Bully Years Ninth Grade – Audrey
BULLY YEARS: NINTH GRADE
AUDREY
A year later
Potential Spam
Heard that you got grounded for using your cell phone on the first day of school. Such a shame you can’t come to the fair anymore. Don’t cry. You’re ugly af when you cry.
Who is this? And FUCK YOU.
Your favorite person on the planet.
Julia Roberts isn’t an asshole. She also doesn’t have my phone number…
I’ll be sure to send you pictures of everything you missed. Take Care, Taylor.
“UGHHHHH!” I tossed my phone across the room.
“Stop that yelling up there, Audrey!” my mom shouted up the steps. “Focus on finishing your homework!”
I rolled my eyes; I was six weeks ahead on my homework, and I had no interest in going any further. Especially not today.
My door creaked open and I braced myself for an unwanted lecture, but it was my cousin, Cecelia. Even though she was a couple years younger than me, she was my only friend.
“Mind if I come in?” she asked, holding up a foil-wrapped bowl. “I snuck some stuff in from the fair.”
“I never mind when it comes to you.” I smiled and patted a spot on my bed.
“Thanks,” she said. “Boys are so stupid, Audrey.”
“They really are.”
“I got suspended for stabbing one today.”
“What?”
“Yeah.” She handed me a corndog. “He called me fat, so I took out my pocket knife and stabbed him.”
For a full second I forgot how to breathe. “Please tell me you’re joking, Cece…”
“I’m not.” She smiled. “He deserved it, and I bet he’ll never speak a mean word in my direction again. Brilliant move, huh?”
“Um…”
“The sucky part is I’m not allowed to go back to school for an entire month.” She frowned. “It’s not fair. It was just a knife, and it wasn’t even my sharpest one.”
I glanced at her pocket, noticing a slim silver handle sticking out.
I moved over a little bit for my own safety.
“Have you tried stabbing Taylor yet?” she asked. “I guarantee he’ll leave you alone if you choose violence.”
“If I stabbed him, I’d get a felony charge.”
“Huh?” She tilted her head. “What’s a felony charge?”
“It’s—” I leaned forward and took the knife from her pocket, throwing it into my desk.
“You can’t stab people just because they’re mean to you, okay?
Life doesn’t work like that. You have to outsmart your bullies.
You have to strategically plan for—” I stopped mid-sentence, an idea sparking that had nothing to do with knives and everything to do with payback.
With Taylor’s suspension over far too soon and him already showing me that he’d learned nothing, I needed to think.
“Strategically plan for what, Audrey?” Cecelia asked.
“His demise.”
“Can you let me help?”
“Absolutely.”
The following afternoon
I swam down the lane in the training pool, looking up at the time when I reached the end.
Six seconds short.
Sports was not my thing—at all—but I was determined to try them to see if I had a natural talent at something other than writing.
Something that would separate me from being anything like my mom and dad and their zombie-like nights poring over their laptops and caring more about their characters than me.
I sighed and took off my swim cap, quickly changing into my clothes. Vowing to try harder tomorrow, I picked up my bag and heard a door creaking behind me.
The scent of chlorine hung heavy in the air as a shadow slid across the tiles—and then… Taylor.
“Hello, Audrey,” he said, smiling. “How are you this afternoon?”
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes as he moved toward me. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
“Neither are you. You’re not on the swim team.”
“I’m trying to make it.”
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
“Can you please go wreak havoc on someone else’s life?”
“I thought you’d want to see me during my first week back.” He smirked. “You haven’t missed me since my suspension?”
“You’ve already got me grounded since your return, so no.”
“That’s a shame,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”
“If you don’t leave within the next ten seconds, I’m going to scream.”
“I take back what I said about missing you.” He paused. “I don’t think I really got the chance since you put a hate letter under my windowsill every day.”
“You did the same thing.”
“Only because you started it.” He moved closer to the edge of the pool and my heart pounded against my chest with his every step, but I refused to show any emotion.
Seconds stretched in silence.
“I’m beyond impressed with the level of depravity you showed by getting me suspended.” He finally shattered the silence. “Truly. It was very impressive.”
“It could’ve been worse.”
“True.” He tapped his chin. “Very true. But, I think you crossed the line a bit because I never put your livelihood in jeopardy.”
“I doubt your football coach cared about you missing school,” I said. “I saw him leaving your house multiple times with his whiteboard.”
“I had no idea you were keeping up with me so much.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Fair enough.” He smiled, still looking somewhat impressed. Then he held out his hand. “I’ll let you win this one.”
“I’m not shaking your hand.”
“If you don't, I may not go easy on you tomorrow.”
“I plan to be absent.”
“You never skip Shakespeare Day,” he said. “You have to show off how boring your life is because you have most of his work memorized.”
“You have most of it memorized, too.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Whatever.” I groaned. “I know you wouldn't dare ruin it, so try to make a better threat.”
“Actually, I’m willing to look past the suspension just this once if we can hold off on any issues until the end of next week.” His hand remained outstretched. “Let’s start over.”
I let out a breath and shook his hand. The moment he let go, my body hit the water. Chlorine rushed into my lungs.
Shocked, I waded to the edge, gasping for air.
“What the fuck did you do that for?” I yelled. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“The same thing that’s wrong with you if you honestly think I’m letting anything go.”
“Screw you, Taylor.” I felt my blood boiling. “I’ll make sure you regret this.”
“I won’t,” he said, turning away. “Just remember you brought this on yourself.”