DWP - bullies (part 2)

During recess, Reynaldo throws a small pebble at me.

Pangit! he yells. "Ugly!" His two shadows laugh as well as the other boys in the school yard.

"So what? At least I have a father." I face him with my hands resting on my waist. "You, you're a bastard."

The boys laugh louder and a few of them teased Reynaldo. "Bastard! Bastard!"

"You!" he points at me. "After class, you be ready. I'm going to have you beaten up!"

There is this girl, Gloria, one of Reynaldo's victims. She is tall, at least taller than I am, but skinny. She is sickly as she has asthma. She keeps mostly to herself, like Crispino. From behind, she pulls my pony tail.

"I'm going to kill you later on." She makes this declaration like she is a seasoned fighter then walks away.


Back in the classroom, Mr. Lachico interrupts our Arithmetic class to speak to Mrs. Azores. They glance at me as they talk, and for a moment it makes me think I am in trouble. Well, I am in trouble! After class, Mrs. Azores makes me erase all three blackboards, asks me to count the papers she has from another class, asks me to get water for her. Only a few pupils are left hanging around the schoolyard by the time she tells me to stop and go home.

"Oh, by the way, Lagrimas," she says, "On your way home, I want you to pass by Mrs. Santos's dress shop and ask her when I can pick up my pants, will you please?"

I say "Yes" as I grab my school bag and leave. This errand will make me take the back route from the school, not the normal route I take going home. I look around as I go down the steps to see if Reynaldo and his shadows are waiting for me. But there is only Manuel, one of the boys in my class.

"Lagrimas!" he says, "I heard that Reynaldo is waiting for you at the bridge. You pass by there on your way home, right?"

"Not today," I say, "Mrs. Azores wants me to pass by her dressmaker's shop just to ask for something." I frown. "She made me do a lot today. I think she's picking on me."

"No, I told Mr. Lachico what I heard, so Mr. Lachico told Mrs. Azores. That girl Gloria is with them."

"So they can wait for me there for as long as they want, because I'm taking the backstreet for Mrs. Azores' errands." I walk quicker so that Manuel walks about two steps behind me. He tries to catch up with me and quickens his steps, too.

"Reynaldo told Gloria they will leave her alone if she fights you. And she agreed." Gloria has also been terrorized by Reynaldo and his two shadows-sidekicks. Secretly, I thanked Mrs. Azores for saving me from this fight.


At the turn of the road, in a large vacant lot that is used as the neighbourhood dumpster surrounded by tall reeds so that it is no longer in view of the school, Reynaldo, his two minions and Gloria, along with other kids converge.

"You coward," Reynaldo yells. "I knew you were going to avoid me. You're afraid, aren't you."

"I'm certainly not afraid of you." I know my voice starts to quiver, because in truth, I am afraid. I have not had a physical fight with anyone other than my brother. It is not so much that I might get hurt, I am afraid my parents would find out and more afraid that because of that they will make me stop going to school. This does not look good at all.

Reynaldo walks backwards in front of me. "How come you are ugly and your brother is mestizo? Maybe you were adopted. Maybe your mother was a whore so she left you in the trash. Look at you."

"I still have a father, and you don't." I try to go past him but his two shadows block my way, too.

I take a back step but someone from behind yanks my ponytail. Gloria.

She calls me puta, bastarda, ugly and she curses my mother as well as all my ancestors. This is not the soft-spoken Gloria who teachers say is the best student in Catechism. But I would not deliver the first blow. At least I can say I didn't start the fight.

The first blow comes when Reynaldo pushes me towards Gloria and Gloria whacks my shoulders. It hurts, but I drive my fist on to her stomach, a slight punch, and I hurt more than she probably does. But she is determined to get rid of Reynaldo from pestering her and so she is determined to kill me, as she has threatened earlier. The children who are watching start to yell, cajole, and egg us on. When I realize that Gloria is really serious, as each punch becomes harder and more painful, I start to really fight back.

I remember a story that I have read in comic magazines sometime ago: "Go for the gut!" and my little fists barrel into Gloria's stomach in return to her punches. She starts to cry and grabs my hair, my fist at one point catches her chest. It feels so unreal that my hand has actually landed on another girl's chest and the hallow sound that follow makes me shrink in fear. We fall on smelly rotting vegetables and newspapers.

"Hoy! Hoy! Stop it!" I hear an adult's voice above the din of the other children's yelling. It is Mang Tiko, the ice cream vendor. He leaves his ice cream cart and tries to break Gloria and me apart. He gets hold of Gloria first, tears running down her cheeks, the dust mixing with the tears and gives her face a really dirty look. I get up but Gloria momentarily breaks away from Mang Tiko and she whacks me on my ears.

"I said stop it!" Mang Tiko shouts and yanks Gloria towards him. She spits at him then at me. It feels like my head is about to explode.

"Well, wouldn't you know it!" Mang Tiko tells Gloria. "Wherever did you learn how to act like this. Your mother is certainly going to hear about this." He tells Gloria then turns to me, "You, you go home right now."

Manuel hands me my school bag. I give Reynaldo the finger.

"Reynaldo is a bastard. He doesn't know who his father is because there's soooooo many of them." I yell this at the top of my lungs and the other children laugh and tease Reynaldo. He starts to chase them.


At home, my mother chastises me for dirtying up my dress and tells me to stop playing in the dirt next time. I look in the mirror to check if I have any bruise in my face and I see none. My stomach feels hallow and I can't eat my dinner. Why is it that whenever we have a good dinner, I cannot eat? Mother declares I must be getting sick.


In school the next day, Reynaldo stays away from me, lest I tell the whole world again that he has no father. Gloria does not come to school for a week because she has an asthma attack. During the time she is away from school, I keep praying for her not to die. When she comes back to school, she smiles at me and sticks her tongue out at Reynaldo.