The Bully

Amberlynn doesn’t acknowledge Darrell during algebra. Darrell thinks another student, Harold Davis, nods in his direction but second-guesses himself when Harold looks away for the rest of class. Darrell dreads his next class: gym. He waits for most of the other kids to change because he hates taking off his shirt in front of other people. The teacher, Mr. Dooling, introduces Darrell as a new student. Darrell can hear the cruel comments other students make about his size.

As the class runs around the track, Tyray and Rodney catch up to Darrell and hassle him. Darrell tries to stay close to the gym teacher, but Tyray steps on the back of Darrell’s shoe, causing him to nearly trip.

After school, Darrell takes his back-alley route home. He spots Amberlynn with her friend Jamee, but Amberlynn doesn’t acknowledge him until Jamee leaves. Then, Amberlynn comes over, asks Darrell about his day, and complains that her day was awful. Darrell answers honestly, telling her that he feels friendless and that Tyray wants to kill him. Amberlynn says that she’s his friend. Darrell has mixed feelings about this: hopeful that Amberlynn considers them friends but unhappy that she ignores him in front of other people at school.

At home, as Darrell hungrily eats ice cream his mom bought, he hears Nate sobbing on the back steps. Nate holds a small, broken race car. Travis destroyed the car because it’s Nate’s favorite. Darrell encourages Nate to tell on his brother, but Nate knows that will only make Travis’s bullying worse.

Darrell goes to his room and looks at his skinny frame in the mirror. He tries to do some pushups but doesn’t feel better about himself. Jackie pops in to ask how his day was; Darrell lies, claiming that everything was fine. Sensing that something is wrong, Jackie suggests that he talk to Uncle Jason about “man stuff” and then sends him on an errand to buy oranges at the grocery store (63).

On the way back, Darrell runs into Tyray and his crew. Tyray pulls a knife on Darrell and demands money. Darrell doesn’t have any, so Tyray slashes his bag of oranges, and the other bullies stomp on the oranges as Darrell tries to pick them up. Darrell needs to have money tomorrow morning since Tyray will be waiting at the grocery store.

Darrell gathers the remaining oranges into the slashed bag and walks home. An older woman named Mrs. Davis gives him an extra shopping bag and mentions that her grandson Harold goes to Bluford too. Darrell remembers Harold nodding at him in class. Mrs. Davis explains that Harold is extremely shy and asks Darrell to befriend him if he can. Darrell agrees.

At home, Darrell wonders what to do about Tyray. His gym teacher said that sports build strength and confidence, so Darrell tries to visualize himself on a sports team but can’t. He does pushups until his arms grow rubbery. That night, he dreams about Tyray crushing the oranges, but in the dream, the oranges are Darrell’s head.

The next day, Darrell jogs to school, successfully avoiding Tyray. In class, Tyray makes threatening gestures toward Darrell. At lunch, Darrell makes good on his promise to Mrs. Davis and sits with Harold, relieved to have lunch with someone else. As the two boys become more comfortable, they talk about school and laugh together. In the next class, Amberlynn smiles at Darrell and says hi. He thinks that maybe today will be better than yesterday.

However, during gym, Tyray and his crew catch up to Darrell. They trip him on the track and laugh at him as he falls. In the locker room, Tyray steals Darrell’s clothes, forcing him to walk around school in his embarrassingly baggy gym clothes. On the walk home, Darrell finds his clothes in a dumpster covered in orange peels.

The next morning, Darrell begrudgingly faces Tyray at the grocery store and offers to pay him 50 cents a day. Tyray instead demands that Darrell hand over his lunch money every day, meaning that Darrell won’t be able to eat. Darrell has no choice but to accept. He feels awful about handing over his mother’s hard-earned money. In class, Mr. Mitchell notices that Tyray singles out Darrell. Mr. Mitchell says that Darrell can talk to him if he has something on his mind, but Darrell can’t bring himself to talk about the bullying.

Darrell meets Tyray to hand over the money and feels intense shame about it. He has trouble focusing on his schoolwork and worries that everyone will find out that he has to pay Tyray. He secretly packs lunch for school and hopes his mother won’t figure it out. Unable to hold in his shame any longer, he takes Mr. Mitchell up on his offer to talk.