That Strange Blonde Girl Part 3


    Being a superhero meant making difficult decisions.  And sometimes, those difficult decisions were made at a mental breaking point, when anger or fear pushes a person to no longer want to allow or support the status quo.

    Lara’s lunch period was held in the large school lunch room, or was supposed to anyway.  Usually instead, she checked in there to buy a sandwich and drink and make people believe she was there, and then she would take her food elsewhere and eat in solitude.

    But today, something changed, and it made her anger at everything that day boil over.  There was a security guard at the door to make sure none of the students would sneak out until the end of lunch period.

    Glancing around the room, Lara suddenly understood why.  The dark boy and DD, his cheerleader girlfriend, were both working the lunch line.  It was around that very lunch period they would usually meet in the Drama Club auditorium, and they must have been caught and punished.

    The teachers ate in the same room as the students, only in a segregated area bordered by a half wall.  She passed it as she stepped in line to retrieve her sandwich and drink.

    That moment was when every bit of anger she harbored through the day columnated into fury.  But not all by itself.

    It started when one of the mental five-year-old football players shoved his way in front of Lara, and then snatched the five dollar bill from her hands.  

    He said, “Thanks, freak,”  and laughed.

    Lara bit her lip hard, and punched him in the crotch, using her new-found electrical abilities to shock him into serious pain.  He howled and toppled to the floor, curled into a ball.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hey!”  the gym teacher bellowed in a loud voice.  He grabbed Lara’s shoulder and pinned her to the sneeze guard on the buffet.  “You’re in for a world of hurt, girlie!”  he said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Get off me you boy-raping freak!”  she screeched at him, and then she hurled her lunch tray at him with her free hand.  It hit him right on the nose.

    She felt another hand on her arm, and almost fought this person too, but stopped when she realized it was Mr. Lewis.  He kept his hand on her arm until he brought her outside the lunch room, and into the hallway.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What’s going on, Ms. Night?”  he asked, as he let go.  He was always so formal, calling students by their last name.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I just...there’s too much,”  she admitted.  “It’s too much.  A lot of stuff happened to me last night and today and...and I’m tired.”  

    She sighed, and leaned against the lockers.  Lara was trying hard not to cry, because the sound of that, no doubt, would travel back to the lunch room.  Her eyes were teary, but no, she had to keep her voice soft and even so nobody would hear.

    He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, and slid a five dollar bill out of it.  As he did, out the entire contents.  He turned red, and bent over to sweep it up quickly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Why--”  Lara was trying hard not to laugh at that point.  “Why are you so awkward around me?”

    He didn’t answer.  Instead he asked her, “What did you want to buy for lunch?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Tuna sandwich, fruit soda, and chips,”  she replied.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s on me,”  he said.  “Stay here.  I’m not kidding about that.”

    He went back into the lunch room then, and returned a few minutes later with Lara’s requested lunch...two of them.  “Your lunch sounded good, so I got one myself.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Whatever,”  Lara replied.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Come, let’s talk.”  He walked ahead of Lara, and led her through the main hallway of the school building, and into the very hallway next to the Drama Club auditorium where she used to hide and read.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What’s going on here?”  Lara asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I have to take you to the principal’s office.  Eventually,”  he said.  “But maybe I can get you some leniency if only I knew what was wrong.”

    Just then, Lara noticed that Mr. Lewis had tried rinsing the usual gel out of his hair at some point during the morning.  It looked messier, and curly.  

