Rapture

“Did they really have to put a retard in our class?” Whispered on of the girls in class. “She probably doesn’t understand any of the assignments.”

Esper has always been deemed the odd one out. Her main problem: her damned autism labeling her as a freak in school. She often had to prove herself to everyone that not every autistic person is dumb. Some are very smart and very kind.

Momma used to joke that when boys like a girl, they bully her. ‘But nice, teasing bullying’, she’d explain when Esper didn’t understand. ‘Not what you go through. They just can’t handle how smart you are.’

Esper looked away as she heard the daily off-face bullying she had to endure since she first started school and got diagnosed. “How did the freak get a higher score than me?!” one of her male bullies asked. “I’m the smartest in class!”

“Looks like you got competition,” replied one of his friends, chuckling. “How’d you fucking got lower than the retard?”

“That’s what I’m saying!!” She poked her head out of the corridor, seeing that they stopped talking when they saw her fair face. “De La Garza.”

She nodded at them and went to the grey wall to see the white paper with their test scores. 98, her score was. She smiled a bit. She looked at the boys’ score. 88 and 76. A lot lower than her.

She wasn’t one to tease people for their low score. But why was he complaining? As long as it’s not 70, they passed. “Study more,” she said. She faced him. “I can tutor you.”

He faked a smile, though his dark eyes held a lot of malice for her. “No thanks. I have to get home right after school, anyway.”

She tilted her head. “Is it because you don’t want to be tutored by a retard?” She hated that word. She didn’t mean for it to sound like an insult -she didn’t think it did- but he scowled. “Sorry.” She left as he cursed her out.

At home, Momma smiled at her as Esper hung her backpack on the hooks near the door. “Hey, mamas. How was the test?”

“Kinda hard. But I got a 98.” She smiled when her mother did.

Her sister, Kayla, chuckled and patted her shoulder. “Ms. Know-It-All. Then again, English is your best subject.” Esper chuckled as well.

She shrugged. “True. But some guy in my class said how he didn’t like that a freak got higher than him.” She sighed then smirked. “He just can’t handle my intelligence, or that a neurodivergent is smarter than a neurotypical.”

Momma smiled softly. “Maybe it was hard for him. You never know.”

She shook her head. “No. He got an 88, 10 points lower than me. He still passed. Just not as high. His friend got a 76, which is still good. Like you say, as long as it’s not 70, it’s passing.”

Esper looked out the window as Momma drove her and Kayla back home late at night. She remembered the moments that led up to the car ride home vividly.

-flashback-

Kayla was invited to a party and convinced Esper to join her. Only because their mom told her to take her big sister. Kayla gave her two rules to follow since she was joining her: 1. Don’t embarrass her while she’s with her friends, and 2. Have fun. At that Esper only gave her little sister one rule: call her or momma if something happens. But then, it turned hectic.

Esper sat at the edge of the pool, her feet in the water, dark brown eyes gazing down at the ripples. She had already spent 3 hours in and out of the pool, swimming, getting snacks, waving at Kayla, and going back into the pool. But she got out and changed out of her swimsuit and into her other clothes: a grey-blue tank top, blue jean shorts, and her curly brown hair done in a messy bun.

She made a soft purr, her stim to show that she’s calm. She soon felt someone’s foot to her back, kicking her back into the water. She surfaced to see Issac, one of her male bullies, there. He chuckled. “Hey, freak. Do you know how to swim?” She nodded.

He jumped in and held her head down into the water. She couldn’t breathe. He laughed.

“I thought you could,” she heard him say, but it sounded muffled and distant, due to her head being underwater. She struggled under his hand, seeing her vision having black spots. She soon blacked out.

When she came to, Esper saw Kayla looming over her, worry in her eyes as a girl -Kayla’s friend- yelled at Issac. “You’re alive!”

Esper sat up as Kayla hugged her. Now she knew she worried her sister to death. Kayla only ever hugs her when she’s upset or sad. “Yeah… did I embarrass you? When you saw me drowning by him?”

She pulled away, staring at her big sister in disbelief. “You drowned and you think you embarrassed me? Hell no!” She facepalmed. “God, what’s Mom gonna think of me letting you drown?”

-flashback over-

At home, Esper went to her room to shower off the chlorine from her hair. She heard Momma talk to Kayla as she entered the bathroom and frowned.

I’m sorry, Kay-Kay.