Note: This chapter is unfortunately the definition of a rough draft. Last weekend we got the Covid booster shot and it put us out of commission. While we got a number of chapters drafted before we got the shot, not all were refined. This is unfortunately one of them. While we could take more time off, we want to do that as a last resort and we already took time off not that long ago. It's rushed at some points, but we'll be going back to edit this one later. The same may or may not be true of the next chapter, but we'll work hard on getting that one up to the standard before Friday. Thank you for your understanding, and we hope this is the last time we have to post something like this
Most of the day was even more boring than usual, so I spent much of the morning and afternoon writing in my notebook. At least until Trish and Zach came to sit down at my table.
"Looks like you're going to be stuck with me one more day," Zach said as I put my notebook away.
"Only one more day. Even if I'm missing everyone, this place really did help me a lot. And you guys make it a lot better."
"You made it better as well," Trish said, "Though I just got word I'm getting out once my parents get here, which won't take long since we don't live far from here."
"I'm going to be spending the weekend with my girlfriend, but do you wanna get together after school on Monday?" I asked.
"Sure. We can ride over there after school," Zach said, "Westmound high, right?"
"Yeah, but if you're going to meet up at my school, then you'll probably run into Kendall. And she'll probably try to follow me home again…"
"Well she won't get the chance with me there, so you got nothing to worry about. And Zach can stay in the car if that's the case." Trish said.
"That's still really nice to know I'll have you to help me."
Ask Trish what she's doing when she gets out of here. We haven't talked much to her about what she actually does.
"Trish, do you have any plans for when you get home?" I asked.
"Go get myself a pizza and a bunch of sardines."
"Sardines?"
"Sardine pizza," She said with a completely deadpan face, "The best pizza."
Staring at her, I've never heard of that kind of pizza. Fish on pizza? That sounded awful.
Weird taste for a weird girl.
"I know that look," she said, now smiling, "That's the look of someone who's never tried it."
"Yeah I haven't tried it, but I don't think I need to."
"When you come to my house, you're going to try some and you'll love it."
"That kinda makes me want to stay away from your house…"
"Sorry, but we're going to hang out there at least once. If only so I can show you how awesome it is. Besides, I have a ton of different food with sardines I need to show you."
"There's more?" I said, now entirely sure I wasn't going to be going to her house.
"Don't get her started," Zach said.
"Yeah there's more, and don't listen to him. He just doesn't get it. There's stuff like sardine rice, sardine burgers, sardine pasta, sardines and mushrooms, sardine stew."
Pern broke out laughing, and I tried to hide a smile.
That's impressive and repulsive. We gotta go to her house. The experience alone would probably be so bad it'd make us not mind Kendall all that much.
"Wow…So, you really love sardines."
"Can't live without them, so I keep enough for a couple weeks."
Pern broke out laughing even more.
Ask her how many is two weeks worth!
"How many is that exactly?"
"About fourteen."
If Pern wasn't in my head, then he'd probably be shattering my eardrums with how loud he was laughing.
What the hell is so funny to you?
We have no clue, but that's hilarious!
I mean yeah, it's kinda funny.
Just because she's a friend doesn't mean it's not hilarious. Come on and break a smile!
As Pern said that, the smile I'd been holding back came through, and soon turned into a laugh.
"Laugh it up. You'll see how good it is soon enough."
"If you want me to eat that stuff, then I want it to be on something that makes sense."
"That's fine. There's plenty of food like that."
In the middle of the talk, Kim came up. "Trish, your parents are here."
She shot up and looked happier than the entire time she's been here.
"Alright, I'll talk to you guys later at school," she said before walking off with the nurse.
"So now it's just us," Zach said.
"What about Alice and Susie?"
"Alice already left before we joined you, and Susie might be back today? I don't really know."
"Oh…"
"Yeah, but at least it'll be our time soon enough. Then you get to hang out with Sophie and your other friends."
"Yeah, what about you? Got anything you miss?"
"Eh, I miss running outside and working out and…some other stuff."
Pern hovered around Zach.
Some other stuff?
Stuff that he doesn't want to talk about.
Well then maybe having a partner to work out with will make it easier. Ask him if he'll be up for helping us get into shape.
"So you're pretty active then? Do you think you can help me get started with getting stronger? I don't really know what to do on my own."
"Sure, but I do more cardio workouts if that's okay. Not a whole lot with weights."
"That's fine. I just wanna get in better shape, " I said, holding up my legs made of bone and skin, "I'm really skinny, but still can't run that fast."
"We can work on that together then. Do you know where Noah park is?"
"The one near the community center? Yeah, I know where that is."
"That's the one. There's plenty of room to work out there. Trish and I usually go just the two of us, but it'd be nice to have you along."
"Thanks. I never really worked out in my free time, but I'm looking forward to it."
