My Bully’s Daddy

by Callahan, Kelli

  “You started smoking again?” I gathered the stuff up in one hand.

  “I only quit because you made me.” She took another drag.

  “Let’s be honest…” I sighed. “I never made you do a damn thing.”

  “I know.” She dropped her cigarette, and I heard a slight sob.

  “Are you—crying?” I walked over and flipped on the light.

  “Turn that off!” She held up her hand, but not before I saw a welt on the side of her face.

  “Regina, what the fuck?” I walked over and pushed her hand away—my body flooded with rage. “Did Frank do that? Son of a bitch, I’ll kill that mother fucker!”

  He deserved to get hit in the face—and he took it out on her?

  “No.” She shook her head back and forth. “It wasn’t Frank—it was Bianca.”

  “What!?” My mouth fell open. “She hit you!?”

  “I caught her watching a video on her phone. It was awful. She was terrorizing some girl at school. I insisted that she delete it—and…” Regina’s eyes filled with tears, and they started streaming down her face.

  “I told you we needed to do something about her,” I growled under my breath. “Every fucking time I tried; you went fucking ballistic.”

  “She’s my daughter…” Regina wiped away the tears.

  “Well your daughter hit you in the damn face—so now what? Are you going to buy her something nice to apologize?” I took a step back and shook my head.

  That’s what you did every time I was—mean.

  “I don’t know.” She reached for her pack of cigarettes, and her hand trembled.

  “Well then you better figure it out…” I turned and walked to the car.

  It was cold and callous, but it was tough love. My ex-wife had never stood up to our daughter. If a punch in the face wouldn’t do it, nothing I said was going to change her perspective. Walking away made my stomach twist into a knot. I still cared about Regina, even if our relationship was dead and buried. I didn’t want to see her suffer or get hurt. I wasn’t sure if there was anything that could make Bianca realize how horrible she was after being brought up with no ramifications for any of her actions—but Regina had the tools to do it if she chose. She could do all of the things I threatened—the things she never let me do. Maybe I should have tried harder, but it would have probably just hastened the divorce.

  Regina let Bianca become a tyrant princess—hopefully this will wake her the fuck up.

  Ten

  Hannah

  I didn’t tell Candice much about my weekend with Justin. I told her what happened with the Bradford Elite and that a friend of my mother’s let me stay with him for the weekend. It was another lie—but I was living inside of a bigger one with Justin. As soon as we got to the school, I waited outside the locker room until the custodian unlocked it. That gave me an opportunity to grab my car keys, retrieve my destroyed cell phone from the toilet, and clean up the remnants of everything that Bianca burned in front of me. I threw everything in my car, grabbed my book bag, and walked to my homeroom class. An encounter with the Bradford Elite was inevitable, but I wasn’t going to run from it.

  None of my classmates seem to be reacting to my arrival. I guess that means Bianca hasn’t shared the video with anyone—yet.

  I made it through my first two periods before I walked out into the hallway and saw Bianca near my locker with her friends. I had to walk that direction—even if I didn’t need to get something out of my locker, my next class was that way, and walking around the entire building to avoid them would make me late. My legs felt heavy when I forced them to take me in that direction—my stomach churned, and I thought I might actually throw up—but I put a smile on my face and one foot in the front of the other.

  It’s inevitable; I might as well deal with it now.

  “Yeah, that bitch had it coming.” Bianca nodded. “I hit her so hard she probably hasn’t gotten up off the floor yet!”

  I guess I’m that bitch—but I’m not on the floor.

  “You did the right thing.” Amy smiled and put a hand on Bianca’s arm. “I would have hit her too.”

  “I’d be in boarding school if I did that to my mom…” Jillian exhaled sharply.

  She hit her own mother? Jesus Christ.

  “Oh look.” Bianca pushed Amy to the side when she spotted me. “There’s another bitch that got what was coming to her.”

  “Did you cry all the way home?” Amy twisted her fingers under her eyes and mocked me.

  “I bet you cried all weekend.” Jillian leaned forward and pushed me.

  “Would you like to see the video?” Bianca held up her phone.

  “Bianca, please…” I looked down at the floor.

  “No sassy response?” Bianca took a step forward and smiled. “What’s wrong? You don’t want to stand up for yourself anymore?”

  “We own you now, bitch.” Amy grabbed my arm and squeezed the wound on my elbow.

  “Ow…” I whimpered and tried to pull away, but that just made her squeeze harder.

  “Anything we say—you do it.” Bianca narrowed her eyes. “You are our property—in fact, that’s your name now—Property.”

  “Property. I like that.” Jillian nodded quickly.

  “Get to class, Property.” Amy dug her fingernail into my scab and ripped it as she pushed me away.

  “Maybe we’ll make her get that tattooed on her forehead.” Bianca laughed as I started walking towards class.

  I wasn’t sure if Property was better or worse than just being called a bitch, cunt, whore or any of the other awful things they came up with, but they had me over a barrel. I couldn’t fight back. I couldn’t cause a scene. I couldn’t stand up to them. I just had to hope and pray my mother got the job she was interviewing for later that day so I could get as far away from Bradford Academy as possible before Bianca decided to share the video with anyone except her cronies. Unfortunately, that meant I would never see Justin again—but maybe that was better than having him find out that I wasn’t a college student. I was just a dumb high school kid that got bullied, beaten, and I had been reduced to nothing more than property of the Bradford Elite.

