| ~Eleven years later: Tyra’s alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. She rolled over and hit the snooze button, and fell back to sleep. A while later she heard her name being called. She looked over at her clock and saw that it was ten of seven. Her eyes popped open and she jumped out of bed. She hurriedly searched for something to wear. No more than ten minutes later Tyra ran into the kitchen. Everyone sat at the table, except her father, who leaned against the counter. She greeted her family, grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, and ran out the door and flew off. Everyone watched her and sat in silence for a moment when she left. “That girl is never on time,” Cell said. Tyra flew as fast as she could to the high school, trying to put on eye shadow at the same time. She glanced down at her watch and knew she had just enough time to get there. Tyra arrived at the high school with five minutes to spare. She ran to the bathroom and fixed her hair. As she walked out of the bathroom, she met some of her friends and said hi. Then a couple of jocks started yelling to her, but she ignored them. During lunch, Tyra sat a picnic table outside. For the moment she sat alone, for her friends were getting their lunch. She ate her apple that she grabbed earlier, and watched the people walk by. Then someone sat down next to her. The captain of the basketball team smiled at her and leaned an arm on the table. “What do ya say after school you and me take a little ride in my new car?” He said. “Eddie, I told you before…I’m not interested in you. Now please be so kind as to leave,” Tyra said without looking at him. “You’d think a girl like you would be dying to go out with a guy like me.” “Well, I’m not.” “What’s the matter…did your daddy tell you that you’re too young to have a boyfriend?” Eddie said in a childish voice. “No, he doesn’t care what I do.” She gave him a look. “Please leave.” Eddie started to laugh. “You’re father isn’t to protective, is he?” “He doesn’t need to be. I can take care of myself. Besides, if he tried to protect me, someone would end up getting hurt.” Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Who is he, one of these macho guys that thinks he’s stronger than everybody else? That’s what a lot of them think they are. I bet he’s such a coward that he stays home all the time.” Tyra couldn’t stand it when someone talked like that about her family. “Eddie, you better stop while you’re still ahead. I don’t appreciate you talking like that about my father. He’s far more powerful than you can ever imagine.” Eddie laughed loudly. “So you’re the protector in this case…” Tyra couldn’t take it any longer. She swung her arm up and pinned a punch in his face. Eddie fell off the bench and looked at her. He couldn’t believe that she hit him and made his nose bleed. “Why you little…” He started. “What are you going to do about it? I told you to stop, but you kept going.” Two teachers and the assistant principle ran to the scene. “What happened here?” The assistant principle asked. “She hit me,” Eddie answered. One teacher helped him up while the other told a kid to get the nurse. “Young lady, you’re coming to the office with me. You’re parents will hear about this,” The assistant principle said. “I’m going to tell you right now, they’ll agree with me,” Tyra said and followed him into the school. Tyra sat in a chair in the principle’s office. His secretary was on the phone calling Tyra’s house. The principle was reading Tyra’s records. He saw that she was almost a straight A student, and she only had gotten into one other fight on school property after school hours. “Mr. Alderson, there isn’t any response at the house,” the secretary said. “I told you, no one’s home,” Tyra said. “Who do you live with?” Mr. Alderson asked. Tyra sighed. Why would they care anyway? “My parents and two brothers.” “Both your parents work?” “My mother does. My father is rarely home during the day.” “Mrs. Hendricks, call the young lady’s mother…she works at Capsule Corp.” Mrs. Hendricks was back on the phone. The principle put the file down and looked at Tyra. “Do you get into trouble like this often?” “You sound like I committed a serious crime. I punched a kid because he was harassing me.” “Tyra, punching is a crime. And you punched him twice then kicked him.” “That’s a lie. I punched him once and he fell to the ground. You actually believed his friends when they said all of that?” “They were witnesses.” “They wanted to see me get into trouble.” “That’s not the point. The point is you punched another student.” “Mr. Alderson,” the secretary said, “I have her mother on line one.” Tyra sat back in the chair as the principle reached for the phone. “Hello, Ms. Jenson? I have your daughter, Tyra, here with me.” One the other line, Lara wondered what the problem was. “Hi. What’s wrong?” “Ms. Jenson, Tyra punched the captain of the basketball team during her lunch period. I’d like to have a conference with you and your husband…” “I’m afraid he wouldn’t be interested in coming. I’ll come, but I’m working now.” “May I ask why he wouldn’t be interested?” “Mr. Alderson, my husband isn’t that kind of a guy. I’m not going to even ask him. I already know his answer,” Lara said beginning to get annoyed. “Besides, the subject at hand is Tyra, not him.” “Yes, Tyra. I’m afraid her actions are uncalled for…” “They are,” Lara said. “But she wouldn’t have done something if there wasn’t a good reason.” “I’m sure,” the principle said. “When can you come in for a conference?” Tyra listen to the one side of the conversation. This guy is such a jerk, she thought. Even if Dad did come, I bet that would cause more of a problem than my punching that jock. Mr. Alderson hung up the phone and looked back at Tyra. “Your mother is coming here after school. I’m sending you to the detention hall for the remainder of the day.” Tyra got up. She gathered her things and took the pass that the secretary had made out for her. When school was out for the day, Tyra returned to the office and found her mom waiting for her. The two went into the principle’s office and sat in the chairs in front of his desk. He greeted the two and shook Lara’s hand. “Now, as I told you before, Ms. Jenson, Tyra punched another student. I noticed from some files, that you had a son go through this high school. He’s been noted to have a bit of a temper as well. I’ve looked at Tyra’s records, and she has been in a fight before…” “But if I recall, that was after school hours, and the kids were threatening her,” Lara interrupted. “Well, yes, but I feel that Tyra needs some help. Perhaps it’s the atmosphere at home. How does her father treat her?” “Mr. Alderson, I came here to talk about what happened today, not about getting Tyra help that she doesn’t need. And Tyra and her father are close.” “Alright. I talked to Edward Gold earlier and he told me what happened. He said that during lunch, he asked Tyra out and she clobbered him…” “That’s not true! I didn’t hit him because he asked me out!” Tyra yelled. Lara told her to calm down and hold the thought. “As I was saying,” Mr. Alderson continued, “Tyra punched him in the face twice, and kicked him when he fell down. He had the bloody nose to prove it.” “Mom, I hit him because he was making fun of Dad. And I only punched him once and I never kicked him,” Tyra told her mother. “Don’t you think that this boy stretched the story a bit, Mr. Alderson?” Lara asked. “One of his friends was a witness and confirmed what he said.” “That explains it,” Lara said to herself. “Mr. Alderson, I assure you that it won’t happen again. I will take care of Tyra.” “Ms. Jenson, I’d like to have Tyra see the school psychiatrist tomorrow if that’s okay with you.” “The…Mom! I don’t need to see some stupid psychiatrist!” Tyra said. Lara shook her head at Tyra and told the principle that it wouldn’t be necessary. After that, Lara got up and Tyra followed. As they walked to the parking lot, Tyra tried to tell her side of the story again. Lara put her hand up. “Don’t worry about it, Tyra. As soon as he said captain of the basketball team, I figured that the kid was stretching the story.” “He wanted to talk to Dad. What do you think would’ve happened if he did?” “First of all, if your father picked up the phone, I’d been surprised. And to answer what he would’ve done…he probably would’ve taught the principle how to fly.” Tyra laughed and got in the car. “Are you mad at me?” “Well, you know that fighting is not the answer…but since you’re Cell’s daughter…it’s in your genes I guess.” Tyra smiled and watched the scenery as they drove home. |