It was Monday morning, and that meant that Emily couldn't hide in her house anymore. She had to go back to school and face the glaring looks and judgment that awaited her. She hadn't spoken to CJ or Isaiah since that night; she couldn't, how was she suppose to talk to them? She felt embarrassed, because it was her actions and judgment that led her to be humiliated in front of them and everyone.
Her room was plastered with pictures of her favorite celebrities, bands and artist on her walls. She had her collection of skate board decks, that she had been collecting over time, nailed to the wall; being used as shelving.
“Emily!” Her dad yelled from the hallway. He walked into the doorway.” You better get going to the bus stop, don't wanna be late.”
“Yeah, that would be a bad thing to happen.” She groaned.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, no. Why do you think there's something wrong?”
“Well you haven't left the house at all over the weekend, and you're friend Isaiah keeps, calling, trying to talk to you.”
“I don't want to talk to him right now,” Emily replied.
“Is he you're boyfriend or something?” Her dad asked.
“No, dad. I don't have a boyfriend, unfortunately. Guys, don't like me.”
“Nonsense, you're adorable.”
“Guys don't like adorable.”
“Get going to the bus stop.” He smiled, and left the room.
Emily, grabbed her phone, and bag and started for the door, when her phone buzzed. She looked down and it was a new message on Twitter. She checked it, and it was the picture of her, there on Twitter.
“Kill. Me. Now.” She sunk down on the bed. She opened her laptop and went onto Twitter to get a better look. She examined the picture. At least her breast were covered up.
She scrolled down her news feed, and saw people talking about her, and about the photo. Then she saw Morgan's tweet, saying she was going to put the video of it that she had on it, and the other non-censored photos.
“I'm going to kill her.” Emily closed her laptop.
“Emily, the bus is coming!” Her dad yelled.
“Crap!” She grabbed her things and ran out of her room.
Marcy Thrash, sat in her room. She wasn't in a big rush for her first day of school. She had been dreading going to school; all she needed was a few extra days off.
Marcy had silky, jet black hair. It was almost goddess like. She had beautiful, brown eyes, and voluptuous lips to match. She was mixed, half white from her father and half Filipino and Vietnamese from her mother.
“Marcy, come on what's the hold up?” Her father, Liam Thrash stood in her doorway.
“Not in the mood to go today.”
“Not in the mood?” He asked?
“I have cramps.” She muttered.
“You said that last week. You're lucky I even let you stay home. We have to go, now!” He turned and left the room.
Marcy followed him out into the hallway. “You don't know what its gonna be like for me. I'm the new girl from dance school. And on top of that, I'm the principal's, daughter. That's gonna get me friends. I don't know why I couldn't stay at the Performing Arts School.”
“Being the principal's daughter, will not be that hard. People, will flock to you.”
“No they won't. Gino is lucky he gets to go to a Private boarding school.”
“Boarding school for screw ups.” Liam corrected her.
“You and mom should enroll there too then.” Marcy walked out the front door.
“Sarcasm, now you get that from your mother.” Liam locked the door behind him.
“Dude, give it up. She doesn't want to talk to you.” CJ advised Isaiah who was checking his phone. The school day was going smoothly, and it was already time for third period.
“I just want to make sure she's okay. That picture is haunting her.” Isaiah rebutted.
“She does have a nice rack though.” CJ smiled. Isaiah rolled his eyes. “But, you've been texting and calling her all weekend long.” They stopped at their lockers.
“Not true.” Isaiah opened his locker and sat his phone down, so he could get his supplies for his next class.
“You're texting her again, aren't you?” CJ looked over at Isaiah who was texting someone.
“No I'm—,” CJ snatched the phone from Isaiah and saw the text he was sending to Emily.
“And delete.” CJ deleted it.
“Give me my phone back.” Isaiah reached for it, but CJ was too quick, and pulled it away from him.
“No, take it.” CJ smiled.
“Give it back now.” Isaiah was becoming angry.
“No—,” Isaiah nut tapped CJ; collapsing him to the floor. “Here take it.” CJ handed him his phone back.
“That's what I thought.” Isaiah grabbed his phone. “Adios.” He turned and started to walk away, when he ran into someone.
“Watch it.” Levi barked, before recognizing who it was. “Oh sorry man.” Levi smiled as he and Noel realized who it was. Levi was the spitting image of his brother. He had deep brown eyes, and brown hair, and chiseled features, that made him almost god-like. Levi noticed CJ on the floor up against the locker. “Is your friend okay?”
“He's just being dramatic.” Isaiah assured him, as he looked over to CJ who was recovering from the pain.
“Thanks for the help.” CJ struggled to his feet. He limped over to Isaiah. “I'm CJ.” He introduced himself to Levi and Noel.
