Free Mute by Brian Bandell Page B

How could those young minds in
her class have been molded so cruelly? Cole stood nearly a full head taller
than Mariella and must have outweighed her by 25 pounds. Her slender hand could
barely fit into the boy’s palm.
    Squeezing
the ball with both hands, Cole swung Mariella around so fast that she left her
feet. The determined girl wouldn’t release it. She didn’t look angry or even
afraid. Mariella seemed bewildered, as if she had awoke from a coma and found
someone stealing her blanket. As the boy dragged her into the sand box
surrounding the jungle gym, Mariella found her footing. Suddenly, Cole couldn’t
move her an inch.
    “You
wanna get hurt?” the boy asked her. “If you don’t let go, you will get hurt
really bad.”
    “Cole
Buckley! Don’t you dare!” Mrs. Mint shouted as she hurried over. She wouldn’t
make it in time, and neither would the officer.
    “Make
her eat dirt!” Kyle commanded his brother.
    Cole
grabbed Mariella around her shirt collar with one hand and kicked at her ankle
so she would fall into the sand. As she released the ball, Mariella avoided his
foot by stepping into him and delivering an explosive shove to the boy’s chest.
Cole flew backwards, flinging the ball into the air. He banged his head on the
bottom rung of a metal ladder with a jarring ping. When the shock wore off
after a few seconds, Cole started wailing. His sobs were so ear-splitting that
Mrs. Mint didn’t care whether he brought it upon himself or not. Cole didn’t
deserve such pain. Blood streamed out of his mouth from the hole left when his
baby tooth had been knocked out on the bar.
    Mariella
turned her back on the boy as if he didn’t exist and calmly retrieved her ball
from the sand. Williams ignored the wounded kid as she finally reached the
girl. She scooped the unharmed Mariella up in her arms.
    “I
got you now, baby. Don’t worry,” the detective told her foster child, who still
held the ball tightly. “I’m so proud of you. You defended yourself from that
bully. I promise, next time he won’t even touch you.”
    Mrs.
Mint didn’t understand where the girl’s sudden outburst had come from. Mrs.
Mint had seen grief transform into aggression many times, but never such cold
aggression. Mariella didn’t seem mad when she pushed Cole. She must have tapped
some deep reservoir of adrenalin-filled rage to chuck him across the playground
with the force she did. She should suspend Mariella for that. Yet, given all
that the poor girl had been through in the past few days, Mrs. Mint decided
she’d call the DCF and let them figure out how long a leash they should put on
Mariella.
    They can’t let Mariella in my class
unless she’s under control. It’s going to be a nightmare explaining to the
Buckley parents that I let a socially-disturbed girl attack their son. I better
not mention she’s Mexican or they’ll really flip.
    Mrs.
Mint unfolded Cole from the fetal position and got a good look at the large red
bump growing on the side of his head like an apple budding on a branch in fast
motion. His eyes were glassy and could barely follow her fingers. He had a
concussion. He should consider himself lucky that he didn’t have something
worse. A fall like that could have fractured his skull.
    With
his brother watching in pale-faced shock, Cole got scooped up by Mrs. Mint. She
trudged across the playground toward the nurse’s station. She didn’t tell him
anything about how he had misbehaved, even as he bled all over her white shirt.
Mariella had told him plenty.

 
 
    Chapter 7

 
 
 
    The
terrified girl wouldn’t release Moni’s free hand so she could answer her phone
as she drove Mariella home. She had a notion that the person on the line would
tell her something that would punch a hole in her gut. Moni wished she could
just whisk Mariella back to her house, barricade the door and bar the windows.
    I’m not hiding in the closet like a
scared child anymore.
    She
wiggled free of the girl’s