It was too cold to eat lunch outside today, and all the students grouped in the cafeteria. Corby, as always, was sitting alone at the table in the far corner of the large hall. Today, her mother tried harder than usual and Corby had a sandwich with tuna and lettuce in her paper bag, she found grapes in a plastic box, and even chocolate candy wrapped in a napkin. A real feast. Apparently Mom felt responsible for the sudden outburst from her daughter and decided to take greater care in the preparation of school lunches. Or at least this one.
Corby had already finished her sandwich and grapes and was unwrapping the candy when her eyes fell upon Molly. She didn’t want to do it, because now, as usual, she preferred not to look at anyone and to avoid any attention. She was simply unwrapping the candy and she ran her eyes over the colorful crowd of children that filled the cafeteria. Her gaze stayed on Molly because the girl was already looking at her. She chewed her sandwich from the buffet and stared at Corby. There were three of the less popular kids in school next to her: two girls and one boy. Jane sat two tables away from Molly with her two “new and beneficial” friends Abigail and Rob. They didn’t look in Molly’s direction, or anyone else’s for that matter, and only ate their food and talked. Corby looked for Jacob and found him at the opposite end of the room from her. He chatted with his friends from the football team. Corby hadn’t talked to him, but he whispered to her while changing textbooks in his locker that it was better to meet near the stadium after school. Corby just nodded, trying to look calm, but there was a hurricane raging in her heart.
Before putting candy in her mouth, Corby looked at Molly again and found her in the same position. When their eyes met, Molly turned to Jane for a second, put her half-eaten sandwich on the plate, and got up from the table. One of the girls next to her said something, probably asked where she was going, but Molly didn’t answer and didn’t even look at her. She was walking toward Corby.
Hastily enfolding the candy back in the wrapper, Corby stuffed it in her pocket and waited for Molly to approach. She had no idea what the girl wanted from her, especially without Jane. Maybe she wanted to become friends? What if? Is that possible? Corby smiled, but the desire to smile quickly evaporated when she saw the expression on Molly’s face. There was nothing friendly about it. Her eyes were squinted, her lips compressed into a narrow strip. She checked the table where Jane settled, before starting to speak.
“What are you looking at?” she asked in a loud voice. It was so loud that the majority of people heard her.
“What?” Corby asked and her eyes darted from one side of the cafeteria to the other. She saw Jane noticing them, and Jacob too. Molly also didn’t miss their attention.
“You don’t understand what I asked you?” Molly turned back to Corby. “You’re not only fat, you’re also deaf. Or stupid? You’re stupid, that’s why you don’t get it!”
Corby had gotten used to Jane to some extent. Jane, with her insults, threats, and cold looks. She called Corby fat hundreds if not thousands of times. Fat, a box of meat, and other creative and offensive nicknames, but she had never called Corby Mackentile stupid. Corby could be anything, but not stupid, especially given the recent events.
“I’m asking you a question!”
Corby felt all eyes on her. Students were waiting. She realized what was happening. She was not a box of meat now, she was a punching bag and Molly was rehearsing her credibility on her. Perhaps she thought Corby was the only road leading her back into the circle of Jane River.
“I get better grades than you,” Corby said. Murmured. She saw Jacob in her peripheral vision. He rose from his seat and walked toward them. The teachers, who were supposed to keep order, weren’t there. Or they were at the front of the cafeteria and didn’t hear anything. Or didn’t want to hear. Private schools for rich kids had special rules for rich kids.
“What did you say?” Molly’s eyes bulged. Her hands flew up and rested on her hips. “What did you say?”
Corby saw Vera and then Sylvia with her chopped face instead of Molly in front of her before everything inside her began to bubble. Like hot lava flooded on her face, then crept into her stomach, burning everything on its way, and finally it reached her heart.
“You’re a fat cow!” Molly growled. “Who gave you the right to open your stinking mouth, you box of meat! Bitch!”