“This is Noel, and I'm Levi.” Levi smiled.
“Well I gotta get to class.” Isaiah started off.
“What class is it?” Levi asked.
“Intro to Engineering, with Mr. Carter.”
“That's our class too.” Noel chimed in.
“Why don't you walk with us.” Levi offered.
“Sure.” Isaiah smiled. “Catch ya, at lunch?” He said to CJ as he started to walk off with Noel and Levi.
'Yeah, I'll just find my own way to class!” CJ shouted as Isaiah walked down the hall. “I can't believe he really just left me here.” CJ walked off, heading down the hallway to class.
Emily walked down the hallway, hearing the whispers of people talking about her. She turned down a hallway and saw Morgan sitting on a bench talking to her friends. She walked over towards them.
“Why would you post that picture of me?” She asked. “Are you hell bent on ruining my life or something?”
“No one cares about your life.” Alicia chimed in.
“Listen, Em. It is Emily right?” Morgan smiled. “I'll do whatever the hell I want to do.”
“Just take down the pictures.” Emily begged.
“I don't feel like it. But, I do feel like posting that video up.”
“Who are you? Who or what made you so jaded and hateful to others you don't even know. I never did anything to you.”
“Think of it as a welcoming to high school. Like a rite of passage.” Morgan rebutted.
“If you post the video and pics, I swear, I'll—,”
“You'll do what?” Morgan asked. It was her group of three to Emily's one. “You're a little out numbered here babe, why don't you run along and find Isaiah and CJ.”
“I tried to be civilized, but I guess I'm gonna have to fight dirty too.” Emily walked off. She knew she had to do something. She couldn't let Morgan walk all over her.
Lunch time came, and Marcy didn't know where she should sit.. She hadn't made any friends at all in her classes; not that she even took the time to make any. She got her lunch and made her way outside to the barracks, where everybody was mainly eating at. She saw an empty table shaded by a tree and decided that was best to eat at. She sat down ready to eat.
“What are you doing at our table?” Morgan barked at her, as she, Caitlin, Alicia and a few others watched as Marcy was eating.
“I didn't know people had assigned tables?” Marcy replied confused.
“There aren't any, but we've been eating here for two years straight.” Morgan informed her.
“Maybe we should just let her eat with us.” Caitlin offered.
“No, ew. We don't let randoms eat with us.” Morgan reminded her.
“It's okay, I'll just go sit somewhere else.” Marcy grabbed her tray and left the table. She walked around. Looking for somewhere to sit.
“You can sit with me.” Emily offered. Marcy didn't know if she should take the offer or not. “I don't bite.” Emily smiled. Marcy sat down across from Emily.
“Thank you. Those girls are crazy.” Marcy said.
“Yeah, they're called the pops.” She informed her.
“Pops?”' Marcy asked confused.
“Stands for populars."
“I'm Marcy. I just moved here from New York.”
“Emily. What made you come here?” Emily laughed.
“Family. Dad works here, and I was forced to come along.”
“Welcome to Colonial High.”
“Thanks, you're the first nice person I've meet here so far.”
“Yeah, there are very few of us here.” Emily glared over at Morgan's table. Marcy looked at what Emily was looking at too.
“You know them?” Marcy asked.
“Something like that.”
The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Emily and Marcy came out of Art class together.
“So, this Isaiah character, he has you hung up.” Marcy smiled.
“Ever since we kissed, I can't get him outta my mind, but he doesn't like me, I already know that for sure. And when I got exposed in front of the party.”
“Wow, I thought my life was crazy.”
“He came to my rescue, and was talking about how he will always be my friend and there for me.”
“You've been friendzoned.” Marcy hypothesized. She saw, her dad come out of his office. “Well I gotta go, my ride is here.” She lied.
“See you tomorrow, morning?” Marcy nodded, and took off down the hallway.
Emily kept walking down the hall, to her locker, where Isaiah was standing in front of it. Emily didn't know what to do. She had been avoiding him all day.
“Hey, I—I been meaning to text you back.” She began.
“Yeah, I couldn't wait. I had to see if you were okay. So I'm here...in person.” Isaiah smiled.
“I'm sorry. I just needed time alone. To think.”
“Are you okay now?”
“I'm fine. You?”
“Never better.” The sexual tension was unbearable. “I gotta go.” Isaiah got off the lockers. He hugged her.
“See you tomorrow, I guess?” She smiled.
“For sure.” Isaiah smiled back.
“Where are you?” CJ stood outside the school, waiting for Isaiah to come out. Isaiah walked out of the front of the school. “I've been waiting ten minutes for you.”
“I thought I texted you.”
“No, you didn't.”
“Levi and Noel invited me to go to the park with them and play basketball.”
