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“Jason . . .” Catherine sighed as she walked toward the front door of their apartment where her son had just come home from school. “Did you get into another fight at school?” she asked as she bent down to observe him. Even though the foyer slash living room was dim due to the setting sun of late fall, she could still discern dark marks, which she guessed were bruises, all over his face.
“Not my fault Jimmy’s a bully,” Jason muttered.
Catherine gave her son an exhausted look. “I know, but we’ve talked about this. If your father and I are called two more times to the principal’s office because of stuff like this, you’re expelled. This is the closest school and both of us would really love it if you didn’t get kicked out.”
Jason huffed as he stood there, staring at the ugly, dirty carpet in their cramped apartment, unable to look at his mom’s disappointed expression. He hated making her disappointed, but he couldn’t help the other kids at school not liking him and picking fights with him because he was an easy target. This had been going on for as long as he could remember, but it was only since last year that the school had decided to do anything about it. And Jason got the short end of the stick. Again.
Catherine sucked on her lower lip as she noticed a black eye forming over Jason’s left eye, but it didn’t seem as bad as the ones he had gotten in the past. “Were you defending Ben again?”
“No, not this time. Jimmy and his goons—“
“No! I don’t want to hear about it,” Catherine cut him off. She didn’t need to know the details of how he got hurt, especially since there was no way to stop it. The principal made it clear he thought Jason was the problem and would do nothing to stop the bullies from picking on him or any other kid. She glanced at the wall clock. She had to leave for work immediately or she’d be late. With one last look at her son’s bruises, she decided that thankfully this time they didn’t look all that bad. He could probably take care of them on his own.
“I have to leave for work. You’ll be fine by yourself?”
“Yeah. I know where everything is.”
“And if you need anything?”
“I’ll go to Mrs. Walker.”
“That’s my boy.” Catherine turned around and headed back into the kitchen to grab her purse and slung it over her shoulder. She came back and leaned down to hug Jason goodbye. “Be good. I’ll be back around eleven. Try to have your dad call me if he comes home before I do. There’s some leftovers in the fridge for the two of you.” She opened the door and looked back one last time before she headed out. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Jason replied.
Catherine shut the door and headed down the stairs to the ground floor of the apartment complex. She would’ve told him to not open the door for anyone, but with how dangerous Crime Alley was, she knew she didn’t have to. She tried to put the incident out of her mind as she walked to the bus stop. She couldn’t afford to dwell on it right now as it would distract her and being distracted in Crime Alley could cost you your life. Not like worrying about it would do any good. Jason didn’t like it when she worried over him; it made him more defensive (he was like his dad in that respect). It certainly wouldn’t fix the bullying. Catherine wished there was a solution to it that didn’t involve letting it continue unpunished or transferring Jason to another school because right now those were the only options and she didn’t like either of them. Willis wasn’t bringing in money like he used to and if Jason had to be transferred, he’d have to take a bus just to be in the next nearest school district. All that going back and forth two times a day during the school year would add up and they didn’t have room for that kind of expense in their budget. Their money situation had steadily been taking a swan dive the last several years as it was. Catherine wanted to hold onto as much of it as possible; transferring their bullied son simply wasn’t a risk either of them were willing to take right now, especially as there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be bullied at his new school. Then they’d be right back at square one, but with less money. Ever since the dive in their finances, she and Willis had started getting into fights. They tried not to argue in front of or within earshot of Jason, but Catherine suspected he knew anyway; he just chose not to say anything, for which she was grateful. Sometimes he was far too perceptive for his age and it scared her.
After she took her seat on the bus, she pulled her anxiety medication out of her purse and took a couple of pills. She didn’t know if she could make it through her shift without them.
Back in the apartment, Jason pushed a chair in front of the fridge, got on it, opened the freezer door, and pulled out an ice pack, an all-too-familiar item in the Todds’ lives. He shut the door, got down, and put it over his black eye, wincing at the cold.
Despite what his mom said, Jason knew when Dad came home and saw his injuries, he’d be pissed off and fired up. Jason had been there every time his parents had been called to the principal’s office and Willis didn’t even try to hide the fact that he hated the principal and that his son was being used as a fall guy. He almost got into a fistfight with the principal once.
“We don’t need that school, Cathy!” Willis had said afterwards.”There are plenty of other places we can send Jason.”
He hadn’t been against transferring Jason until the cost had been pointed out to him. And he still told Jason that he’d be willing to beat up, or at least intimidate, the bullies’ parents if Jason wanted. Jason had said no as he didn’t think it would actually help; it’d probably just get him kicked out of school faster. There wasn’t much that didn’t reach the principal. And if Mom ever found out, she’d be so disappointed.
Dad had told him to just hang on until middle school. They’d see which one Jimmy was attending and purposefully send him to a different one. They’d still be in the same school district, but not the same building, which hopefully would end the bullying.
Jason dumped the contents of his backpack on the kitchen table and sat down, still holding the ice pack over his eye with one hand, hoping to get most of his homework done before Dad came home and freaked out over his new bruises.