chapter text
In the hours between the morning break and lunchtime we really didn't do much. The last person to give a speech was Bebe and I can't even remember what she said. We did a grammar test and I think I did pretty well. Then we had more math classes. It is worth noting that Eric was (understandably) absent so there were no interruptions and classes went more or less smoothly. And then it was noon.
At a lunch table I found Jenna and Garet and once again they were arguing. I had two slices of mixed pizza and a carton of apple juice in my lunch box. "That's bullshit and you know it, Garet!" I could see Jenna rolling her eyes.
"What's nonsense?" I asked.
Jenna turned to me. "Didn't you see the fight? Like how did Wendy smash Cartman's face?"
I could feel Garet's hand on my shoulder. "Dude, just tell Jenna that's bullshit. Boys are supposed to be stronger than girls, right?”
I looked at the two with a raised eyebrow. And then he laughed. "Haha what? Is that what you two are fighting about?”
"Good?" Jenna said.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, I think Garet is right?" Garet started to laugh.
"Ugh, guys." I could see Jenna rolling her eyes. "I swear you're almost as ignorant as my brother."
"Who, Felix?" I asked.
"No, Kevin," Jenna replied.
"I mean, most guys end up being stronger than girls," I mused, "that's not sexist, it's just that...I...I guess..." Jenna moaned again and her eyes swept the dining room while Garet giggled and his food almost overflowed.
The cool thing about Jenna is that she's actually one of four quadruplets. Kevin, Esther and Felix are the other three. I chuckled when I heard her say, "Hey, where's Isaac?"
I looked around. She's right, I couldn't find Isaac anywhere. "I'm not sure. He's in your class."
"I didn't see him, did you see Garet?"
"No," Garet shook his head.
Isaac never came to see us for the entire lunch hour. So I went to the bathroom on my lunch break. After that, I stepped outside to see Isaac being pushed off the carousel by none other than Craig Tucker, assisted by Clyde Donovan, Token Black, Tweek Tweak, Butters Stotch, Kenny McCormick, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovsky and Jimmy Valmer. They all laughed. When I saw that, blood rushed to my forehead. I couldn't believe those same kids would pick on my twin again, especially when I wasn't there to protect him.
"C-c-c-c-c-c-careful," Jimmy stammered, "you don't want a p-p-p-p-p-p period in your B-brain!"
At this point my heart is on fire and I am filled with anger. I can't believe they have the guts to attack Isaac like that and then brag about it. They do this all the time and I'm sick of it. I try to walk towards it, but a hand grabs my right shoulder. "Cole, come on, don't do that again."
"Jenna, get off me!" I couldn't believe I heard Jenna say that as I pushed her arm away from me.
"Cole, don't be stupid, we're in trouble again!" Garet exclaimed.
As I approached the group, I could clearly hear Isaac's scream, "Oh, shut up and kill yourself, you autistic!" Big mistake. I stopped halfway to the group. I jumped and looked around as the playground went quiet. Everyone gave Isaac a death glare and I immediately knew why. For an introvert, he was never able to properly hide his feelings. Still, I suddenly remembered what happened to the last man who insulted (or tried to insult) a truly disabled person. A kid named Jake once called Jimmy a retarded person. Jake didn't mean it and probably said it more out of frustration than trying to piss Jimmy off, but everyone was offended and hit him anyway. No, he didn't actually die, but now he hangs around the edge of the school every day for fear of being beaten up again. And now Isaac too.
"Do you think it's really cool to make fun of people with disabilities?" Token clenched his fists and cracked his knuckles.
"You're an idiot, you know that?" Craig? Calling Isaac an asshole? When he and his friends bullied us for over a year?
But that didn't matter now as Craig again pinned Isaac face up to the ground. Now it was time to take action and I did. I charged forward and immediately hit Craig in the jaw with the power of my right arm and I felt him snap a little. But when Craig went down, I kicked him once in the face with my right foot. "Fuck it all!"
But I could feel myself being pulled out. I flew backwards, twisted and landed face down in the snow. As I crawled, I felt a quick kick in my ribs and rolled to my right again. I groaned as the shock hit my ear. I saw my kicker was Clyde. As he tried to hurt me again, Mr. Mackey rang out. "YOU CHILDREN IN MY OFFICE! NOW!"
Crap.
Mister. Mackey was quite small so it was crowded at first. However, he then discovered that Stan, Kyle Tweek, Butters and Kenny were not involved in the fight and soon disposed of them. The same is not true for the rest of us. Mister. Mackey seemed a lot less understanding of Isaac's… condition. He glared at Isaac and no one else. Then Clyde, Craig, Token, Tweek and Jimmy passed me. Clyde slammed his left shoulder into my ribs, making me clutch him in pain and almost groan. "You two sit down!" I was still clutching my ribs as Isaac and I pulled up an empty chair and Mr. Mackey. "Cole and Isaac Dimmons, I can't believe you guys called Jimmy Valmer 'autistic'! Why do you think it's okay to make fun of disabled people?"
