Pretty Venom |N.H|

16

June 9.

When I was in second grade there was this girl in my class. Her name was Natalie. She was the popular girl, the girl all the little boys crushed over, the girl who seemed to have all the best toys, all the best birthday parties. Nothing could intimidate eight-year-old me more.

She wasn't very nice, but somehow all the girls wanted to be friends with her. Including me.

She was very selective of her friends, the only people she would allow in her home for her sleepovers being those girls just like her — stuck up and snobby.

But still, I thought she was royalty.

Until I saw the side of her no one wanted to take note of.

At the end of recess our teacher called us back into class. Everyone was running from the playground into the school, but I was too excited that I had gotten to the tallest height out of all the kids on the swings.

Natalie, being the snob she was, found it her duty to bring me inside. I don't even think my teacher had noticed I wasn't with the class, but Natalie sure did.

I was starting to come back down from the swings myself and certainly didn't need assistance from anyone else. This didn't stop Natalie from sneaking behind me on the swings and shoving me off. When I hit the ground she said, "You're supposed to be inside!"

Yeah, bitch, I fucking know.

Now I'm on the ground.

But did you see that height I got on the swings?

I followed her back inside without picking a fight, hiding the blood trickling down my knee. When my teacher noticed me bleeding and asked me what happened I told her I tripped coming inside.

I didn't want to tattle on Natalie, but I think I was also too shocked to even process that she had put her hands on me.

That day after school, my brother asked where I got the Batman Band-Aid. I lied and told him that I tripped, but he knew it'd take more than a trip for me to scrape my knee up.

I cracked and told him the real story after he held me in a headlock.

Him, being twelve at the time, insisted that I learned to stand my ground. He told me not to let her push me around again, and I guess I was so hopped on a the thrill of sticking up for myself that I carried that energy going into school the next day.

I saw Natalie, wearing one of her obnoxious tutus and light up Skecher's. I don't know what came over me, considering she hadn't even looked at me yet, but I decided to take that moment to stand my ground.

I marched over to her in my velcro sneakers — which were pretty sick if I'm honest — and pushed her to the ground.

She let out this ugly cry, so loud that it caught everyone's attention, including my teacher's. Because my actions were unprovoked, and a day late, I was sent to the principal's office. I tried to explain that she had pushed me first, causing me to bleed, but because I wasn't struck with confidence until a day later, I was punished with lunch in my teacher's room.

Most kids actually favored having lunch with their teacher. I guess it gave children a superiority complex, but I knew I messed up when she sat me in the corner of the classroom by myself.

My mother wasn't happy to hear of my actions either. She said I was setting a bad example for Sophie, and she might follow in my footsteps and start tripping kindergarteners, but she proved that she didn't need anyone's help to do that.