Because of Love

Part 1

Grade six. I remember the first day I stepped into that classroom. I remember the smell of the clean, wet carpet that was patiently waiting for the dirty shoes of little children. I remember the weight of my new books in my backpack that was clearly too big and bulky for my 11 year old body, the sweat in my palms, the butterflies in my stomach. I remember the taste of numbness in my mouth as I struggled to formulate words. The first day at a new school was always the hardest. The first day at a new school in a new town was even more scary and frightening. I had known no one. Absolutely no one, except my parents.

I remember staring at the infinite sea of eyes that also stared back at me. I remember the muffled voice of the teacher telling me to introduce myself. I remember stuttering so much. I remember the heat on my cheeks. I had never been the one for public speaking and I still wasn't. "M-m-my name is Maya Willow..." I had murmured, softly. My cheeks had burnt when every student in the room looked around quizzically, whispering amongst themselves. Their eyes had darted at me, to their friends and then back at me. They hadn't heard what I had said. I was as bright as a tomato. "Nice to meet you!" I had ended up shouting. The room had burst into laughter. I remember I had clenched my fists in embarrassment, fuming. When I was young, I had a speech defect where I pronounced my 's' and 'z' as a 'th'. I had a lisp. People had always laughed at me whenever I spoke. However, for as long as I have ever lived, I was never one to shy away when ridiculed or humiliated. I was always the opposite. I would always stick up for myself and yell back, fight back. If I had to admit, I did have a fiery and hot tempered personality. I was very easily provoked. It had mellowed out a little when I grew up.

So as I was about to shout back, I remember staring into the sea of heads to see that one head wasn't bopping down from laughter. I also remember that was the first time I saw him. He had noticed me glance at him and he had smiled. I never smiled back. Instead, I had examined him. He had bright yellow hair and sky blue eyes. I remember, in my mind, I had thought of him as a complete whimp. He had looked weak and completely unreliable.

I had tuned back to the laughing students and the not so successful teacher who was flailing his arms about trying to calm down the laughter. When he had finally succeeded in altering the laughter into quite snickers, he showed me to my seat. I had statically walked to my desk. I sat down. Some boys looked back at me, pointing at me, laughing to their friends. I had turned my head away, ignoring them...well trying to ignore them.

The teacher had took the roll. The students raised their hands at their respective names. "Ryan Bennet?" the teacher had called out. A 'here' had rang closely beside me. I had turned my head to the voice. Two seats beside me, with his hand up and mouth slightly agape, was the blonde hair boy. Ryan Bennet.

***

Bullying. What is bullying? The use of superior strength or influence to intimidate someone, typically to force him or her to do what one wants.

A bully. What is a bully? A person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.

Bullying was a common occurence in my childhood due to my lisp. People would laugh and make fun of me. I was also quite a chubby child back then. I had a lot of baby fat. That gave the bullies another 'unflattering' aspect of me to comment at. I remember I had sighed. It was only the first day. I had held my lunch in my hands, clenching at it. A look of irritation had crossed my features. I had asked, "What do you guys want?" The group of boys had snickered. I scowled. They surrounded me.

"You're the girl who can't speak correctly," a boy had said, who I suspected was the 'leader' of their little group.

"Hey new girl why don't you say something to us?" another one jeered, immitating my speech defect. The other boys had laughed and tried the same thing. They all took a go to mimic my lisp. I remember the taunting words rushing out of their mouths. They kept repeating and repeating and I remember the heat that had rushed to my cheeks. I didn't say anything. I had tried to ignore them, to keep my temper down, but it never lasted for long. I had hugged my lunchbox and tried to walkaway.

"Hey listen to me when I talk to you!" yelled the 'leader'. He grabbed a fistful of my thick brown hair. He pulled at it. I winced.

"Respect your superiors!" he had said, once again yanking my hair, "this is Riverside Academy, a school for students like us, not an outsider like you."

Riverside Academy, a pretigious school for the wealthy. Therefore, many of the students were snobby, rich kids who thought they had power and influence over others. A girl like me, who was an outsider, who didn't know the workings of the town or school was considered the weak and so I was the most susceptible to bullying at Riverside Academy. They thought the feeling of superioirity would wash over them and helplessless would drag me down; however, they were wrong. Maybe a sense of dominance did touch their senses for a short swift moment; but one thing I knew that did touch their senses for a swift moment was my fist.

I had grabbed him by the wrist. He had winced and let go of my tangled hair. I remember seeing the pain on his face as the other students stepped back in fear. I had gripped him even harder. "You think I like my lisp?" I had said with contempt, "Just so you know, I don't like it either okay." My grip got tighter and tighter. I remember the satisfaction of sending my fist into his face and watching all the boys run away.

As I watched them scatter - yelling at me, calling me names - I saw him again. A mop of yellow hair stood by a tree, a few metres away, surrounded by many other heads. His friends were pointing at me, whispering amongst themselves to be wary of me. His blue eyes stared at me. I scowled at him. He nervously and quickly averted his eyes. I ran away, clutching my lunch in my arms. Ryan Bennet. I really disliked him.