High School Bully (Part 1)

As I was walking through the city, I noticed that the shoelaces of my right sneaker were untied. Sighing in relief, thinking of what could have happened if I accidentally had stepped on them, I kneeled, placing Daniel carefully on the ground.

“It’ll just take a second.”, I said. “I just need to tie my shoelace.”

As I leaned my head down, though, my glasses accidentally fell from my face, landing on a young woman passing by, knocking her down. Gasping, I quickly picked up my glasses, putting them on, and then looked back down at the girl. She was already getting back on her feet, dusting her clothes with her hands. She was wearing a very fashion summer dress, along with a pair of platform sandals. She also seemed to be quite taller than the people around, although she still looked very Latina.

“I’m really, really sorry!”, I said, horribly embarrassed.

“Ugh…”, she said, looking at me now. “Watch it! Those stupid glasses almost killed me!”

There was something very familiar about her face and her voice, and it only took me a couple of seconds to realize what it was.

“F…Fernanda?”, I asked her. “Are you Fernanda Cardozo?”

“Yes…?”, she stared up at me, dumbfounded. “How do you know my name?”

“Oh, my God! It really is you!”, I said, excited. “I’m Lena! Lena Wolf, remember?”

“Not really, no.”

“Come on! We went to high school together.”, I continued. “You studied in Canada, right?”

“Yes, I did, but…I don’t remember you.”

“Oh…”, I said, a little hurt. “Well, it makes sense. The school was full of Canadians. You were one of the few foreign students. You come from Chile, right?”

“I do, yes. But who are you? I can’t remember. Although those nerdy glasses do sound familiar”

As soon as she mentioned my glasses, I started to blush. I was talking to one of the most popular girls back in school, and I was wearing the most informal and lazy clothes in my entire wardrobe! A gray sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and white sneakers weren’t exactly the most fashion thing to wear. Not to mention that I was wearing absolutely no makeup and my hair was tied down in a scruffy bun. I was giving an awful first impression, for sure.

Daniel, meanwhile, was watching the both of us chatting, and was obviously curious about this new girl. However, he didn’t say anything.

“Oh! Remember those two girls who were always with you?”

“Yeah…why? You were one of them?”

“Oh, no, no. They…umm…”, I looked at the ground, embarrassed. “They…err…kind of…used to shove my head into the toilet, make me trip into the mud, etc. You know, that kind of stuff.”

“My, my! They did?”, she said, acting surprised. “Well, but it wasn’t me, then.”

“No, of course not. But you kind of told them to. And you actually stole and hid my glasses every time you could. That wasn’t them.”

“I see. Well, that happened a long while ago.”, she said, defensively. “It was high school! You don’t still hold a grudge against me, do you?”

“No, no, not at all!”, I said, now feeling like a whiny kid. “I just thought it’d help you remember me.”

“I see. Well, I’m sorry, but the name Lena doesn’t ring any bells.”

“You even gave me a nickname. It was Lena…”

“Lena the hyena!”, she said, proudly, as if happy that she remembered. “I remember now!”

Hearing the nickname, Daniel took a step towards Fernanda, staring up at her. He came just a little above her hips.

“That sounds like an awful nickname.”, he said with a serious voice.

“Excuse me?”, she said, hands on hips. “Who are you?”

“I’m Lena’s boyfriend, Daniel.”, he said, crossing his arms.

“I see. So Lena the hyena got a boyfriend. Who would have thought…?”

“Stop calling her that!”, he said, angrily.

“Hey, calm down, little guy. It was just a stupid nickname. Plus, do you know how hard it was to find a word that rhymed with Lena?”, she said, as if showing off her accomplishment. “And English isn’t even my first language.”

“I don’t care. Stop calling her that.”

“Oh, or what?”, she said, taunting him.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I swiftly lowered my open hand, creating a wall between them. I was carefully enough not to hit any of them, but the impact of my hand against the ground knocked them both off their feet.

“Enough!”, I said, nervously. “Please stop arguing. I’m not mad at her, Daniel. It was a long while ago.”

They both stood up. Daniel didn’t seem very happy, although Fernanda was already grinning.

“Thanks, Lena.”, she said, smiling up at me. “So, why are you dressed like that? Were you jogging or something?”

“What? No, no, I was just…you know…taking a walk.”

