The Whale - 2. Part I, chapter 2

- II -

The main hyena wasn't lying. Gym indeed was next. I thought about going to the nurse and telling her that I wasn't feeling well (which was partially true), but then I figured that even if I got out of the today's class -- the nurse would take a single look at me and sign a release paper -- I would have to go there eventually. Might as well just suffer through it, and hopefully, soon enough, everyone will get used to me and not even notice me anymore. Sometimes I wished I could become invisible. Of course, with my size it was beyond impossible.

I pulled on my gym clothes in the girls' locker room, and I could almost feel all the glances piercing my skin. I heard loud laughter and tried to shrink away as much as I could, because I knew they were laughing about me. See, when you look like me, you develop a sixth sense. Seriously, sometimes I felt like I was telepathic. I could hear people's thoughts. "Ugh, can you believe that? Look at those thighs!" "Dude, not just the thighs... Look at all those rolls of fat! I mean, you can hide a turkey under them!" Yeah, death sometimes seemed like the only option. Hanging myself would be lovely. But then I started thinking that it probably wouldn't work, and I'd just end up falling down on the floor with a huge chunk of ceiling landing on my head. And I'd ruin the floor too. Plus, it would cost my mother a hell of a lot of money to find a right size coffin... I sighed. I guess I'll just suffer.

When I walked into the gym and saw the main hyena, my hopes of becoming something everybody would get used to, immediately evaporated. He looked like he was having the time of his life. He looked like he was just starting. An entire year of torturing me that was looming on the horizon would probably seem like not enough time for him. Dear God, I never hated anyone so bad in my entire life. Not even my dad. I tried my best to ignore the hyena and walked up to the gym teacher. She looked at me and tried not to wince.

"Hey," she said carefully. "You are new, right?"

"No," I thought. "I've been here all this time and you've never noticed me!"

"Yes," I sighed. "I am Amy Bauer."

"Welcome, Amy," she smiled tightly. "My name is Miss Freeman; hope you'll feel welcome..."

I almost laughed out loud. Uh huh... The only place I'd feel welcome right now would be my bedroom with the door locked. Freeman clapped her hands.

"Okay, people!" she shouted. "Warm up first, and then it's basketball time!"

She turned towards me again. She looked like she was having a huge dilemma.

"Amy," she said finally. "Do you enjoy basketball?"

"Not really," I said immediately.

She nodded, as if she didn't expect anything else.

"You can go ahead and sit this one out if you want," she said and I almost hugged her. "But I need you to do a couple of laps around the gym first, okay?"

I almost groaned. She wants me to run?! Oh, God... But I guess it was a better alternative than playing basketball. I sighed again.

"Okay," I said in a small voice.

Freeman smiled.

"Great," she nodded and turned away from me. "Come on!" she shouted. "Move it, people! Don't just stand there! Start running!"

I started to run very slowly, hoping to die of a heart attack or something else. To my enormous surprise, Luke didn't even look my way. I glanced at him and was so happy to see him all but pinning one of the cheerleaders to the wall in the corner, that I almost started to sing. The cheerleader looked like she just won a lottery. I shuddered. God, the guy is disgusting! I don't get people sometimes, and especially girls. I mean, he looks like some insane villain out of a bad movie, and the girl just keeps squealing happily. Sick... But I figured that as long as he was preoccupied with her, he'd leave me alone. I realized I only had one lap left, and my heart filled with hope.

"Russell! Do this on your own time and somewhere I can't see you!" Freeman shouted suddenly. "Move it!!"

I winced. Couldn't she wait for two more minutes? Okay, okay, I am almost done... Just a little more and I can collapse on the bench. I hated running; it made my legs hurt, my heart felt like it was about to jump out of my mouth, and I was sweating like no other.

Luke let the cheerleader go, and the girl let out a disappointed sigh. I noticed that he didn't even look my way, and I started saying silent, feverish 'Thank You'-s in my head, when all of a sudden, Luke froze in the middle of the gym and his face turned almost completely white. "Oh, God," I thought. "Please, let it be severe pain in his chest!!"

"What is it?" Freeman frowned. "Russell, you okay...? Luke!" she sounded really concerned now.