  “Hannah, your arm is bleeding.” Candice looked up at me as soon as I walked over to my seat.

  “It’s fine.” I shrugged and reached for my purse so I could grab a tissue—then I remembered I didn’t have it.

  “Here.” Candice pulled a tissue out of her purse and handed it to me. “I guess we both have battle wounds now.”

  “Yeah…” I looked at the mark on her hand that was red and slightly swollen.

  I made it through the rest of the day without having another encounter with the Bradford Elite. I wasn’t the only kid in school they liked to bully—I was just the only one brave enough to fight back before they neutralized me. I borrowed Candice’s phone before she left and logged into my Facebook account to see if I had a message from my mother—I had several. The interview had gone very well, and they wanted her to stay an extra day to go over some ideas. It actually sounded like she had already gotten the job, which was damn good news for me. She also suggested that I take my phone by the Verizon store to see if there was anything they could do—but I was pretty sure that was going to be a hard no.

  “It looks like I’ve got the house to myself for another night.” I handed Candice her cell phone back. “The interview went well, so she isn’t flying back until tomorrow.”

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do if you leave me…” Candice pushed her cell phone into her purse.

  “The same thing you did before I got here—keep your head down and try to survive until graduation.” I sighed. “You said they didn’t bother you that much before we became friends. Maybe things will go back to normal.”

  “I’d rather have you here than for things to go back to normal…” She shook her head back and forth. “You were the first one that really stood up to them.”

  “Even if I stay, my days of standing up to
the Bradford Elite are over.” I shrugged. “I’m their property now.”

  “Unless we could delete that video…” Candice raised an eyebrow.

  “Bianca doesn’t go anywhere without her cell phone.” I sighed. “There’s no way we would be able to get her phone, much less unlock it and delete the video.”

  “We could destroy it—she deserves it at this point.” Candice tapped her finger against her chin in contemplation. “But how would we get it…”

  “She probably has everything backed up in her cloud somewhere anyway.” I shook my head back and forth. “If we destroy her phone, that’ll just encourage her to release the video immediately. Plus, how do we know she didn’t share it with the rest of her coven?”

  “Nah, she wouldn’t do that.” Candice narrowed her eyes. “Do you think she would give them the only piece of ammunition she has against you? Bianca might be a heartless bitch, but she’s not stupid—she doesn’t give her bullets away.”

  “I’ll think about it. I definitely want to get rid of the video, but I don’t want to piss her off so bad she decides to share it with everyone.” I nodded.

  “Okay, sounds good.” Candice’s phone lit up, and she looked down. “Shit. My dad is asking where I am—I guess I need to go home.”

  “See you tomorrow.” I waved and walked towards my car.

  I decided to stop by the Verizon store so that I wouldn’t have to lie to my mother when she asked if I did—I had done more lying in one weekend than I had over the course of my entire life, and I didn’t want to add another one to the pile. The guy at the counter was helpful, but once he realized the phone had been submerged in water, he told me there was no way that it was going to be repairable. I was overdue for an upgrade, but I couldn’t actually get that on my own—my mother needed to be there. After getting confirmation of something I already knew, I drove home and loaded up my laptop so I could message my mother through Facebook.

  Hannah: Hey, I stopped by the Verizon store. There’s nothing they can do.

  Mom: I’m sorry. :( I’m going to be on a late flight tomorrow, but we should be able to go to the store on Wednesday.

  Hannah: Thank you. I’m glad the interview went well!

  Mom: They haven’t offered me the job yet, but it really feels like a formality at this point if they’re asking me to stay another day.

  Hannah: Yep! I’m proud of you. :) When do you think we’ll be moving?

  Mom: I did want to talk to you about that…

  Hannah: Uh oh.

  Mom: If we move, you’re going to be graduating with a bunch of kids you don’t know, and it could cause problems with your college applications.

  Hannah: What kind of problems? I already have a couple of scholarship offers. They’re not full rides, but I can manage with student loans.

  Mom: Bradford Academy is on an entirely different curriculum than most schools. I did some checking and there are none that follow it here.

  Hannah: So? I’ve swapped schools a lot.

  Mom: Not in the middle of your senior year.

  Hannah: We should probably talk about that when you get home…

  Mom: That’s fine. Just think about it… You’re eighteen now. You could manage on your own until the end of the school year. I love you!

  Hannah: Love you too…

  I was shaking when I closed my laptop. Leaving Bradford Academy was my shot at getting away from Bianca and her coven of heartless bitches. I remembered how hard it was when I started there—and what my mother said made sense. Bradford Academy followed a Classical Education Curriculum that had an entirely different philosophy than most schools. There was a lot of focus on creativity and critical thinking—stuff that wasn’t a core focus in most schools. The panic set in, and I opened my laptop again. I started doing some checking, and I found several websites that outlined the differences. One of them even had a testimony from someone who had to stay in high school for an entire extra year to get their diploma because of the difference in required classes and credits.

