Adversity

Silverwood Academy

Story 2:

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

Proverbs 17:17

Jesse

The imposing oak door with bold letters: HEADMISTRESS stood in front of me, and I gulped. Why did the Headmistress want to see me? Was I in trouble of some kind? Taking a deep breath, I reached for the handle, but before I could even grasp it, it flew open and a girl, about 12, with long wavy brown hair and green eyes, ran into me.

“Hey!” She said, annoyed. But I could tell she was angrier at whatever had happened in the office than at me.

“Are you ok?” I asked, stooping down and gathering up the books she had dropped on the floor by my feet.

“I- I’m fine,” she said after a moment and flounced away, her curls bouncing with each step. Shrugging, I stepped into Mistress Blakeson’s office finding her and two other girls from my grade seated at the desk in the center of the room. The first girl I recognized after a moment. Cheri Nealson had been on my hockey team last year and now she smiled her toothy grin my way and I gave her a little wave and smile, taking a seat beside her.

“Hello. Jesse Sage. Nice of you to join us.”

I could tell Mistress Blakeson was not happy about my punctuality and quickly replied, “I’m sorry, Mistress Blakeson.”

“Now that you three are here, I can get started. The school board has decided to launch a program called the PartnerProgram designed to match an older student with a younger student who is a bully or gets bullied. The older students will have a mentorship relationship with the younger to help them. Not all students need or want a Partner, but we already have 6 older students partnered with 12 younger ones, but we need more willing older students in order to fully launch this program. We were wondering if you three would be interested,” Mistress Blakeson finished, looking at each of us.

“What does being an older partner all involve?” Cherrie asked after a second.

“For example, some students bully because there is a problem in the home. Maybe there was a divorce, or perhaps a family member has passed away. Your goal would be to figure out the 'problem' then help them process it, eventually stopping them from being bullied or being a bully themselves. If you took on this partner program, you’d be 'working on' or with, 2-4 kids at a time. You’d report back to me or another teacher once a week and as soon as you think someone doesn’t need to be mentored anymore, you tell me. You have all the freedom. If you only want 1 or 2 kids at a time, that is fine too.”

It was quiet and I glanced at the two other girls.

Cheri seemed to think for a moment, then said, “I’ll do it, Mistress Blakeson. When do I start?”

“Very good! You can start whenever you want. Larissa?” she said, addressing the other girl after talking with Cheri.

“Will you do it?”

“I… I don’t think so, ma’am. I’m just not the type,” Larissa said, pushing back her chair. “That’s totally ok. Why don’t you get to class.”

“Thanks, see ya.” She seemed to address Cheri more than the Headmistress and disappeared out the door.

“Jesse?”

“Yes. I’ll do it. I’ll try it, anyways,” I said after some though.

“Bravo, sister,” Cheri said, high-fiving me with a smile.

“Your first Partner will be Jillian Johns, a 7th grader who has been reported with bullying a girl named Vee Paulson. You, Cheri, will be partnered with Vee. I had a meeting with Jillian before you two. I warned her that she would be expelled the next time she was caught bullying and partnered her up with this program. You'll start next week, after school hours, at the library. I'll email you two with more information. Now, out you go. I have a meeting with Mrs. Kai," Mistress Blakeson said, getting up and heading for the door.

"Thank you, good bye, Mistress Blakeson," Cheri said, and we followed her out.

That annoyed girl had been Jillian! What had I gotten myself into?

The clock seemed to tick slower than usual as I sat in a corner of the library, trying to read. Trying was the key word as I re-read the same page over for the third time in a row. Was she even coming? Mistress Blakeson had emailed me a file about Jillian Johns, a thirteen year old even though in grade seven. I wondered if that was one reason for bullying others. After a small course on the basics of partnership a week ago, I had learned that embarrassment of the past can trigger a lot of bullying. Ms. Harrison, my instructor, had me do a test and decided I would do best in helping/stopping bullies, while Cheri had been decided to help those who got bullied regularly.

I was shaken from my thoughts when a young girl, about eleven, approached me and asked, "Hey, excuse me, but could you reach that book up there? I'm kind of short for my age."

Her uniform's navy blue tie was loose and the white socks were lopsided, one pulled higher than the other. The white uniform's tights were grass stained at the knees and strands of orange hair fell over her forehead, slightly covering a large, nasty, yellowish, purplish, bruise. I stood up and followed the girl.

"My name's Cleo. Cleo Winds. And before you ask what happened to my face, I fell out of a tree," the girl said, watching me reach up and grab a book entitled, "The Adventure Guide for Girls."

"Hi Cleo, I'm Jesse Sage. I'm waiting for a... a friend. What are you up to?"

"I'm meeting a friend outside to look through this book in private." Cleo looked suspiciously around, then went on tiptoes and I leaned down.

"Pranks," was all she whispered into my ear, then dashed off.

I sat back down at the corner table and only just in time, too, because a angry Jillian stomped through the library and sat herself down across from me.

"Hi, Jillian, I'm Jesse. How are you?"

"Hi. I'm good," she said grumpily and crossed her arms.

"So, what do you like to do for fun?"

"Stuff. Hockey," she replied.

This wasn't working. I tried to think back to what Ms. Harris had said. Try not offend her, go easy the first few times, share something personal.

"Well, Jillian, I also really enjoy hockey. I play forward. What position do you play?" I tried. "Defense." There was an awkward silence and I tried again.

"Do you like reading?"

"Ya."

"What genre?"

"Uh, adventure, romance, or mystery," Jillian said.

"Then this will interest you." It felt like a lightbulb had gone off in my head. If I wanted her to trust me, I'd have to trust her first. Leaning close, I whispered, "I found a door. A door that has been painted over." She arched her eyebrows and I could tell that I'd snagged her attention. "And, I think I know what the room was." Someone tapped my shoulder and I jumped.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering if you wanted to go swimming after you're done here." It was Kayla, a close friend.

"Sure."

It seemed that Jillian began to trust me more after I asked her to keep the door a secret.

Ms. Harris emailed me a verse later that day: "Do to others as you would like them to do to you." (Luke 6: 31) As I lay in bed that night, I realized that since I'd trusted Jillian to keep my secret quiet, perhaps she would trust me to keep her secret quiet. Maybe God brought me to this very school so I could help girls face their fears. With that comforting thought, I fell asleep in peace.