Chapter 2- The Undefeated Lyra

     The door shut behind her as Lyra leapt from her porch in one leap and started her walk to school. In the town that Lyra lived in, it was a very rural area. The downtown area was where most of the little thrift stores and gas stations were, but the rest of the little super-markets were scattered around the town and surrounded by woods. Likewise, the school was also located in a secluded area not far from her house.

     “Don’t forget to stay out of the woods, Lyra,” Mom called one last time from the house.

     Does she think that I’m stupid or something? She spun around and called back, “Alright.”

     She started to stroll up the road, humming a little song to herself as she went. When she knew that she was out of sight of her house she veered off the left and stepped into the woods. Like she had worn down trails for all the other parts of the woods she travelled in, she had also worn down a trail that let out right next to the school. As she disappeared into the thick canopy of trees, she picked up her pace.

     Her heart felt like it was trying to flutter out of her chest as she jogged in the direction of the school. Her breath came in rugged gasps, but she continued to jog and eventually started to run. The ferns, trees, and thorn bushes zipped past in a blur and the animals scurried out of her way. After a while, she grew too tired to run and slowed to a stop. She stood hunched over gulping in air. When her heartbeat slowed to a somewhat normal pace, she continued on reaching the school in a little over ten minutes.

     When Lyra walked through the heavy metal doors of her high school, several kids lounging around in the cafeteria looked up at her. She scowled at them and swung in the direction of her locker. Shoving a couple that was making out in front of her locker out of the way; she twisted the proper combination on her lock and jerked her locker open. When she had grabbed the books that she needed she slammed the door shut and stomped up to where the other students were waiting for the door to their classrooms to open. She had only been there for less than a minute and she was already feeling crabby. The imaginary chains had locked her heart up and threw it in a cage.

     She slammed her folder down in her first hour ten minutes later and scooted into her seat, laying her head in her arms. She didn’t like this teacher so she’d just sleep through the whole class period anyway. Her third hour was completely different though. As soon as she sat down in her desk she immediately caught the wicked eyes of her English teacher, Mrs. Milthrope.

     The elderly woman wasn’t usually a mean teacher, but she was very strict. She carried a ruler with her at all times even though he’s not a loud to hit the students with it. There have been many times that Lyra could recall that she would have very much like to whack her with that ruler. Luckily she didn’t. No, the ruler served a different purpose and not to measure things.

THWACK!

     Everybody jumped and grew silent. Mrs. Milthrope stood behind her podium at the front of the classroom with her nose stuck up in the air as she eyed each student. Tapping the ruler against the palm of her hand, she took attendance.

     “Good, all but one person is here today,” she commented as she looked back up. “Now I know how much you love English class�"“

     Several students snickered; Lyra snorted and folded her arms over her chest.

     “�"So today we will be reading another short story front our text books,” she finished.

     Many of the kids started to groan but they were quickly silenced by the thwack of Mrs. Milthrope’s ruler. They dragged themselves to their feet and headed over to the selves where the books were kept and grabbed one before they went back to their seats. Mrs. Milthrope had them open up to a certain page and began her lecture. God I hate this class. Lyra thought, her eyes starting to droop. Why do I have to take this? Why can’t there be a class just for sleeping? She yawned and blinked her eyes a few time to keep from falling asleep. Mrs. Milthrope was in front of her in an instant, tapping her ruler on her palm impatiently.

     “Perhaps you would like to read the first page, Lyra,” she said irritably.

     “And what if I don’t?”

     Several ‘oooo’s came from the students, followed by whispering and snickers.

     Her face grew red with anger and she slammed her ruler down on the desk. Everyone jumped and fell silent. Lyra didn’t flinch; this only seemed to make Mrs. Milthrope angrier. “Then you will be the one at lost Lyra. If you refuse to participate, then you will fail my class,” she smiled wickedly, “and you will see me again next year.”

     “Not if I take summer school,” she scoffed.

     “See me after class Lyra,” the teacher said and called on another student to read.

     When the bell rang, Lyra tried to blend in with the other students and sneak out the door, but Mrs. Milthrope was waiting for her. She pointed Lyra in the direction of her seat. Lyra growled and plopped back down in her chair, a scowl was engraved on her face.

     Mrs. Milthrope pulled a chair out from the desk behind her and sat down across from Lyra. “Why do you come to my class and behave like this everyday?” she asked, her tone was surprisingly gentle.

     Lyra rolled her eyes. “Because I don’t like you.”

     “Are you having problems at home?”

     “No.”

     “Then what makes you act this way?”

