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Mary-Anne hid her head on Bobby’s chest, crying hard as Bobby sat with his arms wrapped protectively around her. Lori sat on the side, biting her nails nervously while looking down at the floor. The principal sat in his chair, waiting for parents to arrive; wondering how the hurt girl was and what reason would there be to knock someone senseless.
The more he watched Mary-Anne cry, the angrier he became. Violence in his school was on an upswing and he was going to stop it now. Mary-Anne was going to be the example to uphold to the rest of the students – that violence in any shape or form would not be tolerated.
The office door swung open and the secretary popped her head in, “Melody’s parents have been contacted and will meet her at the hospital. Lori’s mother has been located and is coming right down. I cannot locate Bobby and Mary-Anne’s parents nor her social worker. I’ll keep on it.”
The principal nodded and the door closed. He looked at Mary-Anne and couldn’t contain his anger towards the young girl any longer.
“Stop that crying! You’d think you were the one hurt! That is enough!”
Lori jumped back in her chair at the loudness of the principal’s voice, her eyes growing wide, filling with tears. Bobby tightened his hold on Mary-Anne and glared at the principal. Mary-Anne continued to cry.
The principal sighed heavily, “Look, someone just tell me what happened.”
Lori looked at Bobby, who shrugged and nodded. Lori explained with a broken voice as she attempted to stop crying before he yelled at her too.
“Before recess we were making posters for the dance. Melody wanted Mary-Anne’s markers. Mary-Anne said no, go find your own. Melody said she would take them anyhow. Mary-Anne said you try that and I’ll kick your head in. Melody said yeah just try it. Then the bell rang and I took Mary-Anne by the hand and told her it wasn’t worth getting into trouble over. Mary-Anne grabbed her markers and when we went to walk out, Melody grabbed her by the shirt and pulled on her. So Mary-Anne turned around and slugged her, so Melody let go and I grabbed Mary-Anne and we ran outside. I think the markers got dropped on the floor, I don’t know.”
“And where was your teacher when all this was happening?”
“She was in another room doing a spelling test. We didn’t have to ‘cause we all had A’s on our last test. That’s why we got to make the posters.”
“OK, so Mary-Anne and Melody argued over markers. Who actually owned the markers?”
“No one. They were the teachers. She gave us each a handful and told us to go make the posters. But Melody wanted the bright pink Mary-Anne had.”
“So, Mary-Anne threatened Melody over markers that weren’t even hers. This is not good at all.”
“No, you don’t understand!” Lori said with exasperation, “The teacher gave us all markers. Even Melody. No one was sharing ‘cause we had our own! And Melody grabbed Mary-Anne first!”
“Fine, I'll check that out with your teacher,” the principal sighed as he looked over at Mary-Anne, “So Lori, Mary-Anne hit Melody and you both ran away.”
“Yes but Melody grabbed Mary-Anne by the back of the shirt and pulled really hard on her! I know because I was holding Mary-Anne’s hand when it happened!”
“I understand that Lori, I do not approve of your friend’s method of dealing with conflict. Violence only breeds more violence, as you now are witnessing.”
Lori looked down at the floor, biting her nails. Didn’t the principal understand, Melody was always the teacher’s pet who never did anything wrong. No one wants to believe that perfect Melody started the fight. No, it has to be the foster kid’s fault. It just wasn’t fair!
“OK, Lori. So you both went outside and left Melody there. That doesn’t explain how she is now fighting for her life in the hospital.”
“Well, we did run outside. Only Melody and her friends ran after us. I grabbed Mary-Anne’s hand and we ran to the back. We have a secret place where we go sometimes and we were trying to get there. Only Mary-Anne was really mad and didn’t want to go. So I was dragging her and she was yelling at me to let her go and then Melody and her friends found us!”
“OK, then what happened?”
“Then Melody grabs Mary-Anne by the hair and pulls her real hard yelling that no one hits her and gets away with it. Then Kate, you know, Melody’s best friend, hits Mary-Anne real hard in the stomach and says see if you like that! Next time leave my friend alone! And then Mary-Anne gets really mad and becomes unglued. She kicks and hits and yells, so Kate backs off but Melody can’t get away. So then Mary-Anne she hits Melody real hard and her nose starts to bleed. So I run for Bobby ‘cause I know he can make Mary-Anne stop and when we got back, Melody was knocked out and Mary-Anne was hitting her real hard. But it wasn’t Mary-Anne’s fault!”
Lori burst into tears as she finished talking. She curled up tight in the chair and hid her head. Mary-Anne stopped crying but kept her head hidden deep on Bobby’s chest. Bobby simply sat there, protecting Mary-Anne while glaring at the principal.
The principal grabbed some tissue and handed it to Lori. He didn’t know what to make of the situation. Mary-Anne had a reputation for fighting. In fact, she had been expelled several times over the years for fighting. Still looking over her record, he noticed there were no notations for this year. No fights, no acting out in class, no suspensions. As he sat there trying to make sense of the situation, the door opened and the secretary popped her head in.
“Sir, Lori’s mother is outside.”
“Please ask her to come in.”
Lori’s mother walked into the room and went immediately to her daughter, wrapping protective arms around her.
“What is going on? Lori, sweetheart, are you OK?
“Ms Smith, your daughter was a witness to a horrible incident where one child was sent to the hospital unconscious. I just finished asking her what happened and it’s clear, she wasn’t involved except as a witness. She is free to go home.”
“Excuse me. My daughter is sitting here, sobbing her eyes out and you coldly tell me I can take her home? What happened? And what do you mean you questioned her and found she was only a witness. I had to leave my job and I expect more than being told to take her home.”
