Prologue:
Old schoolwork accumulated over the year scattered the white tile floors. Janitors were cleaning up the students’ messes, and teachers gathered their things to go home. This was a sign that summer vacation had started! But there was nothing to be cheerful about. Tear-stained from the brutality faced from the bullying. I rested on the bench in the smelly men’s locker rooms taking in information about weightlifting on my iPhone.
The bullies, who happened to be bigger and stronger than me, shoved me into the boy’s restroom. It was a place towards the back of the school that barely anyone used. The stalls were covered in graffiti. The toilets are green with mold. The once-white tiled floors are stained brown from neglect.
The jocks, who were tormenting me, held my arms and ankles down as another bully held a piece of shit in brown garden gloved hands. The gloves and poop were similar in coloring that if it weren’t for the smell, you could barely tell there was a piece of shit on those gloved hands.
“Eat it you fatty!”
I turned my head away from the shit that was getting closer to my mouth.
“Open your fucking mouth and eat it!”
“Come on fatty! You love eating. So, eat this piece of shit!”
“Eat it! Eat it,” the jocks began chanting.
Still, I kept my mouth shut and tried to wiggle out of their grasp. I could not break free as their grip tightened the more movement was made. One of the guys put his hands in my mouth trying to pry it open.
“Damn fatty,” The jock began to say. “You sure have a strong jaw. Must be from all that eating,” he laughs. The others laughed as well. “Open up, Jun!”
Thinking fast, I bit the guy’s hand, which caused skin to break.
“Fuck!”
“You better wash it, or you’ll be infected. Who knows the kinds of diseases he has,” a jock teases. “Pigs are diseased animals after all. Right, fatty?”
“This is fucking boring,” Another guy says. He was attentively watching the show commence before him. It gave him a sense of dominance watching me resist and cry. You could see in his eyes the joy it brought him. But he was getting bored as nothing was happening. He grabbed the shit with gloved hands. Smearing it all over my clothing and face.
Puking from the smell of the shit and the fact that it was on me. I tried crawling away, but to avail it proved useless.
The guys holding me down released me. One of them kicked me in the stomach out of pure pleasure. I doubled over and heaved some more.
“Look what you did you fucking, fatty! You got shit and puke on my shoe!”
“You better clean it up!”
“You better clean it with your mouth,” the jock shoved his foot onto my face. The smell was making me sicker. So, I heaved again. This time, I got leftovers from lunch on the guy’s shoe. In anger, the jock kicked my mouth, cutting it open. I could taste the metallic of my blood before the pain registered: “You fucking pig!”
The jock had rubbed his dirty shoe on the side of my pants. “Great, now I have to get new shoes.”
“And you smell rancid,” Another jock laughed. The guy with the vomit on his shoe shoves the guy who said that and leaves the restroom. “Fucking, idiots,” he mumbles under his breath, but it was loud enough that everyone heard him.
The others followed after him.
Once it’s clear, I get off the floor and grab my backpack, which happened to be located in the trashcan by the restroom door.
I make my way towards the men’s locker room which is a few feet up the hallway and to the left.
Ever since being bullied, I had to keep extra clothes in main locker, and for extra precautions I kept amenities like soap and clothes in my PE locker too.
Once I got there, I made my way to my PE locker. When I saw it, I began to sob because the lock was cut open. All my clothes had been thrown in the toilet, covered in human excrement. At least he had extra necessities in my backpack. I came prepared as a safety measure. Thank goodness everyone had left for the day. If they hadn’t left, I would’ve faced further torment from my peers.
I grabbed my shower essentials. Threw away the clothes on my body. Then showered while sobbing. I hated them and just wished they would leave him alone! Or better yet, I wished for their end. They were cruel! My anger was palpable that I wanted to punch something.
I pinched my love handles and was disgusted with how my body was shaped. I needed a change. I wanted to change!
After changing into clean clothes, I took in information about weightlifting from YouTube videos. I wiped my tear-stained cheeks and left the men’s locker room.
My little sister is at the school’s parking lot waiting for me. She was leaning against my car.
“Where were you,” she cries. “I was worried sick! Been calling and texting you non-stop,” she looked me up and down. Something was different about me. I know she is going to ask: “What happened to the clothes you wore this morning? And did you shower; your hair is wet,” she commented.
After unlocking my car, I shrugged and tossed my navy-blue backpack in the backseat.
“Did they do something to you again,” Jody, my sister, grabs me by the shoulders to have me face her. She inspects my appearance, “O-M-G! Your face is fucking bruised! What did they do to you? We should report them,” she demands.
“Would you like to join the gym with me? It would be nice to have a gym buddy.”
“Of course! But you’re avoiding the subject!”
“Let’s go to the gym. There’s a nice one not far from here,” I softly smile with the sun shining touching my face. Next year was going to be different! I promise that things would change for the better!