"What?" I was shocked. Why am I being thrown under the bus here?
"It wasn't Cole who told Jimmy that, it was me!" Isaac confessed immediately. "But these guys just push me! In fact, they threw me to the ground today! If my brother doesn't-"
"It's never okay to use a mental disorder as an insult young man, there's no excuse for making fun of the disabled! That's not right, do you know what it's like to be physically disadvantaged?” Lord. Then Mackey turned to me. "And Cole, if you stand up for someone who makes fun of disabled people, are you just as bad, mmkay?"
I'm fed up with Mr. Mackey. He's such an incompetent advisor. "If I didn't intervene, Isaac could be seriously injured!"
"Don't change the subject on me, young man!" Lord. Mackey stood up and tried to act like the big man in charge. However, the attempt was quite ridiculous as he was sickly skinny and had a bloated head. "My job is to make sure this campus is safe and tolerant of toxic people like you. I also can't believe you told Jimmy to kill himself. Suicide isn't cool, okay?”
I was about to continue, but I could hear Isaac's tears as he started speaking. "You are a terrible advisor! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! I hate this school! You're shit, fuck you!” Wow, I've never seen Isaac talk that much, I usually do. Then Isaac started to cry.
"No more crying!" Mister. Mackey stood up. "You'll get detention for today just for that!" I was about to say something, but Mr. Mackey quickly cut me off. "No, no, shut up or you'll get the same punishment!"
Then he grabs us by the collar, lifts us up, opens the door and throws us out. We got up easily, but not before he slammed the door. Isaac was still crying and I rubbed his shoulder. "It's not fair that I have to be punished! I don't want to be in detention today!”
"It's okay, Isaac," I sighed, "at least it's over now. Where were you during lunch?”
"Oh, I had to go to the teacher to talk to him because he got an incorrect grade on my test."
"Ah. Ok, see you at home, then we can think about it from there, ok?”
"Yes I think." Isaac then went left. I felt bad that he didn't deserve the punishment because he was a victim. Those advisors stayed behind. Either they are fundamentally bearish or they are extremely biased. I'm more inclined to think of the second because the popular kids rarely get into trouble except for Eric Cartman, but he only dates the popular kids because Stan, Kyle, and Kenny feel sorry for him.
I looked to the right and sure enough Eric Cartman and Wendy Testaburger were sitting on the bench, probably waiting to see the advisor, probably because of the bad argument this morning. Eric didn't say a word. However, Wendy said, "I still can't believe what Isaac said to Jimmy." I gritted my teeth. If she wasn't with Stan Marsh, I would yell at her too.
I went back to class and all the kids stared at me as I said Mr. Garrison. I threw a worried look back. To put it mildly, I felt quite threatened. Mister. Garrison didn't mind me entering the classroom, he was discussing quantum mechanics. I sat bored for the rest of the class. However, I've kept hearing rumors about a new boy moving into town today. Anyway, I could care less. When the school was vacated at 2:30 p.m., I got my stuff out of the locker and quickly left the school. I didn't say hello to Garet, Jenna, or anyone in the other class of 4th grade (I get along well with some of those 4th graders).
I went home with my phone and surfed the internet. However, after half an hour I looked around. My house was nowhere to be seen. hey where was i Then I suddenly realized that I was passing my house because I hadn't been paying attention to where I was going. Crap. Now it's probably a twenty minute walk for me. I groaned. Then I heard a voice behind me. "Jesus Christ, just go out and make friends like a normal kid!"
I turned. There was a boy with pink hair who just slammed the door in his face. He was wearing a green jacket and brown pants and looked about my age. There was a sign next to it saying the red house that slammed the door in the boy's face has been sold, so I'm assuming he just moved in recently. I wonder why your hair is colored like that. Pink. Not that I mind, but this kind of color struck me as odd. "Hello." The pink haired boy grinned widely and waved at me.
My eyes were wide open. I didn't think he would say hello to me. He didn't look very menacing. Just really weird, honestly like an anime prince. "Hello. New in town?”
"Yeah, I just moved in today, my dad really wants me to make lots of friends and be super popular." When the boy answered, I rolled my eyes. For some reason, every new kid wants to be with the popular kids. And as always, they find that the popular kids aren't what they claim to be, and that the new kids are all cynical. "So... do you want to be friends?"
"Of course," I nodded, "um..."
"My name is Ray," the pink haired boy finished for me. "I moved here from Nebraska."
"Cole," I replied. "So that's it, I guess."
"I've been here since this morning," Ray began, "but this place is like a ghost town for a Friday."
"Actually, it's Wednesday and we just left school." I fixed it.
"Oh. Shall we go down the street? Find some more kids to play with?”
I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure, why not?"
However, I didn't know what I would end up getting myself into.