Get him! ‘Hey cripple!’ I was sitting down on a bench in the hallway and had just taken out my lunchbox, when two boys came standing in front of me. They were much bigger than me. One of them wore a cap. ‘You’re new in school, aren’t you?’ the largest boy said. I nodded. Three weeks, I calculated backwards. The boy gave the crutch by my feet a little kick. ‘Why do you have that?’ he asked. ‘I... um....’ My voice faltered. ‘I have trouble walking on my left leg.’ ‘How come?’ the boy with the cap asked. ‘I was born that way,’ I replied. ‘It’s because of my muscles.’ ‘Weird!’ he said loudly. I sat up straighter and hoped they would go away. ‘Let me have it,’ the largest boy said, pointing at my crutch. I hesitated. ‘Give it to me!’ he said forcefully. When I reached down for my crutch, the largest boy quickly snatched it up from under my bench. ‘Here, catch!’ he shouted, and threw my crutch to the other boy. I looked around to see if there was a teacher nearby, but I only saw a small group of girls looking at their phones. ‘Can I have my crutch back?’ I asked the boys. They didn’t react and kept on throwing my crutch back and forth. ‘Can I have my crutch back?!’ I said louder. 'Come and get it!’ the largest boy laughed without looking at me.
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I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that. I needed the crutch to walk. Suddenly the larger boy turned around. He looked at me and then directed his gaze at the lunchbox on my lap. I followed his eyes. What was he up to? The boy walked up to me and pointed at my lunchbox. ‘Time for a game of hockey! Let me have that.’ ‘No,’ I said softly and tried to quickly shove my lunchbox into my bag. It clattered to the ground instead. ‘What’s going on here?’ a deep voice asked. I turned around. It was the school custodian. The boy put the crutch down next to me. ‘We were just helping him out,’ he said. ‘He had, um, dropped his crutch.’ The custodian looked at me and then at the boys. ‘Boris, this is no joking matter. And you, take that cap off your head.’ He pointed at the other boy. ‘What for?’ the boy asked insolently. ‘Don’t argue with me! Remove it or I will take it away from you,’ the custodian warned as he approached the boy, who reluctantly pulled off his cap. ‘Where were you yesterday afternoon, by the way?’ the custodian asked him. ‘Your teacher told me that you had class duty.’ I could tell by the custodian’s tone where this was heading: the boy would get a lecture. This could be my chance to get away! I put the lunchbox in my bag, grabbed my crutch and quickly sneaked away. I didn’t look back until I reached the corner. The custodian had moved on, and the boy was putting his cap back on.
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