Nathan's Bad Week

Remember back in the day when we went to grade school? The thought of danger simply never crossed most of our minds.
Now it's a little terrifying to send your children off to school, isn't it? Most of us take for granted that they will be safe and sound and return home to us in one piece. Nowadays, with all the stories of school shootings and bullies, school is more scary than comforting.
Nathan and Nessa always go tto heir after school program called PAC. Moderate supervision, low cost, but usually lots of fun for them. However, Tuesday was a different story for Nathan. He was on the playground, a little after 3 pm when a 6th grader he didn't even know comes walking by with a few friends. He begins to taunt Nathan with a slew of cuss words. Bewildered and a little upset, Nathan responds, "Shut up stupid" and thows up his arms in a "What's up" gesture. His hand accidentally hit the brim of the boy's hat and the boy becomes angry. He begins to antagonize Nathan with "You wanna start something, huh?" Nathan turns to walk away. The kid grabs him by the back of the shirt and punches him in the back of the neck. Hurt, stunned, and furious, Nathan whirls around and spits out his own slew of "impolite" words, again throwing his arms up. The kid repeats his "You wanna fight? You wanna start sh*t?" By this time, Nathan realizes he needs to get away from this older and bigger kid. He's out of his league and a little freaked out. He turns to run away and get a PAC staff (where the heck they are and why they don't see this is beyond me), but the kid catches him and SLAMS his fist into Nathan's right ear. Then Nathan starts to cry (when I picture that image it makes my blood boil and I instantaneously want to claw that little shit's eyes out), and the kid finally lets him go. Nathan says he heard ringing in his ears and for a split second, blanked out. He can't remember the few seconds after he was hit; he just remembers running for the staff.
The staff immediately begin to run after this kid but he went off the school grounds and ran home. They apparently knew him so they reported it to the Principal. Mrs. Palmer was livid; she had had several run-ins with this little punk a*# before. She called his father, who immediately returned the boy to school. I think his name is Conner. Anyways, they had a meeting and Conner tried to lie and say Nathan was flipping him off and attempting to fight him first. Mrs. Palmer responds furiously with, "I don't care WHAT he was doing to you, you don't do that CRAP!" and then "I KNOW you're lying because you're in here all the time! Nathan isn't!" The boy's father apologized profusely to Nathan and then Mrs. Palmer gave him an in school suspension. My opinion...the little jerk should have had an OUT of school suspension...because the next day he approached Nathan and said sarcastically that he wanted to be his friend. Nathan said, "No way! I don't wanna be your friend, get away from me!" and took off.
Nathan is *still* in a lot of pain. His neck aches, his ear hurts, he has a constant headache and his eyes hurt. He has a doctor's appt tomorrow morning. I'm hoping everything's ok and it's just "normal" pain from being hit so hard. He complained last night of not feeling well and I attributed it to the neck/ear pain. Today, the school nurse called me to have someone come get him because he was feeling very sore, tired and even had a fever of 101. =( Poor kid has just had an extremely rough week!
And, while I know the bully is still technically "just a kid", I have to resist the urge to spew my own slur of harsh words and the urge to punch him back. Call it Mother's Defenses, LOL.
(Speaking of sick kids....last week I had to get Nessa early from school because she had a severe headache that could very well have been a migraine. She had to lay down and even napped a bit until I picked her up. When I woke her up to leave, she stood up, moaned and began to cry, clenching her eyes shut from the pain, and then suddenly rushed off to the bathroom. She didn't make it to the toilet, hoever, and emptied her stomach onto the nurse's bathroom floor. Thank goodness they have such a sweet nurse, who was so sympathetic and was not upset at all. I took Nessa home and she napped for another few hours, but her headache lasted well until the next day.)
Hopefully this will be the last we hear of this turd of a bully....and how sad that I have to worry when I send my kids off to school!!!
So for everyone who has school aged kids...
"I pray the Lord to send down his angels to protect all our children and keep them safe from harm. Amen"