Bully Years Sixth Grade – Taylor
BULLY YEARS: SIXTH GRADE
TAYLOR
Dear Audrey,
I’m sorry I stuck gum in your hair this week.
I’m also sorry that I ruined your favorite jacket with permanent marker & paint.
I’ll never do these things to you again.
Very very sorry.
Hope you’ll forgive me,
Taylor
If it were truly up to me, I would crumple this letter and throw it right at Audrey’s ugly face, but I have an audience…
And for whatever reason, they seem to have missed the first act of this show and forgotten exactly why Fraudrey Parker deserved far more than some cheap gum in her hair.
She’s not innocent AT ALL.
“Get out of the car and do it now, Taylor,” my mother said as I stared at Audrey’s house. “Then walk home and tell me how everything went.”
“Why can’t you come with me?”
“Because I wasn’t with you when you behaved terribly to that girl.” She leaned over and unbuckled my seatbelt. “Go apologize. Now.”
I rolled my eyes and opened the car door.
“Make sure you apologize to her parents as well,” she said. “Oh, and be sure to look directly into Audrey’s eyes when you speak, too.”
“If I do that, I’ll turn into stone. You know she’s a witch, right?”
“Taylor…”
“Okay, fine.” I stepped out and took my time walking down the long stone path that led to Audrey’s front door.
I looked over my shoulder, hoping my mother had pulled off so I could turn around and run home, but she was still there watching.
Sighing, I pressed the doorbell.
The door swung open within seconds.
“Hello there, Taylor!” Audrey’s mom beamed. “You’re super early.”
“Huh?” I held out my letter. “I’m just here to drop this off for Audrey.”
“Nonsense.” She ushered me inside. “You can personally give it to her—since you’re best friends.”
“We are not best friends,” I said. “We’re not even ‘basic’ friends…”
“Audrey!” she called over her shoulder. “Your first party guest is here!”
Audrey rounded the corner in a bright yellow dress, with curls that were half as long as they were yesterday.
Her eyes met mine and her smile instantly faded.
“Ugh.” She crossed her arms. “What could you possibly want?”
“Nothing from you,” I said. “I came here to apologize to your parents.”
“Why? I don’t recall you treating them like trash.”
“I treat you how you deserve to be treated, which is pretty good since I don’t like you.”
“I don’t care.” She shrugged. “You weren’t invited to my birthday party, so you can leave now.”
“Gladly.” I started to walk away, but her mom carried a fudge tower past us, setting it on the dining room table.
The scent of the chocolate stopped me dead in my tracks.
Fudge was my favorite dessert, and my parents weren’t buying me anything sweeter than an apple while I was grounded.
“I think I’ll stay a little while,” I said, eyeing the tower. “When are you cutting that?”
“When someone I actually like gets here.”
“I’m not waiting years for a slice of chocolate, Audrey.”
“Whatever.” She walked over to the gift table and fiddled with a bouquet of yellow balloons.
I took a seat and watched as her mom and dad continued setting desserts on the table.
Watching them was like watching one of those old sitcoms my grandparents put on late at night. They hummed and danced like an old couple, kissed each other’s cheeks every few minutes, and stared at each other like they were taking notes.
No wonder Audrey is so weird…
When I counted the fiftieth cupcake, I realized I was still the only kid here.
“Did we write the right time on the invitations?” Audrey’s mother stepped into the hall. “It’s been over an hour.”
“Couldn’t have.” Her father smiled at me. “What time did your invitation say, Taylor?”
“I don’t remember.” I looked at Audrey.
She really didn’t invite me to her birthday party?
“We’ll give it a little more time and I’ll make some calls,” her mom said. “In the meantime, let’s get a picture of the two best friends!”
“Who?” Audrey and I said in unison.
“Very funny.” Her mother tugged Audrey toward me. “Now, smile on three. One, two—”
We both stared blankly ahead when she hit three.
She counted again, and we did the same thing.
“I’ll take what I can get.” She laughed.
“I just got a call from Nicole Calloway’s mom,” her dad said. “She had no idea her daughter’s party was the same day as Audrey’s, so she said we can bring the cake over and make it a joint thing since they have a pool.”