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“My parents are breaking up,”  she said.  “And I’m sick of the crap I have to put up with.  Watching the gym teacher stare at young boys and get away with it.  Watching the football team terrorize everyone.  Listening to DD and her boyfriend start their own porn channel.  And some things that have been happening to me, that I have to keep secret.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I...don’t know much about development of girls, but from what I hear you’re supposed to be changing.  I can take you to the school nurse--”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, no.  It’s not like that.  I--”  She sighed, and looked down.  “I can’t tell anyone.  I really can’t tell anyone about it.  Not even other girls.  Or my parents.  And I can’t even trust you, because you’re a teacher, and I don’t even know your first name.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s William,”  he told her.  “William Lewis.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.”  She stopped talking altogether, making it clear that it wasn’t so easy getting her secret out, and started eating her sandwich.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“As for the gym teacher...give him a little slack, he’s just human.  There’s no crime in looking, but if he does more than that, let me know.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No crime in looking, right.  Cause you do that too.”  Lara grumbled.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m only human too,”  he said.  “I’m not proud of it.  I guess it’s a bit like catching someone naked in a mirror.  You feel ashamed for looking, but you can’t not.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Or two other students doing--”  She glanced at him sideways and corrected mid-sentence.  “--stuff they shouldn’t.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I shouldn’t tell you this, but those two you’re referring to got caught today, and their parents were called.  That’s why they’re working in the lunch room, and why we have a guard now.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.”  Lara finished off her sandwich, or as much as she could bear to eat after the day’s events.  “I guess I’d better go to the principal’s office.”

    The walk there was not long, but Lara was in for a shock when she arrived there.  She was invited directly in, and Mr. Lewis was asked to wait outside.  The door was closed, and as well as the principal, in the office with her was the gym teacher.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Not only did you attack another student,”  the principal said, “But you made a very serious accusation.”

    Lara simply shrugged.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’re going to apologize for your accusation, and to the student you attacked.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No!”  she angrily replied.  “I’m not going to apologize, he took my five dollars and didn’t give it back!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Nobody saw him take your money,”  the principal said.  “Yet another accusation with no proof.  I’m afraid I’m going to have to suspend you, Miss Night, for one week.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What?”  she asked loudly and angrily.  “That’s not fair!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Effective immediately!”  the principal yelled over her.  “Stay right there, I’m going to have security escort you out of the building.”

    Lara swallowed hard at the thinly veiled accusation.  She decided it was time then to be more mature than the principal and teacher who stood before her, just as she did with her parents.  In a softer voice, she said, “Don’t bother.  I’ll leave quietly.”

    And then she calmly opened the office door, and walked past Mr. Lewis, glancing at him coldly as she did, and then out of the principal’s office.  The front door of the school was only a few steps away from that point.

    What the principal didn’t know was, Lara didn’t think of suspension as a punishment.  She felt the weight lift off her shoulders, and freedom fill her lungs, as soon as she exited the building.  She had to control herself to avoid walking faster, or looking too happy, as she left.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Need a ride home?”  Mr. Lewis asked her.

    Lara turned around.  He was standing just outside the doors of the school.  “Shouldn’t you be teaching a class?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“All my classes are in the morning.  I usually go home at lunch.  I just stuck around because I saw you were in trouble.”

    Normally, even accepting a ride home from a teacher would be dangerous for a teenager, but Lara had a secret.  If she wished, she could leave him unconscious at any time.  So she felt safe with pretty much anyone giving her a ride home.  Except those immature football players maybe, but that was more a case of not wanting to be anywhere near them.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah, I guess I do,”  she admitted.  “My mom is probably working at the hospital, and dad...isn’t at home anymore.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m sorry to hear that,”  he said, and he lead her to his car.  It was one of those little Smart cars, so it barely held two people, his briefcase, and her backpack.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Dude, get a bag or something.  That case is really lame.”

    He looked back at the briefcase.  “Oh.  All right,”  he said.  “Where do you live?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sand Oaks,”  she replied.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“New neighborhood, nice,”  he replied.  “I wish I could say it’s on my way home, but I kind of have to drive past my neighborhood to get there.”

    Lara thought about going home to her empty house, and longing for her dad to come home in three hours, as was usual on a normal school day.  In this case, she would have five hours to that point, except that she would have to wait for her mom to come back even later instead.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Can I see your place?”  she asked.

    He looked at her questioningly for a moment.  “I...don’t think that’s appropriate Lara.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want to learn more about you,”  she said.  “You made me curious.  If you take me there, maybe I’ll show you my secret.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Show me your secret?”  He was unbearably curious by then.  He made an abrupt turn, as if he knew he had to make it now before he changed his mind.  “Do you really trust me that much?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I don’t know yet,”  she replied.  “We’ll see.  But I have a feeling about you.”


TO BE CONTINUED
    


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2012 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- Chronicles of a New World and all characters therein are property of 
--    Strike Two and Jason Froikin.