Chapter 3: A Nerd's Bully
I used to be the most feared guy in my college. I used to bully anyone who liked anime and Japanese culture. Plus, I always wore an American flag T-shirt to symbolize how much I hated other cultures and my patriotism to my country.
But all that changed thanks to this incident.
Here's how it went down...
Patrick, the guy who was set to be valedictorian of his class, saw that I was giving Rina the evil eye.
"Y'all, y'all," he called to his friends sitting at the same table as he was, pointing at the two of us. "Trouble."
He made a run for the Dean's office to get Dean O'Hara. He was right. This WAS going to be trouble. For me later on, of course.
I stood up and shouted: "Hey, WEEBBALL!"
Rina stopped, thinking: "Oh, shit... here comes the abuse."
I took the manga she was reading and dangled it out of reach, saying: "You don't have to read your weeb shit while walking in the hallway!"
Everyone watching burst out laughing.
That was just wrong. Rina was one of the shortest girls in our class year.
"GIVE IT BACK!" Rina screamed at a rate that pierced my ears. But I didn't waiver for one second, however.
"You want it back so badly, nerd? You gotta get it from me."
Every time Rina would jump high enough to try to take the manga back, I rose it high enough to make her miss and hurt herself in some way.
Everyone watching was laughing so hard, their sides hurt.
Rina stopped, trying to catch her breath.
I saw it as the perfect opportunity. So I dropped her manga, and the book hit her on the top of her head! Hard!
"Oww!" Rina cried, rubbing her head as the manga clattered to the ground.
She picked up her manga, and I saw this as my final prank chance!
I walked around Rina to get behind her, and I unzipped one of the pockets of her Boku No Hero Academia backpack.
"Besides," I said, spitting in it, "I don't very much like your backpack! Because anime sucks!"
And everyone in the hallway laughed at her again.
Unfortunately for me, as I was just about to leave her while she was crying, I saw that Dean O'Hara was looking in our direction. She had a very upset look on her face as she walked towards us. And Patrick was next to her with an evil grin on his face.
<Oh, fuck,> I thought. <I'm deep in it, now...>
"What is going on here?!" O'Hara asked as everyone, except me and Rina, escaped the scene.
"He ATTACKED me!" Rina whimpered through her tears.
Dean O'Hara nodded grimly. "I saw it."
"But how?" I asked in confusion. "You were far away from the scene, Dean O'Hara! How could you see me bullying Rina through the crowd that formed around us?!"
Dean O'Hara took out her iPhone Xs and showed me the footage feed on the security camera app she had downloaded from the App Store.
"Shit," I muttered as I watched, then looked up at the camera directly above us. "That's how you saw it..."
"Jason, what the hell were you thinking?!" the principal roared.
"So what if I DID bully her?! It wasn't physical at all!" I snapped, getting defensive and not wanting Dean O'Hara to know that I had become shaken up. Then I turned away from her and Rina and said, under my breath: "Jeez, can't people take a joke sometimes?"
"A joke?" Dean O'Hara asked, having heard what I had just said. "You think that what you just did was just a JOKE?! Bullying isn't a joke, young man! You could have seriously caused her great trauma if I hadn't stepped in to stop this!"
Makes sense. I would have continued to bully her if she had not intervened. "So?" I asked her.
This made Dean O'Hara so fuckin' mad that she pulled me by my hair, causing me great pain, and barked: "My office! NOW!"
Oh, shit. This is bad.
Something about what she was doing just didn't add up.
"You, too, Rina," she said.
Rina picked up all of her things that were on the floor and followed us to the main office.
Later, as we entered the office, I was coaxed into one of the chairs in front of her desk.
"Now, sit."
Surprisingly, I didn't protest. I just did what I was told.
"Mr. Herrington Jr," Dean O'Hara said, "as you know, we have a 'no bullying' policy around this institution, and the faculty here, myself included, always do their best to uphold it to the fullest extent of the university's Code of Conduct. And I see, Mr. Herrington, that you did not take into account that I would notice the obvious crowd gathered around the two of you."
"Well, Dean O'Hara," I said, "at least I didn't physically bully her, and there's no bruises on her. I wouldn't want that to happen to me."
"That may be true, but you still internally hurt her, Mr. Herrington. And that, my pupil, is still considered unacceptable here."
I nodded.
