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Chapter 2: Back to School
Summer wasn’t spectacular but it was far better than being in school. He might not have gone anywhere exotic, his family were of modest means but living in Ramsgate provided him with the opportunity to go to the beach whenever he wanted. Furthermore, he didn’t have to worry about crowds like in the old days. That was one positive about the Tye School shooting. Even ten years on, summer tourism had significantly declined and looked like it was never going to recover. The town was now looking for other ways to stimulate its economy, not that any of it mattered to Sean. At least for him, he didn’t have to see any of those kids who picked on him.
Unfortunately, summer was now over and he was going back to the hell of school. Like he did every day, Sean took a deep breath before entering the school gates of Bernard A. Tye Middle School. Once through, he scanned the playground looking for his friend Jeremy and the bullies to avoid. He couldn’t see Jeremy but he did see the bullies. All of them were in a crowd near the school building so it was easy to escape their notice. At least until he had to go in.
His first day of school wasn’t too bad. Of the three bullies who had targeted him on the last day of school, only one was in his class. That happpened to be the tall Timi Pizano who merely held him so his buddy, the shorter Eddie Greenblatt, could abuse him properly. “Maybe the school year wasn’t going to be so bad,” Sean thought to himself as he walked out of the school gate.
Suddenly, he felt a strong hand shove him forward. Barely able to maintain his balance, Sean turned to see the same three boys from the Remembrance Service. Tim and the other boy, John Miller, grabbed him. They held Sean tight as Eddie stuck a thick index finger to Sean’s nose. “Your girlfriend isn’t here to save you now.” he snarled.
“That’s right,” John added from behind Sean. “I heard the cops tell her that if she ever comes back, they will throw her in jail.”
“Yeah!” Eddie parroted. “You got no one to save you now.” With that, he punched Sean very hard in the gut. If it hadn’t been for the other two holding him upright, Sean would have doubled over. Instead, he had to take the pain. The small crowd, which was gathering around to view events, only encouraged the bullies further. Giving Sean a slap across the face, Eddie warned, “We don’t like weirdos around here so stop being weird or we will do this to you every day.”
The bullies then let their target go, much to the sniggers of the onlookers. Sean, on the other hand, didn’t find anything amusing about it. He had been humiliated before but now it seemed that Eddie and his two henchmen were not only going to carry on the bullying from sixth grade, they were going to increase it in seventh grade. He was beginning to understand why that Leversee kid shot up the school.
Peaceful Rampage 