The Ghost of Lizard's Rock (4 page)

I started to say “thanks”
as I stepped forward but the word caught in my throat as a horrible
pain shot through my right foot.  I couldn’t
move! 

Maddison had waited until
I put my foot forward and then she quickly stepped into the aisle
catching me in the stomach with her elbow and standing squarely on
my foot with her heel crushing down on my toe and leaving a nasty
black smear on my brand new, perfect, white shoe.  A second
later, Maddison was already down the aisle and getting off the
bus.

I don’t know what hurt
more; my throbbing toe, my aching stomach, or the fact that I felt
so stupid for thinking Maddison was going to be nice to
me. 

I could feel the tears
beginning to well up in my eyes but I didn’t have time to cry
because the rest of the middle school students behind me were
moving forward and I was blocking their way. I grabbed my pack and
moved toward the front of the bus and down the
stairs. 

Maddison was standing to
the side of the door smirking at me as I came off the bus. Heather
and Rebecca quickly joined her.  Maddison turned with a laugh
and headed off to the front doors of the school flanked on either
side by the two girls. 

I stopped for a moment to
examine the damage to my new shoes.  The nasty black mark
appeared to be just superficial. I began picking at it with my
fingernail.  I was so busy trying not to cry about something
as stupid as my shoes being wrecked that I didn’t notice Allie
quietly move to my side. 

They’re just shoes, I
thought to myself, but I couldn’t help feeling sick at the thought
of one of them being ruined when I knew how much G.G. had paid for
them.  She had tried not to let me see the price and had down
played it as she handed the cashier her credit card but I had seen
the price clearly.  $129.99 was the most expensive pairs of
shoes I had ever owned in my life and now they were
ruined.

“
Um, I think if you use
baking soda that smudge will come off.” Allie said kneeling down
beside me.

I blinked and looked at
her blankly.  “They’re new,” was all I managed to
say.

“
They’re beautiful.” She
said glancing down at her own worn sandals.  “I’m sure baking
soda will work,” her voice gaining strength as we stood and moved
toward the school.

“Some things never
change,” said Oliver as he joined us. Dan was walking just behind
Oliver with his eyes down at the ground.

Oliver looked over at
Allie and carefully examined her. “I’m Oliver.”

“I know,” answered Allie
quickly. She looked back at Kati with a concerned look. “Mind if I
walk inside with you?”

“No problem,” I could see
Allie was very nervous. “You stick with us.”

Allie turned toward Oliver
and said quietly, “Allie… my name is Allie.”

It was at that moment that
I noticed Allie and Oliver were nearly the same size.

Oliver suddenly changed
his attention to Dan, who was raising his hand toward his
face.

“Put your hand back in
your pocket,” directed Oliver.

“My nose itches,” answered
Dan as if he had been denied some pleasure.

Oliver pulled off his
red-rimmed sunglasses and gave Dan a look that was somewhat
scary.

“I don’t see why it is
such a big deal to scratch my nose?” Dan rubbed his nose with the
back of his wrist before placing his hand back in the
pocket.

“It’s not the scratching
that bothers me.” Oliver made a gagging sound before placing his
sunglasses back on.

The
four of us walked through the main doors and turned left into the
middle school hallway.

Ms. Kelly, the principal,
was standing in the middle of the hallway and shouting loudly to
all the passing students, “All students are to go to the gym.” Her
voice broke off for a moment. “Jackson!”

Oliver turned around
quickly to face the principal.

“Lose the hat and
sunglasses!” Ms. Kelly gave a look to Oliver that said, “Don’t mess
with me.”

“Yes Ms. Kelly,” answered
Oliver as he removed his sunglasses and hat.

I was quite stunned to see
that the principal already had Oliver’s number.

Oliver walked quietly to
the gym as he tried to figure out how it was that the principal
already knew about him.

Ms. Kelly smiled as she
watched Oliver walking away. She had appreciated the quick visit a
few minutes earlier from Michele Jackson, one of her most favorite
students from a couple of years back.

“The gym is this way,” I
said to Allie. “Come on.”

Separating
Classes

Eric told me the first day
of middle school always begins the same way. All of the students
are packed into the gym and seated on the new bleachers. The eighth
graders sit on the end closest to the main hallway doors. It was
their way of harassing the seventh graders just as they had been
harassed when they were in the 7
^th
grade.

“Just ignore them.” I took
a deep breath and began the walk by the eighth graders.

Allie was walking just
behind me and as far away from the eighth graders as she could get.
Dan was right behind Allie with a still confused Oliver bringing up
the rear.

The sound of people’s
voices seemed distant as I kept my eyes focused on the seventh
grade section of the gym. I heard a whistle come from one of the
rows closest to me. I was so shocked that I didn’t even look to see
where it came from or who it was meant for - surely it couldn’t
have been meant for me – or was it?

I found a group of empty
seats in the second row in the middle of the seventh grade section.
Before my bottom even hit the seat, Allie was up against my side. I
looked down at her trembling hands. Her fear seemed to be
overwhelming. I wondered why she was so frightened.

I looked into her dark
eyes, “Its okay.”

Dan and Oliver sat down in
the seats right in front of us.

The sounds of students
whispering to each other suddenly went silent. I heard a voice in
the eighth grade section exclaim, “Oh my gosh!”

“Jacob!” shouted Oliver.
He stood up and waved his hands high above his head to get Jacob’s
attention.

Jacob nodded his head
slightly and began a slow lumbering walk toward the seventh
graders.

