The Snake Pit: Jr. High Can Be Torture (5 page)

Charlie.  That girl is something else. 
Cinda
is extraordinarily lucky to have a friend like Charlie.  The night of the ball when
Cinda
was so cold, I went in to check on her.  I thought Charlie had gone home, but there she was, cuddled next to
Cinda
, protecting her, even in her sleep.  Charlie's body heat did more for
Cinda
than a hundred electric blankets I'm sure.  My husband said that
Cinda
was warmed with love...and I just about believe that very thing.

Charlie came each day after school.  Brought
Cinda
her homework and basically just sat with her. 
Cinda
still was very quiet, hardly talking at all, but that didn't stop Charlie,
she
talked enough for the both of them.  Bobby came by a few times, but
Cinda
didn't want to see anyone but Charlie.  I felt a little sorry for Bobby.  He told us what had happened between them and he seemed genuinely sorry for his actions.  I told him to give her a little time and then apologize to her himself.

So I tried one last time to talk her out of going to school
…
can you imagine, a mom trying to talk her child out of going to school?  But, she wouldn't hear of it, she's always been the one who loves to learn, and
nothing was going to stop her.  That first day back was the longest day of my life....

Chapter Eighteen

Ellen Cavanaugh

When I got to the ball and I saw what those girls had done, I was absolutely furious.  I knew exactly who had been behind it all. 
Hundred
and hundreds of those awful pictures.
  These girls ruined their first formal dance simply to make one girl miserable.  Well I was not about to let them get away with it.  I explained what was happening to Mark, who was absolutely clueless as to what was going on and set him to work taking those horrible pictures down.  And then I went to find Lisa.

I found Lisa, hiding behind her mother.  The two of them, looking like mass produced Barbie dolls, had the same smug smile when I
approached them.  I couldn't believe that Mrs.
Kellen
would have the nerve to chaperone a dance where her daughter had pulled such a stunt.  She obviously knew all about it, and saw nothing wrong with what her daughter was doing.  I wanted to wring her lightly scented, surgically altered pretty little neck.

The louder I got, the less she listened.  The only time her cool reserve even cracked a little is when I mentioned filing criminal charges against her for allowing this to happen.  I wasn't quite sure if this would be considered harassment or not, but I was sure that Mrs.
Kellen
wasn't going to call my bluff.

“You are being ridiculous” she said, sweetly, “I have done nothing wrong.”

“Nothing wrong???
You call this nothing wrong?”  I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  She stood by and watched her daughter and her friends completely humiliate a fellow student and did nothing.  And if Lisa thinks
it's
okay with her mother...why should she stop?

Of course,
Cinda
was devastated.  I'm sure she expected something to happen at the dance, but nothing like this.  Poor thing wandered around in the cold for hours, probably trying to get some kind of handle on it.  She caught herself a pretty good case of pneumonia I hear.  What did those girls get?  Two days of detention.  Two days.  And if Lisa
Kellen
didn't sweet talk her way out of at least one of those detentions
…
I will resign right now.

So, you would think, since these girls had made their point, that all this would stop. Well, guess what?  It didn't stop.  It didn't until it was too late.  I couldn't stop it.  Charlie couldn't stop it. 
Cinda
sure as hell couldn't stop it.  The only
one
who could stop it, as far as I'm concerned, was Lisa.  But why would she stop playing a game that was so easy for her to win?

Chapter Nineteen

Charlie

Cinda
walked back into the school like nothing ever happened.  To tell you the truth, you wouldn't have been able to drag me back inside, and I consider myself pretty tough.  I saw the piece of white paper stuck to her locker before she did and I grabbed it.  I didn't know what it was but I was pretty sure it wasn't a get-well soon card.  I wasn't near fast enough, and
Cinda
wouldn't let me get away with that.

I held my breath as she slowly opened the paper.  For the first time in weeks I saw the slightest h
int
of a smile on her face as she read it.  Then she handed it to me and headed for class.  It was a test paper. 
Bobby's
algebra test.
  On the top of the page was an A with a big red circle around it.  Across the bottom in big red letters he wrote “Thank You
Cinda
”.  What do you know about that? 
That had to make her feel good,
even for just a minute, because that was about as long as it lasted.

Some kids were glad to see
Cinda
back.  Lisa was not.  In fact, she took it as a personal insult that
Cinda
dared to return.  There seemed to be an unlimited supply of those terrible pictures they hung up at the dance.  They were everywhere.  In
Cinda's
locker, in the girl's bathroom, even at the table we sat at in the snake pit. 
Cinda
put up with all of it.   The constant stares, the laughing, the food in her ha
ir,
the
cheap shots in the gym.
The name-calling.

It was getting so bad that I didn't even want to go to school.  I didn't want to be witness to her humiliation and wouldn't you know it, I came down with appendicitis. The doctor said that after surgery I would be out of school for at least two weeks.  What was
Cinda
going to do without me for two whole weeks?  It wasn't fair.  I guess it wouldn't have made much difference, nobody listened to me anyway.

