The Snake Pit: Jr. High Can Be Torture (4 page)

I tried to catch up to her, but by the time I made it to the door...
Cinda
was gone.

I called her folks and told them what happened,
then
I called my dad to come get me.  We searched for her for hours, it was very cold. Finally, we got a call from her mom, a little after midnight saying
Cinda
was home.  She was freezing and tired, but otherwise, she seemed okay.  I
don't know how she could've been
okay,
she walked for hours in the freezing cold with nothing but her party dress and a winter shawl.  Anyway, the whole thing reminded me of that creepy horror movie,
Carrie.

Chaperones?  Sure there were chaperones at the dance.  Lisa's mom, Mrs.
Kellen
was there, so was our Science teacher, Mr. Anderson, and the girl's P.E teacher Miss Cavanaugh.  When I got there I saw Miss Cavanaugh and Mrs.
Kellen
arguing with each other, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.  Miss Cavanaugh see
med really mad and Mrs.
Kellen
was standing there with her arms crossed trying to ignore her.  She has the same creepy smile as her daughter Lisa.  I don't know what they were arguing about,
I'm assuming they were discussing the horrible
decorations,
I guess you'll have to ask them.  I don't know where Mr. Anderson was, I only saw him as I was leaving.

I didn't see
Cinda
at all for the next whole week.  Apparently she caught some kind of cold that kept her out of school.  I thought she must have pneumonia or something after spending all the time out in the cold that night.  I tried to go by her house and see how she was doing, but her mom said she wasn't up to visitors yet.  I have a feeling that she just didn't want to see me.  Her family was real nice and thanked me for helping to look for her, but I am not sure they totally trusted me.  I can't say that I blame them.  I truly am sorry for how I treated her and I told them so, but some things you can't
take back.

Charlie told me that she was bringing
Cinda
her homework every day
and that she wasn't talking much. I gave her a card to give to
Cinda
and to tell her to get well soon, but I don't know if Charlie gave it to her or not.  She never said.

Chapter Fourteen

Ellen Cavanaugh

I have been the Physical Education teacher at Hargrove Jr. High for 19 years.  I had a bad feeling the minute I saw
Cinda
walk into my class.  Lisa
Kellen
, especially, took an instant dislike to this girl and I couldn't figure out why. 
Cinda
was sweet, soft-spoken, never a harsh word, never a bad attitude, but these girls were downright vicious.  Sure,
Cinda
didn't look like everyone else, but she was hardly the monster these girls made her out to be.

I tried to talk to Lisa about it.  Lisa has about as much respect for the teachers at this school as she did for
Cinda
.  Lisa is a beautiful girl, and
the other girls naturally follow her, so I believe she thought, because of her popularity, that she had every right to treat people however she pleased.  Unfortunately, she was right.  Nobody stopped her.

I sent notes home to her parents, requesting a conference.  It was ignored.  I sent another note home detailing my concerns about how their
daughter's treatment of
Cinda
might be affecting her. 
Nothing.
  Finally, I went to Principal Martin.

I got the same old “kids will be kids” speech and I knew he was going to be no help at all.  I ta
lk
ed to
Cinda
about it a few times, but she begged me to let it go.  She said that she'd been through this before and it always gets worse when grown-ups get involved.  So, I backed off.  I
instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy in my class against name-calling, and after a few detentions it finally stopped.
  But, those girls are good.  I
was never able to catch them, but every day it seemed
Cinda
would get
a volleyball
to the face, an elbow to the ribs, or a slam into the wall....all accidental, of course.  Charlie became my second e
yes and ears, but even she
fell
victim.  And there was nothing I could do.

It was about three days before the Winter Ball.  I was in my office preparing a test for the class when I heard an un-godly scream.  I rushed into the gym and I saw Charlie standing on the stage and Lisa
Kellen
on the gym floor screaming that Charlie had pushed her off the stage and that her leg was probably broken.  I had no choice but to take Charlie to
the principal's office.  I got back to the gym
just in time to see Lisa jump
up, brush off the school nurse, and run off with her friends, giggling and laughing.  I felt my stomach drop as I knew I'd been had.  I rushed back to Principal Martin's office, but he said Charlie had to
made
an example of, and announced that he was suspending her for three days.

Charlie managed to get a message to me before she left the school.  Something was going to happen to
Cinda
at the Winter Ball.  She didn't know what, but she had a feeling it was going to be bad.  Immediately, I volunteered to chaperone the dance.  You'd think I just volunteered to walk on the moon, the way the other teachers reacted.  Nobody volunteered to chaperone a Jr.
high
school dance....nobody
.

Mark Anderson

My name is Mark Anderson, and I teach 7
th
and 8
th
grade Science at Hargrove
Jr
High, a position I have held for the past 5 years. 
Cinda
was my prize pupil
.
..she had a natural knack for the science, especially Chemistry.  I found her to be so advanced, and so intelligent, that I had to make special lesson plans just for her so she wouldn't become bored in my class.  But, I soon found out that boredom was the least of
Cinda's
problems.

