The Most Beautiful Bully (Summit Middle School)

by Shannon Freeman

  “Look, you messed up with your day ones. That’s fixable. I already warned you about Jessa. You didn’t want to listen. That girl is trouble. She’s dangling her friendship in your face like someone dangles a carrot in front of a horse.”

  “Can we skip the horse analogies right now?”

  Jody started laughing. “I forgot about the horse incident. My bad.”

  Carson had to laugh too. It was funny looking back on it. But nobody could have told her that on the day she kicked Coco and was sent flying through the air.

  “What I was trying to say was stop trusting Jessa,” Jody said. “She is not your friend. I don’t know how to put it more plainly than that. Make it right with Emma and Mai. They wouldn’t last a day at Carver, but they sound like cool girls.”

  “Yeah, you are right, Jody. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Carson left the way she came. The October night air was getting more brisk with the setting sun. The wind swept through the fabric of her robe. She shivered against the breeze as she climbed in through her own window.

  She went to the kitchen to make hot chocolate and focus on her math homework. If she hadn’t talked to Jody, she knew that she would have never been able to get anything done. How could you get your homework done when you have friendships in trouble?

  Chapter 9

  The Mask Is Off

  The next morning at their lockers was awkward. You could cut the tension with a knife. This was no way for the three of them to start their day. It was homecoming week. Who wanted to be fighting with their two best school friends during homecoming?

  Mai and Emma didn’t even talk to each other, afraid that they would make Carson angry. Each shut her locker. Then they headed in the direction of the one class they all shared together, English.

  “Hey, can we talk before first period starts? Let’s talk in the restroom. I won’t keep you long,” Carson pleaded. Emma and Mai looked at each other. They both felt burned from the last time they saw each other. She saw their hesitation. “Please,” she begged.

  Mai and Emma turned toward the nearest girls’ restroom for some privacy.

  “Talk, Carson. What do you want from us?” Mai asked. Carson could see that she was angry.

  “Look, this isn’t easy. I messed up. I’m sorry. You two are the ones I love. The ones I want a real friendship with.”

  “You got caught up in their hype. I know you did,” Emma said. “They did the same thing to me back in fifth grade. They invited me to one of their slumber parties. They pretty much made that night miserable for me. I was so embarrassed. I didn’t even call my mom. As soon as the sun came up, I was out of there.”

  “Oh, Em, I had no idea.”

  “I’m over it now. I just didn’t want the same thing to happen to you,” Emma said, choking back tears from the awful memory. Mai was quick to grab her hand.

  “Let me say this. It will never happen again,” Carson vowed.

  Mai was a harder sell. “It better not. I’m going against my father’s wishes to be your friend. This is how you treat me? I thought you had my back. Just like I have yours.”

  “And I do. If I spend the rest of junior high proving it to you, I will.” The bell rang. That was their signal. They hurried next door to their class on time, no passes needed.

  That night Carson lay happily on her bed. Her friendships were back on track. Her homework was complete. And she was on her MyTube page, listening to some new music. Life was good. She could hear her cell phone ringing.

  Who is interrupting my flow?

  To her surprise, it was Holden. He never called her, even though he’d had her number since they all went to the mall. She had done her best to avoid him and Jessa. She wanted out of their little love triangle. She ignored the call and sent him to voice mail. She did not check her messages. Five minutes later, her phone rang again.

  What could be so urgent?

  “Hello?” she snapped.

  “Hey, Carson. It’s me, Holden.”

  “I know. What’s up, Holden?”

  “Are you okay? You sound funny.”

  “I’m fine. What do you want?”

  “I was wondering if you would mind helping me out with the essay that we’re writing in English. It seems to have me stumped.”

  “You need to find somebody else. I can’t help you.” Then she just hung up on him. Nothing like a dose of she’s just not that into you. She felt bad for hurting his feelings. But she didn’t need drama in her life.

  The next day she avoided the normal routes. She didn’t want to run into Holden. She ignored him in English. But after lunch, he was standing by her locker, waiting for her. She felt trapped.

  Emma and Mai were walking with her, laughing about something. There was a small opening in the crowded hallway. She could see Jessa was coming toward her with all of her followers in tow. She looked from them to Holden to her two friends. It was as if everything was going in slow motion. She couldn’t warn her friends fast enough.

  Before she knew it, they were all in front of her locker. Holden’s gaze was fixed on her. He reached out and grabbed her hand. She tried to pull away before anyone could see. But it was too late.

  “You don’t have to pretend for my sake,” Jessa spat, getting right in Carson’s face. “I know you like him. Just admit it.”

  “You’re making a fool out of yourself, Jessa,” Holden said quickly. “I told you the two of us would never be more than friends. You’re more like a sister to me.” Holden was trying to diffuse the situation.

  “Shut up, Holden. This isn’t about you. It’s about the fact that I befriended her! Carson. Pitiful little friendless, fatherless, moneyless girl. I even went to that raggedy little shack you call a house. I drove around in that wretched death trap of a car. Teaches me to go slumming. I see why your father ditched you and started a new family. I would have too.”

  They were drawing a crowd. The larger the audience, the more vicious Jessa became.

