THE HIDDEN ENEMY

Chapter three

The Bullies In School.

After school, I went in Antonia's car, first going to Janet's school to get her before heading home. This is what happens most afternoons after school because my father was a busy man and it's not always convenient for him to go pick up Janet and me from school except on those occasions when Antonia had to leave school early for something urgent and I go home by school bus. There was no chat between Tonia and me on the journey to her school as it seems we are both exhausted from the school activities, I was in my dream world again thinking about Eric's invitation for the prom day. I can wait for that day to come because I want to be with him and no one else for the prom because I have had a crush on him since step my eyes, he is sure every girl dreams in school and I am sure in the city too because he looks like a Greek God. I was pulled out of my dream world when we got to her school, I noticed the car has stop move in so I came down from the vehicle to go get my sister but I met her in tears while holding her tummy. I was shocked because she was not one to cry in front of everyone, her other classmates all gathered around her when I enter the school premises. immediately after I saw this I quickly rushed to her and asked what was the cause of her cry. I can also see that there was no teacher around to care for her while she held her tummy.

"Janet, why are you crying?" I asked her as I move closer to her while trying to console her as well. She seems to be afraid to speak to me but I encourage her to tell me what the cause of her cry was.

" You don't need to be afraid, am here now and no one can hurt you while I am here with you," I say to her as I continue to console her and I see her looking around maybe to make sure the bully was not around to hurt her. Some of her classmate to were also trying to explain to me but were afraid to speak probably because the bully was still around in the end Janet choose to explain what happened.

"That boy I told you about was the one who hit me in my tummy again today, you promise to tell daddy but you never did and see what happens again today?" I hear her accuse me.

I facepalm myself thinking that I allowed such a serious issue like that to skip my mind. It made me feel bad and it made me feel I have wrong here.

"Am sorry sis, dad and mum were busy yesterday so I didn't want to disturb them, dad also didn't come to say goodnight to me before I went to bed and this morning you know we were almost late for school. You know we had to rush down to school this morning. I am so sorry this happened but don't worry I will send a text to him on our way home so I can discuss this with him, I am sure he will do something immediately about it." I told her trying to calm her.

While I was busy pacifying my sister I didn't realise Antonia has come in to check on us because we never stay this long in her school and it was like I have spent like we have spent 30 minutes trying to console her.

"What happens to her? Is she sick or hurt? Tonia inquired as she moves closer to us

She moved closer and starts patting her on her back to console her.

"She says a boy in her class was the one that hurt her. I forgot to tell my dad yesterday and when we woke up this morning, it was already late, we had to rush to school so I had no opportunity to discuss it with my dad. she indeed told me yesterday when I came back from school but there was no time to discuss it with my dad. I explained this to Tonia who was not happy with what she saw and this also made me feel bad.

"How can you forget something this severe and unhealthy, what if he had injured her? How do you plan on solving this issue now or are you just going to stand here without making any effort in trying to stop the mistreatments?

She asked me, and knowing Antonia, I know what she can do. I know I have to stop her from going the extra mile to resolve this issue but before I could come up with a way of explaining to her, she pulls my sister's hand and ask her to take her to the principal office and I know this was against the school rules so I ran up to her.

"Is there no teacher in your class? How come he does this and no one could report him, lead the way to your principal's office and let me report this to her." I heard say to Janet as they both moved toward the Principal's office

"Everyone is afraid of him and he has sworn to deal with whoever reports him to the teacher," Janet explained to her while they continue moving towards the office

"Oh! So he owns the school that is why he thinks he can treat people that way? Well, today is going to be the end of all this."

I promptly walk up to her and stop her in her track before she got to the principal office because I know the school has the rules that Parents or guardians are the only ones who can go to the principal to report issues that concern the students and I don't want to create any Problem for my parents.

"Hey! Girl no one can just approach the principal, only guardians and parents are the only ones who are allowed to lodge complaints to the school authorities so, please don't complicate matters, just let me report to my father, he will deal with the issue, I am sorry I fail to tell my father, he would have put a stop it ."

