Don't piss off that quiet, small, human reading her book. Small doesn't mean meek. -- Anon Guest
Sooner or later, civilisations learn the reason behind the saying, Watch out for the little guy. Some unfortunates insist on learning it again and again. Such as the two schoolyard bullies observing the local nerd in the library.
Neither of them could pin down exactly how or why the nerd became the school's favourite target. "Being weird" was generally excuse enough.
There was currently no adult supervision, thanks to "Drongo" blakely kicking up enough of a distraction that they could get on with things. Like making the weirdo cry. That was always so much fun.
Never mind that none of them could remember the last time they'd been able to do it.
Dave slammed her little fingers in the book as Wayne smacked the back of her head. He leaned right up to her ear and yelled, "Why! Can't! You! Be! Nor-maaaallll?"
Dave leaned on the book so she had a hard time wriggling free. "Does it hurt? You gunna cry?"
The weirdo sighed and looked up to the ceiling very briefly, then looked straight ahead as if Wayne and Dave weren't there. "I don't need--"
"You're an idiot," said Wayne, smacking her again. "Why are you always in here playing with stupid books? You're stupid."
"If you say so," said the weirdo with a deadpan voice. She got her hand free.
Dave tried to steal the book, but it was too big and thick. He settled for tearing one of the blank pages out of it and crowing, "You're i-in trou-ble! You're i-in trou-ble!"
Another look upwards. "No."
Warren smacked her again. "Do something, damnit."
"Okay."
She stood up. Both Dave and Warren jumped away, but briefly. The weirdo didn't raise her fists or even look like she was going to try and fight. She just picked up the book.
Almost effortlessly.
Dave got closer. "You gunna dob us in? Ooooh, I'm sca-ared." He faked a punch near her head.
She didn't flinch. "No," said the weirdo, and smacked him with the book.
Wayne couldn't remember what happened next, but he woke up in an ambulance with handcuffs on. There was a policeman nearby and his whole face hurt.
"You're under three counts of assault and abuse, young man," said the officer. "You're lucky your victim only broke your nose."
Warren couldn't breathe through his nose. His voice sounded weird. Punchable. "Where'th Dave?""
"In another ambulance, also under arrest."
Warren frowned. "She hit me wif a book. She sh'd be un'ner arretht."
"You and your little friend hit her first. She's got self defence on her side."
"You dunno that?" he managed.
"Kid," sighed the officer, "The library has security cameras in it. Your attack on Janie has been taken into evidence. Your parents will be meeting with myself, Officer Daniel, and your principal at the hospital. After that, there's going to be a thorough investigation into the extant complaints against you."
Oh. Oh shit.
When she was looking up?
She was looking at the cameras.
He was in big trouble now.
[Photo by Jamie Taylor on Unsplash]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends! Or visit my hub site to see what else I'm up to.
Send me a prompt [15 remaining prompts!]