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There’s this girl in my class who can’t walk properly. Her name is Kusari Chen, and she’s half Chinese. She started school a little later than everyone else so she became the center of attention when she first arrived. Everyone was kind of mean to her because she couldn’t stand up without her… crushes? Clutches? The sticks she uses to help her walk. I wanted to befriend her because the other kids were mean to me before too and I knew that it wasn’t a good feeling.
“Hi! Your name is Kusari, right? I’m Yuna,” I told her when I walked up to her desk. She looked at me and smiled.
“Hello Yuna, it’s nice to meet you,” she replied. But at that moment, some other girl appeared out of nowhere and interrupted what other thing Kusari was going to say to me. She got her attention and brought her group of friends along to crowd around Kusari. I didn’t think much about it because I knew it was the other girl’s fault and decided to try again later.
Everywhere Kusari went, people ran up to her all excited and talked with her. I don’t get it, they were mean to her on her first day but now they’re being all friendly? It’s been about a week and I never got the chance to actually talk to her since the first day. I get that she’s different but she can’t be that special. She barely had to do anything and suddenly everyone was at her heels. Maybe it’s her smile. After all, it all started because she smiled, at me, and spoke. Is it all because of that? That’s crazy.
I’ve been in this school since first grade and this kind of thing never happened to me. Now that I think about it, I was also hurt—my arms and legs were all blued, yet nobody was like this to me. So why is Kusari getting so much attention despite her crippled legs while I just got made fun of? I tried so hard to make friends for three years and she got it all with a simple smile. Even the teachers were nice to her. I get that she can’t walk and that’s probably not her fault but it wasn’t my fault that I had bruises either. And they weren’t nice to me. This is so unfair.
The bell for lunch rang and everyone in my class, and of the other classes, ran out of the door to the cafeteria. Since we were in the fourth grade, we were on the second floor of the school so when I arrived at the stairway with my two closer friends, I saw Kusari there, by herself. Usually when she needs to go up and down the stairs, there’s a teacher helping her out. This time for some reason, she tried to go down by herself with her crutch-stick things. It looked pretty pathetic, if I do say so myself. One of my friends who’s not as close to me as my other friend went to Kusari. She went to help her out, and when she did that other kids saw it and started to come over too.
I felt like I saw red for a moment and didn’t have control of my body. I joined them, and I pushed my friend really hard to the side which ended up pushing Kusari too. Except, she fell down the stairs. She rolled down on her side and bounced a few times until she stopped. Everyone who was there and saw the scene gasped in shock as she looked up at me with a horrified, but tired expression, and I looked back with nothing. Her eyes closed and the only thing that was moving were her shaking, messed up legs. I just stared. I think my closest friend slapped me in the face and some other kids were yelling at me, but I just stared down at Kusari.
I stopped staring when I saw a teacher I didn’t know coming up to me and she grabbed my arm and dragged me downstairs and towards the office. On my way, I saw Kusari again, briefly. But this time, she was carried on a flat hammock by two hospital people out of the school with our teacher on the side. I could see the flashing blue and red lights peeking out of the corner of my eyes until I couldn’t because of the office door closing behind me. I was now sitting face to face with the school principal with the teacher who dragged me on the side, and a few other students who probably saw everything happen. When he asked what happened, I wasn’t able to answer; I couldn’t even speak. I couldn’t tell if I felt bad or not. Instead, the students told him what happened according to what they saw, and it was really exaggerated. They said that I beat Kusari up and kicked her down the stairs and beat up my friends too.
“I didn’t do that! I didn’t do anything,” I retorted. I shouldn’t get in trouble for something that’s not true, and it’s not like I meant to push her anyway. It’s not my fault.
“Oh zip it!” shouted the teacher, “When I arrived I saw that poor student unconscious on the ground while you were at the very top of the stairs with no remorse on your face! If you didn’t do it then are you saying she fell on her own?”
“We saw you push her, you bully! Everyone did,” one of the students declared. At that point, thanks to that stupid teacher, the principal didn’t bother listening to me anymore.
I was suspended for the time being. I should be glad but I’m scared. I don’t know why I’m scared though, I feel like I deserve worse but it’s not like it was my fault. Mom was sleeping so when the telephone rang I had to answer it myself. It was from a doctor of the hospital and he told me that Kusari can’t walk anymore. I didn’t really understand, I mean she could barely walk to begin with and she simply fell down the stairs. She didn’t even fall on her legs and the stairs weren't that high. I told him that it was ridiculous and I hung up the phone. A few minutes after the phone rang again and this time it was from the principal. He told me I was expelled for ‘causing serious physical injury’ to someone else. I guess the doctor told him that Kusari can’t walk again forever. And then he hung up. I sat there in the living room for a while. Mom is gonna find out soon and I’ll be in trouble. This is the worst.