The Worst Journey Of High School

The Text

I kept quiet.
" I'm your sister and yes, sometimes we don't get along, but it's my responsibility to take care of you."

I bit my lip. She's tricking me into talking by being nice.... NICE! "Just talk to me. Mom and Dad aren't around, so we'll have much time to have a long sister-to-sister conversation without interruptions." She said as she looked back at me.

I finally put down my guard.
"Y-yesterday, I was hired by this boy to make a map for him...."

I told her everything that happened today with Alex, how he kept forcing me to fix his drone, how people taunted me about being Leo's girlfriend, mostly putting a lot of effort to convince her it wasn't true and how Alex had slapped me with a book.
"He slapped you?? What?!" Sam asked shocked and quite angry at the same time.

"It's okay Sam. I hit him first anyways." I said looking away.

"But that's not- ugh... whatever." she said in frustration as she walked around my room.

"Well are you going to fix it? or easily buy a new one, to save time?" Sam asked.

"No. I told him I wasn't going to fix what I didn't break. I'm sticking by it." I said sitting up on my bed.

" Well alright. The way you described Alex's drone. I'm sure I've seen it somewhere. And boy, it's expensive." Sam chuckled.

"A problem for us?"

"Nope" Sam smirked.
I told Sam I wasn't definitely sure about my decision and that I didn't want to go to school but she advised to take a nap first to let my head cool down.
"But first, go take a shower and wear new clothes. When you wake up, your
situation-solving senses would come back." Sam said.

"Besides," she continued. "not coming to school might make things worse. Like you're avoiding the problem instead of fixing it. So you're gonna go to school tomorrow, alright? "

" Okay" I said smiling a bit.

She was about to walk out when she looked down at my table. " Oh I almost forgot " She said. " I fixed your capsule!"

She threw it and I caught in my hands. It looked normal. I wanted to press the button but immediately remembered there was a hover bike in it.
"Turns out dust had seeped in. I figured the dust from your hover bike tires kept stacking up, since you weren't washing it like I kept telling you to!" Sam said, arms on her hips, annoyed.

I laughed nervously. So Jessica isn't a suspect.
" It took me a lot of time to clean that. You owe me Holly."

" I always owe you" I said.

"Take a shower." She said before leaving my room.

•••••••••••••••••

Thursday 9:24pm
After having dinner with my family I retired to bed. I hadn't had the time to think about my actions clearly since I woke up when my dad came back from Sparks Corp.

I closed my eyes to sleep.

••••••••••••••••

Thursday 9:37pm
My phone buzzed the third time. I couldn't ignore it like the last 2 times. I turned to the other side of my bed. I was half asleep but I was able to grab my phone from my bedside table.
I turned it on and the increased screen light almost removed the sleep out of me.
I decided to press my phone without directly looking at the screen.
It was a message from an unsaved number.

Now I was interesting and put my sleep aside. I sat up rubbing my eyes as I checked my three unread messages.

From: +*********** : Hey.

+***********: Holly this is Leo.

+***********: Pls text back when u see this.

Seeing Leo's name changed my mood. I didn't feel like texting him.
What if he starts lecturing me on not starting trouble or not fixing Alex's drone or might even want an explanation to the 'Leo's girlfriend' gossip, which I didn't have.
But his plead made me text back anyway. I decided not to beat around the bush.
HOLLY: How did you get my number?

He replied fast.
+*********** : Ur school portfolio

HOLLY: That's not normal. I think that's illegal.

+*********** : Forget that pls. I needed ur number so bad. The way u ran off today.

+*********** : I was deeply worried. I was just so confused. I didn't know what to do.

HOLLY: Someone broke Alex's drone into pieces and now he's blaming me. That's y we were fighting.

+*********** : Did he hurt u?

I thought about it. Did he really?
Mostly verbally.

HOLLY: No. Just insults. Painful ones.

+*********** : I'm sorry. I should have been there for u.

No texts after 5 mins.

+*********** : Are u going to fix it?

I didn't reply until I thought about it. I saved his number.
HOLLY: Yes.

His reply came so quickly.
LEO: Why?

HOLLY: I hate to admit it, but Alex was right about one thing; His drone's safety was my responsibility. And I let him down by not protecting it from damage. Whether I did it or not, it's my fault.

HOLLY: So I have to fix it.

LEO: No.

HOLLY: 🤨

LEO: Ur not fixing that drone.

HOLLY: Leo it's the only thing I can do now. The embarrassment was too much for me. I have to or else, there'll be bigger problems later.

LEO: I don't care about that. I'm not scared of Alex's threats neither should u.

HOLLY: I'm not scared, I'm just being careful.

LEO: Tomorrow u'll meet me at the principal's office. I'm going to tell him about this.

HOLLY: No don't! If he does, it will make matters worse!

LEO: Holly, I won't let this pass. First, they spread lies of you and I being in a relationship.

I blushed.
LEO: Not like it a bad thing btw.

LEO: Second, Alex disrespects me like I'm his mate. That makes me angry. He must be punished for this. One way or the other.

HOLLY: Goodnight Leo.

I turned my phone off.
I regret texting him, because now....
I can't sleep anymore.

Words: 1657
Has bullying ever made you cry or did you later show them who's boss? Thanks for reading and please tell me your bulling experiences and how you solved them in the comments :⁠^⁠)