09-22-2021, 10:36 PM
Butterfly Primary School, Buttercity, Lauchenoiria
21st September 2021
Kelli Moore threw another punch at the boy who’d just called her mother a war criminal. He sneered and tried to shove her away but she was fast and had been practicing. The other kids were surrounding them, egging on the pair fighting in the way children do. Kelli ignored them, and continued trying to hit the boy. He was a year older than her, actually, but she was determined to see him on the ground before the teachers managed to intervene.
“You’re just like her,” he sneered, “little criminal.”
She tripped him and punched him straight in the nose, hearing a satisfying crack. He screamed, and she spun around and dodged through the crowd and out the gate onto the road. She ran, looking behind her to check none of the teachers had been close enough to follow, and made her way down the path into the woods that bordered her school. She squeezed between two trees that had grown close together and left the path, going to the spot she always went to after these incidents.
Then she sat down and cried.
*
“We still haven’t managed to find her,” the teacher grimaced as Laura Moore shot her a scathing look. “She ran out of the playground following the incident.”
“Just like last time?” Laura snapped.
“Mrs Moore, your daughter has severe anger management issues. We are going to need to bring in a behaviour specialist if you want her to remain in this school.”
“You’re not letting any of those pseudo-Kerlians near Kelli.”
“Mrs Moore, that book you sent me on the links between behaviourism and techniques used in Kerlian prisons was, while interesting, hardly irrefutable proof that all those working in behaviour management are somehow supporters of…”
“I said no, and we will move Kelli to a different school before I allow it. After all, it’s hardly her fault that you’ve failed to stamp out the bullying, is it?” Laura Moore sat back, arms folded, glaring at the teacher.
“Now, Mrs Moore…”
“Security has caught children from this school attempting to approach our house carrying spray paint, eggs, poorly spelled threatening notes on no less than seven occasions in the past six months. And then there was that incident with that police officer who attempted to arrest my nine-year-old daughter for the murder of Suleman Chaher! Who you allowed onto your premises. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this school has even encouraged the bullying!”
“Mrs Moore, you cannot blame children and parents who were damaged by your actions during the civil war for expressing anger.”
“And there we have it. You’re a Communist,” Moore sneered, then held her hand up before the other woman could protest. “Then I’m sure you’ll be dismayed to hear that I will be removing both my children from this school and enrolling them in a private school where this kind of thing won’t happen.”
“Mrs Moore, the law in this province…”
“I know what the law in this province is. I would rather move to Aeluria and send Kelli and Jamey to one of those new religious institutions than they spend another moment here experiencing the teacher-sanctioned bullying. And you can be damn sure you’ll hear from my lawyers about this.”
21st September 2021
Kelli Moore threw another punch at the boy who’d just called her mother a war criminal. He sneered and tried to shove her away but she was fast and had been practicing. The other kids were surrounding them, egging on the pair fighting in the way children do. Kelli ignored them, and continued trying to hit the boy. He was a year older than her, actually, but she was determined to see him on the ground before the teachers managed to intervene.
“You’re just like her,” he sneered, “little criminal.”
She tripped him and punched him straight in the nose, hearing a satisfying crack. He screamed, and she spun around and dodged through the crowd and out the gate onto the road. She ran, looking behind her to check none of the teachers had been close enough to follow, and made her way down the path into the woods that bordered her school. She squeezed between two trees that had grown close together and left the path, going to the spot she always went to after these incidents.
Then she sat down and cried.
*
“We still haven’t managed to find her,” the teacher grimaced as Laura Moore shot her a scathing look. “She ran out of the playground following the incident.”
“Just like last time?” Laura snapped.
“Mrs Moore, your daughter has severe anger management issues. We are going to need to bring in a behaviour specialist if you want her to remain in this school.”
“You’re not letting any of those pseudo-Kerlians near Kelli.”
“Mrs Moore, that book you sent me on the links between behaviourism and techniques used in Kerlian prisons was, while interesting, hardly irrefutable proof that all those working in behaviour management are somehow supporters of…”
“I said no, and we will move Kelli to a different school before I allow it. After all, it’s hardly her fault that you’ve failed to stamp out the bullying, is it?” Laura Moore sat back, arms folded, glaring at the teacher.
“Now, Mrs Moore…”
“Security has caught children from this school attempting to approach our house carrying spray paint, eggs, poorly spelled threatening notes on no less than seven occasions in the past six months. And then there was that incident with that police officer who attempted to arrest my nine-year-old daughter for the murder of Suleman Chaher! Who you allowed onto your premises. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this school has even encouraged the bullying!”
“Mrs Moore, you cannot blame children and parents who were damaged by your actions during the civil war for expressing anger.”
“And there we have it. You’re a Communist,” Moore sneered, then held her hand up before the other woman could protest. “Then I’m sure you’ll be dismayed to hear that I will be removing both my children from this school and enrolling them in a private school where this kind of thing won’t happen.”
“Mrs Moore, the law in this province…”
“I know what the law in this province is. I would rather move to Aeluria and send Kelli and Jamey to one of those new religious institutions than they spend another moment here experiencing the teacher-sanctioned bullying. And you can be damn sure you’ll hear from my lawyers about this.”
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax