Unsung Heroes: A Mathematical Kindness (A Story)

(Disclaimer: Thank you so much Nicole Duxbury for the editing, your suggestions are beyond helpful. Thank you and this is my first over 1300 characters story. This story is fictional. Edit: "god" to "God")

Valentine, 1998

Another day, another dropping off. Her eyes grew tired as she looked at the battlefield she called school. She had succeeded in making herself unknown, she succeeded in becoming a passing shadow as she dragged her legs to the doors.

Sixteen steps to the classroom, counting them was something she did to distract herself from looking anywhere but the short distance in front of her. She wanted in and out. Math was right before recess, that was a class she looked forward to. English was the first class and she dreaded just being there as she tugged on her bag and continued her walk.

“Did you get your card?” The class rep asked the group as the girl sighed and looked at it, they had been working on it in arts and she sighed as she looked at the words. An apology to the person… and a request. “Please don’t throw it at my face” she nearly begged in her card.

Sighing she put it down and returned to the shadows, taking her seat at the back as she looked at the ton of paper she was getting. She sighed again and opened a book she had taken from the library. No need to concentrate in school. It was all worthless for her as she continued her scanning. As always, the English teacher was reminding them of how superior she was to all of them. The girl was already in her own world, between the pages of Sidney Sheldon’s Tell Me Your Dreams. She wished she had the same ability as the protagonist, but she did not have it in her to harm a being. She could not hurt anyone.

“Time to read your cards!” The teacher chirped as the girl sighed and sunk into her seat, hoping she would not be noticed. For her luck, she was last as she looked at the time. 10…9….8… the seconds took forever to count down as the bell rang. She was happy she did not have to read as she returned to her seat, a note passed to her and as she read it, another sigh escaped her chest.

Math was next. As she was preparing her paper and notebook she heard the words, “Oh, she didn’t read them? Then we should have her read it.” She froze as she shook her head, closing her eyes so he would not see how sad it made her “no, no, no, no, no, no, sir, I insist we do class.” She chirped happily, tilting her head to the side and mustering the biggest smile. He saw right through her as he walked over to the board and wrote numbers like he always did.

She looked at them with a genuine smile, her eyes scanning the numbers before she showed her confusion. Everyone did the same. The numbers were random, but soon she began to jot down the letter, alphabets. He always said to look at things from a different angle and she did just that.

The numbers spelled: “Are they bad?”

She nodded to herself, they were horrible. She sighed and closed her eyes as she began to count. She would write down “Yes” in number form as she raised her hand and shouted the numbers. He gave her the kindest smile as he made another equation, this one more mathematical than just words. “You know the drill” he spoke as the group began to crack the equation. She smiled to herself as she began to crack at the number. As always, she sat by herself, it was part of the treatment the class gave her as she heard: “Mind if I sit beside you?” She looked at the seat and shrugged, no reason to say no as she scooted away.

“May I see them?” He asked her as she shook her head. No need to give him ideas, she thought to herself as she continued to work on the problem. He remained there the entire time, answering from his place before she growled to him: “I don’t need pity.” She shot him a look as she saw he was merely staring at an invisible dot. “I know.” He answered before he looked at her: “I’m sure you heard, “it’s not as bad as you make it sound.” He read her mind as she froze and muttered, “It’s all in your head.” She sighed and returned before he looked at her with concern.

“You can confide in me if you want to talk about it?”

“What are you going to do? Nothing.” She growled more, her anger apparent as she looked at the cards. Sighing, she finally handed it to him. He began to read the first one, then the second, then the third. She would glance at him every now and then before she saw his face. She had never seen him sad or angry. He was always so cheery.

“How long have you been receiving these cards?” His voice was strained as she took a deep breath and shrugged: “Dunno, it’s just gotten worse the last two years.” She chuckled to herself: “They need someone to get angry at, guess I’m that someone. You don’t need to bother yourself. I’m fine.”

“You are not!” His voice boomed as he stood up and walked to the front of the classroom. She looked at him and froze as it registered in her mind what he was about to do. She shook her head, her mind blank as she heard the SLAM on the board. Everyone jumped from the sound as he held the cards in his hand and he began to read them.

“Why don’t you just die?”

“Oh, boo hoo, you’re a waste of air.”

“You should just disappear.”

He looked heartbroken as he spoke to the class: “Is this the class I’m teaching? Is this what you want to be? Bullies! You pick on the weak…”

“I AM NOT WEAK!” The girl screamed and stomped her foot: “Weak is crying and saying the world is not fair! Weak is not coming to school every day and putting up with this! Weak is…” She gasped as the teacher hugged her. She pushed against the hug as he let go and looked at him and she finally blew up: “I’m not weak! I know I’m a waste of air. I’m not smart, I’m not pretty, and I have nothing to give. I don’t even have…. I don’t….I’m useless….I’m useless!” She looked up to him before she finally broke down: “It hurts… why does it hurt.”

“You poor thing.” He crouched to where he was at her level…. “You’re a very strong girl, and you’re smart. You’re … “He was thinking, she could tell he was thinking about what to tell her as he finally spoke to her: “You’re the coolest kid I’ve seen, they’re just jealous of you, because you’re one of the smartest kids.”

“Please don’t lie.” She answered as he shook his head: “I’m not, you’re the only one who figured out that I’m looking for the alphabet, I knew you would, which is why I wrote it down in numbers. You are more than you think you are, so please… cry… yell… get angry, just don’t… don’t you ever think you are less than anyone.” And she did. She cried. She cried from years and years of feeling sorry for herself, she cried from how sorry she felt for herself. She began to cry before his eyes turned to the group and spoke softly: “Do you see what words do?! Do you want this to be done to you because help me God, I will personally make your life a living hell if I see one of you ever treat a person badly!”

She felt safe, for the first time, in a very long time. She felt safe, and the bullying stopped. The bad behavior stopped. Everyone was afraid of him, but to her. He was a hero, the hero of this story.