Three Weeks Ago
Laughter rang throughout the hall as Ebenezer’s bag exploded, unleashing a tornado of papers and books that covered the school floor. A strange hot-cold sensation filled the boy’s body as his face heated with embarrassment while the feeling of ice water flooded his veins; all while he watched his work fly around the hallway. Ebenezer smiled awkwardly at the jeering crowd before falling to his knees and collecting the assignments. He had to collect his documents quickly before the bystanders stopped laughing. The second they did would be the second they moved on with their lives, walking over Ebenezer and his papers without a care for their condition or what would happen to the unfortunate boy if they were damaged.
Sadly, Ebenezer wasn’t quick enough. The blare of the warning bell cut the laughter short, and the students moved on to their classes, stomping on his papers without care. Ebenezer watched in horror as his schoolmates walked all over his reports. His hard work and sleepless nights went down the drain as dirty shoes ground them into the floor.
“H-Hey!” Ebenezer called out as he fruitlessly crawled through the crowd. “C-can you not step on those?! I-I need them!” The crowd ignored the boy’s desperate pleas and kept walking wherever they wanted. The people showed basic courtesy by not stepping on or running into Ebenezer. However, that was more on instinct to avoid a collision rather than conscious human decency. When Ebenezer finally got all his papers, most were scuffed, torn slightly, and had at least one footprint. Ebenezer stared at the sullied papers with a growing sense of dread. He was going to get in trouble again; he just knew it.
Stuffing the papers in the remnants of his bookbag, Ebenezer headed to his homeroom class. The look on his face would make outsiders think he was about to be sentenced to death. He walks into the classroom seconds before the late bell rings. Mr. Colbert, the homeroom teacher, glared at Ebenezer over his hooked nose with the eyes of a predator that was denied its prey. The man was notorious for taking any chance to punish students as severely as possible. Still, he was always careful to keep his cruelties in line with the school rules so there wouldn’t be room for his victims to complain. He turned away with an angry sneer and allowed his student to slink into the classroom sheepishly.
Snickers from his classmates trailed behind Ebenezer as he made his way to his desk. The intercom screeched out the morning announcements that Ebenezer barely heard. He just sat at his table, hands clasped tightly as the young man tried to brace himself for what would come next. The moment announcements ended, Ebenezer was surrounded by his classmates; they all had expectant faces as they stared down the crestfallen boy. Ebenezer opened his bag with a resigned sigh and handed out the dirty papers. The backlash was immediate.
“What the hell?!” Leanora exclaimed as she examined the dirty footprint on her math homework.
“Seriously?!” Corrina shrieked when she saw the tear on her assingment. “Ms. Albert’s gonna tear my head off when she sees this!”
“You can’t do anything right, can you, Scrooge?!” Pery sneered as he stuffed his dirty papers into his bag. Ebenezer said nothing; he kept his head down and bit his lip to hold back the tears as his classmates shouted at him. He knew this would happen; any slight mistake on his part was bound to raise the ire of the students who relied on him to do their assignments. Never mind that he shouldn’t be doing these things in the first place; it was their homework, so it was their job to deal with it, not his. Ebenezer briefly entertained the idea of looking at Mr. Colbert and hoping he would step in and save him, but he knew the man wouldn’t care. The vulture-faced teacher only lived to punish students for school-related crimes and couldn’t care less about any classroom squabbles that happened near him.
“Hey!” a hand slammed down on Ebenezer’s desk, scaring him back to reality. With a jerk of his head, Ebenezer locked eyes with Gabriel, the school’s star quarterback. He glared at him with the self-righteous fire of someone who saw himself as superior and expected to be treated as such. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!”
“S-Sorry…” Ebenezer muttered weakly. He tried to withdraw into himself while keeping his eyes on Gabriel’s angry face. His body shakes as the quarterback’s eyes burned him with their gaze. Ebenezer desperately wanted to hold the tears back lest Gabriel gained more ammunition to use against him. He felt his body stiffen like an overly taught spring begging to be released. Ebenezer wanted to run away, to get away from this awful situation and find some hole to die in. But he couldn’t; Ebenezer knew if he didn’t take the abuse, things would only get worse.
