The Crystal by Jones M (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

despite the pain in my stomach. I tried to relax my breathing and to hold onto the meal that threatened to leave my system as puke. I closed my eyes in an attempt to soothe the pain that I felt. No sooner had I closed my eyes than the teacher walked into the class.

"Good morning, class. We have a test today," our teacher said. Some people and I groaned in response. Five minutes later, everyone was quiet as they answered the questions on the test pamphlets. I looked over the questions on the paper, and I was confident I could ace the test.

Ever since my father passed away, everything had gone to hell in the financial department. Both my mom and dad used to work to support the family. Since it was currently my mom who provided for the both of us, we had to be cautious about our spending. My mother told me that my dad did not leave anything for us, so my mom had to work a lot of shifts, and she usually came home late. I tried to help wherever I could, but she always told me to focus on my studies. I was planning to go to Princeton after high school so that I could start life afresh with no bullies and I could get a job to help my mom. Apart from studying hard to get A's, I had to maintain a perfect school record. That meant that I had to be a perfect schoolgirl, even if that included going through the hell I persevered with my bullies.

The bell soon rang.

"Time's up!" the teacher yelled as he stood up and began collecting our pamphlets. I got out of the class to head to my next one. I did not share the following class and the others that followed with my bullies, so I was safe.

Hours later, lunch was soon about to end. After eating alone in the back of the school cafeteria, I headed to my locker and took out my English book. The locker suddenly slammed shut, almost cutting my fingers off. I jumped as a reaction, my eyes quickly zeroing on Liam's evil stare. I looked around, noticing he wasn't with his posse.

"Hey, bitch. Missed me?" my eyes turned to focus on the floor. I could feel the students who were getting their books from their lockers stopping to observe. No one could have helped me, not even the teachers. 

I had tried to tell the teachers about what Liam and his gang were doing to me, but I had no proof. No one in the school was confident enough to go against the five and to support me. So that left five people against one. 

Who would have believed me?

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" my head snapped up to face Liam with my eyes widened when he shouted. That got the attention of everyone who was moving about in the hallway. They all stopped to look.

"Please don't hurt me," I said. That was my usual reply. He laughed before punching me in the gut. I dropped to my knees while people around us gasped. My hands clutched my stomach. The lunch I had just ingested escaped my lips and landed on Liam's shoes as vomit.

People around us made disgusted sounds as I continued to hurl loudly on his shoes. When I was done, I felt disgusted by what I had done. 

"You slut! Do you know how much these shoes cost me? Clean them up!" Liam ordered. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I started to get up, but he clutched my hair.

"Where do you think you are going?" he spat. Pain started radiating in my skull. He was using too much force on my hair. If he continued, I was certain some of it would come off. Tears threatened to escape my eyes, but I blinked them away.

"I-I'm g-going to get the mop and water," I stuttered.

"No, you're not. You're going to lick them, like a bitch!"

My eyes widened in disbelief. Time stood still as people waited for my answer.

"No," I said.

It took him some time to process what I said before his eyes widened in shock.

"What did you say?" he asked as if waiting for me to change my answer.

"I said no, Liam!" I shouted. His expression turned into one of anger. He went to say something, but I cut him off. "I will not lick off the vomit just because you said so. You were the one who punched me in the gut! As for your shoes, I could care less about how they look. You can stick them right up your ass!" I shouted before swiftly walking to the girls' bathroom. Some people gasped as they all watched my infuriated form match away from the scene. 

When I got in the bathroom, I washed my face and my mouth to get rid of any signs of vomit. After a while of staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, what I had done suddenly smacked me in the face. 

I stood up to Liam. 

Instead of feeling happy, I felt fear tug at my heart. He was definitely going to tell Harry and the rest. And they would make sure I paid for it.

What have I done?

 

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It was soon the last lesson of the day. As the teacher droned on and on about organic chemistry, my mind was elsewhere. The fear of what Liam would do was still flowing through my veins. After the puking incident, he didn't bother me. I shared afternoon classes with some of his friends, and they did nothing. If I knew anything, it was that Harry and Liam never backed out on exacting revenge. They must have been planning something awful because neither he nor Liam bothered to bully me on my way to my last classes.

