By Jackie Sanchez –
“Leave me alone! Stop! Sergio Please!” Why are you doing this to me?” young Alexis yelled for help as he was getting bullied by 12-year-old Sergio.
Alexis was the smartest and smallest kid in class and Sergio was the oldest and meanest kid in Sebree Elementary School in rural Kentucky. Sergio took advantage of his size and age to bother and steal lunch money from his younger, smaller and smarter classmates, and was detested and feared for it.
With just one week before school ended Mr. Meyers announced to his class that there would be a book report due before the end of the school year. Meyers that this assignment required that, “every student must have a partner and both must have a finished book report completed before the end of school.”
If that wasn’t bad enough, if one failed then both students would be assigned to summer school. When Sergio heard this he got a bit worried because he knew that he was mean to pretty much everyone and so no one would pick him as his partner. He needed to graduate from elementary school this year or he would be forced to go to a special school for troubled kids.
Everyone in the class was excited to pick their partners. Within five minutes everyone had chosen a partner, all except Alexis, who unfortunately found that the only one left was Sergio. Sadly, Alexis walked up to his new partner. Meanwhile, Sergio jumped with joy and shouted out to the class “Hey guys! Guess who’s not going to summer school?!” Everyone in the class just turned smiled and looked away uncomfortably.
As the week went by Alexis tried convincing Sergio to help him with the book report, but Sergio simply wouldn’t listen to him. What help could he be? He just relaxed, played and enjoyed the thought that he would get poor Alexis to do all the work. However, from somewhere deep inside, Alexis decided he would not be taken advantage of. If that meant going to summer school then so be it. He would not do all the work again.
With only three days until the book report deadline and both partners having done nothing, Alexis made a decision. On that Friday afternoon Alexis very upset and aggravated he walked up to Sergio and yelled, “Here is the book! I quit! I would rather go to summer school than be your slave!”
He threw the book down and walked away. Sergio was too shocked to beat on Alexis. He was also not accustomed to being spoken to this way. But with only three days before deadline, he picked up the book and walked away.
When Sergio got home he sat down on his bed and, shocked, just stared at the book. He had no idea how to write a book report and there was no one to help him. With just three days left to a special school, Sergio had no other choice. He had to do the book report. He didn’t want to go to summer school!
He took a deep breath, grabbed the book, and began reading. As he read the book, Alexis immediately popped into his head. The book was about a boy, Juan, who was made fun of because of his height, and because he was smart, but in all reality nobody really knew how much the boy suffered.
As Sergio continued reading he began comparing his life to another character in the book. Another boy who was bullied by everyone was the one who helped the others although they were rude and disrespectful towards him. Especially one boy, Hugo, who was very wealthy who thought he was better than everyone else, simply because he had the latest clothing, shoes, and electronics. He would not speak to anybody that wasn’t wealthy like him.
As Sergio kept reading the novel it came to his attention that the character in the novel sounded just like him how he acts. He stayed thinking to himself for a minute later on he continued reading. In the novel, the poor innocent boy lost his parents in a terrible car accident, and so he was alone. In school he didn’t have any friends. Everyone made fun of him because of his appearance. The bully horrible things to Juan, because he was unaware of Juan’s situation, and didn’t really care.
As Sergio turned the pages he was pulled into the story. He forgot that reading wasn’t fun, that it was work. He read that one day at lunch Hugo saw Juan eating one of those gross sandwiches that he always brought from home, poor food, strange and gross, in the corner by himself.
Hugo saw his opportunity to have a little fun and give Juan a hard time. He said, “Hey Loser! See why nobody likes you!”
He took the sandwich and threw it to the ground, then said, “You should just leave this place your die. You aren’t liked by anyone here!”
Juan, humiliated, got up and ran far away, tears coming from his eyes. He stopped at the bridge that lead into town, and thought to himself, “I can’t take this anymore” and threw himself into the raging river below.
The following morning the whole school heard about the news except one person. Hugo, who was always late, and no one seemed to care, arrived to school, walked in the front door and down the hallway. Everyone, who saw him attack Juan at lunch, looked at him as he passed by, silently eyeing him.
Then, a teacher called Hugo into the office right before he could reach his classroom. The teacher asked Hugo to sit down, then gently told him about Juan’s death. Hugo knew that he was responsible for this. He couldn’t believe it. He knew that he had to live with that guilt the rest of his life. Hugo became the outsider. His wealth and stuff didn’t mean anything. Everyone knew that he was a murderer.
Sergio had finished the book and without thinking he grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper and began writing. Without knowing it Sergio had done all the work by himself. The next day when the report was to be presented to the class, he stood up and could feel the class, and even the teacher’s, surprise at his having done work.
Alexis didn’t know how to react. But Sergio read the report he wrote, apologizing in to everyone, but especially to Alexis. Not only he wasn’t going to summer school but also learned a big lesson. He became a better person. The teacher accepted the report with a knowing smile and said, “Good work, Hugo.”
