Eudaimonia: Maya's Journey

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"Shut your face!" shouted the fiery teenager.

"You're fat! and ugly!" said one of the three tall girls surrounding her.

Without a warning she jumped on the tallest girl, pulled her hair and planted her teeth in her shoulder.

The girl screamed "get off me!" whilst the other two desperately tried to separate them.

Until a teacher intervened Maya's jaw was still clinched onto Lucy's shoulder.

Now they had separated, Lucy shouted at Maya showing her bleeding shoulder

"You're a crazy lunatic! Look what you've done!"

Maya stayed silent and surprisingly calm.

The teacher with a firm tone, commanded them to follow.

She took them directly to the headmaster's office, she sat them, seized a first aid box and cleaned the open wound.

The headmaster entered and sat down. He stared at them for a while before asking slowly but with authority

"How did an educated fifteen-year old end up behaving so barbaric?"

Lucy, a really tall blond hair girl, white as snow with bright blue eyes pleaded vehemently

"She's mad! Look at what she's done! She ripped my hair out and she bit my shoulder!"

Maya of medium height, athletic built, olive skin, brown hair, hazel eyes, opened her hand which was still in a fist to reveal a bunch of pristine blond hair in her palm. She discreetly let them slide down.

She lifted her head and with disconcerting calmness she explained,

"She and her friends bully everyone. I guess it was my turn. They've been on my case for a few days. I didn't like it that much! I warned them, but they didn't listen to me."

"You see! She's weird and makes no sense!"

"Hush now, both of you." interrupted the headteacher "Fighting has no place in this school, neither does bullying. Lucy, this isn't the first incident I'm hearing of. This behaviour must not continue! Our policy on bullying is clear, one more report and you will be expelled."

He fixed his glasses and turned to Maya

"Maya, this is the first complaint about you. Your teachers told me you're daydreaming in class, but you're not a troublemaker. What got into you? This is extreme behaviour; we do not condone violence. If anything like this happens again you need to come to us. Please don't deal with it yourself! You are both suspended for the next two days. Both your parents will be notified of this incident".

As they were escorted towards the detention room for the rest of the day, Maya took her phone out and checked the latest TikTok trends, she knew her parents would give her hard time and she might not see her phone for a while.

In the classroom the teacher confiscated their phones and gave them a line to copy a thousand times " I respect my peers, my behaviour affects other people's lives".

Once the teacher left, Maya dropped the pen and stared at the window. She thought of being outside, in open spaces, the freedom of movement, no rules, just freedom.