Point of Retreat

eardrums. I forgot how loud kids were. I also forgot how much my head still hurt. I glance at all the tables but there are so many kids, I can’t spot either of them. I walk over to a lady who looks like she’s monitoring the cafeteria.
     
    “Can you tell me where Kel Cohen is?”
     
    “Who?” she says. “It’s too loud, I didn’t hear you.”
     
    I say it louder. “Kel Cohen!”
     
    She nods and points to a table at the other end of the cafeteria. Before I reach the table, Kel spots me and waves. Kiersten is seated next to him, wiping at her shirt with a wad of wet napkins. They both stand up when I reach the table.
     
    “What happened to your shirt?” I ask Kiersten.
     
    She looks at Kel and shakes her head. “Stupid boys,” she says. She points to the table across from theirs. I turn and look and there are three boys that look a little older than her and Kel. They’re all laughing.
     
    “Did they do something to you?” I ask her.
     
    She rolls her eyes. “When do they not ? If it’s not chocolate milk, it’s apple sauce. Or pudding. Or Jell-O.”
     
    “Yeah, it’s usually Jell-O,” Kel says.
     
    “Don’t worry about it, Will. I’m used to it now. I always keep an extra change of clothes in my backpack just in case.”
     
    “Don’t worry about it?” I ask. “Why the hell isn’t something being done about it? Have you talked to a teacher?”
     
    She nods. “They never see it when it happens. It’s gotten worse since the suspension. Now they just make sure they only throw things at me when the monitor’s aren’t looking. But it’s fine, Will. Really. I have Abby and Kel and Caulder. That’s all the friends I need.”
     
    I’m pissed. I can’t believe she has to go through this every day! I look at Kel. “Which one’s the one Caulder was telling me about? The dickhead?” Kel points at the boy seated at the head of the table.
     
    “You guys wait here.” I turn around and walk toward Dickhead’s table. As I get closer to them, their laughter succumbs to looks of confusion. I grab one of the empty chairs at their table and slide it out, then pull it around next to Dickhead and straddle the chair backwards, facing him.
     
    “Hey,” I say. He just looks at me confused, then looks at his friends.
     
    “Can I help you?” he says sarcastically. His friends laugh.
     
    “Yes. Actually you can,” I say. “What’s your name?”
     
    He laughs again. I can tell he’s trying to play the part of the big, bad twelve-year-old that he is. He reminds me of Reece at that age. He can’t hide the nervousness on his face, though.
     
    “Mark,” he says.
     
    “Well hi, Mark. I’m Will.” I extend my hand and he reluctantly shakes it.
     
    “Now that we’ve been formally introduced, I think it’s safe to say that we can be frank with one another. Can we do that, Mark? Are you tough enough to take a little bit of honesty?”
     
    He laughs a nervous laugh. “Yeah, I’m tough.”
     
    “Good. Because you see that girl over there?” I point back to Kiersten. Mark glances over my shoulder at her, then looks back at me and nods.
     
    “Let me be frank with you. That girl is very important to me. Very important. When bad things happen to important people in my life, I don’t take it very well. I guess you could say I have a bit of a temper.” I scoot my chair closer to his and look him straight in the eyes. “Now, while we’re being frank with one another…you should know that I used to be a teacher. You know why I’m not a teacher anymore, Mark?”
     
    He isn’t smiling anymore. He shakes his head.
     
    “I don’t teach anymore because one of my dickhead students decided to mess with one of my important people. It didn’t end well.”
     
    All three of the boys are staring at me, wide-eyed.
     
    “You can take that as a threat if you want to, Mark. But honestly, I have no intentions of hurting you. After all, you’re only twelve. When it comes to kicking someone’s ass, I usually draw the line at fourteen-year-olds. But I will tell you this…the fact that you bully people? And girls, for that matter? Girls younger than you?” I shake my head in disgust.
     
    “It only goes to show what a pathetic human being you’ll turn out to be. But that’s not the worst of it,” I say. I turn and look at his friends. “The worst of it is the people that follow you. Because anyone weak enough to let someone as pathetic as you be their leader is even worse