Read Online Torn Away by James Heneghan - Free Book Online Page B

talking about one of the teachers.
    A few of the boys made fun of his accent, but Declan ignored them, and soon, after a week or so, they let him alone. All except a hulk of a boy named Lyle Dybinski who was in grade eleven. Dybinski had small, mean-looking eyes and thick rubbery lips. He was a bully, using his weight and height and histough, aggressive appearance to get his way with everyone. He glared threateningly at students and teachers alike. He was so big and mouthy that even some of the teachers tried to stay out of his way. “What language is that, eh?” he would ask his two followers, Al Barber and Leo Quiller, whenever they overheard Declan talking to someone. “Irish, I guess,” one of them would say. “Sounds to me like pig grunts,” Dybinski would say with a sneer. Or he would ask, “What did the Irish kid say, guys?” and Al or Leo would dutifully come up with some appropriate insult like, “Sounded to me like he was puking, eh?” They would all laugh. Barber and Quiller were small in comparison to their leader, Dybinski, and followed him everywhere like a pair of tiny, parasitic fishes under the belly of a killer shark.
    Declan controlled his anger and tried to hide his growing distress and frustration.
    At other times Dybinski kept his friends amused by yelling rude remarks like, “Well if it isn’t the IRA kid. Look out for bombs in your lockers, eh?”
    On the Thursday of the second week, Declan’s lab partner in Science, a dark, silent boy with the strange name of Joe Iron Eagle,glowered at him and said, “You’re no help. I might as well do the work alone for all the good you are.”
    â€œHuh?” said Declan. Iron Eagle had black hair and glittering eyes, and a nose like an eagle, hooked and mean-looking. Maybe that was why eagle was in his name. He looked tough.
    â€œYou watch me do all the work,” said Iron Eagle quietly, “then you let me write it up. Sometimes you don’t even watch: you read your book.”
    Declan shrugged. “So complain to the teacher, why don’t you?”
    Joe looked at him levelly for a few seconds. Then he turned back to his work.
    The next day, Iron Eagle said, “Dybinski is getting to you, right?”
    Declan said nothing. He couldn’t tell if his lab partner was about to ridicule him; besides, he had no intention of discussing his problems with this mean-looking, potentially dangerous character, who had said practically zero to Declan in the week or so they had been together.
    Iron Eagle asked no more questions. He was silent.
    In the third week, Declan said to Iron Eagle, “Give me that. I’ll write it up for you.”
    â€œDon’t do me any favors.”
    â€œI won’t.” Declan took the pen and notebook and started writing.
    â€œIgnore him,” said Iron Eagle.
    â€œHmmnn?”
    â€œDybinski. Don’t let him see he’s getting to you. He’ll soon quit.”
    The next day, Dybinski and his two friends followed Declan to the cafeteria, talking in loud voices so Declan and everyone else could hear. “It’s the Irish kid,” said Dybinski in mock surprise. “I thought by now the little runt would’ve quit school, his language problem being what it is.”
    â€œNot necessarily,” said his friend, Quiller. “We’ve got a very good ESL class for foreigners.”
    Barber joined in with, “That’s right. Irish will be speaking English before the summer, wait and see!”
    They laughed loudly and jostled each other.
    In Science that afternoon, Joe said, “Stay cool. They’ll soon give up if you ignore them.”
    But they didn’t stop.
    By the end of the fourth week, Declan decided he’d had enough of Dybinski’s so-called humor, so he waited until he saw him walking along the empty hallway on his way to the washroom during a class period, and slipped out of his own class to