“You’re gonna be sorry if this paper gets me kicked off the team!” Gabriel growled. “When you’re doing my homework, you better treat them like their newborn babies!”
“It wasn’t my fault-” Ebenezer tried to explain, to defend himself. But he was cut off by another hard slap against his desk.
“Save it!” Gabriel growled and then jammed a finger in Ebenezer’s face like it was a loaded gun, making the smaller boy flinch. “Next time, my homework better be in top-tier condition. Or else!” Without waiting for an answer, Gabriel turned and walked away, confident that his demands would be met without question.
“If I get in trouble over this crap, you’re a dead man, Scrouge!” Leonora growled.
“And I’ll make sure whatever Ms. Albert does to me happens to you, too,” Corrina sneered.
“Fuck up again, Scrooge, and I’ll make you wish you were never born,” Pery said with a cruel smile.
Once the attack was over and the students left the defeated boy, Ebenezer sat at his desk and stared at the wooden surface in gloomy silence. The tears that were desperate to escape his eyes faded as a sorrowful acceptance took over his mind. At this point, the boy grew to expect his classmates' anger over the slightest mistakes. None of them bothered to ask what happened to their assignments and let him explain the accident. Ebenezer wouldn’t be surprised to find out that some of them were in the hallway when it happened and still decided to yell at him for it. But what really drained his spirits was Gabriel’s words. ‘Next Time’.
This situation would happen again, him getting attacked for a problem he couldn’t control. What the other students didn’t know and didn’t bother to ask about was that Ebenezer’s bag exploded because it was constantly over-stuffed with homework that wasn’t his. It was their fault that their assignments were dirty, not that they would admit it if they were smart enough to realize that. But even if that weren’t the case, it would only be a matter of time before Ebenezer to mess up again. His workload was constantly getting bigger as the years went on; he could barely keep up with his assignments, not to mention he was continually losing sleep to get all the work done on time. It was inevitable that Ebenezer would crack under the pressure.
There was nothing else to be done; Ebenezer had to say something. He had to get his classmates to stop giving him all their homework. He doubted he could get all of them to stop, but if he could get just one person to do their own homework, everything else would be much easier. Ebenezer frantically eyed his classmates and tried to think who would be reasonable enough to listen to him. Gabriel, Corrina, and the other popular kids were out of the question. Whether for their pride or their status, they needed Ebenezer to do their work so he wouldn’t be reasoning with them anytime soon. Pery and Leonora weren’t popular, but they were jerks; they’d force Ebenezer to do their homework just for the kicks they got from pushing him around. Ebenezer would have to talk to the friendly kids, or at least people willing to speak to him.
Ebenezer glanced around the classroom. He tried to be subtle about it because he didn’t know what his classmates would do if they found out he was trying to get out of his “responsibilities”. There was Christian, one of the only people Ebenezer could relate to. Then there was Roth, a nice enough guy, on the surface at least. Then there was Dream, a friendly girl who didn’t seem to be all there. If anyone would be willing to listen to him it’d be those three. Clenching his fists and taking a deep breath, Ebenezer gathered his resolve and readied himself to plead his case.
When the bell rang for First Period, Ebenezer practically jumped out of his chair and rushed out of the classroom. Once in the hall, Ebenezer swung his head around, searching for any of his targets. The second he saw a head sporting a bouncing blonde ponytail that would be more at home on a child than a high schooler, Ebenezer bolted down the hallway and towards her.
