11 Years Ago (Full story below)

The shrill chime of the school bell fell upon deaf ears. Everyone’s attention darted upon the grim scenario unfolding in the front yard of the school. An ambulance stationed near the staircase entry, caring for a group of girls. Two were being inspected by the medics, covered by towels as they removed their shirts, stomp marks lined their belly and ribs. A third girl's face was covered by the hovering paramedics; swollen eyelids had to be pried open to see if there was any permanent damage to the cornea. The last one was already moved to a stretcher inside the vehicle, her mouth covered by a cloth tainted red as the paramedics checked her pulse, already sedated to stop her from feeling the shifting movement of her cracked jaw as she was rushed to the hospital.

Yet the beaming lights of the ambulance along with the paramedics ordering the mass of students to give them space to do their job, did little to deviate the attention of the main attraction of the evening. Dozens of phones repeated the same video on a loop, expressions of morbid curiosity, disgust and amusement glued to the screens as they heard the blaring howls of a girl muffling the noise of metal slamming against metal, cheers laugh and screams of those surrounding her, yet no one daring to intervene. Regardless of the angle and length, every recording of the incident ended with the same phrase, as teachers stormed onto the scene.

“YOU WERE MY FRIEND! I LOVED YOU LIKE A SISTER! I TRUSTED YOU! AND NOW I HATE YOU MORE THAN ANYONE EVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!”.

. . .

An elderly couple is in the headmaster’s office, a fragile old man resting his hand in the shoulder of a distraught lady as they talked about what had just transpired.

“In the end, she took quite a bit from her father innit? Heh”-. Said the old man as the headmaster’s scornful glare darted over him. - “My school will plaster every corner of Kingston’s news tomorrow Benjamin. No matter what the cameras said, that wretched video will do the rounds a thousand times more than anything I can say on the matter. I’m sorry, I’ll take care of what I can. But you know what’s coming for your granddaughter”. -

The girl sitting outside of the office had a vacant look in her eyes, glassy and bloated after the incessant crying from earlier. Her left hand was sore, her knuckles still red and scoffed, her lower lip patched up and tainted orange by the iodopovidone, strands of her hair still falling off her frizzy reddish mane. Her daze interrupted by a large shadow casted right beside her.

– “I said I was fine; those cunts need more ibuprofen than I do. Thank you.” – . – “Do I look like a nurse to you wee lass?”-. The imposing man chucked, a figure that brightened the girl’s face in a heartbeat. – “Mr. Roscoe! W-What are you doing here!?” –. Said the perplexed girl, looking at one of the few familiar faces she was not saddened or embittered to look at that sour evening. A towering robust old man, hulking even as he bent to salute the girl in front of him, a grey beany and small spectacles adorned his unkept face, his boots left a trail of dirt and what seemed to be sea water, at least by the smell he was carrying through the corridor. – “Heard the news and came as soon as possible” –. – “… You saw the video didn’t you?” –. “What video? I just got a call from Amelia and left the boys take care of the noon’s cargo, can’t leave your grandma to deal with all of this alone you know?” –. – “Mr. Benjamin is also there” –. – “… Good gracious.” –.the old man said as he took off his glasses, seemingly perplexed by the attitude of the young girl. – “Y’been here for how long? A year? And you still treat everybody like if you are a housekeeper. Just because I don’t respect the guy but that doesn’t mean that you can’t call him your… What in the hell happened there?” –. Both looked at the place where everything went down.

Gazing towards what looked like a crime scene. An open locker with its content spilled all over the floor, beside them two more lockers had their doors smashed in adorned with strings of hair, smeared mascara, dried red droplets sprinkled across the floor, trailing back to the open case that Roscoe was now beholding with a flabbergasted look in his face.

Scattered throughout the floor was glitter, photos, and it didn’t take long to notice the open boxes of Durex spilled along with folded pieces of paper, letters, their content as explicit as the scene itself.

“They told me that the police will come for that soon, the headmaster said something about an investigation regarding bulling or something like that…”-. Said the girl as she kept staring at the scene, the old man next to her suddenly stood up, ready to storm the headmaster’s office.

“NO! No no no please wait!”-. Begged the girl as she held Roscoe by his sweater. – “Is that your locker?”- asked the old man in a cutthroat tone. – “The headmaster knows already I’m just here because Miss Amelia told m-!”-. – “IS THAT. YOUR LOCKER?”- His thunderous tone startled the people even inside the office, echoing all the way up to the main entrance of the school, students froze as they realized how heated things were about to become, with the police arriving to the scene, everyone slowly went their own way.

