The greatest love

TEN

Maddie

The day of

That morning, Maddie looked in the mirror. She was very slim now, she has lost considerable weight over the past year, albeit slowly not drastically. Strangely, it did not make her feel happy at all. She used to think if she wasn’t fat, then she wouldn’t be bullied. Of course, she was still being bullied to this day. And Maddie still hated how she looked.

She recalled her conversation with “Jono112” last night. They had been chatting every day recently but neither divulged their real names and locations. Last night he said he would really be doing ‘it’ soon. His therapy was not progressing and he could never walk again, let alone play any sport ever again. His parents were divorced and his mom was too busy working two jobs to pay him any attention. He said his preferred method would be drug overdose because it was easy to get and easy to do. He had said to Maddie, “Maybe if you ever work up the courage to really do it, I will see you on the other side.”

Maddie had felt sad that their conversations were ending soon. Well of course it would, they had been discussing suicides after all. They were not going to have a real relationship. She wondered, would he do it today, or tomorrow? When is soon? How would she ever know? And if she was gone, would he or anyone online ever know?

Maddie went to school with a heavy heart. She was preoccupied with her thoughts all day and didn’t pay attention to any of her classes all day. On the last period before school ends, Mr. James called her to his desk.

“Maddie, this month you have now failed all your tests, English, Math and Science. You have either not handed in your assignments or you did very poor job in them. I have no choice but to send you to remedial classes after school every day to cover all your subjects. I have informed the principal and a letter will also be sent to your parents today. If you do not work hard, you will not be able to go to sixth grade, do you understand?”

Maddie nodded mutely. Extra lessons after school every day?? What would her parents say? And if she had to repeat fifth grade, it would be very very embarrassing.

Maddie walked back to her seat with her face burning. As she walked past Phoebe's seat, she whispered to her friends, not loud enough for the teacher to hear but loud enough for Maddie to hear. “Can you believe this loser? Remedial classes every day? For all her subjects? And she may not get into sixth grade? Such a loser! Her mom must be a loser to have two loser kids like her and her brother! Imagine having one ugly and stupid daughter and one retarded son.”

Maddie felt blind rage bursting in her heart. Without thinking she grabbed her scissors from her desk, went to Phoebe's desk, grabbed her hair and started hacking off Phoebe's hair. Phoebe screamed but Maddie would not let go. She kept cutting off her hair until one side was close to her head. She moved on to the other side and cut again while pulling Phoebe's hair roughly. She didn’t hear the teacher shouting for her to stop or Phoebe's crying and screaming or the other kids. She was in a frenzy. She said to Phoebe over and over again, “You will not insult my family! You will not insult my family!”

She felt strong hands pulling her away. She was dragged away from Phoebe by Mr. James. He said to the class, “Someone please take Phoebe to the school nurse. I will be right back.” Then Mr. James took Maddie by the hand straight to the principal's office. He knocked on the principal's door, said it was an emergency, told Maddie to sit in the chair, and then he briefed Miss Monroe on the situation. When he was finished, he said to Maddie, “Maddie, I don’t know what is wrong with you. This is not the girl that I know. I hope you got the help that you need.” Then he left the office to attend to Phoebe.

Miss Monroe shook her head a little, then said, “Maddie, that was a serious thing that you did. In this school we do not tolerate violence at all. You assaulted Phoebe. She could have been badly hurt. Her parents will be called in immediately. Your parents will also be called in. Now what do you have to say for yourself?”

Maddie did not say anything. Nothing she said could make a difference.

The principal waited for a while, then said, “Maddie, are you not going to say anything? Are you not going to explain your behaviour? I am very disappointed in you. I know as well as Mr. James that this is not the girl we have come to know for the past 5 years. You are better than this.”

When Maddie still did not say anything, Miss Monroe continued, “I have no choice but to suspend you effective now until further notice. I will call your parents to discuss this. Can you wait here, I need to check on Phoebe and call your parents.” With that, she left Maddie on her own.

Maddie did not want to wait anymore, so she left the office and walked out of the school building. No one stopped her. She saw it was almost two o'clock, pickup time, so she waited for her mom to come pick her up. She looked back at the school that she had loved so much but hated now. Miraculously, her mom did not say anything when she picked up Maddie. She must not have gotten the call yet. Well, she would know soon enough, so Maddie did not tell her.