“You don't even like basketball.” CJ was angry. “You're blowing me off for them, really? The younger brother of the guy who humiliated Emily, and dated her.”
“It's not Levi's fault. And that's old news with him and Em. You can come too, if you want.” Isaiah offered.
“No thank you. I'd rather shoot myself, than to hang out with Levi.”
“What do you have against him?”
“I get a bad vibe from him.”
“Wow, shallow much? I'm going to the park. You can do whatever you want.”
“Thanks for ditching me.”
“I'm not ditching. you” Isaiah began. “God, I can't always be there to coddle you. I invited you along, but you don't wanna join.”
“Forget about it. Enjoy your day at the park. I'm gonna go see if Emily want's to do something.” CJ walked off.
“Come on CJ.” Isaiah yelled. He didn't mean to abandon him, but wanted to meet new people. Levi and Noel came around the corner.
"You coming, or what?" Levi yelled.
"Yeah." Isaiah took off running towards them.
Later, that night Emily sat in her room. She didn't know what she was going to do to stop this whole thing with Morgan and the videos and pictures.
“Something wrong?” Haley, her older sister stood in the doorway.
“No, yeah...no.” Emily was so confused.
“What wrong?” Haley sat on the edge of her bed.
“There's this girl at school—,”
“You're not coming out to me are you?” Haley asked.
“No." Emily laughed. "I'm having trouble with a group of girls at school. Specifically , one. She's so hell bent on ruining my life, and has been very successful so far.”
“Oh, a queen bee.” Haley laughed. “Are they still called the pops?”
“Yeah, how'd you know?”
“I use to be a pop, when I was in school. Me and Tiffany ran the school.”
“You were one of those people?”
“Yeah, but I changed after graduation. I found out how real, the real world is. What she do?”
“She's just been harassing me. Nothing much, but I need your help on how to stop her.”
“Don't stoop to there level.”s
“I won't it's just a fail safe.”
“You need to find there weakness and exploit it. Get inside her head. Make her destroy herself.” Haley advised her.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. You know if you ever need anything, you can always come to me.” Haley told her sister. “Mom and dad, haven't been in high school in ages, so they don't know the struggles it can bring.”
“I know.” Emily assured her sister.
“The next morning, Marcy was getting ready for school. She was actually happy. She finally met a friend; someone who was normal and actually friendly for a change.
“You seem happy? What's the change?” Her father asked.
“I'll admit, Dallas isn't that bad, I guess.” Marcy smiled.
“I told you things would turn around for better.”
“Yeah, I made a friend yesterday. At least I think I did.”
“That's good, when can I meet her?” He asked.
“No, no, no. I don't want my friends to know I'm the principal's daughter. That will put a big target on my back.
“I have to approve of your friends.”
“No, you don't. If I like them, that should be enough.” Marcy grabbed her backpack. “I'll just walk to school.”
“Why? I can drive you there, we're going to the same place.”
“I'd rather walk, than show up with the principal.” She stormed out of the room.
Emily walked up to the front of the school where she met up with Marcy.
“I have some bad news.” Marcy informed her, as she held a pile of papers in her hand. The bell rung, signaling the school day would start in ten minutes.
“What?” Emily gulped. Marcy turned one of the pieces of paper over, revealing the picture of Emily topless from Friday night. “Oh. My. God.” She started panicking.
“They're all over the school. I took down as many as I could. I saw that Morgan chick and her friends plastering them all over the place.”
Emily was furious. She started speed walking into the school, with Marcy following her.
“What are you gonna do?”
“Find her, and kill her.” Emily was beyond pissed off. She was gonna destroy her. They turned down the hallway where Morgan's locker was. She was all alone. “You are an evil bitch.” Emily pushed Morgan up against the lockers.
“You don't like the pictures? Everyone else seems to.” Morgan smiled. She walked up to Emily and whispered into her ear. “Don't mess with me, I'll destroy you.”
“Emily, maybe we should—,” Marcy began.
“Screw you.” Emily pushed her off of her. Morgan didn't like that at all and smacked her in face. “Ugh.”Emily smacked Morgan back, and grabbed her by the hair and slammed her into the lockers.
At this time, a crowd had already formed around them. Marcy tried to break them up. She separated them and Morgan kicked Emily in the stomach, sending her to the floor. Morgan pushed Marcy off of her.
“Break it up, guys!” A nearby teacher stopped them. All three girls stopped. Emily came to her feet. “Principal's office, now! All three of y'all.”
Fuck, My. Life. Marcy thought to herself.
“How's the hair?” Emily asked Morgan, as she walked off with Marcy.
CJ stood at his locker.