"Mr. Herrington, you are a very smart, outgoing but quiet young man who is destined to do great things in this world. Why would you want to throw all of that away just to bully a beautiful and smart young lady like Rina? And I'm really curious as to how long this has been going on."
"Like I told her, O'Hara," I answered, "I think Japanese culture sucks. I don't think that there's a place in America for it."
Dean O'Hara suddenly had a look like she was offended by what I had just said. "Mr. Herrington Jr, I can't believe you would say such a thing!" she exclaimed. "I'll have you know, sir, that I'm half Japanese myself, and I like the same things that she does! That means that if you offend Japanese culture, you offend ME!"
I blushed in total embarrassment. "Shit," I said. "I didn't realize that, Mrs. O'Hara."
Then I told her: "Let's get back on the subject of me bullying Rina. It's been going on since we were in high school."
"High school?" Dean O'Hara repeated.
"Yes, ma'am," I answered. "It started when we were in the tenth grade. And it continued on to this very day."
"Which explains why she's been looking so glum lately." the dean said.
"True dat, Mrs. O'Hara."
"Now I would like for you to apologize to Rina and to me right here, right now, in this very office so that I and the staff of the office can hear you," Dean O'Hara said.
First, I turned to Rina and said, "Rina, I'm sorry I insulted you on your love of anime and Japanese culture. I didn't realize just how much I hurt you inside, because I was having so much fun doing it. I didn't think that it would go so far as to actually hurt you."
"Jason?" Rina said, finally finding her voice.
"Yes?" I said.
"First, I accept your apology. And second, we have a term around here for people who love Japanese culture."
"And what's that, nerdy beauty?"
"People like me are called 'weebs,'" she answered.
"Weebs?" I repeated. "That's a pretty funky word for you. But it's interesting."
"Ain't it?"
Next, I turned to Dean O'Hara and told her: "I'm sorry I insulted a huge part of your people's modern culture. I now understand that stuff like anime and manga are a big part of you guys' lifestyles."
"Apology accepted, Jason."
"Phew! What a relief," I said.
"Now, Mr. Herrington," Dean O'Hara said, "I want you to know this. First, I had better not see or hear about you bullying Rina or anyone else in this University ever again, or there will be serious consequences."
"Yes, ma'am..."
"And Rina, you'll let me know if it happens again, will you not?"
"Oh, I will," Rina answered.
"Second, Jason," Dean O'Hara continued, "I will be calling your mother and father, as well as Rina's, to discuss this incident."
"Shit..." I said.
"Third, I will change your class schedule so, starting next week, the two of you will be in the same core classes together."
"Aw, come on, O'Hara!" I said. "I'm already in enough trouble as it is! I don't wanna get in any more of it than I-"
"On the contrary, Mr. Herrington," Dean O'Hara interrupted, "I think that this will do the absolute REVERSE of that. This will actually help you get to know Rina a little bit better than you do now."
"And hopefully I'm better than this overall in the future."
"Finally," she continued, "I am going to have a talk with all of your current and future professors to have the two of you seated next to each other. Also, I will discuss terms to always pair the two of you up for future projects."
"Oh, HELL no!" I objected in pure surprise and shock. "There ain't no way I'm gonna sit next to her in every class! I'm scared I'll get in trouble again!"
But Dean O'Hara, knowing how much potential we have as partners, said: "There's no escaping this punishment, Mr. Herrington. If this doesn't work, I'll have no choice but to expell you."
I sighed. "Fine, O'Hara, I'll try."
"Hopefully, Jason, this will help to kill the inner childish bully and give birth to a new man," the dean told me. "Now, you two are dismissed."
The both of us departed the office and headed home.
One hour later, when I arrived home from college, I still had the knot in my stomach from earlier.
<Oh, man,> I thought. <What'll my parents say about this?>
Scared as fuck, I rushed to my room to try and avoid my own folks. But somehow, Mom, Dad and Jacqueline had other plans for me. I didn't know that they had locked the door of my room, but I figured that out as soon as I tried to turn the doorknob.
<Shit, locked out of my own room,> I thought, frightened for my own life.
I looked down at the base of the staircase to see my sister, Mom and Dad standing right there.
"Young man, you have some explaining to do!" Mom said. "Why the absolute, blood-sucked, processed HELL did you bully our neighbor?"
"Look, I can explain everything, Mom!"
"No need," Dad said. "The dean already told your mother over the phone. She told me all the juicy details of the incident."
I knew that I was deep in it now...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone