The World Beyond Me

Chapter Five: Hey! Give it back!

  “Have you been living under a rock your whole life?! Like, how can you not know what recess is!?” Mabelle practically shouted. I responded with, “No, I’ve been living under a roof my entire life.” Mabelle giggled and told me that I was funny but she was being sarcastic. I was once again confused because I didn’t remember saying anything funny or knowing what sarcasm was. Mabelle continued talking and as she did that I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. It was a bracelet on Mabelle’s left wrist. It was an odd bracelet with twisted garnishments hanging from it. It was pretty fascinating so I asked Mabelle later if I could have a closer look. She hesitated but agreed if she could hold my necklace. At first, I didn’t want to, but thought it was only fair since she’d trusted me with her bracelet. I gave her a please be careful with it look then agreed. I noticed her giving me the same look as her and I temporarily switched to jewelry. I admired her bracelet for a few minutes while she did the same with my necklace, then asked if we could trade it back. Fortunately, she agreed and gave me my necklace back. Just as I was about to hand back her bracelet, a meaty hand swiftly snatched both Mabelle’s bracelet and my necklace! As I lifted my gaze to see who dared to steal my necklace along with Mabelle’s bracelet, I saw a boy who was 3 ft taller than me. As he glared down at me menacingly, I 

I also noticed two other boys standing behind him, both of whom looked to be around my age. One was scrawny and the other was pretty harmless looking. The scrawny one spoke up and said, 

“ My, my, what do we have here? Two very pretty accessories that are probably worth a lot. Hmmm, I wonder what people would trade to get their hands on either one of these.”

 in a rather taunting voice. 

“Guess we’ll have to find out, won’t we?” 

He said as he chuckled to himself. The larger boy nodded in approval. The third boy, however, said, 

“Common guys, leave her alone, she’s new around here. At least spare the new girl.” 

Both boys turned towards him and said, 

“Shut up! Nobody asked you!” 

Synchronizing their voices, making them sound ten times more terrifying than before. I tried to stand tall and make myself look braver than I felt. I had to get my necklace back. It had been the last gift from my father and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing it, especially to those jerks. Of course, initially, I tried speaking to them calmly and reasonably. 

“Uhmm, e-excuse me t-t-that's my necklace, and t-the bracelets my friends, not yours! So would you mind please giving them back?”

Stunned by my own boldness, I glanced at Mabelle, who was also shocked. The boy, however, barked a long baleful laugh while the other boy mimicked what I had just said with the worst impression I had ever heard, then both of them laughed so hard as though it were the funniest thing they’d ever heard. Finally catching his breath, the taller boy said, 

“ Listen, newbie, I don't know who you are or who you think you are, but next time I advise you to think twice before you decide to mess with me. I once beat a black belt in karate. Beating you will be a piece of cake.” 

He said in a rather hostile voice, then he proceeded to flex his nonexistent muscles, grinning. 

“Don’t listen to him, he’s just bluffing”, 

the third kid whispered so faintly that the other two didn’t seem to notice. 

“Look, I don’t want to fight you. Could you just give us back our stuff, please?” 

The tall kid smiled evilly and said, 

“How about a no?” 

and took a menacing step towards me. I didn’t like the idea of him being close to me, so I took a staggering step back, meeting his cold, hard, mean gaze. 

“What are you gonna do? Cry?” 

He said in a taunting, disdainful tone. I felt furious! My entire body surged with rage, suddenly, without thinking, my instincts took over. I punched the first bully in the nose, then kicked him in his spleen as hard as I could, causing him to lose his balance and fall over groaning in pain, dropping both the necklace and bracelet. While the first boy was down, the second lunged himself towards me at full speed. I easily dodged him, causing him to run into the brick wall which I had been standing in front of milliseconds before. I swiftly grabbed both my necklace and Mabelle’s bracelet and bolted toward the field. I ran and ran and ran, at a persistent pace, making sure I stayed on school property. Until I tampered along a path that led to the largest tree on the school field, I stopped there to catch my breath. As soon as I stopped running and had caught my breath, I tried to analyze what had just happened. Okay. I thought to myself. Pros: I got my necklace back. Cons: I just fought two boys. The third, however, didn’t fight. In fact, he almost seemed impressed. No. That can’t be right. So now I have two new enemies and now I’m probably gonna be expelled! Oh My Gosh!!! What have I done?!

“What have you done?” A voice echoed my thoughts…