I pleaded with her, trying to stop going to the principal.

"What will she do if I go to her? Will she expel her from school? Why should we keep quiet over this, let her see the tears on her face so she will know what is happening around her school and there is no one mindful of this? We need to put an end to this.

She stresses her reason for wanting to report the matter to the principal which I know is a reasonable reason to do so but I know my father would not like this and I had to stop her from doing this.

"Please this is my fault so let me solve this issue, try and understand my father will be mad at me if we do this, let me call and tell him what happened by tomorrow all this will stop.

Antonia stopped on her track and with fuming anger took my sister's hands without saying anything then storm out of the school. I heaved a sigh of relief and rushed after her before she leaves me behind because I know she was not pleased that she can not do anything about the issue. I enter the vehicle and she drives off with my sister sitting in the back seat. I climb in

" Do not worry Jenny, am sending dad a text message now and I know he will call the Principal immediately."

I picked up my phone from my bag and started sending texts about the issue to my dad. You see my father has told us not to call them except it's something very important because they might be in a meeting and it may affect their concentration that is why I have to send a message to know if I can speak with him.

Texts: Daddy I need to discuss something very important with you. I click the sent button and before I dropped my phone back in my bag, my phone starts ringing and checking the caller ID, it was my father who was at the other end.

"Honey, what happened? Hope you are not sick and your sister too is okay?

I heard him ask me with concern in his voice, I know he will call immediately after he sees my texts if he is not very busy.

"There is a problem with Jenny's school, I met her in......"

My father did let me finish my statement before responding to me because Janet has been known to be someone who likes to create issues unnecessarily and pretends to be innocent.

"Is she at it again? What did she do this time around? Hope it's not something serious this time.*

like I said earlier, Janet is also someone naughty and it is like she has met someone stronger than her. I wonder why she is not standing for herself because she is no pushover.

"Dad, she is not the one at fault here, in fact as I speak she is holding onto her tummy and from all indications, the boy bullies everyone in her class. You know Jenny's not the crying type but when I got to her school, I met her in tears."

I explained everything to my father who on hearing it was quiet for some time before he gave me instructions to take her to the hospital for the doctor to examine her.

"But is there no teacher in her class? How can someone bully everyone in the class and no one is aware of it? Who then sees to the safety of those children? You know what, take her to the hospital while I give the principal a call to book an appointment with her.

"Okay dad I will do just that," I assured my dad

"Give the phone to her let me speak to Janet." He says to me

I gave the phone to her telling her daddy would like to speak to her. I put the phone on speakerphone so I can listen in on their conversation

"Hello princess, how are you feeling now? "

I heard my dad ask her, she burst into tears again while responding to my dad

"Daddy my tummy hurts. He was using his leg to hit me on my tummy. He is very mean and bad to everyone in the class." She explains while in tears to my dad

"Was your teacher in the class when he did this? "

"No she went to the principal's office and before she came back from the office he started hitting me in my tummy. He said if anyone in the class dares report him to the teacher, he will bring cockroaches and put them in their hair. He also said he will beat whoever tell on him and he asks whoever he hit to stop crying when the teacher approached the class." She told my father all that the bully does in the class. I look at her and I can see that she was in pain, I felt guilty for not telling my father on time to stop this from happening.

"When did he start doing this to you, why didn't you report him to me." When my father asked her the question my heart skip a bit because I know I am the one at fault here

I knew I was in soup already because my father always wants us to tell him when we are in any kind of problem.

"I told my big sister and she asked me to be nice to him that he won't trouble me, that if I am being nice to him, he will stop being mean to me because we can not pay evil with evil and I have tried doing that ever since she told me but it didn't work. He is just not bothered if he hurts anyone or not.

"Well she tried to teach you to be at peace with him but I guess he doesn't want peace. That notwithstanding she should have told me?"

I hear my father say to my sister and I was happy that he won't be mad at me again.

