The Struggle of the Underdogs

Riona walked into the front hallway and noticed that, just like the previous 2 days, she had arrived 20 minutes before the tardy bell would ring. She found Maggie leaning against one of the pillars in the front hallway, gazing off into the distance.

When Riona approached her, she smiled and asked "How are you, Riona? Enjoying school thus far?"

Riona shrugged in response and told her friend "I have a burning question that must be answered before it consumes me, Maggie."

Maggie sighed and muttered "You want to know why Carl hates Jeff so much, correct?" Riona nodded and Maggie said "I will tell you, because you're best friends with both me and Carl. However, it would be best if you don't share this with anybody else. Understood?"

Riona curtly said "Understood" and prepared herself for yet another revelation, this time as to why Carl was so malicious towards Jeff.

Maggie leaned her head back, looking up at the ceiling, and told Riona "This all started in the summer before he and I were in 6th grade together, along with Jeff. The night before his 12th birthday, to be precise..."

Carl walked joyfully with his parents down the sidewalk, the cloak of evening wrapped over the sky. It was August 29th, the night before his birthday, and his family had just came out of the movie theater after finishing watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as a treat for Carl, who loved the Harry Potter series. He and his parents were now walking home, chattering excitedly about the movie, and Carl's birthday the following day.

His mother looked down at him and told him "That reminds me dear, your father and I have a very special gift for you this year, that we bought a while before the movie!"

Carl's face lit up with wonder and he asked her "What is it Mom?" His mother giggled and replied "It's a surprise dear!" His father chuckled and told his son "I promise you bud, tomorrow, you will be overjoyed to see what we got you." Carl nodded, barely able to contain his excitement.

They crossed the street, only a few blocks from their house now. Carl wondered to himself "What could it be this time? Did they get me one of the wands from the movies? That would be awesome!"

While he pondered this, he saw out of his peripheral vision headlights coming at them rapidly. Worried, Carl shouted "To the right!"

His parents looked down the road, and his mother screamed at Carl "Run!", pushing him away. He tumbled back to the sidewalk, his ears overpowered by the sound of his parents' screams, screeching tires, and the fading, roaring laughter of a drunken man. Carl shuddered, then looked at the street, confused as to what had just happened. Then cold recognition took control of him, and he gasped in horror at what lay in front of him.

His father and mother lay motionless in the middle of the street, their blood everywhere. Carl walked up to them, shaking in anguish, realizing that a drunk man had claimed their lives. He knelt beside his mother and wept, not expecting this tragedy to happen to him of all people, especially the night before he turned 12. To his shock, his mother stirred, and looked up at him, with the same brown eyes that he had.

"Carl" she whispered softer than the wind at night, "come here sweetheart." With tears streaming down his cheeks, he bent forward, while she slowly took out a small package from her pocket.

"Take it" she told him, "and open it. Please, open it dear."

Carl obeyed, and looked with wide eyes upon a small, golden heart-shaped locket. He opened it hesitantly, and beheld a small picture of him and his parents.

He looked at his mother, who gently told him "We wanted to give you this, so that you would always have us with you, wherever you go." She shuddered, her body convulsing in pain, and Carl begged her "Don't go Momma! Please don't leave me!" His mother smiled up at him and whispered "I will always love you, Carl." After another convulsion, she collapsed back onto the street, her eyes closed. Carl wailed "Mom...Dad...", trying to make himself believe that this was all just a horrific nightmare that he would soon awaken from.

His maternal grandmother soon after took him into her home, for she was the only relative that lived nearby. She shared his grief, not prepared to lose her daughter and son-in-law when they were still fairly young. Carl's birthday was a mournful one, spent with his grandma who did the best she could to try to make him happy. He greatly appreciated her efforts, even though they hardly made him feel better. he found himself longing for school, for one of his peers to comfort him, to be a shoulder he could weep on. 2 days later, he walked into Noodle Junior High, hoping to find somebody to bond with in his great time of need. He found that person in Maggie, a long time friend of his since elementary school.

She came bounding up to him, her golden locks bouncing around her. She was wearing her usual cheerful smile, always happy to see him. Maggie looked deep into his eyes, her blue ones as beautiful as ever.

Her smile slowly transformed into a concerned frown as she openly asked him "What's wrong Carl? You seem upset!" At this, Carl burst into tears, and she immediately wrapped him up in a warm embrace. Several people who belonged to the popular crowd passed by, looking at Carl with disgust, for they strongly believed that no matter what his age, a boy should never cry. Neither Maggie nor Carl noticed their glares, for they were lost within the moment of deep companionship that they were experiencing.

Maggie gently rubbed his back, whispering "Tell me what happened, so that I can remove this sorrowful burden from your soul." Carl thought to himself wistfully "She's the same year as me, and she's already developing a deep vocabulary." Sniffling, he told her what had happened to him and his parents a few days prior to the start of school, and Maggie looked at him in horror.

As the weeks of the first semester passed by, Maggie refused to leave Carl's side whenever she had the choice, intent on doing whatever was in her power to help him heal from this wound on his heart. During those first few weeks, Carl met Jeff, a lanky boy in the same grade as Carl and Maggie, who was constantly bullied by members of the popular crowd for his height. Carl welcomed him with open arms, glad to have a companion who shared the pain of being harassed by their peers. The three of them got along wonderfully, though Maggie was made uncomfortable by how openly affectionate Jeff was towards her, for she did not return those affections. She knew that she had already found her true love in Carl, and that would never change. She constantly, albeit gently, rejected Jeff's advances, and that led to Jeff being furiously jealous of Carl for being the object of Maggie's love. Jeff never talked to Carl nor Maggie about his immense envy of the two, allowing his negative feelings to eventually fester into a petty grudge.