  “Let’s get to class!” They could hear the vice principal’s voice getting closer and closer.

  Carson couldn’t move. She wanted to cry. But she couldn’t give Jessa and her minions the satisfaction.

  Emma and Mai were shocked. It was like watching a train wreck. The best thing they could do was pull Carson away from the drama. Holden tried to get to her too. But he could only watch as she was dragged away.

  He looked back at Jessa and saw the real girl for the first time. The person who others knew. “Jessa, you are mean and heartless. Never come to my house again. How would you feel if I outted your family’s dirty laundry?”

  “But, Holden!” His words stung. He was her friend, not Carson’s. That little nobody had come to Summit and turned her true love against her. “She’s gonna pay,” Jessa vowed to her friends as Holden walked away, leaving her looking like a fool.

  Chapter 10

  My Truth

  With Jessa’s words ringing in her head, Carson wanted out of there. She wanted to be far away from Summit. Far away from the sea of students who looked at her, thinking that they knew who she really was. She ran down the hallway. She didn’t care about her last class, or the fact that she would be marked absent. She wanted—needed—to be alone.

  Mai and Emma didn’t look as if they were going to give her that space. They were hot on her heels, yelling her name.

  “Stop, Carson!” It was Mai. The hallways were emptying. There was nowhere to hide. She found herself close to the auditorium. She darted in before they gained more gawkers.

  “Carson, please,” Emma pleaded with her, following her into the empty auditorium.

  Carson slumped down into the nearest seat. She let the waterfall of tears flow.

  Mai was on one side of her and Emma was on the other. She could feel her friends’ hands as they gently stroked her back.

  “Don’t worry about her, Carson. She makes up things about everyone. It’s what she does,” Emma said, trying to console her.

&nb
sp; But Jessa hadn’t made up any of it. She had described Carson’s world with pinpoint accuracy. She had even nailed the feelings Carson had each time she visited her father’s new home.

  “She didn’t lie. She didn’t make it up. It’s all true.”

  “Oh, Carson. Don’t say that.” Mai’s voice cracked.

  “It is true, but I never confided in her. How would she know those things? I’ve never even told my mom. The only person who knows is Jody, and she would never tell a soul.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “When I was in New Jersey at my dad’s, I told Jody everything about his new house, new baby, new wife. How I didn’t feel that I belonged there. I wanted to come home, but I didn’t. Jody talked me into sticking it out. And I did.”

  Emma handed Carson a tissue.

  “Finally at the end of my trip, my dad and I had a talk. I felt a bit better. But I knew my life had changed. No matter how much he reassured me that I would always be his little girl, I knew that he had turned a corner.” Carson sniffed. Dabbed her eyes. “The good news is that we are working on our relationship. Each day it gets a little better. I still feel sorry for myself from time to time. But Mom and I are getting our happy back.”

  Emma’s wheels were turning. “So how did Jessa know?”

  “What?” Carson’s senses were in overdrive. “I don’t know,” she said slowly. Then the scene played out like a movie. She watched herself enter her bedroom. She watched as Jessa clicked off her Friender page. It was like a bad dream. Jessa hadn’t been talking to her mom at all. She had been looking at Carson’s most private conversations. “Oh my … ” her hand covered her mouth.

  “What?” Mai asked.

  “What’s wrong? Say something, Carson,” said Emma.

  “She knows everything.”

  “What’s everything?” the girls asked in unison.

  Carson’s eyes went from Mai to Emma. She wanted to put those painful months of being homeless behind her. She wanted to separate all of those awful memories from her new reality. She hadn’t wanted to come to Summit. But starting fresh was the only thing that gave her the courage to try. She began to tell her friends of her father’s other relationship. Of how he had chosen that woman over her mother.

  She told them how they had been left in a big empty house. How the constables had come and kicked them out. With nowhere to go and only the few belongings that they were able to load in their car, they left their home. The neighborhood had watched. Some from their windows. Some from their lawns.

  Other women hoped they would never have to deal with this. Carson’s neighborhood friends cried. They lived with her mom’s friends. Charity. Sometimes they had a private room. Sometimes they slept on an air mattress in the living room.

  That was before her mom went to court. Before the child support they so desperately needed. She had been left fatherless, homeless, and penniless. The only place that felt normal to her was Friender. She could tell Jody everything, play by play, as the nightmare unfolded. She had never erased those conversations or visited that thread again. But it was there. And now Jessa had found it.

  “She’s going to ruin me. What she said in that hallway was only the tip of the iceberg. She knows my deepest, darkest secrets.”

  “We won’t give her the pleasure of ruining you,” Emma said defiantly. “Her path of destruction has gone on long enough. This time, Jessa won’t win.”

  They came up with a plan. Jessa didn’t have Summit’s students fooled. They were afraid of her. It was the teachers. The principal. That’s who was fooled. With a plan in place, they were going to expose Jessa. She was conniving, backstabbing, cruel, and heartless. And now everyone would know.

  There was one thing they could count on. Jessa would always seek revenge. Especially if she was backed into a corner.

  Chapter 11

  Sharpened Words

  The next morning, Carson wanted nothing more than to stay home and escape the stares and whispers that were sure to follow her all day. She’d lie in bed all day. But she knew her mother would be in her room soon to wake her up.

