✅ A Dose of Humiliation

6. Public Humiliation

This chapter is dedicated to Ddude, who is probably my biggest fan right now (at least as far as monetary support is concerned). Everybody say thank you to Ddude, and I hope you enjoy this part.

...later that week...

"... most egregious act of violence. Todd is going to be a star, his smile will be famous once he goes pro. Who would look twice at a professional sportsman who's been left in this state by bullying?"

Todd's father, Mr Becker, was making an impassioned speech to the school's Bullying Resolution Committee. He was asking that I be expelled, as well as having to pay for the kid's cosmetic dentistry. I didn't think it was at all likely. Todd was sitting there grinning smugly; an expression somewhat diminished by the fact that all four of his front teeth were missing.

Then it was my turn. I stood up and explained what had happened. When Mr Becker challenged me or called me a liar, I activated StreamShow on my phone, and put my recording of the incident up on the big projection screen at the end of the classroom. I explained and then proved that I had told Todd it was a bad idea to attempt the mythical midair double spin flip thing. I'd told him that only legendary skateboarders on viral videos could do it, and that he shouldn't even attempt it because he was bound to get hurt. I had been right.

"This is a crime of violence!" Andy Becker growled. "It makes no difference whether it's fists or words. The fact remains that she pressured Todd to attempt this foolish trick, with the terrible results you have seen today."

"I told him not to," I added, before tapping on my phone again. This time the video on the screen was of this meeting room, where another Bullying Resolution Committee meeting was taking place. A clip taken from the school's own online archives. One of the teachers looked up quizzically, but I just pointed at the screen where a pillar of the community was making my point for me.

"Kids get hurt sometimes," the figure of Andy Becker was practically yelling on the screen, leaning right in the face of the victim in this case. "He went to a skate park. With a skateboard he doesn't know how to use properly, because he wants to imitate the popular kids who have actual skills. And he got hurt, needed a couple of stitches. But you all know that's not the fault of the other kids at that park. Accidents happen, especially when you're careless. And we all know that the only person to blame is the one who didn't know his own limitations. If you heard that popular kids are jumping off a bridge, would you try it too? No! If a newcomer to any activity is injured, that is on him. He should have known his own limitations, and he shouldn't expect anyone to help him out unless he's paying for the privilege. The fact that this child injured himself is purely because he wasn't smart enough to recognise the danger. And the responsibility should fall on his parents as well, for not teaching him to know his limits. People like that expect everyone else to make up for their failure at parenting. But they're not on trial here, are they? So let me finish by making it clear that injuries like this, from a child who is too dumb to know his limits, can only ever be the fault of the kid who didn't know his place, and the ones who raised him that way."

I cut the video. It was only a few weeks old; most of the same teachers were here. And somehow they had agreed that it was a persuasive point; that Clint Walsh should have understood his skateboarding inexperience, and so been smart enough not to stand in a public park that also contained Todd Becker's fists.

"I think that Mr Becker makes a very good point. We have been told for years that Todd Becker is a skateboarding genius, and an expert in what is or is not possible. Therefore he should know what tricks he is capable of performing safely a lot better than a girl who, by her own admission, has no exposure to the activity beyond a couple of viral videos on Clattr. It's possible that he could have been overconfident, casting shame on himself and on the people who raised him. Or maybe he is fully capable of performing the manoeuvre, and this was just a tragic accident; a stray breeze at the wrong moment causing him to land wrong, or somesuch."

"This is not..." Becker growled, and then stopped. He had argued himself only a few weeks earlier that people on the skate park had personal responsibility for not doing anything that was too dangerous for them. That was in direct conflict with his claim that his son had done something stupid just because I told him it was dangerous, and it should therefore be my fault.

"We are agreed, then?" the principal said, and looked around at an approximate group of nervous nods. "Todd Becker is responsible for his own injuries. Lorna Peen is blameless, and no report needs to be sent to her family."

When we filed out of the room, I could see that Mr Becker was fuming. If this was a cartoon there would have been little jets of steam coming out of his ears. I hadn't actually met him before, but the video I'd looked at previously summed him up very well. Pompous, self-righteous, and convinced that the whole world existed to serve him.

"Very clever, Peen," he hissed. "But don't think you've won. One slip up, one mistake, and you can rest assured you will regret ever crossing me. I'm watching you now, mongrel. Don't forget it."

I knew he was angry, but I didn't care. He wasn't a cop, because he was the kind who would have worn the badge at all times. He wasn't a teacher, either, because I knew all their faces. So this angry old man would never be in a position of power over me. Andy Becker could stew in his misery all he wanted, and I might never even see him again.