The Jerk

The Tormentor

IT DIDN’T TAKE THEM LONG TO FIND A REPLACEMENT.

The Tormentor walked the hallways as if he already owned them, he’d just moved into this school three days ago and was already picking up where the Jerk had left off. The Tormentor had already begun to wear the usual attire, the tight white shirt and ripped faded jeans. His chin, too, was pointed to the ceiling. It felt like déjà vu already.

The Jerk had moved schools, his parents deciding that they wanted their son to grow up in the country side, but I knew it was more than that and I wasn’t meaning what I had told him a few weeks ago. No, it wasn’t that. It turns out that his parents had been fighting over the course of the last couple of months and had decided to split. The Jerk was going to live with his father, the one that buys him everything he wants.

“Declan!” A few girls shouted, rushing over to his side. Just like the Jerk, I thought, he was considered the hottest guy in the school, even though his heart was as cold as the ice that shaded my mom’s windshield in the winter. “Come sit beside me, won’t you?”

The Tormentor, pushed past them and began crashing knuckles with a few of the other guys, fist bumping them so much like the Jerk had. I knew, as his green eyes swept over his audience, that he was going to be dealt the same lesson and it would be done much sooner than I had with the Jerk. This time I was going to nip it in the bud, before it could bloom into something much worse.

His eyes glowed as he watched a pale girl, her blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail, who had sat down at the end of the long table. Her friends, I knew, were all at dance practice and she wasn’t able to attend, not with her seizures.

We’d been close once but had moved apart, she didn’t want to hang around with me and I understood that, I let her go. But when she was diagnosed with both diabetes and epilepsy, she knew that her dancing must come to an end, since the quick flickering of the lights on the stage would send her into a seizure in a few moments.

I knew, from the way his eyes focused on her straight back, that she was next. The Tormentor made his way over to her, leaving the mob behind him, watching him with smirks as he made his move.

“So, you’re the druggie?” The Tormentor said, snatching her sandwich from her hands from over her shoulder. He scowled down at her, a snarl playing on his lips. “You’re the freak everyone talks about?”

I stood up and the Tormentor heard my chair scrape against the cafeteria floor. It amazed me that most of the bullying occurred during lunch, either in the cafeteria or the hallways. His eyes registered my face for a fleeting moment and carried on, even when I shot him a warning glare.

“So, got any cocaine on you, freak, since you’re so addicted to that stuff?” The Tormentor said snidely, pushing his large hand into her shoulder blade, shoving her forward into the table. She winced and a growl escaped my lips.

He was going to cop it so bad if he called her…..

“You’re a freak, druggie, you shouldn’t be here, you should be living in that cardboard box you call a home.”

....a freak one more time. That’s it!

I stormed over and shoved at the Tormentor’s shoulder, making him stumble backwards just a little. I took a step towards him and he held up his hands, laughing.

“Leave her the heck alone,” I snarled. He took another step backwards, his green eyes glowing with what I read as anticipation. The Tormentor watched me for a few moments and I crossed my arms over my chest. “Go stick it where it’s wanted.”