by Wendi Wilson
“Mel. Mel? Can you hear me?”
Mel’s attention snapped back to Tara. “What?”
“Oh thank God. I thought I’d lost you for a minute there.”
“What do you mean?”
“You weren’t responding. I thought maybe your mind snapped. I mean, you were beating the hell out of Sissy Woods when we walked in. What happened?”
With that, Melanie burst into tears and pulled Tara in for a hug. Tara nodded at Chris and jerked her head toward the door, signaling that he could leave. He nodded once and gave her the hand signal for “call me,” then walked out the door.
“Okay, Mel,” Tara said softly pulling back so that she could look into her face. “Tell me what happened, because I have known you for a long time and have never seen you that angry. Or violent.”
Melanie sniffed loudly and tried to talk through her tears. “She s-s-said I was f-fat and ugly and that I w-was a charity case for J-J-Jeremy. That h-he was f-f-f-faking it.” She started to cry in earnest again.
Tara pulled her back in for a hug and movement at the door caught Melanie’s eye. Jeremy stood there, hands clenched at his sides, his face red and his chest heaving. He held her stare for a few seconds before slamming the door open and stomping through it.
Tara looked back over her shoulder. “What was that?”
“Jeremy.”
“Did he hear what happened?”
Melanie sniffed again and finally got the tears under control. “It doesn’t matter. We’re over and he doesn’t need to protect me anymore.” She sniffed again and wiped her eyes. “Besides, I guess I can take care of myself.”
“Oh my God, Melanie, you were beating the crap out of her. What came over you?”
“I don’t know, Tara. It was weird. It was like I lost control of my actions and instinct took over. I told her to shut up, more than once, and she just kept running her mouth, saying awful things about me and how Jeremy was gonna be hers again. I just…lost it. I shoved her down and jumped on her.”
“Well,” Tara said with a giggle, “whatever it was, it was awesome. She was screaming like a banshee and I think she’ll have a permanent hand print on her face. Melanie, it took all Chris’s strength and a little help from me to pull you off of her!”
“Well, I am heavy.”
“Shut up! That’s not what I meant, and you know it. It was your strength, not your weight that caused the problem. You shoved him off of you and growled like a beast when he came back. It was so weird.”
“Well, I guess it was just the last straw.”
“I’ll say. Do you want to…”
“Melanie Johnson, please come to the principal’s office. Melanie Johnson, please come to the principal’s office.” The interruption came through the intercom speaker in the ceiling.
“Uh-oh.” Tara hugged her tightly. “Do you think you’ll get suspended?”
Melanie thought about that question all the way to the office. She had just shrugged and hugged Tara again before leaving the band room, but now the thought filled her with excitement. It was the perfect solution! If she got suspended, she wouldn’t have to face Jeremy or Mr. Hughes for days, maybe even a week! Then she would have some time to form a plan and get herself out of this mess.
When she arrived at the front office, Mrs. Hart, the receptionist, motioned for her to take a seat on one of the many hard-backed chairs. Melanie sat down and shifted uncomfortably.
“These chairs are awful,” she mumbled under her breath.
“What was that, Miss Johnson?”
“Nothing, Mrs. Hart.”
“That’s what I thought. Just sit tight and your mom will be here shortly.”
“What? You called my mom?”
Mrs. Hart angled her head so she could look down her pointy nose at Melanie. “Fighting is a serious offense and not tolerated at this school. As soon as your mother gets here, you’ll be able to go in and explain it to Mr. Livingston.”
Mr. Livingston, the principal, with his comb-over and paunch belly, always tried to be “cool” with the students. He wanted them to see him as a friend as well as an administrator. She heard him use those exact words many times. He even had the students call him Mr. L.
Lame, she thought. What if he lets me go on a warning or after school detention? Oh, hell no! That’s not happening!
Mr. Hughes ran after school detention. She was just going to have to make sure she got suspended. Even if it got her grounded in the process.
With that thought, the office doors swung open and her mom walked in with a brisk stride. She put her hand on Melanie’s cheek and leaned over with concern on her face.
“What happened? Melanie, baby, are you okay?”
“She’s fine, Elaine.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Hart, but I was speaking to my daughter. Melanie, what happened?”
Her first instinct was to cry and place all the blame, deservedly, on Sissy. But she knew her mom would fight tooth and nail for her no matter what, so she had to tread carefully. Even if it meant disappointing her mom, she had to get out of here for a while.
Melanie watched Mrs. Hart walk over to Mr. Livingston’s door and waited for her to swing it open before she said, “Bitch had it coming,” in a voice loud enough to carry into the room. She heard a sharp intake of breath from her mom and a piercing whine that had to belong to Sissy, as well as a summons from Mr. Livingston to enter.
She kept a mulish look on her face and ignored her mom’s warning looks as she entered the office and plopped down into the chair next to Sissy. At least Sissy had the good sense not to speak to her, and even scooted her chair a few inches away from Melanie.
Melanie smirked and sank low in her chair, refusing to let even a small thing like good posture earn her brownie points with the principal. Her mom took the seat next to her and started the conversation.
