Prodigal

~3.16~

Gabbi’s dad dropped us off at the wrong door to the West Sydney High School. It was the door that wasn’t near the gym.

Not a big deal, Gabbi and I started walking through the vacant hallways of the unfamiliar school, trying to navigate our way to the gym.

“Look at all the posters.” Gabbi said, perplexed.

On all the walls, across all the rows of lockers, there were huge posters. They were familiar posters to me. They were the black and white, spattered in vibrant red blood, #JusticeForCole posters.

“You think the school put these up?” Gabbi asked.

“No way.” I responded. “Cole’s parents are suing the school for all the bullying he went through.”

As we rounded a corner, we saw two girls with a pile of posters taping the posters all over the place. One of them looked familiar; she was the girl from the video that was going around on Facebook.

We made our way to the gym just in time. We had only sat down for a minute when the game started.

But it was enough time for me to make eye contact with Jeffery and waved to him.

Right when we thought the game would start, the lights in the gym dimmed and the announcer said, “The West Sydney High Basketball team would like to dedicate this game to one of their own, jersey number 62, Cole.”

A single light in the middle of the gym was lit, and two West Sydney players came out, in their jerseys, and put a small table under the light. They then put a framed picture of Cole on the table, along with the jersey number 62 and a basketball.

A song started playing. It started with a few cords. Even though it was an old song, I recognized it immediately.

It was “Keep Holding On” by Avril Lavigne.

I just sat uncomfortably, looking at the tribute and hearing the song, knowing that these teammates were the reason that this Cole died.

“WITH YOU BY MY SIDE I WILL FIGHT AND DEFEND, I’LL FIGHT AND DEFEND. YEAH, YEAH, KEEP HOLDING ON, CUZ YOU KNOW WE’LL MAKE IT THROUGH, WE’LL MAKE IT THROUGH. JUST STAY STRONG, CUZ YOU KNOW I’M HERE FOR YOU I’M HERE FOR YOU.” The song sang.

I noticed the two girls who were hanging up posters at the doorframe. One, the one who made the video, started screaming, “THIS IS BULLSHIT! THEY KILLED COLE! THEY’RE WHY HE’S DEAD! THEY KILLED HIM! THEY KILLED HIM!”

Her face was turning red and tears were running down her face when two large men in suits “escorted” both the girls out of the gym.

Just like everyone else there, I was stiff, not knowing how to react.

Notes

How are all of you doing? I miss you all!