The principal sighed and gave a quick recap of Lori’s story. Lori’s mother held her daughter tight and wiped Lori’s eyes frequently as she listened. She looked over at Bobby and Mary-Anne then stated quietly, “I believe my daughter. Mary-Anne has really grown up in the past year and is always welcome in my home. She has a temper but has been learning to control it. I’ve seen her leave our home early rather than fight Lori over things that don’t matter. Unfortunately, if you push Mary-Anne hard enough she’ll push back harder.”
The principal sat there wondering what he should do next. He wanted to punish someone for what happened. He needed to show everyone that violence of this degree would not be tolerated. His thoughts were broken as Lori’s mother spoke further,
“What Mary-Anne did was wrong. And Lori, sweetheart, you should have gotten a teacher right away and not Bobby. In fact, you should have went for a teacher the moment Melody grabbed Mary-Anne because you know her temper. Still, you did the best you could.”
Lori looked up at her mother and started to cry, all over again. Her mother wiped her tears and told her everything would be OK. With that, Lori and her mother left.
“Miss Marks, will you please call Kate Bylow to the office?”
He turned off the intercom and looked back at the two children sitting in his room.
“Bobby, do you have any idea where your parents are?”
“Yes sir, I do.”
“Where are they? We need them to come in before you can go home.”
“They are with the social worker. And I don’t know where they went. But they had to prove Mary-Anne’s birth certificate is real so we can adopt her. She’s going to be my sister and no one hurts my sister,” Bobby said in a very protective tone, glaring at the principal.
“Look son, no one is going to hurt Mary-Anne. But she has to be held accountable for her actions. She could have chosen a different route instead of one, which placed Melody into the hospital. No matter what happened to her, she knew better than to beat Melody up.”
“Maybe. But you sure aren’t listening. Look at Mary-Anne’s head, there is hair missing! Don’t you think that would hurt? Why is it always her fault? Sometimes its not, you know!” Bobby’s voice became louder as his anger grew over the lack of understanding and empathy the principal was showing towards Mary-Anne.
“Bobby Parsons, you will not raise your voice to me. Do I make myself clear?”
At that moment, the door opened and Kate walked in looking very scared.
“Sit down Kate. I understand that you were part of all this. Tell me, did you punch Mary-Anne in the stomach and did Melody grab Mary-Anne by the hair?”
“That’s a lie!” Kate yelled, “They are lying! She’s always lying! She just started to beat on Melody for no reason and now Melody is dead!”
“I think time for the theatrics is over, no one died and screaming will not solve anything. I repeat, did you punch Mary-Anne in the stomach and did you witness your friend Melody, pulling Mary-Anne by the hair?”
For a time, the principal and Kate went back and forth on the issue. Kate insisted that Mary-Anne was lying and the principal sensed there was more to the story than met the eye. Finally Kate burst into tears and admitted her part in the fight. The principal ordered her to sit outside the room and wait for her parents to arrive – she was suspended two days for her part in the fight. Kate left the room, crying hard and sat in the chair to await her parents.
“Mary-Anne look at me,” the principal directed, “what do you have to say for yourself?”
Mary-Anne immediately became guarded. Looking up at the principal she changed visibly from the girl sobbing in Bobby’s arms to the hard core young lady he saw sitting before him. The change confused him, placing him off-balanced.
“No one hits me. NO ONE!” Mary-Anne said loudly, “And it took two of them to get me? Ha! No one fights my battles either. Not like Melody! She had to get her friend to fight for her! Not me! I fight alone! Always have and always will! Melody that scum, she’s been picking on me for a long time. I finally had enough of walking away and showed her the way it is. So sue me.”
The principal sighed exasperated. He wasn’t paid enough to deal with these types of situations.
“Mary-Anne, that is enough attitude. I’ve heard from Lori and from Kate. Bobby came in at the end so has no idea what happened. I need to hear from you. What happened.”
Mary-Anne glared at him. She stayed quiet for a long time trying to sort out if she believed him or not. Finally she told her version of the fight which mirrored Lori’s earlier story.
Bobby stated with anger, “See! Melody picked the fight and Mary-Anne was only defending herself.”
“Bobby, it was more than that and you know it. Mary-Anne you had choices to make and you chose the wrong ones. You could have asked a teacher for assistance. You could have come here and talked to me. You could have asked a peer helper to intervene. Instead you chose to go into the back area where no one generally is and fight. Because of that, I have to suspend you 2 weeks and you have to face the board, with your foster parents, before you are allowed back in.”
Bobby jumped up before Mary-Anne could say a word, “That’s not fair! I bet Melody won’t have to do all that! Or Kate! Why is her punishment harder than Kate’s? It’s not fair!”
Mary-Anne sat quiet, staring straight at the principal. Anger filled the room and filtered out the door, down the hallway and throughout the classrooms. Bobby kicked a chair, sending it over.
“That is enough Mr. Parsons! You can wait outside, in the hall, until your parents arrive!”
Mary-Anne grabbed Bobby’s arm and looked at him with fear. Bobby looked directly at the principal and stated in a firm, loud voice, and “Not a chance I’m not leaving unless my sister comes outside with me. She will not stay alone with you.”
The principal began to argue then stopped mid-sentence as he recalled Mary-Anne’s history. It probably wasn’t smart to be alone in a room with her, especially as he was male. He dismissed the children and ordered them to wait for their parents. As they left, he put bent his head down, clasping it with his hands and groaned.
“Miss Marks, could you bring me a couple Advil please? My head is killing me!”
© 2001
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