“I’d like to know what happened.”
“Well, Ms. Johnson, it appears that Melanie attacked and repeatedly hit another student, Miss Sissy Woods.”
“Okay. But why?”
“She just went crazy and attacked me for no reason!” interjected Sissy. Her voice got higher and higher on each syllable until it cracked at that end.
“Melanie would never hit someone unprovoked,” her mom said, defending her. “In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of her losing her temper at all, much less hitting someone. So I guess my question is, Miss Woods, what did you do to provoke her?”
“I didn’t do anything!” she squealed. “We were just talking and she lost it. She’s crazy!”
“Miss Johnson, what do you have to say about it?” Mr. Livingston directed the question at her.
Melanie sucked in a big breath and looked at her hands in her lap. She bit her lower lip and let the breath out harshly before speaking.
“She’s telling the truth. She didn’t do anything.” Stick as close to the truth as possible, Mel.
“Melanie,” her mom pleaded, “I can’t imagine you doing this for no reason. Please tell me, baby. What really happened? You don’t have to be scared.”
Melanie shot a quick glance at her mom, sending her a silent apology, then focused her attention on Mr. Livingston. This was do or die time. She could not endure detention with Mr. Hughes. Her only option was suspension.
“Sissy is a total fucking bitch to me all the time. She threatened to steal my boyfriend, so I gave her what she damn well deserved.” Every person in the room gasped and in the silence that followed, Melanie added for good measure, “And I’ll do it again if she so much as looks at Jeremy, or me, again.”
Chapter 23
“Suspended for the rest of the week!”
Those were the first words her mother had uttered since Melanie’s prolific outburst in the principal’s office. They were home and walking through the front door when her mom shouted those words and threw her purse on the couch. She turned and with hands on hips, sent Melanie a death glare that would melt a lesser man into a puddle. I
t usually melted Melanie too, but this was too important.
She lifted her chin slightly and responded in a firm voice. “Sorry, mom.”
“You don’t sound sorry,” she said, throwing her hands into the air. “I just can’t believe this. You don’t have a violent bone in your body, but somehow, some way, you burst into a rage and beat someone up over a boy? Whom, by the way, you’re grounded from seeing.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Melanie mumbled, but not quietly enough. Her mom heard her.
“Why not?”
“We broke up this morning.”
“What!? What do you mean, you broke up this morning?”
“I broke up with him.”
“Oh, God, I’m so confused,” her mom mumbled. Then louder, “Teenagers! If you broke up, then why were you fighting over him?”
Melanie decided to go with the truth on this one. She was already suspended, so she could at least be honest with her mom. She sat down on the couch and motioned for her mom to take the chair.
“Mom, Sissy Woods constantly bullies me and is an all-around horrible person. She really did deserve it.”
“What does she do to you?”
“She calls me names and says terrible things about me all the time. Today, for instance, she called me fat, ugly, and said that Jeremy was only with me out of charity. That he was faking his feelings for me and that he’d be back with her in no time.”
Melanie could see the anger physically building inside her mom. Her face was turning red and her breath was coming in shorts bursts. Mama Bear was coming to the surface. Melanie needed to get this back under control.
“Mom,” she started, but was interrupted.
“Melanie, why didn’t you say all this to the principal?” Her mom sounded stern. “Why were you so disrespectful and flippant in front of him? I know I didn’t raise you to act like that.”
“Mom, I’m really sorry,” Melanie said contritely. “I’ll write Mr. L. an apology letter, I promise. I was just so mad, I couldn’t control it.”
It sounded like a good excuse to her ears, and her mom seemed to be buying it. She couldn’t let her know that she was trying to get suspended. Or she’d have to explain why.
Her mom’s shoulders slumped in defeat and she looked like she might puke. “I understand, baby, but you’re still grounded for the week. No going out, no visitors.” Her mom stood and gave her a wry smile. “I’ll let you keep your phone though. I’m not a complete monster.”
Melanie stood and hugged her mom tightly. “Thanks, mom. I knew you’d understand. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mel, always. No matter what.”
As Melanie turned to head to her room, her mom put a hand on her arm to stop her. Melanie glanced at the hand on her arm, then up at her mom’s face.
“Hey,” her mom said softly, “your birthday is coming up in what? Three weeks?”
“Um, yeah?” Melanie was confused. This was so far out of left field. “Why bring it up now?”
Her mom’s eyes got a little misty. “Oh, I don’t know. I was just thinking about how much you’ve grown and that you’ll be turning seventeen soon. Any ideas on what you might want for your birthday?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it, but I’ll let you know.”
How weird, she added silently to herself as she climbed the stairs to her room.
As soon as she closed the door behind her, her phone beeped in her backpack. School ended for the day about twenty minutes before. Assuming that it was Tara, she pulled it out and threw her bag to the floor. She fell backwards onto her bed and punched in her passcode to unlock the screen. She was right.
“Hey slugger. U still got txt privileges?”
“Yeah. I can’t leave or have anyone over, but she let me keep my phone.”
