This Year at Home (A Short Story) Read Free Page A

is your name?” Mrs. Walker asked.
    “Collin Meyers,” he said. “I’m a senior.”
    I turned around. It was locker guy. His green eyes met mine, and I couldn’t look away. Did he see me get ragged on?
    The bell rang.
    Mrs. Walker handed him hall passes. “Thank you, Collin. Go straight to the office.”
    Emmy tossed her blond hair, eyeing Derrick. Derrick aligned himself next to her; they stepped over my books, and began to walk. Grace paused for a moment then followed them.
    Collin picked up my books and handed them to me.
    “Thank you.”
    He shrugged, as if he hadn’t done anything special.
    The old me would have died of embarrassment. Hope sputtered inside the new me’s heart. He might be willing to back up my harassment complaint.
    The hallway got quiet as classroom doors shut. I had to talk to Grace. She was my only chance for tangible evidence. I took off, picking up my pace, until I caught up to her. Collin kept up with me. Several steps ahead, Derrick and Emmy were whispering.
    “Grace.” I kept my voice restrained. “Tell Principal Nelson what really happened. Show him the video on my phone.”
    She didn’t answer.
    “Please, Grace.” I put more power behind my tone. “Don’t let me down again!”
    “Emmy,” she called out.
    Emmy and Derrick stopped and turned around. Derrick folded his arms across his chest while Emmy glared at me. Grace hustled up and caught up to them. She reached into her jeans pocket, took out my phone, and gave it to Emmy.
    Emmy immediately turned her back, and Derrick said, “You’re going down.”
    “No, she’s not,” Collin answered. “I saw you taunt her.”
    My heart ballooned into my throat. Nobody had been willing to back up my original harassment complaint. Principal Nelson had asked me for a list of witnesses. I gave him a list of names, but everybody lied for Derrick.
    Derrick shook his head. “I was barking at Emmy. We have this inside joke. I called her Pugly, like I’ve been doing for years, and she thinks it’s funny. Rebecca’s paranoid, thinks the joke is about her. Then today, she hit me, for no reason at all. Who knows what she’ll do next?”
    Collin curled his lip. “You stole her phone.”
    Emmy turned around to see if she heard him correctly. Grace flushed while Emmy looked Collin over, lingering a little too long on his shoulders.
    Collin kept his eyes on Derrick. “Mess with her, and you’ll be sorry.”
    “Come on, Derrick.” Emmy linked her arm with Grace. “We’ll tell what happened. Everybody knows Rebecca is deranged.”
    Hitting Derrick had been a major mistake. People would think I was mental and possibly dangerous.
    “They’ll tell about the slap,” I muttered. “I’ll be on trial.”
    “How do you know?” Collin turned to me, his gaze intense.
    “Why wouldn’t they?” I reasoned. “Hitting is an automatic suspension.”
    “Deny it.”
    “Look, I get what you’re trying to do, but lying is too hard to keep up.” I had spun enough lies in Israel to know it wasn’t worth it. Eventually I’d get caught up in a huge web that would be too suffocating.
    I started walking again.
    Derrick, Emmy, and Grace were out of sight. They were probably already in the office, setting up their bogus story.
    Collin trailed me. “It’ll be his word against yours. Who’s more believable? Some jerk, or a pretty girl?”
    I stopped, appreciating his compliment. “He’s got Emmy and Grace. They’re pretty.”
    “The blonde’s vicious,” Collin said. “That’s not hot.”
    It dawned on me. He was a new student and had no idea who he was dealing with. “Derrick and Emmy can be convincing. Somebody will back them up.”
    “Dunno. Somebody might want to see Derrick get what he has coming.”
    I paused, not wanting to get into my history. “Just tell the truth. I can deal with it.”
    “I didn’t say you couldn’t deal with it.”
    But could I? I’d be suspended, and my transcript ruined. And Derrick would become