Hard To Believe

Ellie Hughes finished the last of her iced-tea, pushed her lunch tray away and resettled her book closer to the edge of the table. She fixed her glasses, then folded her hands in place to keep the book open, one fist on top of the other, as she rested her chin on top and kept reading. If she got this book finished by the end of the day then she would be on track to break her own personal record of one book a week. There were only three more weeks to the end of the year and she was determined to make it to sixty books.

Mrs Williams at the school library said she might have to read some smaller books to make it, but that felt like cheating to Ellie. She wrote down her list of books at the start of the year, like she did every year, and was working her way through it alphabetically.

Her focus was broken by a clatter of noise across the lunch room and she lifted her eyes to look but when a crowd of kids gathered near the door all chanting and shouting she sat up. She looked around the room for the teacher or lunch supervisor but no adults seemed to be here. She checked the kitchen through the serving window but all the staff there were busy cleaning and didn’t seem to notice the commotion.

Ellie pushed up from the bench with two hands on the table, eager to find a teacher to stop the fight before someone got hurt but when she lifted one leg over to the other side to climb out a hand on her shoulder pushed her back down.

“Don’t bother, nerd!”

Ellie looked over to see Marcus Wright walk by. He had the usual smirk on his face as he walked across the cafeteria and barged his way through the crowd of yelling kids. A few seconds later the yelling died down and Ellie could see Marcus grab someone by the collar and pull them through the double doors into the hallway. She sat down and glanced at her book but the mood in the room was charged as kids moved back to their tables, excited chatter and swift reenactments dominating everyone’s attention.

She glanced at her page number then closed her book and picked up her tray. She quickly climbed out of her bench before anyone noticed her and carried her tray over to the clean up station. She always sat in the far back corner, her back to the wall with an easy view of the rest of the room so people couldn’t sneak up on her. Marcus somehow always found a way which annoyed her but he had been in her class since kindergarten and there was no getting away from him. She hoped when they went to junior high next year he would find someone else to annoy.

With a quick glance around the room she stowed her empty tray on the shelf and tucked her book under her arm then quickly made her escape towards the door. There was still another fifteen minutes to go before the bell rang and she knew she’d be able to find a quiet corner in the library to keep reading. Most kids in this school didn’t know where the library was, she said to herself and held back her eye roll.

Eyerolls drew attention, and the last thing Ellie wanted in the lunch room was anyone’s attention. Hell, the last thing she wanted anywhere was attention. If she had her way she’d be invisible.

She was so caught up in making her escape that she didn’t notice Gracie Clark step away from her cluster of friends near the door. Nor did she see the slight backwards slide of Gracie’s foot until her toe caught on Gracie’s heel, but by then it was too late.

Ellie stumbled forward and tried to catch herself with her other foot. She tried to brace herself with her hands but the slippy floor offered no grip and she landed face first. As the kids around them broke out into uproarious laughter, her glasses and book clattered across the linoleum Ellie dropped her forehead to the floor with a moan.

“Oh my gosh, Ellie!” Gracie said loud enough for everyone to hear. “You’re so clumsy!”

Gracie reached down and squeezed Ellie’s shoulder, as if to help her up, but the squeeze was tight, with her nails pressing in through the sweater Ellie was wearing and the small cluster of hair she caught there pinched sharply.

But Ellie didn’t say anything. If she responded it would only give fuel to whatever torture Gracie was trying to dish out. Ellie stood up, brushed down the front of her baggy jeans and glanced at Gracie as the other kids continued to laugh and jeer. She stepped forward and picked up her book and glasses and felt Gracie’s boot against her ass then all of a sudden she was on the floor again.

The riotous laughter picked up even louder this time, and Ellie felt tears sting her eyes, but there was no way she would show any sort of weakness in front of this crowd. That would basically be the end of any kind of peace she had found in this school.

“Why do you keep falling over, Ellie?” Gracie sneered but before she could reach down and help her up, Ellie scrambled to her feet, grabbed her stuff and hurried out of the room.

Her knees ached and her palms were sore from where she landed both times and her eyes stung with fresh tears. She kept her arms folded across her chest, her book held up like a shield, her glasses in one closed fist, as she moved through the school corridors to the small library, but as she turned a corner into a corridor lined with lockers she ran right into Marcus who seemed to be waiting for her.

“Why don’t you wear your glasses, nerd?” he said like she was something he scraped off his boot.

“Sorry,” she muttered and tried to move around him, but he put a hand on her arm and stopped her from going forward.

“You’re practically blind without these!” he joked and snatched her glasses out of her hand. He unfolded them and put them on his face, then made a show of walking around with both hands in front of himself as if he was blind. “Jesus! How do you even function?”

“Give ’em back!” Ellie said as she tightened her arms around her book against her chest. “C’mon Marcus, give ’em back!”