The girl was shocked by the infuriated scowl adorning Roscoe’s face, a cheerful man was always the one that left the biggest impression when their temper took hold, the poor girl simply nodded as she cowered back to her seat, the imposing man already grabbing the doorknob of the office, when he suddenly stopped as he stared through the dim glass of the door, seeing the silhouette of his older sister sobbing, his vice grip now a shaky open palm. Thus, he sat back in his place, startling the girl next to him.

“Your grandmother wouldn’t call me for my diplomacy”-. Roscoe said as he crouched a bit forward, elbows on his knees, his chin resting in his leathery hand. – “Now, you have my full attention”-.

With her hands between her knees and her gaze lost in the marble floor, she started to elaborate. - “There was this girl… Mio. I broke her jaw against the left one over there.”- The girl explained as she pointed towards the bent locker to the right of her own. – “…Was she the one who did… that?”-. Said the old man with an inquisitive tone, as he nodded towards the obvious mess that had riled him up in the first place, trying his best to remain collected as he tried to let the girl speak, to open about what transpired of her own accord. - “…No”-.

“Mio was just… I don’t know, I-I don’t know anymore, my head hurts and I’m so, so angry I can’t understand why she did this…”-. – “Y’might have to be a tad more specific for this old man to get it wee lass”-. Pulling her mane back and taking deep breaths, the girl started from the beginning.

“She was my friend since I first came here, nobody wanted to talk to me…they said that I didn’t have a soul because of my stupid hair”-. –“Uff… Dear lord, some things just don’t change innit?”-. –“What?”-. –“Guess what the main hair color of our family just happens to be dear”-. –“Did you go through the same?”-. –“Pff* of course I did, all our clan have to go through that at some point, to have some snooty Sassenach prick telling ya how you and the rest of your potato-stuffed family don’t belong in their shait-stained crummy cities and their putrid cooking without any seasoning”-. –“snort* Pff* Hah!”-. Smirked the small girl at the blunt exclamations of the man next to her. - “But I digress, go on”-. – “I would honestly prefer to hear you shit talking the Brits more actually”-. –“Oh and you will wee lass, promise, but right now… Ye hafta take some stuff off the chest, if not with me, with who?”-.

–“Yeah…”-.

A silence between the two was short, yet it showed how difficult it was for the girl to speak about what transpired not even an hour ago.

“So, she became the only person that seemingly wanted to be my friend, and for a long time she was the closest I had to somebody I could… Trust.”-. – “Heh, well guess she wasn’t that good if I can still see a bit of her left over there”-. The cheeky remark came with a reaction sourer than the one Roscoe expected. – “She wanted more friends… “Be in the spotlight for once” as she said… I should have known, these past few days she seemed so different, the things she asked me, the way she asked me, the things I ended up doing because I thought they were just… GOD DAMN IT!”-.

The swear echoed through the empty hallway, the old man in the headmaster’s office rushed to the door to check on his granddaughter. –“Oh dear are you alright!?”-. Almost immediately the imposing man darted his eyes on old Benjamin and blared his lungs out at him. – “You fuck off MacIntyre I’m dealing with this myself go and pretend to be a man and fail miserably doing so elsewhere!”-. – “Oh Roscoe thank the lord you are here, I’ll leave you do your magic”-. –“God he pisses me off so much”-. –“Why? Mr.- uh, grand… Pops, Pops is not a bad person, right?”-. –“You need more than just “not a bad person” to gain some respect over here wee lass. Sometimes been a weasel doesn’t mean you are a “bad person”, regardless. Go on…”-.

As the girl started to elaborate on what lead to the events from moments ago, Roscoe’s frown softened, feeling for the girl next to him, with a few more visceral comments regarding the nature of those photos, the names of the culprits, how all of this seemingly started because of a petty quarrel regarding the girl’s sudden growth spurt. How everyone made her the center of attention, and the target of some off-handed comments from both her male and female classmates, culminating on the horrid display in front of them, a morbid prank to “take her down a peg in regards to her new assets”.

“-… And Mio kept avoiding me since that sleepover, I should have known better… How weird it was that she became so fucking chummy with those fucking cunts… How she wanted to take photos of us, I should have known better! Who ask for pictures like that!”. –

Look, I know where this is going, no need to elaborate on that part, again… I don’t want that image on my head”. -Said Roscoe as he looked at the corridor, a police officer was heading towards them to take the girl’s declaration of the incident. The towering man knew him personally, Roscoe knew almost everyone in the port area, multiple generations of many families owed him a lot for his welcoming attitude and stern demeanor, and that officer was one of many youths he helped to get somewhere in life by working with him in the fish market. Thus, a simple glare and a nod made the officer stop right on his tracks, Roscoe made sure that his name came with enough weight to make even a policeman wait for him. The silent back and forth between them came unnoticed by the redhead next to him thankfully, the officer tapped his watch, and let the man have the time he needed.

