The movie we were watching in chemistry lab was extremely boring, but I felt so on edge. My eyes were glued to Kayla Morrison, sitting alone at her table in front of me. I had spent the rest of the weekend wondering if I should text her to see if she was okay, but then I'd always end up rationalizing that I should give her space. Wyatt was now sitting on the other side of the room with his hands all over Kayla's friend Miranda, and her constant giggling was really annoying.
"You should go sit with her," Milo whispered.
"Maybe I should," I mumbled. I was pretty sure our substitute teacher was asleep and I could sit anywhere I wanted, but the real dilemma was whether Kayla wanted me there. She had actually glanced back at me a couple times and I had had to quickly look back at the movie so she wouldn't think I was staring at her. But I still didn't have the confidence to make that move, and I didn't want to make things worse for her.
"She looks so sad and lonely," Milo observed, resting his chin in his hand. "If you don't sit next to her, I will."
"Okay, I'm going, I'm going," I said. I started to scoot my chair back, but at that moment, Kayla stood up and walked out of the room.
*****
It usually only took me about 20 minutes to clean the display cases in the main hallway after school, but I'd already been there for an hour and I still wasn't finished. I just couldn't focus with all the thoughts I had swimming around in my head. There was Kayla, of course. She had never come back to chemistry class and she didn't show up later in world cultures either. I didn't think she'd miss that class since our presentation on Armenia was only two days away, even though there really wasn't much else to do to prepare for it. She just didn't seem like the person to ditch school, but then again, she had been through a lot lately.
But then there was my mom. She had just called to let me know she would have to stay on her business trip a few extra days. She had never been gone this long before, and she had sounded a little frantic on the phone. I thought about the way she had reacted when I told her about the window solicitor, and then I started thinking about the dart in the weight room and the pole almost falling on me at the homecoming game. I had almost dismissed those events before, but now I wondered if something was going on. I remembered what a shock it had been when my father left, and I really hoped that my mom wasn't about to disappear as well.
I was so consumed in my thoughts that I didn't notice people coming down the hallway until they were right behind me.
"Hey Frog, are you going to be a janitor for the rest of your life, or do you think you could make a living as the world's biggest loser?"
I turned around to face Wyatt and two guys from the football team. "I don't know, Wyatt," I replied casually. "The competition for world's biggest loser might be pretty tough, especially with you in the running."
Wyatt sneered. "Very funny. But we'll see who's laughing once I'm finished with you."
I should have been scared. But oddly enough, I felt really calm. "Well, it's good you brought your friends, because one on one didn't go very well for you the other night."
"Please, you got lucky," Wyatt scoffed. "You wouldn't have stood a chance against me if my hands weren't… occupied."
That's when I snapped. I could tolerate a lot of things, but gloating about sexual assault wasn't one of them. I rushed at him and managed to punch him in the chin before the other two guys got a hold of me. I strained against them as they wrestled me into the display case, and I must have had a lot of adrenaline because it took them a while to get me in there. Finally, they shut the door and put a bar through the handles, locking me in the enclosed space. Wyatt smiled menacingly as he pulled out his phone and took a picture of me, then they all laughed and ran off.