The Guardian

Chapter Fifteen

"How was school today?" asked Michael as she entered his office.

"Horrible. I missed the first class because I was in Guidance with Allyson. However, I went to the remainder of my classes. Jason was in my second class, and we wrote our test. Gabriel came into the room with two uniformed officers and arrested him."

"What charges did they lay against him?"

"Underage drinking, statutory rape and attempted murder. It was awful. One of Jason's friends dumped orange juice all over my back, and I had to wear a wet top for the rest of the day. A girl in front of me was especially nasty, and the teacher asked both of us to stay late. He told Brittney that she'd have to pull her marks up. He also told her that he had been intending to ask me to tutor her in the subject, but her rude behavior meant he was suggesting that she find someone else to tutor her. He told her that he was assigning a lab tomorrow, and she had better get a C on the assignment or she would be taking a leave from the cheerleading team. She was furious, and when I left the room she told me that she expected me to do her lab for her. I told her that I wasn't interested, but she threatened me."

"Why did your teacher ask you to stay late?"

"He asked if I would be interested in doing some tutoring. I told him that I would be, so long as the students weren't Jason's friends. They blame me for his arrest."

"How was the rest of the day?"

"Horrible. I was late to my third period class and I'm never late to my classes. I had to walk in with everyone staring at me. By then the rumors of what happened had started to circulate around the school. I guess Gabriel arrested Jason in front of everyone to send a message to people that date rape is not acceptable, and I agree with what he did in principle, but it has made my life very hard. In total, I received five death threats and six threats of rape today. The consensus seems to be that it doesn't matter what happens to me because I'm a juvie girl. I checked my Facebook site before I came here tonight, and I had another three death threats, four threats of rape, and several people de-friended me."

"Will you talk to Guidance about what has happened?"

"What's the point? It's not like they can do anything about it. I just have to do this on my own."

"Will you let Gabriel know what's going on?"

"Get the police involved? This whole problem started because I got the police involved in the first place. I need them to be less involved." She looked frustrated.

"I think you should tell them what's going on. If anything ever happened to you, God forbid, the police would want to know of the threats. They need to chase them down and find a way to diffuse them. That's their job."

She hugged herself and brought her knees up, crumpling into a self-protective ball. "I just want it all to go away."

"I hate to tell you, but that likely won't happen. Not by wishful thinking. It will likely go away if you get the police involved. Death threats and threats of rape are more than simple harassment. They're threats of a criminal intent. Some of those people who are leaving you threats probably think it's funny, but they don't understand that what they are doing is considered criminal. And it isn't funny."

A tear rolled down Julianna's cheek, and she flicked her elastic band a few times.

"I really think we should tell Gabriel what happened today."

Julianna flicked her elastic band a few more times. Michael looked down at her wrist. It was red and raw from snapping her skin.

"What do you think? Should we call Gabriel?" asked Michael as he pressed a little harder.