THE RED ENVELOPE Lilliana Rota

Back at home from school, Tim slams his bedroom door shut, tosses his backpack on the
bed, and buries his face in his hands, letting out a sob. After a few minutes, there's a soft
knock at the door, but Tim ignores it, hoping his grandma will get the hint and leave him
alone. But the knocking persists.
Tim wipes his eyes; trying to sound tough, he yells, "Not hungry, Granny! Got a killer
headache. Gonna sleep."
His grandma doesn't say anything and shuf es off slowly. Poor granny! Tim had planned to
play a game of cards with her that afternoon, but he's feeling too down.
He tries to drift off to sleep, but it's no use. He can't shake off what happened that morning
at school. It replays in his head, and his eyes ll with tears again.
Why are his classmates so cruel? What can he do to make it stop?
And again, Tim sees himself at school. He’s getting back from the bathroom, and he
catches James and Robert trashing his backpack while Roger tears up the red envelope.
Tim's rst instinct is to tell Miss Lively how James, Robert, and Roger are always messing
with him. But he wants to handle it on his own. He's already thirteen and has been through
a lot since his mom passed away. And he doesn’t understand why those three are so
mean to him. Is it because he's the new kid in class, moving to his grandma's in the middle
of the school year? Or because he doesn't copy homework like they do? Or maybe
because he's always nice to the teachers? Well, that's what his mom taught him, and he's
gonna stick to it, no matter what anyone else thinks.

As they walk home together, James, Robert, and Roger can't stop talking about the prank
they pulled on Tim Lawrence.
"Did you see Tim's face when he checked his backpack?" James laughs.
"He looked like he was gonna cry!" Robert adds.
"Yeah, he's such a wimp," James says.
Suddenly, Roger gets serious. "What if Tim tells Miss Lively? He's always chatting with her
during breaks."
But James and Robert shrug it off, and they start talking about the football match later that
week.
“It’s totally impossible that we keep losing all the time. We've always been in the top ve
since we joined the Lions. We seriously need to nd a new goalie. We're all good players.
James, have you asked John?" Robert asks.
"Yeah, but he's already playing for another team. He promised to ask his cousin.”

Forget about trying to sleep. Tim's too caught up in the memory of the morning.
He stands up and unzips his backpack. What a disaster! His exercise books are lled with
silly scribbles, and his new fountain pen is broken. He'll try to x the pen later, but he's lost
something really important. It's that red envelope that Roger found and ripped up. Inside
was a photo Tim cared about. Why didn’t he just leave it at home? It was taken last year,
when he was the captain of his football team. In the photo, he had wanted his mom to
stand next to him. He's wearing his team uniform, and his mom is looking at him with so
much love in her eyes. On the back of the photo, his coach wrote, ”To Tim, the best
goalkeeper we've ever had.”
The next morning, Tim heads to school a bit earlier than usual, hoping to nd the pieces of
his photo in the trash. And there they are, sitting on top of old food, paper cups, and chip
bags. He's almost done picking them up when Miss Lively walks in with some students.
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"Tim, what are you doing?" she asks.
James, right behind her, knows exactly what Tim's up to and starts to worry. He's sure
Tim's going to spill the beans about what happened yesterday. But Tim just shrugs and
smiles.
"I was just tossing some paper. The bin was over owing. I'll go empty it," Tim says.
"Good job!” Miss Lively replies.
James breathes a sigh of relief, but he's impressed. During the break, he tells Roger and
Robert what happened earlier.
"I thought Tim was gonna spill everything,” James says.
"Maybe we should tell him something," Robert jumps in.
“What? Invite him to kick it with us?” Roger protests.
"Yeah, why not? He was epic.” James replies, while Robert nods in agreement.

An old lady opens the door when they ring the bell. She says Tim's out shopping but will
be back soon. She invites them to sit in the living room and goes to the kitchen to get them
some drinks.
"Whose cups are those?" James asks when the lady returns, pointing at some golden
cups on a shelf.
"What?" The old lady asks, a bit hard of hearing.
Just then, the door opens, and Tim walks in. He frowns when he sees his schoolmates, but
when they tell him why they've come, he gets excited about the idea of playing football
again, especially when Robert asks him if he's okay with being the goalkeeper.
He says he likes the idea and agrees to play in the next match. Roger isn't totally
convinced, though, and as the three head home, he sighs, "Let's hope we don't go from
one mess to another.”

The game starts, and within fteen minutes, it's clear that no football is getting past Tim.
The Lions's team, after losing four matches in a row, nally scores a big win: four-zero.
In the changing room, James goes up to Tim and thanks him for the awesome result.
"You saved us! And... sorry about the backpack thing. I don't know what got into us."
Then he offers his hand.
Tim shakes James's hand, smiles, and doesn't say much. Can he forget all the pain they
caused him? He's not sure. But deep down, he knows he's happy to be playing football
again. He's so happy that at one point, he even imagines his mom there cheering him on,
just like she used to do. This time, the thought of his mom doesn't hurt him.

1 Be confident. Bullies don't A help!

2 If you are being bullied B is never a good response.
3 Be a friend, violence C known to be safe.
4 Always stay in places D tell a friend, teacher or parent.
5 If you see someone being E bullied, tell someone.
6 Always treat others F the way you want to be treated.
7 Walk away, get G like people who are not afraid.
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