“ You, Miss… Grandma, Pops, everyone tried their best with me… I just… I just can’t get over this, every time… Every time I try to be nice, to be like everyone else, someone just HAS TO. SOMEONE HAS TO RUIN IT. And I end up like this, in the headmaster’s office, or with a police officer near me, with strings of hair that don’t belong to me embedded in my nails, and now the last person that gave me a chance without asking for anything… That actually went to America to meet me, for been the daughter of a man I never met, and took me away from that shitty mother and his pathetic hubby and their fucking mongrels… Now doesn’t even want to look at me… I saw her entering the office, and I know she saw me… She didn’t even try to turn around to look at me“-.

Roscoe was out of words… He now knew why his sister had called him, the mess sitting next to him was a mirror of himself in his youth, but unlike him, she didn’t have a mother to come home to, nor a big sister to stand for them, she was alone… And the only person she had right now, was an old sailor who couldn’t do anything but listen in silence.

-“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore… Mio hates me, almost as much as I hate her, so now she’ll be one more asshole I have to deal with, and now I don’t have anyone, nobody to work on projects with, to study with… I’ll have to go back home… I’ll have to go back to that fucking school; Miss Amelia will have to give my custody back to my mom and Horacio… God what did I do…”

The petite lady hid her face in her knees, curled on her seat as the man next to her tried his best to console her with a hug without leaving the salty stench of the sea all over her. Yet their moment was cut short by the sudden unlock of the headmaster’s office door, Mr. Benjamin and a small, withered blonde lady walked outside, her face mortified and stern, passing next to them without taking even a look at the direction of Roscoe and the wee lass. Mr. Benjamin tried to ease the situation by letting the girl know that “Everything will be fine!” While awkwardly escorting his wife through the echoing corridor to the parking lot.

The appalled look on the girl’s face shocked the old man to the core, the look of someone who just lost the last crumb of hope she had, now shaking and sobbing, knowing that she just ruined yet another home with her reckless attitude. Roscoe suddenly stood up, ruffled the girl’s frizzy mane, and with tired eyes gave her a piece of his mind.

“Sorry you had to go through this Gert, wish I could tell you that things are getting better, that those were just dumb children that’ll no longer bother you after this… But you know better than hearing another old man lying to you through his teeth, that’s a MacIntyre’s job, not ours… The truth is that things are going to get worse, way worse… If times truly haven’t change as much, those girls will come back for seconds, and they’ll up their game too. But hopefully, with enough time, and dedication, you’ll be more than capable to show them, show everybody, that nobody messes with the Cantwells… without leaving this mess around for the school to clean up later”-

It was the first genuine response, and actual helpful thing the girl had heard in a long time, now cleaning her face and looking upwards to the welcoming jolly smile of her gruncle.

“I’ll make sure you stay in this school, that you graduate with honors so you can make your grandma proud, I’ll make sure that you’ll have all the opportunities I can give you, so you can fight for whatever you wish to do. Can’t promise you that this will be easy, but nothing ever was for our clan. And when the time is up, and you have to go back to that shithole in America with that excuse of a family you got there, you’ll have me and the boys in the market to help you if you ever need us dear.”-

But before the girl could say anything the police officer who waited as much as he could had to come forth and give the bad news. – “Sorry Mr. Doile, but I need to take the declaration now, the rest of the team is already outside to collect the evidence.”- Before Roscoe could berate the lanky officer behind him, the girl interjected. – “Is okay, I knew this would come, I’m here officer”-. – “Are you the … “Imogen” everybody is talking outside?”-. Roscoe was puzzled by the name. – “Ugh yeah is… It’s me alright”-. - “Imogen you say?”-. Inquired the imposing old man, noting how annoyed the girl was by the very mention of that name”-. – “Got it from a field trip in second grade and somehow everyone out here found out”-. – “Heh, the more you know”-. – “What about it?”-. – “Oh nothing, it’s me mum’s name actually”-. the man smiled as he arched his back and moved the officer aside. - “Be proud of that nickname wee lass, it holds value over here”-. the old man said as he walked out of the building, opening the hallway doors as the sounds of police sirens, the bickering of students and teachers engulfed the scene.

The officer took a notepad and started taking the girl’s declaration, yet his voice was muffled by the noise around the scene, and in the midst of the police officers moving in and out, taking photographs, samples off of the bent lockers, and students trying to take pictures from the outside of the hallway the girl was submerged in her own world, troubled, anxious, helpless, yet a sliver of happiness came through the off comment that her gruncle had told her in the end, a childish insult she was subjected for years suddenly became something she was happy about, a piece of her that she suddenly no longer hated, and in the chaos around her, simply muttered:

“Uh, Imogen it is then …”-.