“You should have a white cane, and a service dog!”

“Marcus,” she pleaded again and hated the way her voice cracked as the emotion started to curdle in her chest in an overwhelming wave that threatened to wash over her. “Give ’em back!”

“Marcus White,” a loud booming voice said from behind Ellie, and she turned to look but without her glasses she couldn’t make it out.

Heavy footsteps approached, so she knew it was an adult, probably Mr Jenkins the principal and Ellie looked back at Marcus who had stopped clowning around.

“Mr. Jenkins,” Marcus said. “I was just-”

“I think we all know what you were doing,” Jenkins said. “Give Ms Hughes back her glasses and get to detention for the rest of the lunch period.”

“Yes, sir,” Marcus bit out, clearly annoyed at this interruption before he planted her glasses on her folded arms and stormed off.

But Ellie hadn’t expected him to give them back in this manner and they fell to the ground where she heard them snap.

“Dammit,” she heard Jenkins curse and she quickly bent down to pick up the pieces. “Come with me, Ms Hughes.”

“Yes, sir,” she said and looked at the glasses in her hand. One ear piece had snapped off but the glasses portion seemed to be intact.

She followed Jenkins to his office where he asked her to sit down on a chair in front of his desk then he reached into a drawer and pulled out some tape.

“Give me a look?” he asked and she handed him her glasses.

Ellie handed them over without a word and concentrated on pushing down what was trying to break out of her chest. Her heart was hammering and she knew Marcus would find her after school to dish out whatever punishment he cooked up while sitting in detention. She wondered if she could stay back a while, go to the library to just delay getting to her locker. But her mom would be so mad if she didn’t come straight home, and she’d rather face Marcus’s wrath than anything her mother delivered.

“Are you ok, Ellie?” the principal said and Ellie felt herself nod.

“Yes, sir,” she said without looking up.

“Marcus was teasing you, as usual?”

“It was just-”

“You know I can only help you if you let me,” Jenkins said and she heard him tear off another piece of tape. “If you’re being bullied, by anyone in this school, you can talk to me.”

“Yes, sir.”

There was a beat of silence then she could just about make him out as he handed her glasses to her across the table. Ellie reached out for them and quickly cleaned them on the edge of her sweater then slipped then slipped them on and felt instant relief at being able to see again. Her eyesight wasn’t as bad as Marucs teased her about, but the panic, and the tears always made it harder to focus on what was around her.

“Thats a temporary fix,” Jenkins said and pointed at the edge of her glasses where he had taped the earpiece back into place. “Your mom will need to take them into Glenwood Opticians to get them fixed properly.”

“Yes, sir,” Ellie said, knowing she was likely to be wearing the tape on these glasses for quite some time before her mom would either be bothered or be able to afford to get them fixed.

She heard Jenkins sigh a little as he leaned back in his chair and knew he was likely thinking the same. She felt heat rush up her neck to colour her cheeks and looked down at her hands that curled around the book on her lap.

I came out of my office at lunch time looking for you,” Jenkins said and leaned forward a little. “I have a unique opportunity I wanted to discuss. You were the first student who came to mind because you’re the ideal fit.”

“What kind of opportunity?” she asked warily, knowing full well she was about to increase her study workload or do someone else’s homework. Neither of those so called opportunities would help her meet her book deadline

“A new student is joining from a school in Alaska,” Jenkins said. “How would you like to be his study partner?”

“Study partner?”

“School buddy, study partner,” Jenkins said with a smile and a shrug. “You could show him around, help him get to know the school, and help him get up to speed with his classes.”

“Is he skipping a grade or something?”

“No, no, nothing like that. He’s moved around a lot and missed some classes. He’ll be in your class with Ms Kennedy and she tells me you’re getting top marks in everything.”

“I dunno, sir,” Ellie said with a slight wince. Being with the new kid in a small school like Sun Hill elementary was the total opposite of being invisible. There were less than fifty kids in this school so a new kid would be like a beacon of attention.

“You just need to show him where the gym is, where the cafeteria is, the library and your home room,” the principal said and Ellie had a feeling she wasn’t going to get away from this request. “Help him study during a few free periods and you’re done!”

She felt her shoulders slump in resignation and nodded her head. “Okay.”

“Great!” Jenkins said and smiled. “He’s starting tomorrow. If you report to my office after the first period I’ll introduce you.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, then stood up. “I’ll be here.”

“You want me to walk you back to class?”

“No, sir,” she said quietly as she moved around the chair. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She walked out of the office and hurried through the corridors back to her classroom. Lunch was almost over so Marcus would be out of detention soon and she wanted the relative safety of her desk before that bell rang. She felt her belly churning with anxious nerves at the thought of meeting this new student and having to show him around and wondered how she might speed up his assimilation so she wouldn’t have to hang around with him for too long.