     She stood up and pointed a finger at her. “Even if I did tell you, you wouldn’t believe me anyway. You teachers pretend to care but you really don’t, you just want to get your money’s worth. So why don’t you just bug off!” The beast had been cornered and it lashed out.

     Mrs. Milthrope sat back, her mouth hung open in shock.

     She made a disgusted sound. “May I go to lunch?” she said through pursed lips, her fists clenching.

     When Mrs. Milthrope did nothing, Lyra stormed out of the classroom. Down the hallway, she took her anger out on any poor kid that got in her way or bumped her. Several teachers had seen her do this, but they simply gave her a warning. I have all the teachers in the school trembling at the sound of my voice. She marched into the noisy lunchroom and stood at the back of the till waiting line.

  After she got her food, she plopped down at a somewhat empty lunch table and just stared at her pizza. She wasn’t all that hungry after her venting session.

     “Hey, Lyra,” a boy called from the other side of the table.

     She rolled her eyes. Great. She turned her head and looked at him.

     “Are the new judge of the pizza beauty pageant?” another boy aid and held up his half eaten pizza. “Do you mine could make the cut?” The group of them burst out laughing.

     She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. Just ignore them.

     “Well you sure wouldn’t, that’s for sure,” the third one yelled to her, making the others laugh.

     “Shut up,” she growled.

     The first one made a sad face. “Aw, poor Lyra can’t even get into a beauty pageant for pizza,” he cooed.

     That’s it! She was on her feet in and instant. Her head lowered so that her black eyes pierced into their very soul. Her bottom lip hung limply, revealing her bottom teeth. She marched over to them, slowly and menacingly. The boys took no notice of her as they laughed and high fived each other, but the rest of the lunch room had grown quiet. When she got to them, she tapped the first one on the shoulder. When he turned to look at her, she slugged him in the face.

     He clamped his hands over his mouth and shrieked, “Son of a�"! What the hell did you do that for?!”

     She snorted. “That’s what you get.”

     Around her, the students starting chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

     Seeing the secretary poke her head out of the office and several teachers make their way towards her, Lyra noted to make quick work of the others. Suddenly, her arm was twisted around her back and she was pinned down on the lunch table. She opened one eye and stared at her aggressor. It was the third boy, he smiled wickedly at her.

     “What are you going to do now?” he sneered.

     “This.”

     Lyra tried to lift her leg to kick him but he bounced out of range, still keeping her in a tight hold. The students cheered and the teachers started yelling for them to stop. The boy laughed and twisted her arm more. Lyra bit her tongue until it bled, she refused to act upon pain.

     The weight was finally yanked off of her and before any of the teachers out grab her, she leapt on the table and kicked the second one in the face. He cried out and stood to lash back but the gym teacher restrained him. Two more teachers pulled her down from the table and she was able to kick the one who held her in the nuts before she was dragged away into the office. In the lunch room, kids were still cheering and clapping before they went back to their meal. This was bound to be the next topic of discussion for several weeks.

     In the office, Lyra sat with her arm folded over her chest and a scowl on her face. Her usual looked when she had just done something wrong. At her desk, the secretary was busy calling the families of the “rule offenders” and asking them to come down. Lyra knew that her mother was home and that she would likely be calling Dad to come down as soon as she hung with the secretary. The principal sat in his office, talking quietly to the boy who held her down. The one she hit first was in the nurse’s office being examined. The one kicked in the face was sitting a few chairs away from her, a scowl on his bloodied face as well.

     “Lyra!”

     She turned her head and saw her Mom standing half in and half out of the office. She face was flushed with worry, anger, and embarrassment. The secretary motioned for her to take a seat. Mom sat down in between Lyra and the boy she licked. Mom leaned in towards her.

     “What happened this time?” she whispered in her ear.

     “They were saying how my pizza was pretty enough to go to a beauty pageant, but I wasn’t.”

     “Who’s they?”

     Lyra motioned to the boy sitting on the other side of Mom. She nodded and whispered. “That’s what this is about? You don’t even like beauty pageants.”

     Lyra snorted. “It was the idea.”

     The principal’s office door swung open and the boy, his mother, and the principal stepped out. After a few more hushed words to each other, the mother escorted the boy out. When Lyra met the principal’s gaze again, she was motioning for them to come in. When Lyra met the principal’s gaze again, she was motioning for them to come in. Lyra and Mom both stood and walked into his office, he shut the door silently behind him.

     “Mr. Mallard, I’m sure that Lyra has a very good explanation for actions,” Mom quickly spoke, her tone was serious.

