One of the Bullied | ✔

Chapter 9 - Fr-fr-friends?

A/N - Since the last chapter was almost non-existent, I decided to post this early. Happy reading!

Rita. Rita Tory. Who is it? That's the question that's been incessantly in my head since the first texts we shared. It's been a couple of days since that, and we've been texting frequently. I'm still not convinced it's not a prank, and I desperately want to know who she actually is.

And then, I spent the whole night laughing after I got back home, and my mum, being as honest as she is, asked me whether - well, this was the exchange.

"Hey." I say as I walk back in. My mother's already back.

"Hey! How did the sleepover go?"

"It was great." Immediately I put on a huge fake smile, hoping it doesn't look too bad.

"I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself. It's been so long since you've had a sleepover."

"Yeah. it was a lot of fun."

She starts to assume a slightly peevish look. "Tell me one thing, honey." I look up at her while she looks torn between obviously asking something or not. Finally she speaks up. "Is your friend a transvestite?"

I double over laughing.

My mom looks something between offended and embarrassed. "Well, she said her name was Rita, and she was a girl, but she almost sounded like a guy. Is it just her voice or is she a guy?"

"Mom!" I exclaim, still doubled over laughing.

"It's a valid question!" She exclaims, and I laugh even more.

"It must have been the line. It's a girl." I say quickly, smothering slightly my giggles, but it's hard. I then proceed to walk upstairs and laugh for about twenty minutes. My mom can be so blunt and forward sometimes.

Still, by accident she gave me valuable insight into who it could be. It makes me almost sure it's a guy. The line on modern smartphones is always top-notch, and if it sounded like a guy, it means it was a guy.

Maybe it's one of the nerds or something, that has a crush on me. That's pretty disgusting. But then again, even the nerds know they can do better than me.

My phone vibrates from my bed and I look up from Luke's work, which I'm taking extra care with, after what happened last time. Careful not to crease it, I put the pen down on the papers and reach over for the phone. Maybe they've answered my last text.

Rita Tory ~ 11:09 6-8-15

You still think this is a prank, don't you?

Zoe Meyer ~ 11:10 6-8-15

I'm never going to trust anyone from this whole state as long as I live.

Rita Tory ~ 11:12 6-8-15

I'm sorry that you don't trust me. And I'm sorry we make you feel that way.

Zoe Meyer ~ 11:13 6-8-15

We?

Rita Tory ~ 11:14 6-8-15

Yes, we. I'm closer than you think.

Zoe Meyer ~ 11:16 6-8-15

Can't you just tell me who you are? Then you'll prove it's not a prank.

Oh, fuck this, you're probably on the other side cracking up with your friends.

Rita Tory ~ 11:17 6-8-15

Just when I thought we could be friends.

Zoe Meyer ~ 11:17 6-8-15

WhAT?

Rita Tory ~ 11:19 6-8-15

You don't really have any friends at school, and I can't be with you there but I'm still here. Just not physically.

Zoe Meyer ~ 11:20 6-8-15

And that's exactly what would lead anyone to believe this is a prank. Because you're going to turn out to be Luke or Nate or Seth or Caleb or someone along those lines, and all these texts are going online in screenshots or something. It's happened before.

It's painful waiting for the following response.

Rita Tory ~ 11:24 6-8-15

No, I can't present myself to you physically because... Well, for my own reasons. I have bullied you. I am one of them. But this is not a prank. I regret what I've done. I'm sorry.

Zoe Meyer ~ 11:25 6-8-15

How can I trust you when this exact thing has happened before?

Rita Tory ~ 11:26 6-8-15

Because it's not the same thing. I promise. Scour the internet, listen in on conversations, this is not a prank.

It's true. Something in almost the exact same circumstances has happened to me before. It was about a year ago, but it is true that it felt somewhat different.

Luke and Nate had this idea to build up a fake identity and prank me with it. I trusted "her" until I found out. But they only lasted about two or three days, and there were no notes, the messages were a lot more badly written, it just had a different feel to it.

That's why, I don't want to fall for this again. The worst part is, I have no way of finding out if this person is pulling a joke on me or is in earnest.

Zoe Meyer ~ 11:37 6-8-15

Fine. But I don't understand why you can't tell me who you are.

Rita Tory ~ 11:38 6-8-15

Because if I do, you'll definitely think this is a prank.

Zoe Meyer ~ 11:40 6-8-15

You're going to turn out to be one of the Three or something.

Rita Tory ~ 11:41 6-8-15

Can we get past my identity? It's not important. I'm here to be a friend to you and someone you can talk to. I'm sorry for what I've done to you. Talking to you has made me understand how it really makes you feel. And I'm sorry, but I can't tell you who I am. I've hurt you too much.

This is going to turn out to be Luke.

Zoe Meyer ~ 11:41 6-8-15

Fine. I trust you.

Rita Tory ~ 11:42 6-8-15

Thank you.

~

Friends. Rita and I are friends. But I want a material friend, someone I meet up with and go out with. I know I'm asking for too much. I know that I should be grateful someone's taken pity on me now and are even talking to me.

Now that I more or less trust her, I lean a lot on her. I tell her things that would never would have left my lips. She's always sympathetic, but there's no one there to physically comfort me.

I wonder when it's all going to fall apart and she's just going to tell me who she really is. 

A/N - Give me some feedback, or comment about how you want to kill the Three (even if they're not in this chapter). Thanks for reading!