Chapter Twenty

Principal Martin

I realize now that there were things going on in my school that I was just not aware of.  I did not take the complaints that were brought to my attention seriously, and for that I take complete responsibility.  The school board has asked for my resignation.  They believe that I am no longer capable of doing my job effectively.

You have to understand,
Detective, that
I did not, personally, see or hear anything that those girls did to
Cinda
.  But, to be perfectly honest with you, I only spoke to
Cinda
one time.  It was her first day, that disastrous first day, when I sent her home early.  The fact of the matter is, God forgive me for saying this, the girl made me
uncomfortable.

Believe me, Detective, I know how it sounds.  A grown man intimidated by a little girl.  But I didn't feel intimidated
necessarily,
it was more like I didn't know how to relate to her.  The sight of her made me think things...terrible things. Well, like, if this had happened to one of my own children, would I still love them the same way?  Ridiculous, I know, but that's what was going through my mind.

And then there's Lisa.  I have known Lisa literally since the day she was born.  Her father and I grew up in this town.  Lisa is a girl any man would be proud to call his daughter.  That's what I thought. I couldn't believe this sweet, beautiful girl would be capable of these terrible
things.  Part of me still doesn't want to believe it, wants to find some kind of reasonable explanation for this...but there just isn't one, is there?

The bottom line is
,
I failed to protect
Cinda
.  It was my duty as principal of that school to protect each and every student and I failed miserably.  So, of course, I will tender my resignation, but that will do very little to put right was has gone so terribly, terribly wrong. I will have to live with that fact for the rest of my life.

Bobby

I can tell you exactly when it turned really bad. It was the day after Charlie had her appendix taken out. 
Cinda's
last day of school.  I remember she was running late that morning, said she was talking to Charlie at the hospital while she was getting ready for school and thought she was going to be late.

Cinda
seemed okay as she opened the lock to her locker.  Then she gave a little scream, dropped her books,
and ran out the front doors.  I was about to chase after her when I got to her locker and saw what she saw.

It was a dead rabbit, a hare. Someone had slit its throat and left it in
Cinda's
locker to bleed to death.  No wonder the poor girl freaked out, I would've freaked out too.  Everything in that locker was covered in that poor animal's blood.  The hallway was totally quiet, nobody said a word.  I know for a fact that you don't keep quiet about something this shocking, unless you know it's about to happen.  I had a pretty good idea who was behind it.  I'm sure you do, too.

Where did they get the hare?  Come on, Detective.  This is a farming community. Getting a hold of an animal like this wouldn't be a big deal for any of the kids that live on farms, and I can think of one or two off the top of my head that could slaughter one and not even lose their appetite for lunch.

I stood there for a minute, trying to
get my head around it, you know.  I heard someone come up behind me.  I turned to see Lisa peeking around the locker door.  She pretended to be surprised, but she's definitely not that good an actress.

“
Ewwwww
..”
she said, “ I wonder who could have done such a thing to that poor, dumb  animal.”  Then she smiled at me.  Then I lost it.

I'm sorry, Detective, I couldn't help myself.  I grabbed hold of that bloody rabbit, pushed Lisa against the locker and I shoved that thing right in her face.  She screamed and fought but I made sure she felt and tasted every bit of the horror she inflicted on poor
Cinda
.

Finally, I let her go, screaming and crying.
It
t
urns out
Cinda's
last day
was my last day, too.  I dropped the rabbit on the ground in front of the locker, and I left the building.  I haven't been back since.

Funny thing is, Detective, the whole time I was doing that to Lisa,
I
kept waiting for someone to stop me.  Nobody did.  Not one of her so-called friends stepped up to help her.  Everyone just pretended like they didn't see a thing.  Isn't that incredible?

Chapter Twenty-Two

Charlie

I was shocked when
Cinda
showed up in my hospital room that day. I have been known to skip school a few times, but not
Cinda
, not ever.  But there she was, with my favorite ice cream, some playing cards, and a few of my favorite teen magazines.  Well the nurses confiscated the ice cream right away, but the rest of the day talking, laughing and trying really hard not to bust out my stitches.

She never told me about the rabbit in her locker, I found that out later.  I'm glad I wasn't there to see that, but I sure wish I would've seen what happened after.  I wanted to send Bobby flowers after I heard, and I
hoped Lisa was picking rabbit guts and fur out of her teeth for a very long time.

Anyway, we spent the whole day together.  We talked about all kinds of things.  School, family, I even got her to talk about Bobby a little.  She said she understood why he did what he did, and that he was sorry about it now. When I mentioned whether or not they would ever be friends, she got a weird look on her face.  She said
,
“Well, if you see Bobby before I do, let him know that I am not mad at him anymore, and that I consider him a friend.”