“Dream!” the boy called out as he shuffled through the crowd. The girl in question bounced around to face and faced Ebenezer with a friendly smile and a somewhat lucid look in her eyes. As Ebenezer approached her, visions of what could go wrong flashed before his mind. Images of Dream getting angry over his request, laughing in his face, crying as if he had attacked her, or even just ignoring him outright, all of these in his mind as he got closer and worsened his anxiety. Ebenezer tried to force down the fear, reminding himself that Dream wasn’t like that. Yet the images came regardless of logic, shaking the boy’s naturally unsteady resolve.
Dream was a sweet girl but a natural-born airhead. When talking to her, it wasn’t uncommon for the girl to lose interest in a conversation and start daydreaming out of the blue. When talking to her, Ebenezer often had to restart his conversations multiple times before finally getting through to the blonde. Dream was one of the few people who honestly needed Ebenezer’s help, which made the pit in his stomach get even more uncomfortable as the guilt for targeting her gnawed at him.
“Oh!” Dream exclaimed when Ebenezer walked up to her. “Hi, Scrooge!” The boy gave a friendly smile even as his insides writhed in pain. Ebenezer hated his name and had tried multiple times to get the others to call him a more appealing nickname like “Eben,” “Ben,” or even just “Z,” a name to help him get by without feeling like life was meant to be a sick joke. None of them stuck, mostly because his classmates chose the “funnier” option of calling him Scrooge. Obviously, this was just another way to bully him for his existence. If that were the case, Ebenezer could easily grin and bear it, but the fact that the “nicer” students like Dream called him that, too, made it hurt even more.
“Hey, Dream…” Ebenezer began with a forced smile. “How’re you doing?”
“Oh, I’m good!” Dream replied, completely oblivious to the guy’s unease. “Freddy and Shirley got together and Stephen just came out of the closet!”
“That’s awesome…” Ebenezer replied despite having no idea who those people were.
“I know, right? Those two had been tip-toeing around each other for weeks, and we all knew Stephen was into guys, but he was too scared to admit it!” Dream started rambling about how her friends were going on dates and how she was planning a coming-out party for Stephen. From experience, Ebenezer knew he had to jump in before the girl got lost in her tangents.
“H-hey, Dream… I need to talk to you about something…” Even as his mind demanded urgency, Ebenezer’s body couldn’t help but struggle to get the words out.
“Oh? What’s up?” Dream looked at him with child-like innocence.
“Y… You know how I’m… helping you with… h-homework?”
“Yeah!” she exclaimed with the happy energy of a puppy shown a new chew toy. “You really help me out! Like, I was struggling so much with math, science, history, and the other stuff, but then you helped out and, like, saved my life!”
“Y-Yeah…” Ebenezer managed to force out as his insides contorted even further. “Listen, Dream-”
“Like no exaggeration, my parents used to get soooo mad whenever I came home with bad grades.”
“O-oh?” Ebenezer asked despite himself. Memories of his own home life started appearing in his head due to Dream’s words, and the guy could feel his resolve crumbling.
“Yeah, then I would cry and promise to do better, only to forget, like, the next day because I was hanging out with friends, or on my phone, or whatever, and I’d be back to having bad grades. That’s why you’re such a lifesaver! My grades aren’t as bad as before, and I don’t get in trouble at home anymore!”
“W-Well, that’s… good…” Ebenezer mumbled as his body started to tremble. Dream’s smile and story destroyed whatever confidence he had built up, but his brain still screamed at him to tell her his case anyway. The stirring in his gut that urged him to go on and the pain in his heart that begged him not to hurt the girl clashed in Ebenezer’s body and forced him into an unmoving state that just stood in the hallway as Dream continued talking.
“Oh, by the way! Can you help me out with my history project coming up in a couple of weeks?”
“W-What?!” Ebenezer asked, getting hit with an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu.
“Yeah, I got a paper due next Thursday. It’s about the history of some country in Europe that died a long time ago. If you can help me out, I’d be really happy!” Dream smiled at Ebenezer and looked at him with hopeful eyes that didn’t see the clear crisis on Ebenezer’s face. Writing a paper in two weeks was easily manageable for any student. But with Ebenezer doing the work for a dozen other kids, it was too much for his already overloaded schedule. Not to mention that since Dream didn’t even know the assignment's topic, he’d have to do extra work just to get all the instructions for a project that wasn’t his.