“Hey everyone,” said a
voice from the center of the eighth grade section, “it’s big and
dumb all rolled up in one.” A loud laughter spread throughout the
eighth graders.

Jacob Sumner had been the
biggest kid in our class since kindergarten, but that was no
surprise. This year, he was even bigger than all the eighth graders
and most of the teachers, but this is no surprise. Jacob’s dad is a
huge man and his mother is really tall too.

Oliver turned his head
toward the eighth grade section to see who had said it.

His sister, Susan, was
sitting near the top of the seats. She looked at her younger
brother as if to say, “Don’t get involved.”

Oliver gritted his teeth
and looked hard into the faces of the eighth graders.

Jacob walked toward Oliver
as if nothing had happened.

Oliver continued to stand
and made room for Jacob between Dan and himself. “You didn’t make
the bus this morning.”

“I walked,” answered Jacob
as he stepped over the entire first row of seats in one stride and
was standing in front of Oliver.

Oliver continued to size
him up, “What happened to you?”

“I grew a little bit,”
answered Jacob shyly, “and worked really hard every
day.”

Jacob’s family owns a
small dairy farm on the edge of town.

“Grew a little bit?”
laughed Oliver. “Look at the size of your muscles!”

Oliver touched Jacob’s
upper arm and shook his head in disbelief, “Look at the size of
your muscles!”

Jacob wanted Oliver to
give it a rest. “I stacked hay for my dad. It’s no fun.”

Jacob reached out to
Oliver’s tiny arm with his gigantic hands and gently encircled it
with his fingers. “That’s some pretty serious muscle you’ve got
there.” His eyes twinkled as he looked at Oliver. “What were you
stacking?”

Oliver flexed his muscles
even tighter. A small bulge appeared on the top of the
muscle.

“Dude!” quipped
Jacob.

Everyone around us laughed
at Jacob’s quickness.

Jacob looked up at me and
my new look, “Kati.” He smiled and glanced at Allie for a moment
with a curious look.

“This is Allie,” I said
quickly.

Jacob smiled but didn’t
say anything.

Allie continued to stare
in amazement at the size of Jacob in amazement.

Jacob’s size would
probably lead you to believe that he would one day be a
professional football or basketball player, but that is far from
the truth. Actually, Jacob dislikes all sports. He would rather do
art, work on his computer, or listen to classical music.

One teacher called Jacob
the ‘gentle giant’. Some students call him really hurtful names
that I won’t ever repeat.

Jacob started to sit down
between Oliver and Dan, hesitated for a moment as he looked at Dan,
and sat down on the other side of Oliver. “Sorry man! I can’t
handle the nose.”

Ms. Kelly stepped up to
the microphone in the center of the gym floor. “Please stand for
the National Anthem and place your hand over your
heart.”

Nine students from last
year’s band class walked out to where Ms. Kelly was standing, stood
in silence for about a minute and began playing the
music.

How to best describe the
music? Well… it was the beginning of the year. What else could you
say? It was very difficult to stare at the flag without cracking
up.

The seventh and eighth
graders sat down at the same time as the music ended and watched
the small band walk off the floor with smiles on their faces. It
was hard to know if they were smiling because they were pleased
with their performance or whether they enjoyed the torture they put
the rest of us through. Needless to say, I am not a musician nor
will I ever be, but that was really bad.

Ms. Kelly stepped back up
to the microphone, “I will now begin with the school rules at
Hunter. You will need to pay attention.”

It only took about 30
seconds and I began to lose concentration of what was being said as
did many of my fellow students.  I glanced around and realized
that everyone was noticing my new look or so it seemed.  The
girls were looking at my new clothes and hair and the guys were
looking too! 

I looked up at the top row
of the seventh grade section and accidently locked eyes with Troy
Williams before quickly looking away.  That was the last thing
I needed.  Troy is the most popular seventh grader in the
entire school.  He is even popular with the eighth graders and
especially the girls.

To make matters worse,
Maddison has had a big time crush on Troy for the last two
years.  She followed him around like a lost puppy all of last
year. 

I peeked up again, while
nervously chewing on my lower lip, to find Troy still looking at
me.  My heart pounded as I thought, “This can’t be
real!”

The moment was lost, as I
groaned internally. I was sure Maddison’s eyes were burning
straight through my back wherever she was seated.

I snapped my head back
around when Ms. Kelly announced that the teachers would be calling
out their class lists. 

“When you hear your name
you will line up behind your teacher and head off to your
homeroom,” stated Ms. Kelly.

I could feel the
adrenaline starting to pound in my veins.  There were two
different 7
^th
grade classes. My only hope was that Maddison was
in the other class.  That would make this year bearable and I
would only have to deal with Maddison on the bus and at lunch - not
in class.

Mr. Anders stood at the
front of the gym and started the role call.  He was the
teacher everyone hoped for.  Ms. Carson was okay but everyone
knew that Mr. Anders was the fun teacher. 

Name after name was
called.  Oliver and Dan were called up almost immediately
along with Heather and Rebecca.  They stood behind Mr. Anders
on the gym floor.

Being in class with
Heather and Rebecca would be okay if Maddison was in the other
class.  They were annoying but without Maddison to tell them
what to do they were harmless. 

Jacob was called next and
then I heard it, “Kathryn O’Donnell”. 

I cringed and whispered
below my breath “Kati.”

I stood up, stepped down
over the seats carefully, walked across the floor and moved behind
Mr. Anders. 

“Good morning Kati,” said
Mr. Anders with a smile on his face.