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The World as I Know It- Chapter 8
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Prose/Short Stories Chapter 8
Come Monday, I was not ready to confront James. I would never be ready I guess.
I didn’t even get a chance to start getting used to school again before I would have to face him in homeroom.
When I walked into class, it was as if everyone had just been talking about me. That uncomfortable silence and those piercing stares filled the room. I figured I was just being paranoid until the snickers began.
I did not find anything about this situation humorous. What could they possibly be laughing about? That’s when a crumpled-up note landed at my feet. I bent to pick it up, and I opened it. Scribbled across it were words like “Slut” and “Whore” in different handwriting. In the center, three rhyming sentences were written in what appeared to be James’s script:
“Isabella is an easy lay.
She likes rough play.
She likes to roll in the hay,
all night and all day.”
It was written to sound like an innocent nursery rhyme. But the words were anything but. They were filthy. And, worst of all, unbelievably false.
How could this get any worse? No one would believe the truth. James was worshipped by all. No one would believe I was the victim, he the enemy.
I decided to spend homeroom locked in a bathroom stall sprawled on the cold tile.
For my next class, biology, I walked in hesitantly hoping either these classmates had not heard the rumor or that the dust had settled.
It seemed like the hottest gossip was not me anymore. The class went on without a hitch. After, P.E. would not go as smooth. Our field was filled with dark corners that reminded me so much of that night in that claustrophobic car.
We were assigned to run two laps around the track. I had so much bottled-up anger that I was able to outrun everyone else. But I could not outrun my past.
