There For You | Luke Hemmings

Chapter 2 | Age 7

Things got worse in the second grade when Kat's dad's work slowed a bit and her mum no longer could stay at home often. That meant one thing. Carpool.

Kat was forced into a carpool. With Luke. That was how it usually worked when you lived near each other and your parents were practically BFFs. 

So now every day, the taunting started when she woke up, not just when she got to school. It was hidden taunting, of course, as neither of their mums could know that they hated each other, but it was still taunting. And Kat hated the feeling of helplessness it gave her.

Barbara was gone after kindergarten, going to a different grade school than Kat and Luke were going to, but it seemed that every year there was a new mean girl, and every year Kat had no idea how to deal with any of it.

She wanted to show her parents that she could get through it - even though they didn't know the full extent of the bullying - and that she could be the confident girl that they always boasted about. But the fact of the matter was, she was very bossy and annoying and clingy to others. So it was as though she was bug repellent to all of the pests that she wanted to be near and accepted to, for some reason.

Her school experience was lowering her standards: she'd rather have people near her who weren't actually worth her time, pretending to be her friends, than no friends whatsoever and just bullies. It was human nature of course.

+++

One time, a girl, Kelly, whom Kat considered her friend, was playing volleyball. She seemed perfect to Kat, except a bit mean. The older Kat looked back on her 'friendships' to notice that she exaggerated about people's degrees of niceness, but Kelly was the nicest of all of the 'friends' Kat had had in grade school - though that wasn't saying very much.

"Hey Kelly, can I play?" Kat asked.

Kelly glanced at her mid-game. It was obvious that she didn't want Kat to play, filled to the brink with dislike towards her, but she didn't say anything mean per say. "Uh, we're kind of in the middle of a game right now, can you wait until afterwards?"

Kat caught on to what Kelly was trying to do, but agreed nonetheless. She went to sit down on the bench, knowing fully well that whomever was playing volleyball at that moment would stall the game until the end of recess, whereby she couldn't play anymore.

And at that moment, Luke came up to her with two of his cronies, wanting to start up excitement. If Kat knew one thing about Luke, it was that he loved being the center of attention. Whether it was in a good way or not, attention was what he lived off of, even if it meant sucking all of that life out of Kat.

"Why are you sitting here all alone, Kat?" He knew full well why she was sitting alone, as did everyone else. It was their own faults that she basically had no friends.

She wasn't going to let him ruin her even more. She was better than that. "I'm waiting to play volleyball."

"Really?" He turned to Kelly and the rest of the kids who had stopped their game to watch. "Kelly, could we play? I know there's three of us and that the teams will be uneven, but it's okay right?"

Kelly looked between Kat and Luke and decided evidently that Luke was a better choice, and therefore chose him. "Sure."

Luke turned back towards Kat and smirked then went in to join the game. Kat felt the burn in the back of her eyes and felt the heat threatening to overtake her face, but knew that there was only one more thing she could do. "Hey, Kelly, since the teams are uneven, can I play on the smaller team now?"

Kelly knew she couldn't say no now without being the worst person ever imaginable, so she just nodded, not meeting anyone's eye. Kat would have whooped in joy if she could have, even though she heard the audible groan from Luke, whose team she was forced to be on.

Kat knew now that she was clever enough to be able to indirectly stand up for herself. But her mistake was that her cleverness entirely depended on a person's kindness, and it wasn't as if there was exactly an abundance of that surrounding her.

+++

guys, kids can be so mean. they don't even realize it either. that's what bothers me. please stand up to bullying you guys. as much as you want to believe otherwise, teenagers are still kids. you might want to feel independent and like an adult, but sometimes adults are too immature as well. everyone's circumstances are different of course, but if a bully wants to act like a child then demand the respect of an adult, you will put them in their place and treat them like a child. trust me, i was bullied as a child, and ik fully well how hard it is to stand up for yourself when everything sounds better in your head and you sound like a complete fool and loser when you actually try to stand up for yourself. ik what it's like to go to bed and try to come up with a good comeback but you come up with absolutely nothing. ik what it's like to even contemplate standing up for yourself when you have no one by your side, but if you act like you do, it will work out so much better than you ever thought. you have me by your side and everyone else who truly cares for you. you'd be surprised how many people that is, even if you live in the dingiest neighborhood ever where the police come by twice a day. I love you all. xx