“He hasn’t killed people. That said, he’s still not someone you should cross, let alone constantly provoke,” Jackie added.
Alyss looked at her doubtfully. “Look, you aren`t being reasonable here. That teacher could have had a baby, could have moved… You know, personal stuff.” At each negative shake of Jackie`s head, the girl got a little louder in denial. “Look, I`m just saying, one instance is not enough to create a character profile from! You need facts. A pattern. We can`t just jump to conclusions like this. This isn`t evidence for a court case, it`s a bunch of gossip gone wild.” she finished, huffing indignantly. “And the social ruining thing? That’s not especially unique to him. People are catty, even guys, so I bet there are several other jerks in this place that have done the same thing. It’s pretty standard. Just talk to his parents, tell them he’s causing problems and needs to be straightened out, get a good scolding from the principal, and if all that doesn’t work he can get expelled. This is a private facility, it’s not like they have to keep troublemakers enrolled in here. They can get rid of him at any time. He can’t be that bad if not only the faculty haven’t taken any action, but the students and their families have let it all go.”
“He doesn`t have parents,” Jackie said hotly. “Well, sort of,” she then admitted. “They don`t really count for much because they’re all proud big wigs themselves. They care about him and all, but they’re way too busy to worry about their kid,” she said.
Something we have in common, Alyss thought, then she shook her head. “Be that as it may, someone would have stepped in by now if he were really such an awful guy. I mean, he`s obnoxious, but it`s not like he`s set any houses on fire or stolen a car. You can`t just string together a bunch of coincidences. This city is too big for such small town witch hunting behavior,” she laughed.
Jackie snorted at that. “You call this a city? Fayetteville has a population of maybe 10,000. We have one gas station, two grocery stores, a tourism stand, a marina with two whole boats in it, two clothing stores, a Chinese restaurant, and a place that sells pasties in a drive through. That’s it. I’d hate to see where you lived in Florida if you consider this city living.” She frowned and waved the matter aside. “Forget about it, I did not drag you in here to debate your definition of a city versus a town. It’s not just about some coincidences either. You think I`m stupid? There have been other things. Bad things. Much worse than an occasional disappearance or two. It should say something to you anyways that everyone on campus is scared of him, including all of the teachers.”
Alyss rejected that with a wave of her hand. “People will always jump to conclusions,” she said airily. “He`s got attitude problems, so people assume that means he`s practically in the mafia or something. I mean, I hate his personality. A lot,” she added. “But I don’t think every idiotic jerk out there must be a real actual criminal.”
Jackie leaned in, gently shaking her friend by the shoulders. “This is not just a matter of the ‘poor, misunderstood underdog’ scenario,” she said in earnest. “I mean, he beat the last gang that was here,” she whispered.
“Well, there you go!” Alyss pounced on this one point of proof. “He is way too big for his britches, but he did a good deed to get rid of a dangerous menace to society. He must not be completely thoroughly evil all the way through after all. It’s sad the conclusions people will jump to that just because someone does a little violence like to protect the public for a greater good they must just be a bad person in general.”
Jackie pursed her lips, but she refused to say any more and they both just ended up walking back to class together She steadfastly responded to each new question with a nervous giggle and chatter about random cute boys or chatter about the plans of the student government and refused to be drawn in to any attempts to continued the conversation with blatantly fake chatter.
Both of them were out of temper by the time they got back. Alyss sat in the corner by the door, talking cheerfully with sparkling peers at the front of the room. Some girls in the back of the class room looked on enviously from afar even while they eased their boredom as they pointed and giggled at Jackie, once the leader of conversation in their class, now sitting all alone deep in thought in her seat toward the back corner.
A few brave boys walked up to her, trying to spark conversation with her and each other. She ignored them, looking out the window. With a spark of surprise at the scene out side of the window, she pressed her nose flat against the window pane. One of the boys tapped her shoulder lightly to get her attention, but she waved him away impatiently. She stood up so that her chair crashed behind her. The boys were trying to comfort her startled nerves and set the chair to rights when she ran out of the door. She went down the
