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We were about halfway through class, and Hope and I were working on our assignment. Actually, Hope was doing the assignment because it was easy. I was mostly talking and keeping an eye on Ms. Strauss, trying to feel her out. She'd given up on us for the day, and I could tell she was frustrated. I watched her stack and restack a bunch of papers like she was trying to get organized but had run out of things to do. I wanted to run up and throw the whole stack in the garbage for her as a favor. I was thinking, She has no idea what she's gotten herself into, taking a job at our school. And just as I was thinking this, the door swung open and Corena, the principal's daughter, came charging in.
Corena ran over to where Hope and I were sitting, stuck her finger in Hope's face, and started screaming at her. At first, I couldn't understand what she was saying. It was like babble, coming out real fast. Then I was able to make out things like, "You goddamn bitch…you and your big mouth…you're supposed to be my friend…see if I ever tell you anything again…"
Now, Corena did stuff like this all the time, but I couldn't imagine what Hope had done to piss her off. Hope was small and quiet and never had a disagreement with anyone, and she sat there calmly staring back while Corena screamed at her. Corena was shaking her finger at Hope, her face was all red, and it seemed like her whole body was vibrating with anger. I had to squeeze my lips together to keep from laughing.
Ms. Strauss got up from behind her desk and said, "Excuse me. You don't just come in here and start yelling at students." As soon as she said this, Corena turned and bolted back out the door. Then I saw Sidney Bouchard, Mrs. Bouchard's daughter, standing out in the hall holding the door open for Corena. Sidney gave Hope an evil smile and let go of the door.
Everyone sat there in shock watching the door swing closed. We knew it wasn't over. And just when the door was about to click shut, Corena yanked it open and came charging back into the room. She looked at Hope and said, "Don't think I'm gonna forget this, you little bitch…I won't put up with people talking behind my back."
Ms. Strauss was scowling mad now, and walking across the room. She said, "Hey!" real loud. "Get out of my classroom!"
But Corena kept going, "You don't know who you're messing with, Hope. I'll make you pay for this…"
By now, Ms. Strauss was right next to Corena, but Corena acted like she didn't even see her. She stood there with her eyes pointed at Hope, holding ground and spewing out threats while her silky, brown hair shimmered around her shoulders. Then, Ms. Strauss used a deep, husky voice I wouldn't have thought she was capable of and growled, "You need to leave this room, now," and pointed at the door.
Right then, Corena's mom, Tammy, comes barging into the room—she's our principal. First thing she sees is Ms. Strauss, who's right up in Corena's face looking like she's about to bite off Corena's ear. Tammy glared at Ms. Strauss with a look of horror and screamed, "What's going on in here?" Only then, did Corena quit yelling.
Corena turned, looked at her mom, then pointed at Hope and said, "She's spreading rumors about me." Then she stomped out of the room. I saw mean Sidney Bouchard out in the hall holding the door open, and I could tell she was getting a big kick out of this.
Tammy was busy giving Ms. Strauss a long, cold stare. She had her hands on her hips, her lean body had gone stiff, and her tanned, leathery skin was glowing with vengeance. I could feel the fear in the room. It was thick. Because me and every other kid in there knew what the score was—you don't yell at Corena, no matter what, not unless you're ready to deal with Tammy. If Tammy had flown into a rage and fired Ms. Strauss right then and there, I wouldn't have been surprised. I was scared for Ms. Strauss. But after a few moments, Tammy's face relaxed a bit, and she looked around the room and asked, "Does somebody mind telling me what the hell's going on?" sounding real irritated.
At first, nobody said anything. Then I saw Ms. Strauss opening her mouth, getting ready to explain. But before she could, Sidney Bouchard, who was still holding the door, said, "Hope's been spreading rumors about Corena."
Tammy's mouth dropped opened, and she started nodding her head real slow like she thought she understood something—as if that was all the explanation she needed. Her eyes narrowed to slits, her lips grew hard. She looked over to where Hope and I were sitting and said, "Oh yeah?" Then, kind of raising her voice, she said, "We don't like little girls who spread rumors." I saw her dark eyes darting around the room, making sure everybody got it. Then she looked right at Hope, pointed at her, and sneered, "You'd better watch yourself, Hope, because you're in my school, and I'm not gonna have it." She glared at Ms. Strauss one more time, turned, and walked out of the room.
Ms. Strauss started saying, "Mrs. Fletcher, I can't have kids running into my room yelling…" and she followed Tammy into the hall and disappeared. I saw Sidney Bouchard still holding the door open, that bitch. I stuck my tongue out at her, and she let go of the door and walked away.
The kids in the room were going crazy, doubling over, banging on tables and laughing. Calvin said, "Whoooo…that bitch was angry. I don't know what you did, Hopsey, but you made her mad." I gave Calvin a hard look and mouthed the words 'shut up' because, right then, Hope looked pretty sad. She was frowning at the computer in front of her, not saying anything. Then I told the whole room to shut up because they were all laughing and busting up.
For a while, I watched Hope as she sat there motionless. Then I leaned in real close and asked, "What did you do to make her so mad?"
Hope stared down at the keyboard and said in a quiet voice, "I don't want to talk about it."
She sounded so sad the way she said it. It wasn't like she was about to cry, but more like she was growing cold. Like she was drifting off to that sad, lonely place of hers right before my eyes. I knew about Hope and her depressions. I knew if she said, "I don't want to talk about it," she wouldn't, so I left it alone. But I could feel myself getting angry. I said, "Fuck Corena, man…She thinks it's all about her. Like nobody else ever has any problems. Whatever it is, she's probably making a big deal out of nothin'."
Hope said, "I'm going to the bathroom," and got up and left.
The kids had quieted down some when they saw me talking to Hope—I guess they realized how upset she was. But soon as she left, they got loud and rowdy again. We were all laughing about what happened because we thought it was funny to see Corena worked up like that. Kids were coming in from other classrooms to find out what happened and asking if anyone knew why Corena was so mad. Soon Mrs. Marino and Mr. Kearns came in and told them to get back to class. Then some kids started talking about the fact that Corena and Sidney were actually enrolled in computer class but had been skippin all week, which was why Ms. Strauss didn't even know who Corena was. K.P. said, "Well, Corena finally made it to class," and we all cracked up. K.P. started imitating Ms. Strauss, scurrying around the room, saying, "I'm not gonna have people running in here yelling at students…Hey! You need to leave, right now…and who the hell are you, anyway?" Then we heard Corena and Tammy yelling at each other down the hall, and someone went and opened the door so we could hear them better.
When Ms. Strauss finally came back, class was almost over. She didn't try to make us do any more work, so we kept talking. She asked where Hope was, and I told her she went to the bathroom, and it'd be best if we just left her alone. Ms. Strauss nodded and seemed to understand. She sat there working at her desk, trying to appear busy, looking disturbed. I was wishing I could have heard the conversation she had with Tammy. Tammy could care less what teachers thought. I'd heard her talking in the office enough times to know that. It was her school, and she ran it how she wanted, and Ms. Strauss was probably just starting to realize this.
Hope never did come back to class. She showed up for Spanish, put her head down on the desk, and pretended to sleep. The whole school was wound up and talking about what happened. It kinda pissed me off because I knew Hope hated being the center of attention. But that's how it was at our school when something like that
went down—nobody wanted to do their work, girls would be trying to get out of class so they could go talk to somebody in the hall and find out details. It could go on for a couple of days if the drama was really big. One thing you could count on was that the more it had to do with Corena, the crazier things would get, and of course, the more Tammy would be trying to get involved.