10 Years ago.
The bell rang for break. I nearly cried.
Everyone else snatched their lunches and fled like the classroom was on fire. I loitered behind until the last kid left. I slowly took up my lunch box and walked to my teacher's desk. Miss Williams picked up her jingly set of keys and rose from her seat, peering down at me like I was a stray.
"Miss Williams." I tried to speak louder. "Is it okay if I can sit inside and have break here, please?"
Ignoring the desperation in my plea. She shook her head, taking her salad bowl. "I'm on break duty. Besides you know the rule. No one's allowed in class during break."
A dumb rule.
I dragged myself out of the classroom. Kenji was absent. He was sick with the flu. Other than him, he's my only friend. No one else wanted to be. And I was happy with that. I only needed Kenji. But it made days like these unbearable.
I headed out of the main building. I avoided the playground like the plague. Instead, I went to the open field where most of the girls picnic at and sometimes where the boys play soccer. I make way to the very end of the glistening green stretch. I plopped down, unboxing my lunch. I took out the one half of the chicken mayo sandwiches, enjoying my peace until it lasted. Because it never lasted long.
A clamor of monkey hollering swelled behind me. Dread twisted my gut. I didn't even have to look. I shoved the remainder of my sandwich into the box, zipping it back up. I scrambled up and ran as fast as my log-shaped legs could take me.
It only riled them up more, and they chased after me like a pack of hyenas. A hand seized my shoulder and yanked me around which brought me to a harrowing halt. They started crowding around me, circling me threateningly.
"Bad girl," the second tallest taunted. "You shouldn't run when called."
"Not that it would get far," another cackled.
I kept my head bowed; my eyes bolted to the ground. Hot tears burning to come out.
He elbowed him. "I think it needs some food. It's looking a lil tired."
One of them snatched my lunchbox from my hands.
"Let's see." He unzipped it aggressively, then howled a laugh. "Four sandwiches? No wonder you're this huge."
The buzz-cut boy pounded his fists on his chest. "King Kong gotta eat."
"Not this much." He turned it upside down, pouring my food onto the ground.
Tears flooded my face, but I didn't say a word. I couldn't.
Vanko lowered himself to look up into my eyes scornfully. "Look what you did. You made it cry." He whacked one of their shoulders. "Don't worry, we got you your favorite."
A blonde boy whipped out a banana and waved it in front of my face like I was a dog and he was holding a bone. Vanko moved away, slinking behind me which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention.
"You want it?" he asked in a babying tone. Unpeeling it from its head. "Huh, wanna bite?"
I didn't move. Starving them of my reaction worked the best to get them to tire of me.
He dropped the banana on the ground. "There you go. Eat."
I didn't move.
A brute force knocked me down, sending me to the ground on all fours.
They erupted into another round of guffaws. The tears wouldn't stop. A scream clawed up my throat and I almost suffocated on it.
A hand grabbed a bunch of my curly locks. My hands flew up to grip his wrist.
"When we say something. You do it."
He pushed my head down and pressed my face into the grass; the banana squashed against my cheek. He relinquished his hold and got up laughing. Their callous laughs faded with the growing distance. Even though they were gone, I just laid there with mashed banana smeared across my cheek and my face in the dirt. Too scared to let up, terrified if they would ambush me again if I stood up and showed a speck of defiance.
So I just laid there. I didn't get up until the bell rang again.