“If you call me a box of meat or a bitch one more time, I’ll slap you,” Corby whispered. Her voice was so quiet that she was not sure whether Molly heard her or not.
“What did you moo, cow?” Molly pressed her hand to her ear. Corby saw a circle of people closing in around them, but her vision became cloudy and she couldn’t distinguish any faces. She began to hear roaring in her ears and she ceased to understand the words. She saw that Molly’s mouth opened and closed, her face became flushed, she even started to yell, but her words were just a muffled set of sounds. She paused for a moment, apparently waiting for some kind of reaction or response from Corby, and when nothing followed, she raised her hand.
Everything turned hazy in front of Corby, like pictures in the portrait mode of a camera. Only Molly was bright, like a camera was focused on her. Her blonde hair, gray eyes, and her pink sweater blinded Corby. She saw her hand coming forward in slow motion. Corby’s body became a machine, independent of her will, a spring stretched to its full length. She stood slowly, like in the movies, and caught the girl’s hand. Molly froze. Her huge eyes filled with mixed emotions, her mouth opened, the color was gone from her face, giving way to painfully pale skin. Corby saw her from the top down, because she was much taller. Her other hand felt like it was moved by a puppeteer. First it compressed into a fist and then it crashed into the beautiful face, carefully decorated with makeup.
Molly’s hand slipped out of hers and Molly herself disappeared from Corby’s view. Corby returned to reality only when she felt pain in her own hand. Dull pain didn’t bother her, because it was like fireworks. Everything became clear. Corby started to hear sounds, screams, excitement, confusion. She shook her head and saw Jacob. Jane stood beside him and looked at Corby with her mouth open. At last she saw Molly. The boy who had sat with her at the table helped her to stand up from the floor. He was a skinny boy from a poor family who had received a scholarship to come to this school. That was all Corby knew about him. Molly yelled and threatened to kill her, her nose bled. Someone gave her a napkin and she pressed it against her nose.
“What’s going on here? What’s happening?”
It was Mrs. Gullen. Corby saw her and another teacher marching toward them. She wished she knew what happened herself. She only understood that everything was going to be different now.
“Oh my God, my God, Payton!” Mrs. Gullen cried. “Who did this to you? What happened here?”
“Someone just lost it!” Jane said. “Mackentile ...”
“Mackentile?” Mrs. Gullen said in shock.
“Mackentile accidentally hit Payton.”
Corby looked from Jane to Jacob, who stepped forward.
“Accidentally?” the second teacher said. Corby couldn’t remember his name. “How could anything like this happen accidentally?”
“Payton walked past Mackentile and Mackentile hit her by accident,” Jacob explained. “She was standing up. She’s a big girl, in a good way, strong. Payton fell … on a chair. Hit her nose I guess. Are you okay, Payton?”
“What?” Molly asked. Her face was clean now, bloody napkin clasped in her hand.
“Yes, it happened exactly like that,” one of the guys said and Corby couldn’t believe her ears. What just happened? They defended her?
“Molly?” Mrs. Gullen said. “Is it true?”
Molly looked at Corby with hatred that Corby hadn’t experienced before and then she looked at Jacob, and finally at Jane. Jane didn’t honor her friend with a look, focusing on Glasgow. Molly glanced back at Corby and then put her head down.
“Yes, Mrs. Gullen,” she said.
“Are you sure? Because ...” Mrs. Gullen broke off and gaze
d at Corby, at the people around her. “Well, if you say so. Mackentile, you have to be careful. Come, Molly, I’ll take you to the nurse.”
“I’m fine!” Molly cried and, in the next moment, she was already running out of the cafeteria.
“How are you, Mackentile?” Mrs. Gullen asked still in shock.
“Fine,” Corby nodded.
“You have to be careful.”
“I will.”
The bell rang and the second teacher apologized before leaving.
“Go to your classes, everybody,” Mrs. Gullen said and followed him.