6th grade faded into 7th grade, where Maggie and Carl grew closer and closer, never publicly open about their love for each other, the only hint that they were in love being the deep, longing looks they gave each other. Jeff continued to be friends with both of them, though this brought him even more harassment from members of the popular crowd, especially those boys who desired to become football players the following year. They not only picked on Jeff for being abnormally tall, they now bullied him for hanging out with Carl, who was viewed by most members of the popular crowd as a huge crybaby, and a total loser. Carl and Maggie never took notice of what was happening to Jeff, because they were so lost in their love for each other. This deeply angered Jeff, who felt left out of the group, and as if he didn't belong with them. Though he continued to talk with both of them, Jeff began to feel immensely detached from them, especially Carl, who didn't talk to him as much as he talked to Maggie.

When 7th grade ended, Maggie tearfully told Carl that her father, who was a pastor in the United Methodist Church, had been asked to preach at a church in New York City. As a result, their entire family would be moving there over the summer.

They were both greatly saddened that they would be parting ways, though Carl told Maggie "I'm happy for you and your Dad, dear! New York City sounds so exciting!" Maggie agreed, though she was already regretting having to leave Carl.

Carl wasn't too afraid of what would happen without Maggie to protect him, as he cheerfully told her "I have Jeff by my side still, I'm not worried at all!" Though on the surface she seemed relieved, deep down, Maggie knew that something was changing inside of Jeff at that time, something deeply negative that would end up greatly harming Carl, who was unsuspecting of any malice his male companion had towards him.

Carl wished Maggie good luck, and though sad to see her go, he was grateful to have Jeff as a friend. Unbeknownst to Carl, Jeff had joined the football team during the summer. Though that didn't cause his resentment towards Carl to finally rise to the surface, Jeff was now constantly around the same guys who had previously picked on him for being tall and being friends with Carl. They refused to accept him into their clique, unless Jeff proved to them that he really wanted to become a member. They gave him a harsh test, where Jeff was forced to make a horrific decision: whether or not he would remove Carl from his life. Unfortunately for both him and Carl, Jeff decided to do just that.

One day in October, Carl found Jeff walking by himself through the halls at the end of the day, his football jersey on, getting ready for the football game that night.

Carl walked up to him, completely unsuspecting of what was about to happen to him, and politely asked him "How are you dude?" Without warning, Jeff seized Carl by the front of his shirt, lifted him up so that they were at eye level, and growled in his face "Don't talk to me like we're friends, dweeb! I have no intention of ever wasting my life hanging with you anymore than I already have! Now that I'm a football player, I'm pals with the cool guys, and I don't need or want a loser like you in my life anymore!"

With that, Jeff threw Carl roughly to the ground and walked away towards the football field, leaving Carl physically and emotionally hurt. Afterwards, Jeff was accepted as a member of the popular crowd, all because he had conformed to their hateful values, and removed his one true friend from his life.

The next 3 years were Hell for Carl. Jeff and several other popular jerks physically and verbally bullied him constantly, to the point that Carl didn't want to live anymore. In the Spring of 8th grade, Carl nearly committed suicide by overdosing on painkillers, but stopped himself when he realized that doing so would hurt his beloved grandmother even further. He decided to mask his emotions with a constant look of emptiness, while also hating Jeff and the scumbags who spent their days going out of their way to make his life miserable. Carl and Jeff went into high school at Noodle High, where Carl's confusion and hatred as to why Jeff had betrayed him developed into a murderous grudge, one that truly gave him a desire to kill his bullies, to make them feel the pain he was enduring.

During her sophomore year at a private school in New York City, Maggie began to have disturbing dreams revolving around Carl's life in Noodle High. At first, she saw him weeping alone, his peers walking past him without so much a glance. The dreams progressed into nightmares, culminating into a gruesome scene where Maggie watched Carl stand atop a bloody mountain of corpses, Jeff's body included, all of his bullies slaughtered by a kitchen knife Carl wielded in the dream. Maggie begged her parents to take her back to Noodle, for she was now aware of Carl's tremendous agony in Noodle. Her request wasn't considered until her father lost his job, and was offered his old one in Noodle. They returned, and Maggie entered Noodle High as a junior along with her old classmates.

When he realized that his love had returned to him, Carl had a strange dream where he stood under the magnolia tree that was a mile from Noodle High, and the tree gave him one of its beautiful blossoms. The next day, Carl went to the tree, and watched in awe as one of its flowers floated down, seemingly of its own accord, into his hand. Carl took this flower to Maggie, who took it with immense gratitude. That day, they finally kissed for the first time, and officially started dating. This only infuriated Jeff further, because he had been bulking up in the hopes that she would finally notice him. He began to attack Carl even more, except this time, Maggie retaliated against him whenever he did anything to her lover. And thus, she began to despise Jeff as well, for what he had put Carl through.

Riona looked at Maggie in horror and sorrow, as her friend finished telling the story.

"Indeed, my dear, Carl has had a most tragic history" Maggie said mournfully.

Riona had to struggle not to shed a tear, for she now knew that she and Carl had one thing in common: deceased parents. "No wonder he hates Jeff so much!" she thought with fury. "He was the only other student that he called a friend, and he betrayed him just to make himself popular!"

She and Maggie turned around when they heard the front doors open. Carl walked in, surprised to see them standing there. Riona suddenly ran up to him and embraced him tightly. Initially shocked, Carl quickly realized what the two girls had been talking about and sighed deeply.

He patted Riona on the back and muttered "I'm fine. I've been able to control my emotions for a while now." Riona could tell that, to some extent, this was a huge lie, for within his brown eyes, a burning hatred was set there, no doubt towards the wretches who had made his life a living Hell.