Punching Bag

Greetings.


I could use a bag of ice for my knuckles on both hands right now, but then Bev and Dad (maybe Bentley too) would ask questions and I don't really feel like talking right now. So, I'll just type.

I like Mrs. Yates, the librarian. We get along, talk about books, and agree on most things. So much so, that now I work for her, as I am fairly sure I mentioned before, every sixth period. Well, I am not alone. Here are the cast of characters in what has become my daily hell a.k.a. sixth period:

Serena Kyle - senior, slutty ho-bag, all-around b***h, lazy, harasses me, makes me out to be the bad guy for doing my work, slacker, idiot, doesn't listen or take direction, purposefully distracts others, smack-talker.
Sarah Jones - junior, see above.
Porter "Pothead" Travers - junior, lazy, fazed, smack-talker, harasses me almost as much as Sarah and Serena, constantly zoning out, perpetually looks as if he's stoned, hence the nickname, dumb as a box of hair.
Brody Hopkins - senior, the only one I can even come close to tolerate, quiet, shy, deaf in one ear, keeps to himself, pretty smart.

Now, why am I telling you this? Well, I'm introducing these people to you so you will understand why I made Joseph hold up my backpack in front of him so I could hit it repeatedly like a punching bag after school. (By the way, I need a new backpack.)

For months - MONTHS - Sarah and Serena having been doing nothing except for the few times I do their job and they take the credit. Fine. Pothead does the same thing. Fine. I don't care. But today, I had had it. We had built displays and Mrs. Yates had told Serena, Sarah, Pothead, Brody, and I to clear displays. Guess who was the only one who did it. Brody went into the back to read after he shelved his section of books that had been returned. Pothead, Serena, and Sarah got on the front computers even though it's only Pothead's week to do circulation desk. Serena and Sarah are whispering about me and looking up picture of mostly naked guys. (These are the same girls who, last Friday, had thought it would be funny to flash me through the window of Mrs. Yates's office while I was working at the front desk. Mrs. Yates, Pothead, and Brody were elsewhere.) I am putting away four tables worth of books - I counted over 100, I swear on the life of my mother - cleaning the tables, straightening chairs, AND shelving my section of books, which just so happens to house the manga section, our library's most popular section. All of this is going on while Mrs. Yates is trying to instruct a class on the proper use of our school's databases.

Now you know the set up, here's what happened:

A student comes in to check out a book. Okay. I am shelving the displays in the 300 section of the library. Then I hear the grating whine of "HarmoneeeeeeEEEEEeeeeeee" from Serena, who always leaves off the "Margaret" even though I have reminded her scores of times. "What?" I yell back. "We need the security code!" Sarah moaned. "I don't know it!" "Go ask Mrs. Yates!" Serena orders. "It's Pothead's job, it's his week at circ desk, make him get off his lazy butt and do it! And you two aren't even supposed to be up there!" "It's none of your business! Just go get the code!" Sarah snaps. Meanwhile, the student, who is supposed to be our first priority is just staring at the scene. Three minutes passed and no one had gotten Mrs. Yates. I finally decided I had had enough and went to Mrs. Yates and asked for the code. She gave it to me, I typed it into the computer, and got the student his book. During this whole thing, Serena and Sarah were smack-talking me and being purposefully rude to the student. I told them to shut up, gave the student his book, politely instructed him to have a nice day, and went back to the fourth table of books I had been working on.

Five minutes after this little episode, Mrs. Yates finishes teaching and comes back to the circ desk to ask how things went. SERENA AND SARAH SAID THAT I NOT ONLY TOLD THEM TO SHUT UP AND GET TO WORK, BUT THAT I HAD ANTAGONIZED OUR GUEST AND DID NO WORK! PLUS, THEY LIED AND SAID THAT THEY HAD CLEANED UP TWO TABLES WORTH OF DISPLAY WHEN IN FACT THEY HAD SAT AT THE COMPUTER TRYING TO LOOK UP PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES ON BING! Pothead didn't say anything. From Mrs. Yates's tone, she sounded skeptical, but that she may believe them.

I had had it. I stormed over to the circ desk, said sternly "If you're going to lie about me, then have the courtesy not to do it while I'm in the same room!" to Serena, ran into the back bathroom, and began to cry. I had been putting up with their insults, their lewd comments, their constant prodding, their disturbing questions (They kept asking me about my sex life and if I was a virgin. It makes me uncomfortable, mostly because these are the kinds of girls that like to see you squirm and who will use any information you give them to make you feel even smaller.), and their flashing. I finally broke. Give me a break. I haven't cried at school in a while.

After I reemerged from the bathroom, Mrs. Yates came back and asked me my side. I told her and she believed me. Now here's the part that made me mad. Earlier this year, I used her email to try and help a student. The consequence? Removal of most of my privileges for the rest of the month. And last week Mrs. Yates fired a girl from one of her other classes for bad work. What do these girls and Pothead get for A) doing absolutely no work for the past three quarters, B) harassing me, C) disrespecting a patron of the library, D) misusing school property, and E) framing me for antagonizing a student when in reality I had been the only one who had helped him?

They get a small lecture - not even two minutes long - on how we all need to "work together or else we'll fall apart". WHAT THE @%%$&^@%&*^%&^@(^*^&#$%*^!%(*^@#(&%@*^%#(&^@(^@*^%@#(&#()^@*&%@(*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO! THIS IS THE KIND OF CRAP YOU GIVE LITTLE FOUR-YEAR-OLDS WHO ARE FIGHTING OVER A TOY! THIS IS NOT HOW YOU DEAL WITH DESTRUCTIVE TEENAGED LOAFERS!

I was so frustrated, to put it lightly. After school, I just broke again. I told Ernie, Todd, Claire, and Joseph what happened and I cried again. Ernie and Claire group hugged me. I don't know about Todd and Joseph. And then when I finished crying, I asked Joseph to hold my backpack up in front of him, which he did, and I beat the snot out of it. My knuckles are still red and painful. And I want to cry again. Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to Mrs. Yates. I don't know what I'm going to say yet...


Hugz
HM