‘You can’t do this!’ Ebenezer’s inner thoughts screamed. ‘Tell her “no”! Do it now!’
Stolen story; please report.
“D-Dream… I-” Ebenezer stuttered.
“Please, can you help me?” Dream pleaded in a sing-song voice. “If I do it myself, I’m gonna fail and get in trouble with my parents again!”
“It’s just… I…”
“You’re the only one I can rely on!”
“Y-Yeah, but I…” Ebenezer looked into Dream’s puppy dog eyes, and immediately, the pain in his chest outweighed his brain’s screams. “Okay…”
“Awesome! I knew I could count on you, Scrooge!” Dream quickly hugged Ebenezer before skipping down the hallway without a care in the world. The boy just stood in place, staring at his feet as the familiar feeling of despair and self-loathing grow within him. However, Ebenezer didn’t have time to criticize himself; he had other people he could ask so all hope wasn’t lost. Forcing himself to move, Ebenezer walked down the corridor searching for his next potential sympathizer, though his steps were more desperate.
Ebenezer found Christian in front of his locker, nervously fiddling with the lock. His ratty brown hair covered his eyes as he instinctively kept his head down to avoid attracting unkind attention. Christian was one of the few people Ebenezer could relate to. He was a dorky, nervous wreck and was constantly picked on by the popular kids. Christian was also forced to do their homework and would repeatedly crack under the pressure. Ebenezer felt bad for the guy and offered to help with the extra work. Christian was grateful and promised to help in return, but he never did; if anything, he kept asking Ebenezer to do even more work. While Ebenezer didn’t want to impose on the anxious teen, it was time for him to keep his promise. Ebenezer was the one who needed help now, and it was only fair for Christian to help out.
“Hey, Christian!” Ebenezer exclaimed. The nervous boy jumped and whirled around, his eyes wide and his back to the lockers as if expecting an attack. Upon seeing Ebenezer, Christian immediately calmed down but still looked ready to skitter away at a moment's notice.
“H-Hey, Scrooge… What’s up?”
“I need your help,” Ebenezer breathed out. Christian was much easier to talk to than the other kids, mostly because he was just as vulnerable as Ebenezer. Still, that didn’t make what he was about to say any easier because, like Dream, Christian also needed help.
“Uh… okay? W-what do you need help with?” Christian looked at Ebenezer like a chastised puppy. He always had that look, even when talking to someone who was supposed to be a friend; it showed his nervousness no matter the circumstances. That look made Ebenezer hesitate as it was another reminder of Christian’s situation. At this point, the nice boy would normally drop this issue and suffer in silence, but after the disastrous meeting with Dream, he had to force out this issue.
“...You know how I’m helping you with all the homework you keep getting,” Ebenezer began.
“Yeah?” Christian replied, his demeanor becoming more tense as he braced for bad news.
“...I’m sorry to do this to you, man… But I can’t help you anymore…” Christian stared at Ebenezer in stunned silence, his already wide eyes growing even more oversized after the other boy's statement. Now, instead of looking like he was about to get slapped, Christian looked like he was just handed a death sentence.
“N-No…” Christian whispered in horror. In one he was trembling, the next Christian launched himself from the wall and grabbed Ebenezer’s shirt. “Scrooge, you can’t! I need you!” The desperation in Christian’s eyes caught Ebenezer off guard. He stared into Christian’s face; the tears forming in the skinny kid’s eyes made Ebenezer want to take back his words and assure Christian that everything would be alright. But he couldn’t do that. Gritting his teeth, Ebenezer forced himself forward.