“Dressed like that?”, she said, snorting. “I remember you never had a great sense of fashion, so I guess it makes sense. Especially those glasses!”

“I…I…”, I didn’t know what to say. “S…so what are you doing in Mexico?”

“Touristing”, she said, picking up her summer hat and sunglasses from the floor and putting them on. “I was actually heading towards the Museo de Antropología”

“I see.”, I said, a little offended that she didn’t ask why I was in Mexico. “I could take you there, if you want.”

“Thanks, but I rented a car, and I can’t just leave it behind”

“Then I’ll carry it too.”

“I don’t think so.”, she said, shaking her head. “I can see you’re still a big klutz, and I don’t want you denting the car. Especially since it’s not even mine.”

“I’ll be careful, really!”, I said, now sounding like a little girl begging for approval.

“I said no.”, she said, and I immediately stopped talking. “Just take me to the car.”

Feeling like a scolded child, I placed my open palm next to her, waiting for her to climb on, and then carefully lifted her off the ground. I did the same with Daniel. Unfortunately, with all the chit chat and arguments, I had completely forgotten to actually tie my shoelace. So, of course, after just a few steps, I tripped.

Not wanting to drop them, I avoided using my hands to soften my fall, and landed with a thud on my belly. Miraculously, I didn’t land on anyone or anything. However, my lying body was now blocking a few roads, both for pedestrians and cars.

That said, blocking a few roads was the least of my problems. The impact of my fall had caused me to drop both Daniel and Fernanda, causing them to roll a few meters on the ground before stopping. And as if that wasn’t enough, my glasses flew off my face again, hitting a young couple walking by and knocking them down.

I felt like the clumsiest and stupidest girl in the whole world. Even though I couldn’t see my face, I bet it was as red as a tomato. I was as embarrassed as can be. I didn’t even know where to start in order to fix it.

“I’m so, so sorry!”, I said, quickly putting my glasses back on and then helping Daniel, Fernanda and the young couple to get back on their feet. The couple said something in Spanish and left. However, Fernanda didn’t seem very happy.

“We’re OK, Lena”, Daniel said, reassuringly.

“You imbecile!”, Fernanda shouted, furiously. “I scratched my knee!”

“I’m extremely sorry!”, I said, my hands shaking. “It was an accident. You see, I stepped on my shoelace and then…”

“Just shut up!”, she kept shouting. “I’m so not getting back into that paw of yours!”

“Sorry…”, I said, a couple of tears on the verge of escaping from my eyes, but I managed to hold them in.

“Hey, it was an accident.”, Daniel said. “Plus, that’s just a tiny scratch. Don’t be such a baby about it.”

“Whatever. My car is here, anyway.”, she said, walking into a parking lot nearby.

Before I could even stand up, I started hearing car horns being blown at me, while some pedestrians yelled up at me, angrily, mostly in Spanish. I immediately looked at my sides, finding two clear areas where I could place my hands. Pushing against the ground with my palms, I pushed my body up, getting back on my feet. I then tied my shoelaces tightly and gently picked Daniel up, just as Fernanda’s car stopped by my feet.

“Hey, klutz!”, she shouted up. “I have a task for you. You know, to make up for all this mess.”

“Anything!”, I said. Daniel didn’t seem very happy with my answer, but I didn’t really care.

“I honestly don’t feel like driving for a long while, so I want you to move those other cars aside.”

“What?”, I said, not expecting that kind of request. “But…that’d be wrong.”

“Hey, I’m not asking you to toss them aside. I just want you to lift them up while I pass. You’ll delay each car 1 minute, tops.”

“V…very well…”, I said, sighing, and placing Daniel down.

“Don’t you dare do that, Lena!”, he said.

“But she has a point. I won’t delay them much.”

“That’s not the point! You can’t just lift their cars!”

“I’ll be super careful.”

“Lena, I mean it!”

I felt awful. I really didn’t want to fight with him, but after all I had done to her, I felt like it was the right thing to do, even if I didn’t like it. So without even answering to him, I reached down, very carefully wrapping my fingers around a car as good as I could. The people inside the car screamed, startled, as my palm blocked their windows.

Daniel, meanwhile, ran towards my hand, grabbing my thumb with both hands and pulling at it with all his might. I found it rather cute that he tried to fight me in a test of strength, but I also felt sorry. If he was doing that, he clearly was really pissed. Plus, he also seemed very frustrated about the fact that he was no match for my thumb. I hated to see him like that. But with Fernanda there, I wasn’t being myself.