“You can leave now, Taylor.” Audrey frowned. “I’m sure they’re all waiting for you to get there anyway.”
“Probably,” I said. “Nicole hired a DJ and she has four huge inflatable slides.”
“Isn’t she your girlfriend?”
“Yeah…” I walked to the sweets table and picked up a cupcake. “You should open your presents while I’m here, though. I want to see what you got.”
“So you can destroy everything later?”
“I’ll hold off for at least a month. It’s the least I can do since it’s your birthday.”
She rolled her eyes and walked over to the table.
I watched her unwrap dresses, a golden journal with matching glitter pens, a habitat for her ridiculous insect collection, and a new laptop. And then she saved the biggest box for last.
Untying the pearl ribbon, she flipped the top off and revealed the newest PlayStation—the one I’d been begging my parents to buy for months, the one that was still sold out everywhere.
I stared at it, trying not to get jealous.
“Thank you so much!” she hugged her mom before revealing the video game they’d gotten her.
“Is that really Black Ops 7?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “I beat all the others.”
“By yourself?”
“Duh.” She tilted her head. “Did you have to use a team?”
“No.” I lied. “I just wasn’t expecting you to be the type to play video games. At least not ones like that…”
She looked at the game, then at me. “Want to lose to me right quick?”
“I’ll happily beat you if you’d like.”
She rushed to the living room and I followed, helping to set up the game.
Before I knew it, we were deep into our tenth round, and she was actually good.
Okay. More than good, but I refused to admit it.
I also refused to leave.
The doorbell rang just as we started a new round, and I heard a familiar voice.
“The kids are done swimming and it’s not a party without Taylor, I guess,” Nicole’s mom said. “Mind if everyone comes inside?”
Audrey set down her controller and looked at me.
“Don’t say I never did anything for you,” I said.
“One nice day doesn’t take away millions of others,” she said, pointing to a silver bow. “I’m missing half a head of hair.”
“You did that to yourself.” I shrugged as our classmates started to fill the living room.
For the next hour or so, the party went on, and Audrey beat almost every guy at the game. The girls who didn’t play followed her mom around and gushed about her terrible young-teen romance books.
It killed me to admit it, but this was far more fun than any party I’d been to with my real friends, and I decided that maybe—just maybe—I would stop being so hard on Audrey.
Maybe she didn’t deserve it…
One Week Later
My mom stepped into my bedroom and unplugged my game system from the wall.
“What the—?” I sat up, glaring at her. “Why did you do that, Mom?”
“Audrey Parker’s mother just called,” she said. “Audrey was in tears—again. Hysterical tears, Taylor.”
“Why?”
“Are you seriously asking me that question?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’ve been nice to Audrey this week…”
“In what world does nice mean stuffing fire ants into her locker?”
“What?” I said. “She’s been collecting them all week in a red bottle. She collects bugs like a weirdo, remember?”
“You honestly expect me to believe that she collected a thousand fire ants and let them loose in her locker—all to frame you?”
“Yeah. Obviously.”
“Nonsense!” She grabbed my system and tucked it under her arm. “I don’t know what she’s done to receive this level of harassment from you, but it ends today. You’re grounded until further notice.”
“But I have a football game tomorrow.”
“I already told your coach you won’t be seeing the field for the next month.”
“A full month over a lie?”
“You’re the only one lying, Taylor Wolff.” She narrowed her eyes. “And stop bullying that poor girl. Are we clear?”
“Yes, Mother.” I gritted my teeth. “We are crystal clear.”
“Good. Now write her an apology letter and let me see it before I take you over there to give it to her. Again.”
“Are you serious? Because I swear—” I caught myself. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll do that now.”
“You’ve got five minutes.”
She slammed the door on her way out, and I stormed over to my desk.
Dear Audrey,
My only regret in life is not making you cry ten times harder.
Sincerely,
Forget you,
Take care,
Taylor
Groaning, I crumpled that letter and forced myself to write Audrey the sweetest, fakest note in history. Then I wrote out a plan to get her back.
I’ll show her a real bully…