Crushes Over Papercuts- A Mid 90s Tale

Chapter 44

The sun was out and the air dry and cool. Perfect postcard weather. I double-tied my laces and hit the asphalt. Mom was in a good mood so I was allowed to run up to the school to practice my sprints on the track. Her trip must have been a success. It also probably helped that I returned her pages within the ten-minute deadline and kept my word to not share the pager number with anyone. Maybe our trust could be rebuilt one small truth at a time.

I unlatched the gate and stepped to the starting line. I was alone...the way I wanted and what I had hoped for on a Sunday at seven thirty in the morning. I set the timer on my watch and ran as fast as I could around the school track. Soon the rhythm of my feet hitting the pavement put me into a near meditative state and each ste in front of the other lessened my stress...like I really could run away from my problems, at least temporarily.

Running was the only thing keeping me sane besides the Snoop Crew. The internal struggle between guilt and fight was consuming me...ripping me in half. I was guilty. Not in the way Courtney's false words claimed, but I broke my mom's trust, lied to her, and kept on lying. Part of me wanted to give up- to take my punishment and move on. A suspension wasn't too terrible, nothing as horrible as an expulsion. I could recover.

But the fighter in me refused to accept the injustice. Bad people shouldn't win. If I could make one thing right in the world, it should be to stop Courtney from creating more victims and expose her actions. Actions have consequences, she reminded me during my failed confrontation where she dug the knife further into my back.

Yes, they do.

And Courtney should be compensated for hers. How many more victims had she left in her path and how many more would she create if she was never held accountable? Kimberly deserved justice. And so did I. My reputation could be tarnished forever and I was certain I would never get Ben's notes back but -

I stopped mid-stride.

I figured it out.

The notes. We passed notes between gym periods in sixth grade before she transferred schools. P.E. was overcrowded and students had to pair up so her and I shared a locker. With my lock. The same lock I still used before she broke into it. She left school after only a few weeks so I hadn't put it together but she must have remembered my lock combo.

How could I have been so stupid?

She was smart. If only she'd use that talent for good.

I rested my hands on my knees and a huge smile filled my face.

Got ya.