Destroyed

Chapter 2: I'm Coming Home

After he is finished, Mr. Jenkins handed each classmate, especially Jerry a detention slip, but stopped when he saw me. After he  gave a kid a slip of pink paper, shouts of anger filled the room.

"What is this?" someone cried. As soon as he walked past a boy with a red t-shirt, Mr. Jenkins placed a detention slip into Jerry's hand and moved on. The only person would didn't get a detention slip is me.

Jerry glared at me then back at the History teacher. "Mr. Jenkins-" Jerry shrieked. "I don't want to hear it!" he shouted. "The next time you think pouring soda on a girl is funny," he shouted. "I will tell the coach to kick you out of the football team, how about that?!"

He stopped looking at Jerry then at the entire class. "Unless all of you want to apologize to Cleo," he snarled. "I want you to write an a thousand page essay on why bullying is wrong!"

The boys and girls sat back down on the chairs and stared in space. Out of the breath, Mr. Jenkins set the pad of pink paper on his desk and permitted me to go to the office and have my parents give me some fresh clothes.

"Don't worry about it," I reassured. "I have an extra set of clothes." That part is actually true, thanks to my mother's ability of prediction, I have an extra bundle of clothes to take to school with me.

He nodded very slowly as I took my bag and left the computer room. While I was walking down to the bathroom, I looked down at my stained shirt. The soda stain had almost went through my jeans, but luckily it didn't.

I was glad that Jerry only splashed soda just on my shirt, not on my jeans. That way, I change into my black t-shirt and put the damp one in a plastic bag. As soon as I walked into the bathroom, my feet hustled across the flat tiles and into the bathroom stall.

Shutting the door behind me, I set my bag on the head of the toilet. Next, I unzipped my backpack and pulled out a brown plastic bag full of my dark clothes and took off my stained shirt. Finally, I slipped the black t-shirt over my head and tucked the stained one in the plastic bag.

I swept the messy curls away from my eyes, grabbed my backpack, then left the bathroom. Just when I got back, there is a folded note lying right next to my keyboard. Reluctantly, I unfolded it and read the words in my mind.

Teacher's Pet, I read. I heard someone snickering behind me and instantly recognized it: Isabel Paris. Isabel Paris is Jerry's current girlfriend and the person who made grade school, Girl Scouts, and high school a living hell.

Remember the time when you had pain in your chest that tells you have problems? My advice, don't ignore your gut. Instead, listen to it, because it might save your life. That was the advice that my father told me.

Biting my lip, I took a pencil out of my blue pencil pouch and wrote something under the stupid comment. As soon as the bell rang for dismissal, I left the piece of paper next to the keyboard and gathered my backpack.

Everyone, except Isabel, her clique, and Mr. Jenkins of course stayed in the computer room. As  I walked over to the door, I heard a loud shriek coming from Isabel. I turned to see her holding the sheet of paper and staring hard at my insult. "GET A LIFE?!" she screamed. The dark haired Gorgons screamed along with her.

Rolling his eyes, Mr. Jenkins set his phone down and asked what was going on. Seeing my reaction, Isabel pointed her manicured finger at me. "Cleo did this!" she hissed. She showed him the note and demanded that I should go to detention. "For what?" I asked, shrugging. "I didn't write that note." She turned around and stared into my eyes.

"Yes, you did!" Isabel argued. Like her minions, she had long brown hair, blue eyes, a red shade of lipstick, white tank top, skinny jeans, and heels. I rolled my eyes at her attack. "Even if I did write that comment and the note," I began. "Exactly, why did I put Teacher's Pet above it?" Her eyes widened then flickered at Mr. Jenkins.

I walked over to Isabel and stared hard into her eyes. "And even if I have the motive to write the note," I began. "Why did I go to the bathroom instead of writing the note and leaving besides my computer? Especially, when Mr. Jenkins announced that no one is going to harass me."

"Why is that, Isabel?" Isabel and her friends bit their lips, and didn't say anything. Sighing, Mr. Jenkins shook his head, announcing that the girls will be having detention for three weeks. "What?" they moaned. I headed back over to the door and gave them a wave.

"Have fun," I chuckled, closing the door with a gentle slam. The minute I walked out of the school building, Dad was there leaning his body to a black Toyota. As usual, he wore a dark suit and a long tie, but his tired expression appeared on his face.

"Hey Cleo," he said. I hurried down the concrete steps to hug him. "Hey," I said back. "How is the case? How is Mom?" He brushed my hair gently then kissed my forehead. "The case is closed," he replied. I stopped embracing him immediately then stared at him. "The authorities caught the terrorist? Is it really over?" I questioned unsurely.

"They didn't catch the terrorist, but somehow all the explosives have stopped." He shrugged. "Until we find him, your mother and I are coming straight home to see how you and your stupid uncle are doing." "I heard that," a familiar voice grumbled. I checked to see Uncle Seth sitting in the front passenger seat, crossing his arms, like an angry toddler.

"Let's go home," Dad beamed.