“I’m sorry, Christian,” Ebenezer choked out. “But, I just can’t do it anymore.” He tried to push Christian away, but the smaller boy clung to Ebenezer’s clothes like a stubborn tick. Ebenezer was vaguely aware that the other people in the halls were giving them odd looks. While Ebenezer pretended not to notice them, their gazes added to the pressure he felt as Christian kept begging.
“Please don’t do this to me, Scrooge!” Christian wailed. “I need you! I can’t go back to pulling all-nighters for everyone else!”
“I need sleep, too!” Ebenezer shot back, still struggling to remove the thin boy’s hands. Ebenezer knew that he had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep; he could never get more than 4 hours of sleep, and that number was slowly shrinking as more work was pushed onto him. Whether Christian couldn’t see the bags or ignored them for his argument, Ebenezer couldn’t figure it out as the kid was too frantic to get a read on.
He could read the stares of the bystanders; they looked at the scene with indifference, but Ebenezer could feel their judgemental gazes drill into his back. They all assumed he was the bad guy because Ebenezer stayed calm while Christian had a mental breakdown. The mounting pressure combined with Christian’s heartbreaking pleas made Ebenezer’s resolve fall to pieces.
“O-Okay…” Ebenezer heard himself say. The few remnants of his resolve yelled at him to stop, but the words flew out of his mouth with the automation of a customer service bot. “I’ll keep helping you…” Christian took on a look of relief, completely ignoring Ebenezer’s look of resignation.
“Thank god,” Christian groaned. “Do you have any idea how bad it is if you don’t get eight hours of sleep? I would’ve died if I kept up that work!” Ebenezer grits his teeth as his gloom is temporarily overshadowed by anger. He could understand Christian’s desperation to avoid that fate, but Ebenezer was in that situation, too; could he not see that? Or was he refusing to help for his own sake?
“Hey, could you help me with an essay Percy is making me do?”
“W-What?!” Ebenezer almost screamed. He stared at Christian in bewilderment. After what he just said, Christian would still pass on assignments to him?! “Christian, I-I can’t-!”
“Please, Scrooge!” Christian said, his voice back to whining as if his life was on the line. “It’s a 10-page report; I can’t handle it all myself! I don’t even need all that much! I already did the research. You just need to type up the paper!”
“I don’t have the time for that!”
“Come on, Scrooge! You’re the one who offered to help me!” Christian was right of course; but right now, there was just too much work. The struggling student couldn’t add another paper to his already insane workload. It was also rich of Christian to bring up Ebenezer’s good deed when he won’t give him the same helping hand.
“Christian… this isn’t fair…” Ebenezer mumbled. His ability to argue slowly drained from him as the bystander’s eyes began drilling holes into him again. Ebenezer could feel his insides twisting in despair. He already knew how this would turn out even as he desperately pushed out weak rebuttals.
“Scrooge, I need you! If I have to do this paper myself, I’ll literally die!” Christian was back to clinging to Ebenezer’s shirt. The first boy’s face scrunched in pain as he tried to find a way out of this mess. Unfortunately; as his brain desperately tried to find an escape, his body automatically responded.
“Alright…” Before Ebenezer could regret his words, Christian let out a loud and dramatic sigh.
“Thank God! You’re a real lifesaver, Scrooge!” Sensing Ebenezer’s hesitation, Christian immediately scurried away before his “friend” could work up the nerve to change his mind. “I’ll send you my notes later!” Once again, Ebenezer was alone in the hallways, stewing in his failure. He wasn’t sure if he should start crying, screaming, or just bash his head against the lockers. He was already berating himself internally, but Ebenezer felt this screw-up should come with an extra painful penalty. Not only did he fail to get Christian to stop asking for help, but now he was on the hook for yet another paper that had nothing to do with him!
