Bullies

         Olivia was hiding behind the hedge as the school bus drove away.  She knuckled the tears from her eyes.  Now she only had to hide a little longer until her mom left for work.  She had tried to tell her mother about the bullies, but all Mom would say was ‘Ignore them.’  Mom didn’t know much about bullies.  All Olivia knew was that she couldn’t get on that bus today.

         At last Mom came out of the house and drove away.  Olivia let herself in and went to her room.

         She couldn’t understand what she had done to make herself the target of those three girls, unless it was just that she was new in the school.  They were the evil Morris twins, Shelly and Sara and that awful Mona Gunn who followed them around and would do whatever they told her.  The twins were mean to Mona, too.

         Olivia said aloud “I wish they would all go away so I would never see them again!”

         A voice said, “Do you want to make that your official wish?”

         “What?” Olivia looked around and saw a tiny figure sitting on her headboard.  “Did you say something?”

         “Yes.  I heard you make a wish.”

         She sat up wiping her eyes.  “Who are you?  My fairy godmother?”

         The figure spread wings and alighted on her pillow.  “Godmother?” It gave its wings a shake.  “You aren’t very observant, are you?  Try Fairy God-brother. So do you want these bullies to go away?”

         “Yes!  They’re mean and they won’t leave me alone!”

         “Well, you see there are three of them and that makes a problem.  I can’t send three people away.  But there’s one thing I can do.  I can make it so they can’t see you.  How’s that?”

         “You mean — like invisible?”

         “I thought that was what I said.  Pay attention.  Is that what you want?”

         “So it would be just Shelly, Sara and Mona that can’t see me?”

         “Yes.  It’s the best I can do.  Take it or leave it.”

         “I’ll take it!  They can’t punch and push me if they can’t see me.”

         “Then make the wish.”

         “All right.  I wish that Shelly and Sara and Mona can’t see me.”

         Fairy God-brother said, “Done and done!” and suddenly he wasn’t there any more.

         Olivia thought, What a dumb dream.

         The school called Mom at work and reported Olivia’s absence.  That meant that the next day she had to go to school.  Mom didn’t get it about the bullies.

         The twins were already there when she got to the bus stop.  To her surprise nothing happened — no kick, no punch.  They didn’t even grab off her hat and throw it.  She heard Sara say. “Where is she?  Is she absent again?”

         “We’ll get her tomorrow,” said Shelly and punched her fist into her other hand.  “We’ll get her good tomorrow.”

         Olivia gasped.  They really can’t see me.  Standing behind them she grabbed Sara’s long hair and pulled.  “Hey!” said Sara.  Since Shelly was the only other person there Sara grabbed Shelly’s hair and the fight was on.  Olivia stood watching until the bus came.  This was great! They couldn’t see her so they beat each other up. 

         Olivia hoped whatever magic had happened was still working the next day.  Evidently it was.  The twins and Mona walked right by her and got on the bus.  Sara was carrying a box that contained her science project.  Olivia thought, if I were carrying a box the twins would grab it and break whatever was in it.  The twins took a seat together, Sara with her shoebox on her lap.  When nobody was looking, Olivia slapped the box off her lap. The box opened and pieces came out.  More kids were getting on the bus and the pieces and the box got stepped on. 

         So Sara blamed Shelly and the twins were fighting as Sara tearfully retrieved some of the pieces of her project. 

         This time I was the one that made Sara cry. Olivia sat back and smiled.

         She was feeling very good about it as she let herself into the house.  She had a real appetite for the snack Mom had prepared for her in the kitchen.  She set the plate on the table and was about to unwrap her sandwich when all of a sudden Fairy God-brother flew down.  He put his foot on the plastic wrap and said “Not so fast!”

         Olivia drew back.  He said “You feel pretty good about yourself, don’t you?  I’m disappointed in you!”

         “For what?”

         “Look! I gave you your wish so you could avoid the bullies not so you could be just like them.”

         “I’m not”
         
“I fixed it so you could protect yourself, not so you could get even.  They had the power and they were mean to you.  So I gave you the power and you used it to be mean back to them.  You turned out to be exactly like them.”

         “I was not.  They picked on me all term.  I had a right to do it back.”

         “But you don’t get it.  When you do it back it just keeps going on.  Back and forth.  Maybe you had a right to do it back but that wasn’t what I hoped would happen.”

         “What did you hope would happen?”

         “That you would ride the bus and not get picked on;  not that you would turn into a bully yourself.”

         “I’m not a bully.  I just did what they would do to me.”

         “And they’re bullies, so what does that make you?  Listen kid, Sara worked very hard on that project.  She was going to get an A on it and probably win a prize at the science fair.  Now it’s broken and she hasn’t got time to fix it. She’ll get an incomplete.  What do you have to say for yourself?”

         Olivia didn’t know what to say.  She still thought Sara had it coming.

         “That’s what’s wrong with you humans.”

         “But all the things she did to me!”

         “If it was wrong when she was doing it, what makes it right for you to do it?”

         “She did it first.” Olivia defended herself. “She didn’t have any reason to want to hurt me. I do have a reason!”

         “You have a reason!  You have a right! It never ends.” Fairy God-brother flew up in front of her face.  “All right now listen.  I took on this assignment and I’m going to finish it.  Tomorrow they will be able to see you again.”

         “But-- ”

         “You misused the power.”

         “They’ll go on hurting me.”

         “I’m sorry.”

         “But I’m afraid of them!”

         “Didn’t you learn anything?”

         “I guess.  Isn’t there anything you can do?”

         “Do you want to wish they get assigned to a different bus?”

         “Would that work?”

         “It’s worth a try.”

         “All right. I wish them on a different bus.”

         “Done and done.”  He flew away.

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