My Worst Enemy

Max liked to sit alone at lunchtime on the playground, which was enclosed by wooden boards with red paint flaking off. His favorite thing to do was to listen to the rhythmic squeak of the swing as he swung back and forth. Every time that he kicked his legs out at the height of the swing, he felt free like an eagle taking flight. It was the only place that he felt free. 

“Here we go again,” Max murmured under his breath as two of his classmates approached. 

The two boys started calling out to Max, “Hey loser! Sitting alone again? Go figure. You literally have no friends! It didn’t have to be this way if you had just helped your best friends out, but you didn’t like a little punk, and we wasted our whole summer repeating that Spanish class.”

Max had dreaded returning to school because he knew that he would have to face his two closest friends turned bullies over one decision. 

“Hi Pete and Leo,” Max half-heartedly replied. “Could you guys just leave me alone today?”

“Why would we do that? You ruined our summer vacations and broke our code of always helping each other out. You betrayed us, so now we’re going to make you regret that decision.”

“There’s nothing you can say or do to me that’s worse than what I have said to myself every day since you started bullying me because you made me my own worst enemy,” Max remarked with tears forming in the corner of his eyes. He just couldn’t forget all the fun times they had together riding bikes, playing MarioKart, and eating ice creams on the hill by their school while watching cars go by.

At this point, Max sensed the escalation in their words. Pete stepped behind him and Leo stood in front. Leo gave Max a firm shove, and Max staggered backwards. Pete shoved him back toward Leo. Just like the swing. Back and forth. Back and forth. But this time he wasn’t flying away. 

Max gave up trying to fight them; he was stuck. After about two minutes of this, Pete stepped out of the way and Max fell to the ground. Leo mumbled something, and he and Pete ran because they saw a teacher’s aide assigned to yard duty look in their direction. 

The aide slowly began walking over to Max who was just beginning to stand up. She crossed the blacktop in a direct line to Max paying little attention to the other children playing knock-out on the basketball hoop. Max scrambled to his feet, brushed himself off, trying to straighten his khaki pants and blue and white striped t-shirt. He walked back toward the swing and sat down.

“It’s Max. Isn’t it?” the aide asked. Now that she was within arm’s reach, he recognized her: it was Miss Jennifer, who had just started helping at the Cesar Chavez Middle School part-time as she was finishing up her student teaching. She always seemed to dress in a nautical style with her white khaki pants, navy blue sweater, white Converses with a red band around the sole of the shoe, and a red ribbon tied around her neck. 

“Yes, I’m Max.” 

“Is everything ok? I saw you fall down pretty hard, and those two other boys leave you lying on the ground.”

“I’m ok; we were just playing monkey in the middle, and I fell,” he lied. 

“Let’s take a look to make sure that you’re ok,” she replied.“Looks like just a few scrapes and a couple of bruises. We should head over to Mrs. Oliver, the school nurse, to get them cleaned up. We don’t want them to get infected.” 

“I’m fine,” Max said, “Thanks for checking on me.”

Miss Jennifer replied, “I need you to be honest with me. Those boys weren’t just playing with you. They were bullying you. Your bruises don’t match your fall. They’re too high up on your arms.”

Max’s breathing became rapid and shallow. He realized that he would have to tell her what happened. “Yea, they were bullying me. But please don’t tell anyone because it will make things worse for me. They already hate me. And they will hate me even more. They’ll call me a tattle-tell.”

The aide placed her hand on his shoulder, looked him directly in the eye with her deep brown eyes, and said with a kind yet firm tone, “Max, I understand that you are afraid of them, and causing more trouble, but do you want this to stop? You deserve this to stop. No one should treat you like this. And it’s my job to make sure that things like this don’t happen in our school.”

Max nodded in acknowledgment. He offered, “These two guys were my best friends last year, but when I wouldn’t help them cheat on the final exam for Spanish class they cut me off. They both failed the class, and had to repeat it during Summer school. They started bullying me on social media, and then when we came back this year they started to get physical.”

“Thank you, Max, for telling me. It’s really brave of you to share this. I know that it wasn’t easy for you. I promise that I am going to help you,” reassured Miss Jennifer.

Max took a deep breath and felt a little better, but he wasn’t sure what “helping” him meant. 

She continued, “Would you be willing to tell me their names?” 

Max played with his foot in the wood chips under the swing. 

She tried a different approach, “Max, I know they were your friends, and that you think this will make things worse, but you didn’t do anything wrong. You were very brave and honest. You didn’t help your friends cheat. I haven’t met many students who would have done what you did. And I’m proud of you.”

With those last words, the edge of his lips curved ever so slightly into what could pass for a smile. 

“They’re Peter and Leonardo in Mrs. Hernandez’s class,” he mumbled. 

“That’s a good start. Let’s take this one step at a time. And I promise you things will get better. We’re a team now. You don’t have to do this alone. Let’s go get you cleaned up, and then let’s take on those bullies!”

Max jumped off the swing and followed Miss Jennifer toward the office as the swing squeaked rhythmically back and forth. Back and forth. 

The End.