The rest of the day was just the same as every other, but when visiting hours came, I walked into the room, and Sophie came up to hug me before I even sat down. Something was going on. She seemed emotional, but not the good kind.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Don't worry about it right now. I just miss you and wish you'd get out here already."
"I asked the nurse, and she said tomorrow if everything goes well."
She dragged me to my seat and sat down next to me. "Good."
Something isn't right here. Ask her about Kendall.
"Did something happen with Kendall?" I asked as my Mom and Dad looked just as worried. I also noticed Emily wasn't here this time.
"How was your day?" Dad asked and ignored my question.
"It was good I guess, but what's going on?"
"Nothing," Sophie said as her eyes went all over the place. I wasn't good at picking up on lies, but Sophie was always terrible at hiding them.
"If Kendall did something, then I want to know what it is or else I'm going to think about it all day."
Mom and Dad looked at each other for a bit before my dad sighed. "Okay, something did happen, but it's being dealt with and it's not something you need to worry about right now."
"What did she do?" I demanded to know. When neither of them said anything more, I turned to Sophie. "What did she do?"
"Please don't focus on that right now," she asked, "I just want you to get better…"
"I'm getting better, but you know she's not going to stop when I get out, so I need to know what's going on so I can get ready."
"She's not going to be bothering you anymore," Dad said.
My fists clenched under the table. "Yes she will. She does everything out in the open and people don't care when they see. I want to know what she's planning so I can at least fight back, because I'm tired of not doing anything."
Pern slapped me on the head.
Are we stupid? Our parents and Sophie cared this entire time, but we pushed them away from helping.
My fist loosened up, "...Sorry. I know you guys care. I just want to be sure I can stop her. If she's doing something I don't know about, then I can't think of a way to deal with it. So can I please hear what happened yesterday?"
The three of them looked at each other again, and had some sort of talk before Dad leaned back and motioned to Sophie. She took that cue and wrapped her arm around me to pull me closer.
"Remember when I told you about Kendall saying she'll get Malisa to stop?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"She didn't. She told her the kind of stuff she did to you, and I guess taught Malisa how to do it too."
Excuse me!? She fucking taught Malisa how to do that shit!?
Pern's petals changed from yellow to red as his vines wrapped around and squeezed everything they could.
"And after school, Malisa went over to Holly's house and talked her mom into getting Holly to spend time with her. That's when…Well, I guess she did the same kinda stuff Kendall did to you..."
The anger that shot up surprised even myself as Pern lowered his head next to mine.
We're going to make her fucking pay for that! How did anyone even want to spend long enough with Kendall to learn from her!? Everyone fucking hates her!
Pern's vines wrapped around my shoulder as his petals turned from red to purple.
—
Taking a bat to her fucking ribs as she squirms in pain on the ground.
—
If she's going to go this far to try and hurt us, then we can't let her make the first move! We can drag Kendall into that same alleyway when she's alone with Trish and make sure she never tries to hurt us ever again!
My vision faded for a second at a time as I stared at Sophie.
Deep breath in-
I'm calm. I'm-
We're not fucking calm and we won't be until we're standing over Kendall with a bat! We're going to make her beg us to stop beating her with it, and only then will we be fucking calm!
…And a big breath out.
"Robbie?" Sophie said as she leaned her face in front of me, which snapped me out of whatever that was.
"Yeah, sorry." I said in a monotone voice. "How's Holly doing?"
"She says she's not going to school tomorrow, but hey, we know that Holly's usually pretty strong about this stuff. You know that."
"Thanks for telling me. And yeah, everything's going to be fine when I get back to school."
Dad and Mom looked at each other for a moment before looking back at me. "Are you sure? Maybe it might be for the best if we send you to another school."
"No."
"Please no…"
Sophie and I said at the same time. "I'm not running from her anymore, and I'm not going to let her mess with me or my friends ever again."
"I know it's important to stand up for yourself," Dad said, "But I don't want you getting in trouble like Sophie did. And if she's still doing that kind of stuff, then I'm going to talk to her parents and make sure this stops."
"No. I told her when she visited that if she kept messing with me that I'd tell her family everything she did, and it looked like it worked kind of. If you tell them then she's just going to be more pissed than before. I know what I'm doing and I'm not going to get in trouble."
More silence as everyone looked at me, and Mom and Dad started whispering to each other shortly after. Eventually, Dad spoke up, "We know you've always been private about this stuff. And we don't want to try and make your choices for you if you feel strongly about them, but if you ever come home late because of her again, or with any more blacks eyes, then I'm going to do what I should've done a long time ago and stop her myself."
He didn't say how he was going to, but it didn't matter, because it wasn't going to happen again.
Because we're going to beat the shit out of her with some help!
Pern raged about everything he could. Meanwhile I put my arm around Sophie's shoulder and brought her close so I could lean my head on her. "That's fine."
After that, things settled down, and the rest of the visit was a blur as I listened to everyone, including Pern as he went on about how we were going to beat up Kendall. Which I would make sure happened.