He slowly turned around, his face horrified.

"Oh my God!!" he screamed. "We are all going to die!! It's an earthquake! Run for your lives, people! Run for cover!!"

Then suddenly his expression changed and he smiled gently.

"Ah," he said in a normal voice. "My bad. It's just the baby elephant running, that's all..." and he looked at me.

The entire gym exploded with laughter, and I was beyond horrified. Oh my God... Freeman buried her face in her palms. I could tell that she was trying to force her laughter back inside her. Her shoulders were shaking. I felt tears burning my eyes, and I couldn't help myself. Yup, I started to cry. I knew that it was the worst thing to do -- I should've just laughed with everyone else. Laughter is the best medicine and weapon, right? If you can laugh at yourself, then nobody can hurt you. But I couldn't stop crying. I was beyond mortified and I had never felt so much pain and humiliation as I felt now.

Freeman finally put her hands down, her face was slightly pink but dead-serious.

"Russell," she said calmly. "Get out of my gym!"

"Why?" he looked genuinely surprised now. "I made a mistake, could happen to anyone, right? I mean..." he shrugged. "The floor was shaking and all..."

"Russell," Freeman's voice had steel in it now. "You will be shaking if you don't get out of my gym right now. Out!"

He sighed in defeat.

"All right," he said. "I was just trying to save everyone, you know... Couldn't stand the thought of my dearest classmates being buried under tons and tons of concrete... I mean, if this building collapses..."

"Out!!"

"Yes, ma'am," he lowered his head in fake humility and walked away.

I couldn't believe it when he looked at me and winked. I almost lunged at him.

"Okay, break into teams, people!" Freeman shouted.

Everybody was looking at me and they were laughing. They were all but pointing fingers at me. Freeman blew her whistle, and the sound was so shrill and unexpected that everybody jumped.

"Are you deaf?" she demanded. "Teams! Now!"

The crowd finally started to look away from me, and I knew I should just walk to the bench and sit down, but I couldn't move. It was as if I was rooted to the floor. Freeman walked up to me.

"Amy," she said softly. "If you want to leave for the rest of the class, it's fine."

If she will start pitying me, I'll kill her.

"Or you can play if you want," she shrugged, and that immediately brought me back to life.

"I'll go," I muttered, tears still falling down on my t-shirt.

"Okay," she nodded. "See you next class."

"Bye..." I mumbled and slowly went away.

I was really glad that I could put on my clothes in peace. Now I only had math and science left. Lunch period was right after gym, so I shuffled to the cafeteria, figuring that I'd much rather eat something before all the hyenas were done with basketball. I cheered up a little when I saw pizza in the cafeteria. I grabbed a tray and reached for a slice of pizza when I heard someone saying very softly behind my shoulder:

"Hurry up before it's all gone. I mean, you need your calories after all that intense workout."

I whirled around. Of course, it was him. Who else could it be?

"What is your problem?" I said in a shaky voice.

He blinked.

"Problem?" he repeated with confusion. "I am just worrying that you'll pass out if you don't get your calories... Seriously, you look like you lost weight or something..."

I had to give it to him -- he could act well.

"Leave me alone," I said evenly and turned away from him.

"Okay," he said lightly. "Let me help you carry all that pizza though... I mean, it'll be awkward for you to deal with all that food stuffed into your tiny tray... You'll probably need a cart or something..."

Okay, that's it. I am not a violent person. I wouldn't even watch action movies too often, because the very idea of fighting would make me wince. But I've had it with him. I didn't care that it was my first day at school, I didn't care that I might get into trouble, I didn't care that I could get suspended. I turned around, swung my tray hard, and brought it down on his head. Well, I thought I did. At the last second, he moved away so swiftly that I almost lost my balance. He laughed.

"Careful with that," he said. "If you break the floor, your parents will have to pay for damages."

"God!!" I screamed and threw my tray at him.

I missed, of course. He moved so easily as if he had trays thrown at him at least a hundred times before. Suddenly, I wasn't hungry anymore, and I stormed out of the cafeteria with Luke laughing his hyena-like laughter behind my back.