  Pretend to have a headache? Or face the music?

  Knowing that skipping school would only postpone what was coming, she reluctantly got out of bed. She could hear the soft knock on the door as she brushed her teeth.

  “Carson, it’s time to get—oh, you’re already up?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be done in a minute.”

  “Good. I don’t want you to miss the bus.”

  Carson washed her face, splashing herself with cold water. It helped her think. She played out the bus ride to school. The looks from students who thought they knew something about her. Then putting the plan into action. She dried her face and willed herself to move. She couldn’t stay here all day. She had to expect the unexpected and stay strong.

  She sat down at the table filled with her morning favorites: fried Zummo’s sausages, eggs, and toast. Her mother always sent her to school with a hot breakfast. But today the food felt odd in her mouth. She had no appetite as nerves overwhelmed her.

  “Mom, can I ask you something?” “Of course,” she said, joining her daughter at their kitchen table.

  “How did you deal with everyone knowing about Dad leaving us? I mean, when you had to go back to work and all.”

  “It wasn’t easy. But I knew that I had to rip the bandage off. Face it head on.”

  “But what was it like? Ripping it off.”

  “It hurt, but I got through it. And you will too.”

  Carson’s questions had given her away. It was as if her mother had super powers and could read her mind. She looked down at her breakfast. It was getting cold. “I thought I could start over. New school, new me. You know?”

  “That’s the funny thing about the past. It has a way of sneaking its way into the present. Carson, it’s not your fault what happened between your dad and me. I’m sorry that it hurt you. But we got through it and still kept a smile on our faces. Together, we can make it through anything. Don’t worry, baby. Life has a way of working itself out.”

  Carson, Mai, and Emma were determined that life would work itself out in their favor. Mai and Emma had witnessed Jessa and her friends tip the scales of justice. Because of Jessa’s dad’s influence, they seemed to get away with everything. But if the two girls had anything to do with it, this time would be different.

  Carson walked through the hallways, keeping her head straight. She ignored the gossip. She had anticipated it.

  “You all right?” Emma asked.

  “I’m okay.”

  “Hey, here comes Holden. See you in

  class.” Emma gave her friend a knowing nod and headed off to first period. “Hey, I tried to call you,” he said as he arrived at her locker.

  “I know. It was just … ”

  “Don’t worry about it. So you change your mind yet on helping me out with that project?”

  She turned around to meet his gaze. She wasn’t sure if their plan would work. After Jessa had humiliated her, she was sure that Holden wouldn’t even want to be around her. But he proved that he was a good guy just by standing there and talking to her.

  “You still want to hang out? After all of that?”

  “You act like you were at fault. That was Jessa’s doing. I’ve never seen that side of her, but I guess I knew it was there. I’ve heard the stories too many times.”

  “Yeah.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the mean girls walking toward her. Jessa’s entourage numbered more girls than usual. Carson’s heart began to pound fast and loud. She tried to keep her cool, but her body tensed up, sensing that trouble was inevitable.

  The all-girl crew laughed in unison as Jessa whispered. They looked Carson’s way. Some pointed at her, as if she were a circus act.

  “Don’t let them get to you,” Holden said, grabbing her hand. “I’m going to walk you to class. I’ll be at the door when class is over. I’ll make sure she leaves you alone.”r />
  “Okay,” she agreed. They walked to class hand in hand. It was the first time a boy had held her hand so publicly. They had witnesses. Kids weren’t trying to hide their surprised looks.

  Just like he promised, Holden was at the door when class ended. He was there before she could gather her belongings. “Holden, you are so sweet. You don’t have to do this.”

  “I feel that I’m somewhat to blame. Every girl who gets close to me winds up on Jessa’s hit list. I called her out on it before. It’s happened in our neighborhood too. She always plays innocent, like it’s their fault. But this time I saw it with my own eyes.”

  The tardy bell rang, signaling the need to hurry to their next class. They parted ways at the classroom door.

  Holden escorted her to her classes for the entire week. He also walked her to her bus at the end of the day. Every day.

  By Friday, the three girls felt the need to regroup. They ate the square cafeteria pizza while trying to shift their plan into full speed.

  “Look, this plan isn’t working. I’m being eaten alive on Friender. I can’t put out the fires fast enough. I’m becoming the laughingstock of this school. Jessa is not affected in the least by my relationship with Holden. Maybe she really doesn’t like him anymore.”

  “I’m telling you,” Emma said. “She will show her hand at some point. Just do what you are doing.”

  “I feel bad for leading Holden on.” “Carson, I hate to break it to you, but there are worse things than spending time with Holden. Before you came here, Holden was everybody’s secret crush. ‘I heart Holden’ is found in just about every diary in this school,” Mai lectured. “You bet I had a crush too. The boy is hot!”

  Emma laughed. “Guilty!” she admitted. “I put it in my journal too!”

  Carson could not understand why he would be interested in her if so many girls had been chasing him. “Well, what does he want with me?”

  “Have you looked in a mirror lately?” Emma asked her. “You are a cute girl. Smart. Funny.”