Page 35 of Torrid Love
“It gets worse.” I offer a sad smile. “The mean girls started insulting me,Your foreign food smells like shit. Fart face. Dumb Dom. When are you going to start speaking American? Polish sausage roll—”
“I thought you were born in Austria?”
“I was. Mom is from Hungary and Dad is Austrian, but mean girls don’t care about the facts.”
“I can’t believe people can be that heartless and stupid. How dare they make fun of you? This country was built by people who came with big dreams and big accents, and the willingness to work hard to build a better life for themselves.”
I nod. “I agree, but as I said, none of that matters to bullies.”
“Idiots. I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” she sympathizes. Zoe reaches out for my hands, wraps hers around mine and squeezes tight.
I wish I had someone like her in my corner back in the days before Rod came along.
“The first month of school, no one noticed me… that’s until the math teacher asked the class to solve a challenging equation on the board. After twenty minutes everyone was still stumped. I had solved it in two. Shyly, I raised my hand to give the answer. People heard my accent, ignoring the correct answer. After class, Connie started calling me brown-noser. The bullying started soon after. It was horrible, but on that Friday, it had reached another level of cruelty. As the mean girls kept torturing and tormenting me, I closed my eyes hoping to dull the pain. Against my will, tears started rolling down my face. Then I heard a voice,‘Leave her the fuck alone, Connie.’The assertive timbre gave me the courage to open my eyes.”
“Rod?”
I nod. “There he was. My savior. He was all attitude and height at the time—the muscles and the ink came later.”
Rod started the school year a bit late because of drama with his mom and since he’s three-years older, we didn’t have any classes together, but I had noticed him.
“Did the mean girls stop?”
“Connie flew into a fit of rage, insulting and demeaning Rod. She even spat in his face.”
“What a fucking bitch!”
“I felt so badly for him. He came to my defense and he was getting stoned in the process. But I didn’t know who Rod Wolfereallywas then.”
Zoe frowns. “What do you mean?”
“He never lost his composure. He simply smirked at Connie just before dropping the axe. He shut her up by telling her he had caught her on her knees with her tits out, giving the assistant basketball coach a blowjob in the boys’ change room the previous Thursday. She called him a liar and slapped him. He smirked at her again and proceeded to burst her bubble. He told her he caught everything on camera.”
“Was it true?”
“It was. This goes way back, but Rod had found a lost camcorder and always had it with him for fun. He went out of his way to delay the moment he had to go back to his mom’s place by hanging out at school. He had found a little hideaway where we could read his superhero cartoon books in peace. He never expected to witness a twenty-four-year-old assistant coach corrupting a thirteen-year-old student. When he started playing footage of the video, Connie went as white as a ghost. She fled like a thief.”
“Oh my God. That’s amazing!” Zoe cheers. “Did she get in trouble?”
“They both did. The assistant coach got fired and Connie was expelled. Nine months later, she became a teen mom.”
“Wow.”
“Once Connie ran away, Rod turned his attention to me.‘Come, you’re with me now’,he said. I thought my limited English was responsible for me not understanding what hemeant, but I ran to him when he extended his hand. He forced a few of Connie’s friends to pick up my belongings and apologize.”
“What a guy,” Zoe marvels.
“We didn’t stop there.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“He then put out a warning, ‘Any of you assholes as much as look at her the wrong way and I’ll rain hell on you. Oh, if I hear Dumb Dom ever again, your ass is mine’.”
“Yes!” Zoe fists pumps.
“I was surprised he knew my name, but at least my nightmare was over thanks to this courageous stranger.”
“That was badass.”
