Anna looked at the phone, her hands trembling. Her mouth opened and closed as she gasped for air. The classroom suddenly became blurry but whether that was from a sudden bout of dizziness or the tears forming in her eyes, she couldn’t say. “No……… No No No No No No No NO” She began muttering as Sara looked at her in confusion. 

Sara suddenly grew angry as she watched her friend break down. “Yo, what was on that freaks phone that's got you so worked up. I’ll smash his face in if it’s something gross.” Unfortunately, her vain attempt to comfort her friend solicited an unfortunate response. “Don’t touch him.” Anna yelled as she shoved her friend causing her to stumble over the desk behind her and nearly fall.

By now, all the eyes in the classroom were directed at the two. Anna, ignoring their stares, clutched the phone to her chest and bolted out of the room. She ran down the hall nearly toppling several people still loitering in the hallways. A teacher called out to her and warned her not to run but his warning fell on deaf ears as Anna kept sprinting with no destination in mind. 

When her feet finally slowed down and she regained some of her clarity, she found herself in the girls bathroom. She threw open one of the stall doors and locked it behind her. Dropping to the floor, she leaned over the toilet and began to dry heave as tears streamed down her face. If she had eaten breakfast this morning or lunch before her breakdown, It would likely be in the toilet in front of her. As her body calmed down, she curled up into a ball and sobbed in the corner of the stall. Underneath the sound of her tears, the words I'm sorry could barely be heard, repeated over and over again.

After having been nearly shoved to the ground, Sara quickly righted herself and stared at the door her friend had just ran through. “The fuck are you all looking at” She snarled at her classmates as she exited the room. Sara headed to the cafeteria and spotted her and Anna’s friend Cass hitting on some blonde jock. “Somethings wrong with Anna,” She said, grabbing Cass’s arm. Cass gave an apologetic glance at the boy opposite her before sitting up and allowing Sara to drag her out of the cafeteria. “Chill out, she’s probably just on her period.” Cass said as she planted her feet and gave a firm tug freeing her arm for Sara’s grip. Sara turned towards her with a face full of worry. “This ain’t a fucking joke, somethings like seriously up with her.”

Sara continued walking down the hall with Cass reluctantly following. Sara had a vague idea of where her friend had wandered off too and the stunned onlookers in the hallway only seemed to increase her suspicion. As the two grew closer to the girls restroom they could begin to make out the sounds of crying. The restroom was empty save for one occupied stall from which choked sobs echoed. 

It took 30 minutes for the two to coax their friend out of the bathroom stall. 

The teacher, Ms. Sierra, addressed the two as they entered late, “Lunch ended 5 minutes ago, make sure you're on time next time.” Anna nodded meekly as Sara escorted her back to her seat. As class resumed, Anna’s eyes were glued to the back of Lady’s head. 

Her mind was racing as she wondered what to do, I need to apologize, no I should confirm first. Wait, why do I need to confirm it? It's the text I sent to LadyKiller earlier, there's no way it’s a coincidence. She pulled her phone as well as Lady’s phone out of her pocket and compared the messages on the two. Even the contact he had received the message from was her in-game alias. 

Sweat started building up at her brow and she began to feel feverish as she looked down at the phone in her hand. Fuck, I still have his phone. I stole his phone. What should I do? If I try to give it back, he’ll know that I took it. Paranoia began to strangle her like a pair of cold hands around her neck. She nervously glanced up at Lady who was oblivious to the situation behind him and seemed to be focused instead on the notebook he always seemed to be writing in.

She wondered what was in the notebook that kept him so interested. As her thoughts wandered, she began to question how much she really knew about Lady. While she had both bullied him and been his best friend online for nearly two years, she knew nothing about him. The boy she had looked down on and laughed at and the person she had looked up too and laughed with. In a cruel and ironic twist, both sides of him had served the same purpose. To ease the pain that seemed to plague her home life. 

It was no secret that her parents didn’t love each other or her for that matter. They never yelled, cursed, or fought, on the contrary almost no words were spoken in the household. Her home felt like a poor man's Truman Show but with worse actors. Just three random people pretending to be a family. In middle school, she began venting that anger on Lady. He was already pushed around by most of the other students and she just hopped on that bandwagon.

Shortly after her debut as a delinquent bully, she met LadyKiller online who, despite having a tacky alias, seemed like a good person. He helped her out in games and their discussions branched out of the game world as they both talked about their hobbies and interests. Whether it was the allure of anonymity or a more genuine connection, she began to confide in LadyKiller more than any of her real life friends or family. When her first crush got mad and pushed her away telling her never to talk to him again, he was there to console her. When her parents didn’t bother to make food or buy anything and she was forced to invite herself over to a friend's house for a meal under the guise of an impromptu sleepover, he was there to comfort her. All the while, she had unknowingly made his life at school a living hell. Her problems were a mere drop in the bucket compared to what he had gone through but still, she had used and abused him as though he were nothing.

The sickening feeling in her chest continued to grow until the bell rang signaling that third period was over. The rest of her day was a blur as she went from class to class paying little to no attention to what was happening around her. To nobody’s surprise, she had yet to return the phone to Lady by the time school ended. She began frantically searching the halls for him with no plan in mind for what to do when she found him. When at last she spotted the mop of gray hair sitting atop his tiny frame, she slowed her pace and held her breath. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emma Sierra looked out the window of her second story English classroom. She had taught English for a few years at a nearby middle school but this had been her first day inside a high school classroom in nearly a decade. The window she was standing by overlooked the school's entrance giving Emma a perfect view of the students exiting the building and leaving for the day. She put her hand on the window and stared longingly at a boy leaving the school and walking down the sidewalk.

She walked back over to her desk and began packing her things to leave for the day. Once she was sure she had everything, she slipped a photo out of her purse and held it tightly to her chest before returning it to the purse. “Don’t worry baby, momma’s gonna protect you. She’ll make sure none of those mean bitches from middle school bully you again”. She grabbed her purse and locked the classroom door behind her before heading to the teacher parking lot. 

The photo that had been gingerly returned to her purse was a simple class photo. Two dozen or so students standing together on a set of bleachers, a teacher with her black hair in a ponytail behind them. Amongst the group of students was a boy in an oversized white hoodie with gray hair and glasses. He was nearly obscured by the student standing in front of him but a heart shape drawn around his head on the photo made him stand out.