The students began to disperse, talking, looking at Corby, pointing their fingers at her, but no one said anything to her personally. Jacob threw a glance at her and he also left. Jane stayed the longest. When Glasgow walked out of the cafeteria, she turned to Corby and regarded her from head to toe.
“It’s not over,” she said, then turned and headed to the exit.
Corby couldn’t move. She sat down on the chair, dragged the candy out of her pocket, unwrapped it, and stuffed it in her mouth while looking around the empty room at dirty napkins on the floor, listening to the clanking of the dishes in the kitchen.
In just a few seconds, the world had turned upside down. Corby did something she had never thought she would do. Jacob Glasgow, one of the most popular boys in school, stood on her side. The fact that someone defended her was already supernatural. Add to that the popularity of the defender and you get something worthy of the Guinness book.
What was going to happen next? She didn’t know. She also didn’t know what Jane meant. She wanted to talk to her because she admired her act or in her opinion Corby did something impermissible and now she should be punished?
Corby looked at her hand, clenched and unclenched her fist, imitated a striking gesture, and put her hand on her knee. The lesson had already begun, so Corby stood up and picked up her bag. Only she didn’t go to her class. She checked with the school office then took her jacket from her locker, went outside, and dialed her dad.
“Corby, you’ve never called me in the middle of the day. What happened?”
“Can you pick me up?”
“Yes, what happened?”
“I just have a very bad headache, I feel sick. They let me go.”
“Okay. I’m at home now. Meditating. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Is that okay?”
Twenty minutes later, he arrived as he’d promised and didn’t even bother her with questions. He looked relaxed after his meditation and apparently didn’t want to spoil his harmonious mood with his daughter’s problems. So, she had a headache. Not a big deal.
When Corby went into her room and closed the door behind her, she fell on the bed and burst into tears. Only now she didn’t know why she was crying, but it certainly wasn’t related to her desire to live or die. It seemed as if she had tears of enjoyment or pride, or both. When she was tired of crying and rolled on her back wiping her tears with her clenched fists, she felt as if she could fly.
“I don’t have to kill Jacob,” Corby said and laughed. “Jacob will live.”
She was going to the bathroom when she heard the sound of a received message on her phone. Corby snatched it out of her bag, smiling from ear to ear, waiting for news from Jacob. He had to write her something. He had to. They were going to meet at the football field, but they didn’t because of what happened in the cafeteria. After that he probably wanted to speak with her. Now their meeting had another meaning and Corby needed time to think it over carefully.
Jacob’s name wasn’t displayed on the screen. Instead, there was an unknown number.
Corby opened the message and her hands started to tremble as she read it.
U think u r cool now? We’ll c about that. A box of meat. That’s what u r, that’s what u r always going to be.
CHAPTER 24
“I can’t figure out what changed. I see something has changed, but I can’t put my finger on it. I think you lost weight. Did you?”
Corby listened to her mother and ate salad, although she had a slice of pizza on her plate too. Salad tasted disgusting, but if it helped her mother to keep her figure in shape at the old age of thirty-eight, it would help Corby for sure. And yes, she’d lost weight; she noticed it in the mirror when she was changing this morning. Not a lot, but it was noticeable.
“You look great, dear,” Mother added.
“Thank you,” Corby said.
Dad said nothing, and that was not like him at all. He just kept eating his salad and glanced at his wife and daughter from time to time. His portion wasn’t even covered with dressing and Corby wouldn’t be able to put it in her mouth for sure. Green leaves without dressing, blah.
“Did anything interesting happen at school today?” Mom asked. It meant no one had told her about the incident. Corby was glad. School administration behaved as if nothing happened. The kids took care of the problem themselves, which meant everything could continue as before: raising money for the school, coming up with stupid, useless activities to collect even more cash without the distraction of some stupid nuisances such as bullying. Well, Corby’s school claimed they were the best at keeping bullying at bay and that would change if they had to admit their complete failure in that department. Keep it quiet and pretend it didn’t exist. So far—that had worked for years.