  The Bradford Elite have made my life hell—but there’s no way I’m going to give them a year of my life. Operation Destroy That Damn Video is officially on.

  I leaned back against the couch and immediately started thinking about Justin. Being able to stay in Los Angeles meant I wouldn’t have to leave him—not until I was actually in college. One of my scholarship offers was to a school in California, but I hadn’t given it much consideration. It might be time for me to rethink that. Unfortunately, I had a really big secret hanging over my head—a lie that he might not forgive when he realized that I wasn’t honest with him from the beginning. That lie was going to linger—it was going to fester—unless I came clean soon. I didn’t want to wait until the weekend, and I definitely didn’t want him to find out on his own somehow. I didn’t think he would, but it was an unnecessary risk.

  I need to go see him—tonight.

  I was scared, but I tried to be strong as I walked outside and got into my car. Justin had done something to me—he changed my perspective on life. I always believed that relationships took time to mature before feelings could actually develop, but when I thought about Justin—my whole body got warm—my head spun—butterflies danced in my stomach. His kindness was what drew me in, but there was so much more. He was damaged and beautiful, but he was strong, and his passion was fierce. I didn’t need a word like love to draw a heart around what we had—I just wanted to be with him—one moment, then another—until we figured out what we had. In order to do that, I needed to clear the air and tell him the truth.

  If it’s going to drive us apart, I should face that reality now before I fall for him even harder than I already have.

  “Justin?” I knocked on the door a few times and leaned over to see if could peek in the window, but the curtain was closed.

  “Hannah? Is that you?” Justin’s voice echoed from the other side of the door, and then he pulled it open. “I didn’t think I would get to see you until the weekend…”

  “I hope it’s okay that I stopped by.” I looked up at him and saw a huge smile spread across his face.

  “It’s—way better than okay.” He pulled me into his apartment and wrapped his arms around me. “I had a fucking horrible day.”

  Oh no…

  “What happened?” I leaned back from our embrace.

  “Problems with my ex-wife and—I just don’t even want to talk about that.” He exhaled sharply and pulled me back into his arms. “I’m just so fucking happy to see you.”

  “I’m happy to see you too.” I leaned against his shoulder.

  I guess my confession is going to have to wait.

  I hated to leave it hanging above our heads, but after Justin hugged me for the second time, I could tell that his smile was barely hanging on. There was a reflection of dismay in his grayish-blues. I wondered if my eyes opened straight to my soul the way that his did. Whatever he was dealing with had obviously caused him a lot of heartache. I had no idea what it was like to lose a relationship—much less a marriage. I was sure that there was a lot of hurt to go around, especially when he wasn’t the one that caused it to fall apart. We walked over to the couch, and I snuggled in his arms. I really couldn’t afford to be there—I expected to either go home after my confession to work on my school assignments or bring them inside. I had already missed valuable time over the weekend. I couldn’t motivate myself to get up and leave once I was in his arms, especially when his hands started moving across my skin.

  “Your elbow…” He looked down. “It looks worse than it did when you left this morning. What happened?”

  “Oh, I snagged it on something.” I shrugged. “It’ll be fine.”

  “You need to be careful with that, or it’s going to scar.” He traced the wound and pulled me closer.

  I’m not worried about the scars on my skin right now—I’m worried about the scars that may be left on my heart if I don’t get to tell you the truth before I let the lie linger too long�
�

  Eleven

  Justin

  Hannah was everything I needed to see when I opened that door. I was absolutely shredded inside over what Bianca did to her mother. I never laid a hand on my daughter, but I might have come dangerously close if she had hit Regina while I was in the house. I wanted to cancel every one of her credit cards, take away her car keys, cut off her cell phone, and make her take the damn bus to a public school—but that would require me to snatch her out of the privileged life she knew and send her to public school so that she could get a real education.

  If she was terrorizing other students, then she needed to know that the world didn’t work that way—but I couldn’t make that decision alone. Regina had vetoed every one of my attempts in the past, and the tyrant princess was the result of that. If she wanted Bianca to lose that crown of privilege, she was going to have to make the first move—as much as it tore me up not to be able to address the situation myself.

  “Did you eat dinner yet?” I looked down at the beautiful woman in my arms.

  “No.” She shook her head back and forth.

  “Okay, let’s order something.” I nodded and reached for my phone.

  I probably wouldn’t have eaten anything at all if Hannah hadn’t shown up at my door. I was contemplating my first beer while resisting the urge because I didn’t want to be drunk if Regina called or sent me another text message. I had no idea if she would confront Bianca or just sweep it under the rug like everything else our little tyrant princess did. If Regina didn’t do something, then I might be forced to step in, but I wanted to see if she would stand up to our daughter first. I wasn’t sure what I would be able to pull off on my own if Regina decided to pretend it didn’t happen, which had been my point of frustration for years.

  “That looks good.” Hannah pointed at the screen.

  “Yeah, it’ll do.” I nodded and placed the order.

  “Do you want me to get you a beer?” She looked at the empty water glass sitting in front of me.