     “Oh I’m sure she does. But I want to hear it from Lyra.” Mr. Mallard looked at her. “Go ahead Lyra.”

     She huffed and quickly explained that she was just eating her lunch and the boys made fun of her. She said that she was merely defending herself. When she was done, she sat back and folded her arms over her chest.

     Mr. Mallard sighed. “Lyra, you know very well the beating people up is not the proper thing to do.” He looked at Mom and continued, “Perhaps, you should consider taking her to a local therapist or see if she’ll work with the school consoler.”

     “No!”

     “That won’t be necessary Mr. Mallard. Lyra and I will have a talk together with her father and we’ll see if we can set things straight,” Mom said at the same time.

     He nodded. “Alright but, I still will have to punish her for fighting those students. I have already suspended them for three days, since they technically didn’t physically hurt Lyra. But, unfortunately Lyra will have to be suspended for a week.”

     Mom nodded, “Of course, Mr. Mallard.”

     Lyra huffed; she wasn’t at all surprised by this.

     Mr. Mallard clapped his hands. “Good. Go ahead and take Lyra home. Mind you though, if her attitude hasn’t changed, then I’ll have to expel her. Are we clear?”

     “Of course Mr. Mallard, I promise that I’ll see what’s going on,” Mom vowed as she walked out the door.

     In the car, Lyra and Mom sat in silence. While Mom was on the phone with Dad, Lyra sat there brooding over the fight. When they got home, it was sunset. After declaring that she was going to start supper, Mom retreated into the kitchen while Lyra climbed the stairs into her room.

     She flung her backpack into a corner and flopped down on her bed. Why is it that I always get the bad end of every situation? A gun shot sounded from outside making Lyra rush to her window. She stared out into the dark forest, anger surging through her. It had been close to her house. How dare they poach our animals on our property! Her fists clenched. I’ll show them.

     “Lyra, come down here. Your father’s home and he’d like to speak with you,” Mom called from downstairs.

     Lyra stared out the window for a moment longer before she turned and left her room. Dad was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs; his mouth was set in a firm line.

     “Hi Dad.”

     “Mind telling me what happened at school today?”

     Lyra folded her arms over her chest and met his stare. “Why? Mom has probably already told you.”

     “She did. Why did you do it?”

     “Because I was defending myself.”

     “That’s not a good enough answer.”

     “Then what is?” She threw up her arms. “Did you want me to just sit there and let them do it? You, of all people, should be defending me, not siding with them.”

     He shook his head. “I’m not taking sides. Why didn’t you just go tell a teacher?”

     “Because they wouldn’t have done anything! They would’ve just said ‘Alright, we’ll take care of it.’ Then a week later they would’ve done it again. The teachers don’t do anything; they’re too scared of the students to stop them. I simply took matters into my own hands and now you’re making me out to be the bad guy!” She took a minute to catch her breath.

     Mom came into the room just then. “Come on you two, we’ll finish this talk when we’re done eating.”

     Dad held up his hand to her as a gesture of silence. “No, we’ll finish it now.”

     Lyra growled and stormed back up the stairs. Dad and Mom called after but she ignored them and slammed her room door shut and locked it. She flopped down on her bed, her thoughts racing. She knew that they would try to ask her why she acted this way. They had done it all the other times that she had had discipline issues and each time she tried to tell them about the strange feeling. They simply brushed it off as it being all in her head. Lyra knew better though, he knew that the feeling was real. Right now she just had the urge to run away into the woods and never come back.

     She rolled over onto her stomach and stared out her window. What if this is all just in my head?

Reviews

[Joan*Eckhart]

Wow! Lyra is a badass! This was a really good chapter, but the first paragraph needs to be edited. There are some spelling mistakes here and there, but nothing major. It is written well and the description is great. I am intrigued by the almost violent feelings Lyra is feeling. What's up with her?

[Miranda]

I think that I may spell thing differently in my country like you do yours. :P Lol, Lyra's just grumpy because she can't satisfy that strange feeling that draws her to the woods. She just takes it out on the world. As you'll read later on, she has no problem expressing her feelings. So I'm good on this but not the first? Btw, when I first wrote this nonbody liked Lyra, so I had to explain her strange feelings in Chapter one first before I should her dark side. :D Thank you for reading it! :)

[Joan*Eckhart]

I like her, but then I always reading about strong feminine characters. But I can see why some people would be turned off as people always expect women to be all lovely and soft, etc. If Lyra has positive characteristics then I can see her becoming something of a heroic figure.