“Everything is the same,” Corby said with her eyes down. She tried to impale a small tomato with her fork. It didn’t want to give up without a fight and spun on the bottom of the plate.
“Any tests?” I know you left earlier today, Dad told me, but I’m glad your head is better now. I wonder what happened.”
“Not a big deal.” The tomato surrendered and Corby put it in her mouth and quickly washed it down with milk. How could people like vegetables?
Mom put her fork on her plate, folded her hands in front of her, and stared at her daughter.
Corby felt her mother’s eyes, but didn’t lift her head for a long time, hoping she would turn away. Finally she had to look at her.
“What?”
“Are you okay, honey?”
Corby shrugged. “Of course,” she said.
“I don’t think so. No headache? Are you sure?”
“I’m fine. I guess I still have some ache left. Almost gone.”
“School is fine too?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. What about those girls? They don’t … upset you?”
Corby pressed her lips and put her fork aside. Her mother never cared if any girls had “upset” her daughter at school before and now she suddenly asked. Mother was still afraid to use the only correct word for it. Bullying. Why didn’t she ask if her daughter was bullied at school? Did it show that she cared?
“No,” Corby said in a quiet voice, even though she wanted to scream in her mother’s face. Not today, not today. “No one upset me. Thank you for dinner.”
“Corby, did I say something wrong?”
Corby looked at her father who was quietly working on his salad and didn’t seem to hear anything.
“No, Mom. Everything is fine, I promise. I’m not hungry anymore.”
“But you barely ate.”
“Can I go to my room, please?”
Leaving the kitchen, she felt that both of her parents watched her, but she didn’t turn back once. When she walked into her room, she saw the flickering blue light on her phone indicating that she had received a new message. Another one. She didn’t want to read it, but knew she had no choice. She had to know what was going on and what to expect if it was Jane again.
There were two messages. The first message was again from the same unknown number.
It’s time to roast meat.
Corby closed it and opened the next. Her heart fluttered.
You were super today.
“Oh Jacob. I love you!”
Corby pressed the phone to her chest and fell on the bed. It would be good to do her homework, but she knew that she couldn’t do it no matter what
.
CHAPTER 25
If it was possible not to go to school, Corby certainly wouldn’t. But those were the rules in America—every child was required to obtain an education, whether this child wanted it or not. Therefore, Mom dropped Corby off at the school building at eight forty-five in the morning and drove to work.
Adjusting the bag on her shoulder and putting her head down, Corby went inside the building with a crowd of other kids. She knew they looked at her, she heard what they said about her, but pretended not to notice any of this. As she reached the door, she looked up to avoid crashing into it and saw Jane and Molly, leaning against the wall and staring at her. Corby hurried to pass them faster, but instead of going through the door, she stumbled on something and sprawled, face down in the middle of the doorway. Something snapped in her leg, pain shot from her belly to her back. Corby, as fast as she could, despite pain and disorientation, got up on her knees and stood. Of course the students grouped around her stopped in their rush, of course someone laughed, and some watched her with pity and shock.
“You have to be careful!” Jane was right in front of her. “Watch your step.”
She smiled, turned away, and walked along the hallway wiggling her hips. Molly hurried after her.
“Are you okay?”
Corby turned to the girl who asked her this question. It seemed that she was from the junior class, but, Corby didn’t know her name.
She didn’t answer and rushed to her class, even though it was difficult to walk because of the pain in her scraped knees. She couldn’t see them under her jeans, but she could imagine future bruises.
“She took your picture,” someone said, but Corby didn’t think about the meaning of the phrase. She decided to stop at the bathroom and fortunately, there was no one there but her at this time. She washed her face as fast as possible and went to her class. Two minutes later she sat at her desk, ignoring Jane and Molly who now settled near her and watched her as if expecting her to do something. Something to show them that yesterday really happened. She wanted to confirm it and tell them that many other things had happened besides that, some people were even killed, but she was quiet.
Mean girl_A dark, disturbing psychological thriller Page 14