“Sorry…”, I said, sadly, and lifted the car off the road.

As I held the car above the street, I noticed Daniel hanging for dear life from my thumb. However, I was already holding a second car with my other hand, so I couldn’t help him. I did hurry, though, and I put the car back down on the street as soon as Fernanda’s car had passed. I didn’t want him to do that again, so before I continued lifting cars, I snatched Daniel into my hand.

“Sorry, but it’s too risky having you trying to stop me. It’s dangerous!”

“Lena, don’t you dare…”

But before he could finish, I shoved him inside my sock. At first, I had considered keeping him in my pocket, but he could try to climb out, and it’d be just as dangerous. Inside my sock, even if he managed to get out, he’d be close to ground level, anyway.

That done, I kept lifting cars out of the way, doing my best to avoid denting them. The tiny people kept insulting me and even tossing stuff at me. They had the right to do so, but I just couldn’t stop. Fernanda had a way to manipulate me that I couldn’t fight. Fortunately, the traffic jam wasn’t so bad, and in just a few minutes, we were already at the museum.

Just as Fernanda parked her car, I felt a tiny tickling. Daniel! I looked down, seeing him struggling against my sock. Poor thing. Held tightly between my ankle and sock. I couldn’t help but find the tiny bulge in my sock kind of hilarious, but I still lost no time and took him out of there.

“Sorry. Are you OK?”, I asked, already knowing the answer.

“What the Hell was that?!”, he said, still catching his breath.

“I’m super sorry. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“You’re in big trouble!”, he said, angrily.

Before we could continue arguing, though, Fernanda called me from the ground. I crouched and looked down at her.

“Lena, I need another favor.”

“Not again…”, Daniel said, exasperated.

“What is it?”, I asked her.

“See that line to buy tickets? It’s huge!”, she said.

“No, no, no…”, Daniel said, arms crossed.

“Shut up, shorty.”, Fernanda said, looking down at him. “Anyway, Lena, I don’t have time for this. I’m a busy woman. That’s why I need you to clear that line for me.”

“Clear it?”, I asked, not wanting to know the answer.

“Just make enough room for me to get into the museum.”

“But they were here first.”, I said. “And they’ve been waiting in the line, who knows for how long.”

“Look, Lena, dear.”, she said, as if schooling me. “It’s the same thing as with the car jam, really. They’ll just be one more person behind, that’s all.”

“I guess you’re right…”, I said. “But can’t we at least ask them first?”

“Ugh…fine.”, Fernanda said, annoyed. “Ask away…”

I knew it wasn’t going to work, but I didn’t want to do it the hard way without at least trying the easy one. So I walked towards the people waiting in line and crouched, resting my hands on my knees. I then cleared my throat and tried my best to explain the situation to the tiny people by my feet. Of course, most of them didn’t even understand English, and the few ones who did obviously refused to do as I asked.

Sighing, a little disappointed, I got down on my knees, causing a few tinies to stumble. I then reached down slowly towards the ones at the end of the line. As carefully as I could, I started pushing aside one tiny at the time, using my index finger. They tried in vain to hold their ground, but even my finger was too strong for them. I had already pushed 3 tinies out of the line when I felt a tug on my pants. Looking down, I noticed that Fernanda was the one doing it.

“Lena, at this pace, you’re gonna finish tomorrow!”, she said, annoyed.

“Sorry, Fer…”, I said, seeing the 3 tinies already back in the line.

“Just hurry, OK?”, she said, hands on hips.

“Alright.”, I said, looking down at the tiny line again. “I’m so sorry…”

This time, I used my palms to brush handfuls of tinies aside with each wrist movement. Even joining forces, they were no match for my hand, as I easily got them out of the line. I could hear protests being shouted at me the whole time, but I just kept going. I truly felt awful, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Come on, Lena! Hurry!”, Fernanda yelled, tapping her foot.

Seeing that there were not many people left in the line, I used my whole arm to sweep them aside. I could feel the poor tinies do their best to push back at my arm, but they were helplessly bulldozed by it. I was finally done, and almost half of the tinies were lying down, obviously knocked by my hand and arm.

“Finally!”, she said, walking straight towards the museum and getting in.