The bell rang, indicating that school was over. My head turned sideways, searching for any sign of Harry and his gang. Seeing that they weren't around, I quickly packed the stuff I needed for the night and hightailed it out of school. My mother was too busy to pick me up after school on that day. It was okay because I was not looking forward to waiting for her when Harry and his minions were after me.

I was running away from the school. I saw some curious looks thrown my way, but I paid no attention to them. I wanted to reach home soon before Harry and his goonies found out where I lived.

Unfortunately, I did not reach that far. I soon tripped on something and fell face first onto the ground. My nose had broken on impact, and a pained scream escaped my lips. I heard a group of people laugh as they approached my form. It did not take me long to realize it was the bullies. 

B-but how?

"You didn't think I would let you get away with it, did you?" I heard Liam whisper next to my ear. A hand reached for my hair, making my form tense. I screamed as the person grabbed it and used it to force me to stand. For a moment, I thought I saw some white stars dance across my vision.

"Let me go you sick psychotic bitch!" I yelled out in anger, and as a result, I received a punch on my nose. If possible, my nose broke again. There was a moment of dizziness as pain spread across my face. I soon felt blood ooze down my nostrils.

"Wow! I like this kind of Emery. She puts the excitement in what we're about to do next. What brought this up?" Zane said as he dragged me by the hair towards him and clenched his other hand around my throat. I couldn't speak because his hold was strong. In a matter of seconds, I found it hard to breathe as white stars started dancing across my vision again.

"Zane, you're choking her!" Ethan said. His hands released my throat, and I started coughing on air.

"Maybe it's because I am done being your punchbag." I spat. 

I sometimes did that. I would try to fight, but they would break my resolve. Then I'd fight, and they would break me. It went on and on, until on that day. I decided then to use my powers since I knew what they had in store for me would be awful.

For a moment, I wished I had dealt with the five before it became such a problem.

I tried to use my telekinesis powers, but they didn't work. I tried again, but they still didn't work. I reached out my right hand as I tried to summon a fireball in my palm, but it also didn't work.

"What are you doing?" Logan asked, and I instantly began to panic. My powers were not working! 

What was happening? 

The new power I had discovered—well, it was still new. I had to learn how to control it.

"We are not done with you until we say so!" Liam said before delivering a slap on my face. My head turned to face him, and I sent him a glare. Behind the glare, I was scared. Of all the moments I wanted to use my powers, they chose that day not to work. My mind started running with thoughts.

"What if your families happen to find out?" I threatened them, which happened to be a bad idea. In an instant, a punch was delivered near my head. It throbbed on impact, and I felt a bruise forming. I doubt I would be able to cover that up. Then another hit was delivered, making me pass out.

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By the time I came around, I found myself staring at the sky. It was already night as evidenced by the stars. I looked around, but my eyes were still weary. Sudden pain throbbed at a side of my head.

"Ow," I groaned as I held my head. I felt something wet on it. I retracted my fingers from it. It took me a while, and I was able to make out something red. My eyes widened in disbelief.

What did those idiots use to hit me? Were they insane?

I also felt a painful throb on my right cheek. I could have sworn someone had broken a few teeth. Fear gripped my heart on how I would explain to my mother the current events.

My mother!

"She's awake," I heard Ethan's voice. Fear quickly swarmed around my heart. I heard footsteps approaching, and then the five boys came into view. What really had me frightened were the metal rods they held. The rods were brown and about half their heights, and they were about a water pipe thick. 

I started to back away from them, only to end up with my back against a tree.

"You have been a bad girl, Emery," began Harry. "You puked on Liam's shoes, and he ordered you to lick the mess, but you didn't. You even told him to stick them up in his derriere. Then when school was over, you threatened to tell our families about us. I don't know Emery, but I believe you need to be punished."

My heart thudded in my chest, threatening to explode out of my chest. There was nothing else on my mind apart from the worry mixed with the phobia of what would happen to me. Liam and Ethan suddenly grabbed my arms and dragged me past the tree. I landed on my back with my head still aching. I turned around to show them my back as blood oozed out my nose.

I tried to use my powers, but they didn't work. Nothing mattered then than escaping from the people in front of me. If possible, I could go to a nearby police station and report them for physical abuse.

"This will teach you not to run your mouth off," I swear my heart stopped beating at Ethan's statement, and it resumed pounding at a faster pace. Suddenly, I felt pain spread across my back as something hard hit it.

A scream tore from my lips and echoed into the silent night. I tried crawling away, but