But as bad as the situation was, Ebenezer found the strength to pull himself out of this funk. There was still one more person who would hear him out and Ebenezer would not take “no” for an answer! Practically sprinting down the hall, Ebenezer throws his head around searching for his final lifeline. The desperation in his eyes made him look crazed to the other students passing by but the teen couldn’t focus on them. He had to find Roth, he had to get to him to see the reason, and he had to stop the flow of work from coming his way, even by just the tiniest amount. After what felt like hours of frantic searching, Ebenezer found Roth heading up the stairs.
“Roth!” Ebenezer practically screamed as he ran up to the guy. Stopping at the peak of the staircase, Roth turned and met Ebenezer with a charming smile and a quirked eyebrow. Thanks to his good looks, Roth was one of the more popular kids, but he kept to himself rather than flaunt his handsomeness. Ebenezer didn’t understand that and slightly resented him for not using his natural talent. If Ebenezer was as good-looking as Roth, who knows how much better he’d have it. At the very least, people would’ve respected his request not to be called Ebenezer or Scrooge, like how they respected Roth’s request not to be called Florian.
“What’s up, Scrooge?” Roth asked casually.
“I can’t do your homework anymore!” Ebenezer practically screamed. Given how his last two attempts panned out, the desperate teen threw away subtlety in hopes that being clear and direct would get a better result. Roth stared at Ebenezer in silence for a second, his constant smile dimming as his now harsh gaze threatened to skewer Ebenezer’s skull. A moment later, the smile returned, but Roth’s remained sharp as knives, making the other boy uncomfortable.
“Well, this is sudden,” Roth said amicably as if he wasn’t staring Ebenezer down with a lethal gaze. “Why do you want to break off our deal so badly?” Roth’s behavior took Ebenezer aback, and his word choice sent him on another loop. They didn’t have a deal; Ebenezer just did Roth's homework like he did for everyone else. Roth wasn't doing anything for him! Ebenezer didn’t let the confusion settle and pressed forward with his request.
“I can’t do it anymore!” he cried. “I’m exhausted and barely keeping up with my own work!”
“If that was going to be an issue,” Roth began with a raised eyebrow. “You shouldn’t have offered to help me in the first place.” For a brief second, Ebenezer felt his body shut down as Roth’s words struck his very soul. Roth was right; this whole situation happened because Ebenezer offered to help everyone who needed it. But Ebenezer had only offered to advise people on topics they were struggling with, not just to do it all himself! He was trying to be nice and someone everyone could count on, but instead, he became the rube everyone pushes their homework towards.
“I only offered to help-” Ebenezer tried to defend himself.
“And you are helping,” Roth interrupted. He began descending the stairs so he could stare into Ebenezer’s eyes. The intensity that hid behind Roth’s carefree demeanor disturbed Ebenezer, and the boy found himself stepping back. “You’re helping me out by doing my homework and giving me the time to focus on more important things.”
“‘Important things’…? Like what?” Ebenezer challenged weakly.
“Like important things,” Roth repeated with a laugh as if Ebenezer knew what he was talking about and decided to play dumb. “Look, Scrooge. I feel your pain, really, I do. But I can’t just let you renege on our deal.”
“B-But I can’t do it anymore!” Ebenezer practically screamed. Tears welled in his eyes as the familiar scene repeated in front of him for the third time that day.
“Yes, you can,” Roth said with condescending cheer. “Nobody can do homework as good as you!” Roth stepped up to the trembling boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. If someone saw the two boys like this it would look like Roth was comforting Ebenezer. The real scene was much more unnerving as Roth’s gentle hand quickly became a harsh grip and dug into Ebenezer’s shoulder. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it was enough to make the already anxious teen stiffen in fear.
“I’m counting on you, Scrouge,” Roth added, his low tone conveyed the hidden threat in his words. “I’d be so disappointed if you stopped now.” With those final words, Roth removed his hand and walked back up the stairs, leaving Ebenezer alone in the stairwell. For the third time, the boy stood still as the crushing weight of failure settled on his shoulders, only this time there wasn’t anything that could drag him out of this funk.
