Get out of My Life

By William Kemmerer FSC

This story is about a middle schoolaged boy who experiences bullying by his classmates. His parents decide that he needs to be involved in social activities that will help to improve his own self-image. However, his experience on a swim team leads to experiences of this middle school boy that backfires in his life. The consequences of his involvement lead to a tragic ending.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503540620

William Kemmerer FSC

Brother William was a teacher and administrator on the elementary and secondary levels in Rhode Island, Long Island, and Brooklyn (New York) for fifty years. In his retirement, he has begun writing short stories. This is the first of his short stories to be published. His area of concern is dealing with young people on the middle and secondary level of schools.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by William Kemmerer, FSC.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2015901627

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5035-4061-3

      Softcover      978-1-5035-4063-7

      eBook      978-1-5035-4062-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 02/13/2015

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Contents

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

Nick Sousa was one of three children born of Juan and Maria Sousa. His parents were very kind and loving parents to their two daughters as well as to Nick who was the middle child of the three children. The family lived comfortably in their mid-sized home in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Juan was employed full time at a correctional facility and Maria went to work on a part-time basis at a bakery. As a loving mother she always wanted to be present to her three children, which she was until the time that the couple decided that it was possible for her to go to work for a couple of hours each day from the time of youngest child’s entrance to school. The three children got along very well.

Each had their own rooms but they did spend a lot of time together in the play room which Juan and Maria had built for them. While there were few children who lived in the immediate neighborhood, the purpose of this room was for the children to play there when they were not watching television. The Sousa backyard was an adequate size for them to play in during the nice weather, especially, during the summer. The yard had ample room for the children to invite other children in to play soccer if that is what they wanted to play. The girls did have a corner of the yard for their outdoor doll house, but it was only big enough for four girls to play inside. The girls would still have the yard to play in instead of spending a lot of time in the doll house. Initially, all the children played in the yard with each other and later with their cousins and some neighborhood children. As girls they were not interested in playing soccer with the boys, but the boys being of a young age really were not interested in playing soccer in the backyard. For the most part the three children from their earliest ages went out into the yard and played whatever games they were interested in at the time. Since Nick was not quite capable of kicking the soccer ball adequately, he would spend time with his sisters who played in the doll house. Juan and his wife thought that it was a good idea for the three children to play in the backyard on those days that were good for playing outdoors. They did not have any objection to Nick playing with his sisters in the doll house. From what they could see there were not many alternatives for Nick as he grew up.

At the age of 1 0 Nick entered the middle school while his older sister was ready for grade 6 of the middle school. The youngest sister was a student in the elementary school. Initially, all three children traveled on the same bus to their school which were housed on the same property, but later each one began to ride a different bus to the junior high school and, eventually, to the secondary school. When Nick rode the school bus with his sisters, the three all sat together in the same immediate area of the bus. The two girls, however, did sit together in the same row while Nick sat either in the row in front of them or to the right of them. He always sat in close proximity to the two girls. As the middle child of the three children, he was the most quiet. He bordered on being shy even in his own house, where the girls did do most of the talking. The girls were also able to get what they wanted and Nick had to go along with whatever they had requested of their parents. Nick did not seem to mind this arrangement. He was happy to be a part of the family and to go and do whatever the girls wanted to do. Juan and Maria were somewhat concerned about Nick’s reticence, but they did not know what to do to bring him out of his quiet behavior. They were hoping that as he got older that he would change. They would like to see him somewhat more aggressive with his sisters, but that did not really happen.

When Nick would ride on the bus he was still quiet. He knew most of the boys and girls who were on the bus with his family, but he did not seem eager to join the other boys on the bus as they rode to their school. Since they all attended the same school, the girls knew most of the other girls who rode with them. According to the sisters, they would expect that Nick would join the other boys as the school year progressed, but they did not see any change in him. There was time for him to become more sociable in his behavior towards the other boys on the bus. He was as bashful and shy with the boys as he was with his sisters at home. In fact, on the bus as they rode to and from school, they saw Nick as being very isolated not only from the girls on the bus, but also from the boys as well. They tried in their own ways to get him to sit with other children, especially, the boys but they were unsuccessful. On the afternoon ride home the two sisters would try to get seats by themselves with their