Amanda (t0rntearsx) wrote, @ 2005-06-08 14:48:00

My "Novella"


We all get picked on some time in our lives, some more than others. There’s the ugly girl, the annoying girl, the fat kid, the poor kid. It seems like growing up in today’s society means that if you have money or looks you can poke fun at those who don’t. Peer pressure makes it worse. You could be the nicest person in the world and when you’re around that certain group of people, they make it so you don’t even know yourself. The worst thing is, we don’t even realize we’re doing it and that we could be changing people’s lives.. and not for the better.

Vacation Bible School. I was one of the councilors for our little group, Leo’s Lions. It was an all girl group so I could sense some serious drama coming our way. By the end of the first day, they had settled down into their little groups and it was no mystery who was friends and who weren’t. There was only one little girl left out of the groups. Mary Catherine. She was a lot more overweight than the others. She was the “fat kid” mentioned above. They all poked fun at her, but the worst torment came from the councilors, shamefully one of them being myself. We made fun of her like there was no tomorrow. Some of us even did it to her face. We would make her cry and then make her happy, and then go right back to crying again. I don’t know why we did it. Perhaps it was because it just made us happy to see another girl in pain and it helped us get rid of our anger and stress by taking it out on her. The strange thing? She never stopped liking us. She’d talk to us like we were her best friends and she’d almost ignore the fact that we were teasing her. She talked to me the most, and I was her worst tormenter. I almost felt bad that I was doing it, but I didn’t like her. She was annoying and she made me laugh when she was mad or upset. So, we sat down one day and she pushed her little prayer card towards me. “Can you read this while I say it? I want to see if I’ve memorized it.” Reluctantly I took it and looked at it. The Our Father stared at me in the face. The only thing I remember thinking was How on earth can she just not know the Our Father? I’ve known it since I was a baby. But, her little trembling mouth formed the words and her voice stumbled a bit as she read it. My eyes closed as she said it, remembering all those times we’d poked fun at her.



Our Father Who Art In Heaven
Hallowed Be Thy Name

“Mary Catherine, go sit down for the rest of snack. You aren’t allowed to talk to anyone else. Don’t even look at anyone else.” I said.
“And stop crying. You’re going into 4th grade. stop being such a baby.” Lindsay added. Mary Catherine slowly made her way over to the bench where she started crying, her head in her hands, refusing to look up.
“Hilary.. go tell her she can get up.” I whispered to a different councilor who wasn’t in charge of our group. Hilary went over to Mary Catherine, telling her that she was free to leave the little spot we had put her in. Mary smiled, got up, and started walking towards the court.
“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?!” I practically screamed at her. “GO SIT DOWN. NO ONE TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD GET UP.”
She looked at me with eyes covered in tears and stuttered, “B-b-b-but Hilary t-t-told me I c-c-could.”
“Hilary’s not in charge of you. Just go sit down before I call your mom.” I smirked as she went to sit down again, sobs almost taking over her body. Once she was out of earshot, we all started laughing. We had a right to.. she was such a baby, right?

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

“You’ve got something brown on your pants.” Lindsay said.
“WHERE?!” Mary ran into the bathroom and planted herself in front of the mirror, looking desperately for the stain. She found it and ran again to the sink to put some water on a paper towel. The mark still wouldn’t come out. “Oh.. must have been a cookie I sat on or something.”
“Actually, I think you pooped your pants.” Lindsay remarked.
“No.”
“Aw.. let’s just get out of here MC Poopy Pants.” I said. Tears started forming in the back of her eyes as she left the bathroom, walking down the hallway, her palm covering the stain on her butt, as tears welled up in her eyes.

Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses.

Mary Catherine stood under the gym, bouncing her big red ball. I knew how she would react if some one took it away from her, so I just had to do it. Mason, one of the many problem children in our groups was going to be the one who did it. I tapped him on the shoulder and made him go over and take the big red ball. She screamed and started chasing him around the gym. By now, she had run to the councilors, crying telling us she wanted her ball back. We just tried not to laugh. She started crying harder and Chris ran away from the councilors, returning with a whole box of cookies. He gave them to her and her face changed from one of complete depression to the biggest smile in the world, one that could warm the coldest person’s heart. Not mine. Not the other councilors. For, we had Mason run to her, take them, and then eat them in front of her. It gave us something to laugh at and made us feel better. Right.

As we forgive those
Who trespass against us.

“Mary, close your legs, we’re at Bible School, not Nebraska Avenue.”
“Mary.. would you stop that?”
“Stop being such a baby Mary Catherine.”
“MC Poopy Pants!”
“Look at her. She’s so ugly and so fat. Glad I wasn’t like her when I was little.”
“Is she trying to make the song sexy? Cause that’s something she’ll never be.”
All the things I had ever said about this sweet little girl swirled through my head and almost made me dizzy.

And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from every evil.



She finished, jumping up and yelling a thanks before running to her mother and giving her a big hug, chattering away about what kind of day she had. I sat there, almost in tears. It seemed like this girl just couldn’t be crushed. Her spirit was so strong that she could be made fun of every second and still be bouncing around at the end of the day. I was once told that God gave only the strong such disabilities. He gave me one. I was told that if it wasn’t for what happened to me, I wouldn’t be such a great person. I don’t deserve to be teased because I’m a little different, so why should she? Why should she have to fall victim to other’s stress and anger? She shouldn’t, and neither should any other kid who’s a little different from anyone else. If she hadn’t of asked me to listen to her say the Our Father, I think I would still be the same, but I’m not. I don’t think it was her doing that made her want to memorize that prayer for me. I think that maybe someone above is watching out for us, and he needed to give me a reality check. I thank him for that.

	__wishuwerehere 2005-07-16 18:34 (link)
	Hey. I read your entry in the hella_quotes community, and it scared me. I really hope you and Tommy are doing okay. Let me know how things go ? My aim is rawrr im a dinoo . Or just comment my journal. Thanks hunn ♥ (Reply to this) (Thread)