Published: 2025-09-03

The principal reclined his chair and kept clicking his pen while looking upwards. He was curious. Sitting in front of him were Dalia, Scarlet, Norma, and Tommy, all sixth-grade students. Miss Jones, her teacher, sat behind them. The principal leaned forward and put down his pen.

“Now, we have been going in circles for a while, and I still don’t know what exactly happened. Would anyone care to explain before I call your parents?” Said the principal.

Nobody seemed eager to talk.

“Tommy, perhaps? Could you explain why your lip is bleeding?”

Once again, nobody took the initiative to talk.

“Very well, I’ll call your parents and let them know the situation. In the meantime, go back to class. I’ll announce your punishment before the end of the day.”

Miss Jones and the students stood up to leave, but the principal signaled for Tommy to stay.

“Listen well, young man, this has been a reputable school for decades, and we’re not going to let a rascal like you taint our good name. I will say this just once. Confess now and accept your punishment, before things get worse.”

Tommy listened to the principal while he brandished his finger in front of his face. Once the principal finished talking, Tommy turned around and left the room.

“That little rascal!” The principal said.

The conflict happened three days ago, but it started with the new school year. It was Tommy’s first year in this school. Tommy was never good at making friends; besides, he was younger and smaller than the rest of the kids in his class. He felt like a toddler thrown into college, but it wasn’t up to him which school to attend.

The first day was awkward. Everybody knew each other. Kids would talk to each other in between classes. Some of the kids hugged when they saw each other as if they had been friends for eternity. It was a warm place to be if you knew someone, not so much if you were on your own.

Tommy was about to learn one thing or two about social structure during this school year.

Sixth grade was a matriarchal society, and Norma was its leader. She was older and taller than the rest of the kids. At thirteen years old, she had already had a growth spurt, and her body was growing hair in funny places. Tommy, on the other hand, was nine years old. His parents regarded him as a genius due to his academic prowess; in Tommy’s opinion, he had been surrounded by morons so far.

Maybe it was because they didn’t like the idea of a young prodigy coming into their turf and disrupting peace, or maybe it was customary to treat newcomers in a hostile manner. Whatever the reason, Norma and her gang decided to give Tommy a “warm” welcome.

“So, what are we gonna do with the new kid?” Norma said.

“I don’t know, boss. Wanna beat him up a little?” Scarlet said.

“Nah, that’s too easy. I want to do something special.”

“Like what, boss?” Dalia said.

“Well, I think I have a good idea, but it’s gonna be big. Our asses will be on the line, so we gotta time it perfectly or we’ll get into trouble.”

“Sweet. Let’s do it.” Scarlet said.

Without knowing it, these girls started a plan that would change the school forever. There was no turning back now.

Several weeks passed, and Tommy was starting to get used to school. He didn’t feel comfortable socializing with the rest of the kids, but he was getting good grades on his assignments. That day, things would take a turn for the worse.

Their math teacher didn’t go to work that day; as a result, the kids would be free from 11:15 to 12:00, that’s a forty-five-minute window of unsupervised child behavior, and things would go terribly wrong.

Norma and her gang huddled after hearing they’d have extra free time that day.

“OK, this is it, girls.” Norma said, “Do we have the bottles ready?”

“Yeah, I hid them in one of the bathrooms; I’ll go get them.” Scarlet said.

“Good. We’re gonna do this in the designated spot. We attack at 11:30, so there’s less risk of running into someone in the corridor. Got it?”

“Got it.” Scarlet and Dalia said.

“This is it. Today we write history.”

It was 11:30, the class was unattended, Tommy read a book to entertain himself while the rest of the class went crazy. Tommy heard a “psst” and looked up. It was Scarlet standing in the doorway and signaling him to approach. He got up and walked to her. Outside the classroom, there were Norma and Dalia, standing beside Scarlet.

“Come with us. We are gonna show you something.” Scarlet said.

Tommy stood there, looking puzzled but unsuspecting.

“OK.” He said.

“What are you doing?” Said Norma. “Drag him.”

“What?” Scarlet said.

“What the fuck did I just say? Drag him.”

Tommy turned pale. Scarlet grabbed his left arm, and Dalia grabbed his right one. They dragged him to the designated spot, which was the space under the stairs. Tommy was lying on the floor, terrified and confused.

“Take off your clothes.” Norma said.

“What?” Tommy said.

“Take. Off. Your clothes.”

“I—I don’t want to.”

“Listen, you little piece of shit, we are gonna do this. And if you resist, I’m gonna beat you up. Now, take off your clothes.”

Tommy remained frozen while panting rapidly.

“For fuck’s sake. Girls, take off his clothes. If he resists, beat him up, but not in the face, or it’d blow our cover.”

The gang stripped him down to his underwear.

Each girl took a water gun from out of their backpack, except they weren’t loaded with water, but with something worse. They laughed as the three of them sprayed Tommy until they emptied the water guns.

Tommy stayed there on the floor, lying in a pool of urine, crying.

“Somebody give him a towel, and let’s scram. We don’t want to stick here for too long.” Norma said.

“Oh, and one last thing. Welcome to the school.”

THE END.