Gravity Don't Mean Too Much to Me

Lindsey stood at the classroom door waiting for he daughter to notice her. She peered through the classroom window and immediately spotted her daughter. Bandit looked irritated, her eyes focused on the girl in front of her. The girl had her back to Lindsey, so all she could see was her long ginger hair. She was wearing clothes that looked far too mature for her age.

Two other girls stood beside her, one with blonde hair and the other with brunette curly hair. They both wore inappropriate clothes too, and Lindsey was disgusted. These girls were only twelve, and yet they dressed like seventeen year olds at a club. She sincerely hoped Bandit wasn’t friends with them, which from what she could see, it looked like she wasn’t.

She could see that her daughter didn’t like these girls, her fists were clenched and she didn’t smile once. She could also see a hint of fear in her daughter’s eyes, which almost sent her flying into the classroom to help her, when the girls scattered. She could see a look of triumph on Bandit’s face, which made her wonder what they had been saying. If these girls had been picking on her, there would be serious trouble.

And then it hit her. Vicky. Could that really be the girl that had been picking on Bandit? She looked at the ginger girl as she ran back to her desk, trying to figure out who she was. It didn’t help; all she could see from her face was that she wore a lot of make up.

“Bandit your mother is here.” She heard a deep male voice say from in front of the classroom, and she saw Bandit look straight at her. Her daughter’s face lit up like a Christmas tree as she ran towards the classroom door. She was soon in her arms, and Lindsey hugged her back.

She couldn’t help but look over her shoulder into the classroom window. What if that had been Vicky? Wouldn’t Bandit tell her if Vicky had been picking on her? Lindsey shook that thought off. Of course she wouldn’t. She hadn’t even told her about Vicky the first time, she had told Frank instead. Lindsey couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that her daughter would go to Frank for advice before her.

She let go off her daughter and plastered a fake smile on her face. “Bandit” She began
hesitantly. Should she ask who that girl was? Should she tell her she knew about Vicky? She looked into her daughter’s eyes and decided against it. That could wait until later. “Ray’s waiting for you at home. He wanted to get an early start on your guitar lessons today, I hope you don’t mind.”

Bandit squealed, and Lindsey couldn’t help but genuinely smile back at her. “Will Ross be there?”

Lindsey almost didn’t hear her daughter’s question. Through the classroom window she could see the ginger girl staring directly at her. The girl seemed to be frozen, and her eyes looked terrified. Lindsey felt a gut wrenching feeling as you looked back at her. It had to be her.

“No” She replied in a daze, still staring at the girl in front of her. “Bandit honey, who is that girl?”
Lindsey didn’t take her eyes off of her as she heard Bandit gasp. “That’s..that’s Vicky.”

She had been right. Vicky had been picking on Bandit, even after she had spoken to Mr Grady. The girl had the nerve to stand there, looking up at her, after doing that to her daughter? What made it worse was that Lindsey had stood there and watched as Vicky had taunted her daughter, and had done nothing.

Rage filled her body, and now Vicky had gone white. Bandit was tugging at her arm worriedly, but Lindsey could hardly feel her. How dare that ginger girl stand there, as if she had the right to? After she had insulted her whole family, she just stood there like a drooling idiot. She was practically begging for Lindsey to burst in there and do something. And she would.

Lindsey burst through the classroom door, slamming it hard against the classroom wall. Vicky stumbled backwards, jumping out of her skin. Every student in the room was staring at her with wide eyes, and a few gasped at realising who had entered the room. Mr Elis, who Lindsey remembered from the last parents evening, stood with his mouth wide open, staring at Lindsey.

“Excuse me-” He stuttered, just loud enough for her to hear.

“No!” Cried Lindsey, turning towards him. His face turned as pale as Vicky’s when he took in her expression, and he fell silent. “I will not tolerate this!”

Bandit stood at the door staring at her mother in awe, and to Lindsey’s surprise she had a few tears in her eyes. Wouldn’t Bandit be happy that Lindsey was standing up for her? But then again, Lindsey must have looked terrifying. Bandit wasn’t even aware that Lindsey knew about Vicky, of course she would be shocked.

Lindsey almost stopped what she was doing as she took in her daughter’s expression, but then she remembered why she was doing this in the first place. She swivelled around to face Vicky, who was now shaking violently. “How dare you? How dare you pick on my daughter?”

Vicky went to open her mouth and decided against it. Of course the bully wouldn’t be able to take responsibility for their actions. Lindsey gave a false laugh and stepped closer to the small girl. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? Not so tough now are we?” She gave another laugh and Vicky whimpered, trying to avoid her eyes. She wouldn’t have any of that. “Oh no, don’t you act like the victim here! If you want to be such a big bully, then you should at least look me in the eye!”

Vicky was now crying, and her eyes looked straight into Lindsey’s. “Pl- please...” She stuttered and Lindsey shook her head, disgusted.

“You’re asking me to go easy on you? Did you go easy on my daughter?” Vicky hiccupped, now completely in tears. Usually, Lindsey would hate to see a child cry, but right now she was blinded with hatred.

Lindsey felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see Mr Elis. “Mrs Way, I’m going to ask you step outside. You’re disrupting my class.” She made to shout something back but he interrupted, raising his voice. “You are ruining other children’s education. I would like you to leave, now.”

Lindsey was about to protest until she saw the rest of the children’s faces. They all looked terrified. She felt a pang of guilt as she realised what she had done. The other children didn’t deserve this.

“Alright.” Lindsey turned back towards Vicky, and felt her anger getting worse. “But if you ever go near my daughter again I will personally hunt you down and make you pay.”

“Mrs Way, you can not say that to a student!” Mr Elis exclaimed, as Vicky ran from the room, pushing past Bandit. “You are to leave the school, now. I will be informing the Principle about this. You’ll be lucky if Bandit is ever allowed in this school again.”

“Well maybe that’s what Bandit needs!” She hissed, pushing past him and grabbing Bandit’s hand. “Come on sweetheart, we’re leaving!”

“I’m sorry Uncle Ray, I just can’t concentrate!” Bandit huffed, putting her guitar down gently. They had been practising for an hour now, and Bandit just couldn’t seem to focus. Everything Ray said went straight through one ear and out the other. How was she supposed to concentrate after everything that had happened with Vicky?

Her mother had locked herself in the kitchen, shouting furiously down the phone. What if Bandit couldn’t return to school? She’d never seen Angela or Sam again. She’d have to make new friends, and how could she make new friends when everyone already knew who she was? They’d all want to be her friend, and she wouldn’t know who to trust.

Bandit didn’t blame her mother for anything that happened in the future. She was right to loose her temper; Bandit had wanted to scream at Vicky like that too. She had promised herself that she would have a word with Uncle Frank however. How could he tell her mother? Now, everything was much worse.

What if Vicky still didn’t leave her alone? What if her Mom did something else? What would her father do when he found out? Would he be calmer about it all, or would he stand beside her mother and scream at Vicky too?

“Its okay, B.” Ray placed his guitar back into its case. “We can try again next time.” He smiled and patted her back reassuringly.

“What am I going to do, Uncle Ray?” Bandit could feel tears in her eyes, and she looked away quickly. She didn’t want him to see her cry.

“It’ll be okay, B.” Ray smiled, hugging her with one arm. She sniffed and wiped her eyes frantically. She hoped he wouldn’t notice, but it was too late. “Bandit, don’t cry!”

“I’m s-sorry.” She sniffed, looking up at her Uncle. He was no longer smiling as he held her closer. He rubbed her back, tracing circles to calm her down. She leant her head on his shoulder and began crying even more.

He didn’t understand. Vicky was either going to get revenge on her for this, or she was going to be kicked out of her school. She sobbed even more as she thought about life without Sam or Angela. Why had she told Frank? It had only made things worse. If she had been braver and had stood up for herself none of this would have happened.

“Everything’s going to be fine now. Your Mom will sort everything out. You won’t be thrown out, I promise.” Ray let go of her and started tickling her. She squealed and tried to break free from his grasp. He continued to tickle at her sides and her neck, and she began playfully screaming as she tried to pull his hands away.

She had now stopped crying completely, but was out of breath as she kicked playfully at her Uncle to stop. She was no longer giggling, she was laughing louder than she had laughed for a while, and she had to keep catching her breath. “Y-you win!” She cried, and Ray let go, smirking.

“Looks like Lady Sunshine isn’t as strong as she looks!” He snickered. Bandit pulled herself back onto the couch, still smiling. She loved when her Uncles called her by her Killjoy name, it always cheered her up.

“You may have won this time, but next time I’ll be ready!” She jumped up from the couch, grabbing her ray gun which she had left under the table. “Be prepared for payback!” She cried, clicking her gun at Ray.

Ray jumped off the couch, rolling on the floor to dodge her lasers. He had no weapon, so Bandit had the advantage. She pointed her gun at him and continued to shoot, but his moves were too advanced for her. All her lasers just missed his skin, and she sighed in frustration.

Ray jumped up and whipped the gun from her hands, causing Bandit to gasp in shock. He now pointed her weapon back at her, grinning. “You’re skilled, Sunshine, but not skilled enough.” He winked, spinning the ray gun on his fingers. “You seem to have forgotten one important detail however.”

“What’s that?”

“We’re both Killjoys. We’re on the same side!” He exclaimed, throwing her the ray gun. She caught it and burst into laughter. “That’s betrayal, you know.”

Bandit wiped her eyes, and clenched at her sides. She still shook with laughter. “Sorry, Jet!”

“You should be!” He winked, and then he gasped. “What if you’ve been slipped some Draculoid medication? Maybe that’s why you tried to attack me!”

Bandit went to reply, until the door bell sounded. Lindsey came out from the kitchen and answered the door. When she walked back through the living room however, she was joined by Ross. Lindsey walked back into the kitchen, with the phone still at her ear. Bandit hoped she was okay, she hadn’t seen her mother this stressed since she had found out she was pregnant.

“Ross!” Bandit exclaimed, hugging him without thinking. She blushed and let go, looking into his eyes. Her heart pounded and she found herself feeling shy suddenly. Ray greeted his son and told them he’d be in the kitchen, making sure Lindsey was alright. “What are you doing here?”

“I had an after school club, so Mom dropped me off here.” Ross was wearing a black leather jacket and jeans, and Bandit had to pull her gaze away. His hair had been gelled, and she couldn’t help but giggle. “What?”

“You styled your hair.”

“Yeah, do you like it?” He stepped closer, grabbing her hand. She blushed as he placed her hand on her hair so that she could feel it. It felt soft under her fingers, and she couldn’t stop brushing through it.

“It’s beautiful.” She whispered, pulling her hand away. Why was she blushing so much? She forced her eyes to look at the television instead, as he sat down beside her. “What do you want to watch?”

“I don’t mind.” He shrugged, but then seemed to change his mind. He was now grinning. “I’d prefer if we did something else, actually.”

Bandit looked back at him, placing the remote back on the table. She couldn’t help but grin back at him, he was adorable. “And what do you want to do?”

He picked up her ray gun and began twirling it in his fingers, just like his father had a few minuets ago. “Want to play some Killjoys?”