I'll admit, this being my first teaching
job, that
I don't know much about dealing with adolescent girls.  What I do know about these girls is that I a
m glad I am not one of them.  
They can
be deceivingly sweet and innocent one minute and just as vicious and hateful the next. 
Cinda
, having the affliction she had, was a natural target.

I only had these girls
three
hours one week and
two
hours the next.  The new block scheduling doesn't allow me to spend any significant time with them other than that, so I was essentially oblivious to the severity of the situation.  It was only after I got roped into chaperoning the Winter Ball, did I fully realize what was going on.

I arrived at the dance just a few minutes before Ellen.  I found all the pictures of the rabbits, or hares, very strange, but was unaware of their significance until Ellen arrived.  When Ellen saw the pictures, I knew
by the look on her face that this was a bad thing, and I was horrified when she explained what these picture
s were supposed to represent. 
Ellen told me to take as many as I could down, and made a beeline for the other chaperone, Mrs.
Kellen
.

I swear, I tried to get them down, but we are talking about hundreds and hundreds of photos.  Remember, these are 12 year old girls we are talking about, how they got the resources to print up all these pictures is something I am still trying to figure out.  Anyway, I had taken down maybe a hundred of them when I heard the girls start laughing.

My brain didn't register that it was
Cinda
at first, she looked so pretty.  Her hair was
done,
she had make up on and was wearing a beautiful dress. 
But the look on her face, h
er expression, or lack thereof,
is something I will never forget as long as I live.  Expressionless, like a blank screen, at first I thought she may be in shock. But then she turned slowly, and looked at all the pictures, and all those laughing little girls, and disappeared out the door.

Immediately I yelled for the girls to be quiet, and I ordered them to remove every single offensive picture from the gym.  What I should've done was shut down the dance that very second, but I felt that I needed to find
Cinda
and make sure she made it home.  I found Ellen, who was still arguing with Mrs.
Kellen
, and told her I was leaving.

I drove for hours.  I never found her.  I found out later that she was home
safe, but was sick from being out in the cold all that time.  Frankly, I was surprised she didn't die from exposure, it was that cold.

Cinda
came back to school a week later.  Pale, quiet, defeated.  I had hoped that the bullying between the girls was over.  But, now that I
was aware of what to watch for,
I saw more than I ever wanted.

Chapter Sixteen

Charlie

Cinda's
dad and sisters took off to find her....Bobby and his dad were looking...Mr. Anderson was looking, and still, we couldn't find her.  It had been hours.
Cinda's
mom stood at the window watching, praying.  I was afraid she'd run away and we'd never find her, when, suddenly, she appeared.

She was nearly frozen to death, there were icicles in her hair and her lips were blue. 
Cinda's
mom wanted to call an ambulance but
Cinda
refused.  We covered her up with warm blankets and
Cinda's
mom took her upstairs to get out of her wet clothes.

She never mentioned the dance.  She
hardly spoke at all, but her teeth chattered like one of those wind up joke teeth.  I made some hot chocolate for her and when her mom got her dried off and into bed, I brought it up to her.  She was sleeping by the time I made it upstairs, but I wasn't about to leave her.  Not that night.

I sat by her bed and held her hand.  It was like holding an actual block of ice.  Her mom had put heavy socks on her feet and an electric blanket on her and she was still cold to the touch.  Without thinking, I climbed into bed and slept next to her.  She was my friend, and she needed me.

A horrible sound woke me in the morning. At first I thought it was a dog barking, but then I realized that sound was coming from
Cinda
.  I
jumped out of bed and ran to get her mom...
Cinda
was sick.

They wouldn't let me go to the hospital with her, and I cried when the ambulance took her away.  My mom came to get me and I cried all the way home.  I cried until her
Cinda's
mom called to tell me she was going to be all right.  She had pneumonia, and would have to stay in the hospital a few days, but she was going to be fine.

Cinda
was going to be fine.  I heard the words, but I wasn't so sure.

Chapter Seventeen

Mrs. Carter

Angry?
  You're damn right I'm angry.  My daughter spent 3 days in the hospital for what the principal calls a “mean prank”.  Those girls at that school got less time in detention.  Principal Martin said his hands were tied, although he found their
actions despicable, since they didn't physically hurt my daughter, detention was
all he could do.  Oh, and each girl had to write a note of apology....six equally insincere letters that even
Cinda
had a laugh at.

Three days in the hospital and five
days recovery and
Cinda
went back to school.  I cannot stress how much I did not want her to go back there.  She was weak, frail almost, but Monday morning she was up and out the door.  I gave Charlie strict instructions that she was to call me if anything happened.