“Heard u got suspended for a week. Lucky.”
“I know, right?”
“Did u really call Sissy an f*ing B right in front of Mr. L? And your mom???”
“Who told u that?”
“Sissy is telling everyone at school what a psycho u are. When I heard what u said, it made me LMAO!”
“Well, she had it coming.”
“Totally. U ok?”
“Yeah.”
“I mean about J.”
“Yeah, I’m ok. Might take a while for me to get over it. I gotta go. Mom’s calling.”
“K. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Maybe I’m getting better at it, she thought.
That little white lie hadn’t made her feel too bad. She just needed time to think. She needed to come up with a plan. As she had that thought, her phone beeped again.
Unknown caller: 912-555-8782
“I would kill to have seen you hit her.”
Melanie’s nostrils flared and she gnashed her teeth together. She did not want to engage with him right now. She should have turned her phone off, but she was too afraid of what she might miss. What if he threatened her friends again? She decided to wait and see if he’d keep texting without a response.
“I know you’re there, Melanie. I saw you using your phone five minutes ago.”
Melanie sucked in a huge breath and shot her gaze toward her window. The curtains were open. It was still daylight outside, but someone with binoculars could have seen through the window from the woods. She jumped up and ran to it, scanning the tree line. She didn’t see anyone.
“Don’t worry, Melanie, I’m gone. I couldn’t have you call the cops and get caught staking out your house, could I? I use this burner phone that no one can trace back to me. I rent a different car in a different name every time I get the urge to watch you, which is very, very often.”
“Leave me alone!”
“Oh no, my beautiful girl. I will have you, like I should have had you that night. Did you hit Sissy as hard as you hit me when you were trying to fight me off? Oh, God, what it does to me to think about that.”
Melanie started to tear up, but she pulled her anger close to her and used that to hold the tears at bay.
“You will never touch me again, asshole.”
“That’s right, darling, fight it. Fight me. You know just how I like it.”
“Don’t come near me again, or I’ll call the police, proof or not.”
“Don’t you threaten me, little girl. I have ways to get to those you love. Speaking of which, nice show with Jeremy today. I don’t know what you said to him, but he really believed it. I watched him agonize over you all day long. It was highly entertaining.”
“You bastard.”
“Tsk, tsk. No calling names, that’s more Sissy’s juvenile style. Enough texting for now, though. I know you got suspended. Such a pity, but your absence will make my desire for you multiply exponentially. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.”
Melanie dropped her phone with disgust and paced her room. She strode over to her window and scanned the woods again. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she jerked the curtains closed and laid back down on her bed.
She had to come up with some kind of plan. She wasn’t going to be able to pull off this lie about not loving Jeremy to his face again. Being suspended gave her some time, but she knew the next time she saw him, the truth was going to come spilling right out of her. She loved him too much to hold him at arm’s length.
Chapter 24
When Melanie awoke the next morning, she resolved to get started on fixing this situation. She had the beginnings of a plan formed, but in the meantime she knew what she needed to do. She needed to be able to protect herself.
At some point in the wee hours of the morning, she decided that she was going to use her week off to start getting into shape. She knew, realistically, that a week was not long enough to see any real results, but she was going to get a good start. Strength and stamina were a necessity if Melanie was going to win this battle with her teacher.
In her room every morning, she performed reps of sit u
ps, squats, and even push-ups, on her knees anyway. Melanie went to the kitchen pantry and found two one-gallon water jugs. She snuck them back up to her room and used them as hand weights. She did as many reps as she could of every exercise she could think of to strengthen all the muscles in her arms.
Once her mom left for work each day, Melanie went out into the backyard and ran laps around the perimeter. At first, she was only able to run for a few minutes at a time. By the week’s end, her legs pumped and carried her for thirty minutes straight. She wasn’t fast, but she didn’t need to be. Her plan, to which she had been adding details all week, did not include running away.
On Monday morning her alarm sounded and she turned it off, getting up without hitting the snooze button once. She went to the bathroom and took a shower, then went back to her room wrapped in a towel and pulled out her favorite jeans to wear to school.
After drying off, Melanie pulled on a pair of panties and noticed that they were really loose on her. Thinking that the elastic was stretched out, she made a mental note to go to the mall and buy some new ones the next time she and Tara went out. She put on her bra and a t-shirt, which seemed a little baggy, but after wearing nothing but yoga pants and workout tops all week, anything would seem baggy to her. Next, she pulled on her jeans.
“What the…” Melanie said aloud and walked over to the full length mirror on her bedroom door. “Okay, this is weird.”
She buttoned and zipped her jeans, but it didn’t help. They were too big. Letting go of the waistband, they dropped down and barely snagged on the gentle swell of her hips. A light tug on the pant leg pulled them right down. She stepped out of them and looked, really looked, at her body for the first time in ages.
Melanie ran her hand over her belly, which had flattened out considerably and only had a slight bulge at the bottom below her navel. She sucked in her gut and could see the light outline of muscles starting to form there. She released her grip on her stomach muscles and turned so she could see her butt in the mirror.