He couldn’t decide if he should be bewildered at how no one would help him or beat himself up over putting himself in this situation. Because Roth was right, Ebenezer did this to himself. He wanted to be liked and thought being nice and helpful to everyone would get him a lot of friends. Instead, his attempts to help got turned on its head, and now he was just a stooge for everyone to use until he broke.
As Ebenezer dove further into the pit of self-pity and self-hatred, the warning bell rang, and his body automatically headed to First Period Science. Robotically, the boy made his way through the school and into his class.
“Cutting it close, Mr. Giroux,” Ms. Albert stated coldly.
“Sorry, Ms. Albert,” Ebenezer replied listlessly. The woman glared at Ebenezer as if his near tardiness was a personal insult to her. Ms. Albert was known for being harsh to the point of pointless cruelty, so it shouldn’t be surprising she’d treat a top student like Ebenezer with disdain for almost committing a transgression. Usually, her treatment would make Ebenezer want to lock himself in a closet for the rest of his life. But given the day he was having, her cold gaze was just a drop in the bucket called “Ebenezer’s self-loathing”. The boy took his seat while silently wishing someone or something would just kill him on the spot or cause him enough pain that he could be distracted from the abyss he was trapped in.
“Turn in your assignments,” Ms. Albert demanded with the tone of someone used to giving absolute orders. With the energy of a toddler’s robot toy powered by dying batteries, Ebenezer opened his half-ruined backpack to retrieve his homework. He rummaged around the bag for a few minutes… and found nothing. His brow furrowing, Ebenezer looked inside the bag and examined its contents. There were plenty of books, folders, and other school supplies, but he couldn’t find his homework.
Ebenezer felt like he had swallowed an iceberg, and his heart rate increased so much that he thought it would eventually pop. The panicked child found himself ripping open his bag and dumping out the contents. He scrambled through the pile of learning material in a desperate attempt to find his missing homework; the ringing in his ears and his anxious breathing made him numb to the scene he was causing.
“Mr. Giroux!” He heard Ms. Albert exclaim. Ebenezer picked up on the outrage in her voice but was hyper-focused on finding his missing assignment.
“It’s not here…” Ebenezer gasped in terror. “It’s not here!” he screamed as his hands haphazardly dug into the clutter. The boy flung folders and books into the air, hoping that would somehow reveal the missing exercise. He had his homework; he knew he did! Ebenezer always ensured his homework was done first and ready to go! He must’ve accidentally given it to the other when handing out the other assignments! That must be it! Someone has to have it! Ebenezer whipped his head around the classroom, looking for someone, anyone, who could help him.
His pleading gaze was met with sneers of contempt, mocking smiles, and glares of disgust. Ebenezer stood in a pile of torn-up paper, practically crying for help, and his classmates couldn’t care less. After everything he did for them, everything they made him do, this was how they repaid him. A part of Ebenezer knew it was like this, but he never wanted to admit it. Now, that ugly truth was laughing in his face.
“Ebenezer!” Ms. Albert screamed. Ebenezer’s head snapped towards his teacher, who was standing above him and glaring at him with such fury you’d think that Ebenezer had decided to piss all over the floor. The science teacher was a notorious perfectionist and didn’t tolerate any tomfoolery in her classroom. So naturally, she’s not too happy that Ebenezer decided to have an emotional breakdown during her lesson.
“Get out of my classroom!” she hissed. “And head straight to the Principal’s office! I will not tolerate this disgraceful behavior in my classroom!”
“B-but-” Ebenezer began.
“I don’t want to hear it!” Ms. Albert barked. “Get out of my sight before I start demanding your expulsion!” With a broken nod, Ebenezer scooped up his mess and dragged himself out of the classroom to a chorus of muffled snickers. Alone in the hallways, Ebenezer listlessly trudged towards the principal’s office. He wanted to cry, but held himself back, mostly on reflex because he doubted his tears would change anything. Ebenezer was stuck being the school’s whipping boy, and he couldn’t see anyway out of it.