"Give the phone back to her and allow the doctor to examine you properly so she can give you the necessary treatment you need and that will take the pain away. Okay?"

"Yes, daddy."

She say and gave the phone back to me. I took it out of the speakers, and then put it in my ear waiting for my father to chastise me for not informing him of the situation earlier but his comments were rather unexpected.

"Honey, I like it that you are teaching her to be more kind and responsible, it shows that you are doing a good job of helping your sister become a better person. Thanks for that and now take her to the hospital before going home so that she can be checked out. I don't want her to have problems in the future due to this assault. Tell Tonia I appreciate her and that I will find a way to compensate her for this." He then hung up before I was able to respond.

When I ended the call I relate my father's message to Antonia who was ever willing to help, she change the direction and headed towards the hospital.

We got to the hospital, and then took Janet to our family doctor who immediately attended to her because luckily for us, she was not having any patients or appointments to meet up. She gave her some pain relief tablets and some that will relief her tummy pain. She said if Janet reacts negatively to the treatment she gave her, we should let her know. She did a scan on her and said she doesn't have any serious wounds and that the tablets will take care of the pain she is having in her tummy.

"Janet make sure you take the drugs and rest when you get home." The doctor told she finishes examining Janet.

"Alright, doc, I will. Thank you doc." My sister responded. I also thanked the doctor and left her in the office.

We left the hospital and headed home. Antonia couldn't come in because it was already late and she need to go home to rest as she still needs to also help her mother out with the cakes.

We enter the house to see that my dad was back from work and has prepared some delicious meals for us.

"Dad, you are back early today, I hope I am not the cause of this because of the news of Janet's assault. "

I asked while observing that Janet was already looking sleepy. In her sitting position, she was already dozing off, so I excuse myself and took her upstairs to clean her up to prepare her for bed but not before making sure she had her dinner.

While heading toward the room my father asked me why Tonia didn't come in.

" Why didn't Tonia come in, I hope it's not because of the stress I put her through."

" No, dad she has some important things to do and we have spent most of the time in the hospital, so she has to rush home to complete them," I explained to him.

After ensuring that she was comfortable enough to get in bed, I decide to leave so I can refresh myself but she stops me in my track.

"Big sis, my homework? I have not done it and my aunt in school will be mad at me if I don't do them now." Janet complains.

I realize everything that happened today had made me forget there's the assignment from school and I have one in particular that I need to present tomorrow in school too. So I asked Janet to bring out her books, while I guide her through her assignment and then headed to my room when I was through with her assignment.

I went into the bathroom to freshen up, put on my nightgown and settle down for my school assignment. I quickly scan through it and discover it was not too difficult to do so after an hour of writing down the answers, I was through with the assignment. I then decided to give Antonia a call to appreciate her assistance earlier today. The phone rang for some time before she picks it up.

"I hope, I didn't wake you because I know you must be stressed out with everything we went through today." I apologise to her when she picked up the call

"No problem am not stressed out, am just doing my assignments, when your call came through so that was why I delay in picking up your call. How is she now? I hope she was not traumatised by the assault. I hate to see someone being treated that way."

She has always been one not to hide her opinion on things. She's always a straightforward person and this is some quality I like in her. So when I heard her words it only help to make me happy she is my friend.

"My dad was able to calm her and he has gone to report the matter to the principal and she promised to put a stop to it. She was surprised to hear that such a thing was going on in the school and she is not aware of it." I gave her the update on the matter at hand.

"That is good to hear, how can such be going on and no one is aware of it, they need to be more vigilant in that school." She expresses her grievances as she speaks.

"Yeah, you are right, my eyes are closing already, I think I will have to sleep now. Thanks for the help rendered. See you tomorrow in school. Goodnight girl and say hello to your mum." I bade her goodnight and waited for her to respond before going off to bed.

"Okay see you tomorrow in school then. Sleep tight." I heard her say and the line went off.

I quickly went downstairs, to tell my father what the doctor said and then bade him goodnight and I settle down for the night.