DWP - bullies: prompt

Crispino quietly picks up his tattered school bag from the muddy ground. With the hem of his white t-shirt, he wipes the parts of his notebooks that had been muddied.

Reynaldo, a boy much larger for his age, scoops mud in his hands and approaches Crispino. He wipes his muddy hands on the back of Crispino's shirt then hits Crispino on the back of his head. Crispino, thin and frail looking, does not say anything and instead continues to wipe off the mud from his head. Reynaldo laughs, then as Crispino walks away, he tries to block his way with his large body. Reynaldo's friends, Francisco and Eddie, who are called Reynaldo's shadows because they constantly follow Reynaldo around, both stand back and laugh, egging Reynaldo on as he teases Crispino, calling him a sissy.

In grade five, at 11, I have witnessed Reynaldo and his friends constantly bully Crispino. Crispino never say a word to them. Maybe because Reynaldo is much taller and beefier than him and is accompanied all the time by his two minions. Crispino on the other hand keeps to himself. I don't see him reading his books or doing his homework, he just stays outside the classroom door when there's no class.

Reynaldo and his two friends also teases the girls. The more the girls get angry, the more teasing they get. One time, a girl, Priscilla, in her anger throws her notebook at the boys when she has had enough, but Reynaldo hurls it back at her and the end of the notebook's coil spring scratched her face and it bled. Priscilla ended up in the clinic, and Reynaldo and his two friends ended up in the Principal's office.

For a few days, Reynaldo and friends try to behave but soon get back to their bullying ways. Crispino is an easy target - keeps to himself, and never fights back. Today they have Crispino cornered in the hallway. Reynaldo forces his hand inside Crispino's school bag and fishes out one of his cuadernos, hits Crispino on the head with it so hard that Crispino's eyes start to swell with tears, his face flushed, as he tries to grab his notebook back.

I've had enough.

"Why don't you pick on someone your size for a change, Reynaldo?" I say. "For example, Conrado over there!" I motion towards Conrado who is standing in the middle of the playground. Conrado is my classmate. He is much taller than Reynaldo and is the tallest pupil in grade school. But like Crispino, Conrado is also the quiet type. He is also a little bit slow in class and looks like he daydreams most of the time. But we all know in school that Conrado trains in Judo-Karate and that his father is with the Philippine Marines.

“He’s my friend,” Reynaldo says, fixing the collar of his shirt.

“You’re just afraid of him.”

“Tangina mo!” Reynaldo curses. "Son of a bitch." He clenches his fists.

“Mas puta ang nanay mo, palibhasa taga Kuli-Kuli kayo!” Your mother is the whore, aren’t you from Kuli-Kuli?” I say, and stick my tongue at him. “Everyone knows your mother’s a big whore and you don’t even know who your father is because there’s so many of them.”

Reynaldo spins around, his eyes blazing, his two shadows following in his wake. "Mind your own business, you ugly son of a bitch."

"No, you're the son of the bitch!"

The clenched fists do not escape me and wait for them to come my way. I’ll make sure he punches the concrete wall and not my face. Being small can have some advantages, I’m sure.

He lifts his hand and is about to punch me when Mr. Lachico, one of the Grade 6 teachers, comes out of the next door classroom upon hearing the noisy exchange.

“Reynaldo!” Mr. Lachico yells, his thin bony hands on his tiny waist. “What are you doing fighting with a girl?”

This is one of those times when I am thankful I am a girl. He motions for Reynaldo to approach him. Reynaldo begrudgingly does so. His two shadows stay where they are. Crispino slowly walks away. I sit back on the floor.

“You use that language again and I won’t hesitate to have you suspended. Why don’t you fight a boy your size?” Before Reynaldo could say anything, Mr. Lachico slaps the back of his head, the loud noise makes the children on the playground look up.

Reynaldo’s eyes become red with fury, but Mr. Lachico is a teacher. You disrespect a teacher, you get suspended, or worse, kicked out of the school. Reynaldo stomps his feet on the floor as he walks away, his two friends following him. I stick out my tongue at them.

“You! Come here,” Mr. Lachico says to me.

I walk over like nothing has happened. I have to mask the fact that my knees are trembling.

“Yes, sir?”

“Don’t engage those sons of bitches, okay? Stay away from them, they’re mean people.”

“But, sir,” I say, “They always pick on Crispino. It’s not fair.”

“It’s not your business,” Mr. Lachico say in a firm voice. “Just stay away from them, you understand?”

"Yes, sir," I say nodding my head.