She grudgingly took her seat in the front of the room, set her backpack on the floor, and tried to ignore her noisy classmates, who were inches from her face. Ever since Nate had thrown her desk on the floor, exposing her underwear to the entire class, Emma had kept her mouth shut about her personal bubble being invaded. Even when someone sat on her desk, which had already happened several times since then, she swallowed her frustration and kept quiet.