“Did you hear? Emily got into a fight.” Isaiah walked up to his locker. “She's in the principal’s office for smacking Morgan.” Isaiah smiled. CJ didn't say anything. “Did you hear me?” CJ ignored him. “Really, the silent treatment?” Isaiah opened his locker.
“Where are your friends at?” CJ teased.
“Yeah, they're are my friends. But, you are too.”
“Whatever.” CJ shrugged.
“You're dramatic. Always playing the victim.” Isaiah was fed up.
“How so?”
“You're always feeling sorry for yourself, and acting like you are alone.”
“That's because I am alone.”
“You wanna know something about Levi and Noel. They are cool; drama free.”
“I'm happy you found new friends.” CJ slammed his locker shut.
“At least, they don't let girls come between them, and then lie about it to each other, unlike you. You're such a hypocrite.” Isaiah told him off.
“Hey, guys. Whatssup?” Levi walked up to them.
“Have fun.” CJ walked off. He wasn't in the mood.
“What's his problem?” Levi asked.
“What isn't?” Isaiah replied.
Emily, Marcy and Morgan sat in chairs across from Principal Thrash.
“The second week of school, and already a fight. The school day just started.”
“I know sir. It wasn't my fault.” Morgan lied.
“The three of y'all are all good girls; fighting over what.” He stared at his daughter. “I was hoping, to not see you in this room, under these circumstances. Especially, over photos like this.” Principal Thrash dropped a stack of the photos on his desk.
“It was Morgan's fault.” Emily began. “She plastered those photo's of me.”
“Is this true Morgan?” He asked. Morgan didn't want to say anything.
“I've been humiliated by her all this week. She's basically harassing me.” Emily chimed in.
“That doesn't constitute a fight though, Emily.” Principal Thrash stated. “Since it's only the first official school week, I'll give y'all a break.” The girls sighed with relief. “Detention for a week.”
“What?” The three of them asked.
“I had nothing to do with this.” Marcy was mad. Her father couldn't do this to her.
“Marcy had nothing to do with this. She tried to break it up.” Emily defended her.
“Well there is no evidence, so all of you get punished.”
“Can we go now?” Marcy fumed.
“Yes.” The girls stood up. “Except for you Morgan. The police are gonna need to talk to you.”
“About what?” Morgan cried.
“You took pictures of an under aged girl, and pinned them up around the school. That's considered child pornography.”
Emily and Marcy continued out the door. They had completed their mission. Morgan was getting what was due to her.
Lunch time rolled around, and Marcy was on her way to the cafeteria to meet up with Emily. She walked past the main office.
“Marcy, we need to talk.” Her father stopped her.
“We can talk in detention.” Marcy rolled her eyes.
“I couldn't give you special treatment. I have a job to uphold.” He stated. “I'm walking a fine line at school. Between father and principal.”
“And you wonder why I wanted to stay at the Performing Arts School.”
“You're friend, Emily. You should stay away from her.”
“What? Are you serious. Emily is the victim here.”
“She might be, but she doesn't seem like a good friend.”
“How would you know that? You don't take the time to get to know anybody.”
“She was caught half topless at a party, with a boy, at fourteen. Fourteen year old's shouldn't be doing that. I couldn't imagine leaving you alone with her.”
“And thirty-eight year old's, shouldn't be having affairs with the student teachers. But, that didn't stop you did it? You and that whore tore our family apart.” Marcy cried.
“You will not speak to me like that, ever! I don't care how mad you are. I am still your father, and you will give me the respect that I am owed. I worked hard for our family.”
“Yeah, not hard enough, then. You had time to play house with another girl. I'm glad mom left you. You just screw things up; all the time. Gino is the lucky one. He doesn't have to be here with you, like I am.” Marcy poured out. She hated her dad for the horrible things he did to their family. She had built up animosity for him and blamed everything bad that happened on him.
“We'll talk later.”
“Yeah, maybe, I would be better off at mom's.” She walked off.
Emily, Morgan and Marcy sat in a classroom. They were the only ones in there.
“I'll be back in a few.” The teacher left.
Emily waited till the teacher was down the hallway. “Are you happy now?” She asked Morgan.
“Do I look happy?” Morgan snapped. “Do you not know how much trouble you got me into? I have a permanent record, thanks to you. I have to do tons of hours of community service, and I have to pay a fine.”
“You deserved it.” Marcy chimed in.
“Did I? It was a joke okay.” Morgan pleaded.
“The joke wasn't funny.” Emily turned around in her desk. “I was humiliated at the party because of you. You guys decided to play a joke on me, why? And then, I come to school today and find my breast all over the school.”
“You don't get it. If I get in trouble for anything remotely bad, I can go to jail, jail!”
“You deserve it. I've been through hell.” Emily cried.
“You don't know what hell is. I've been through worse, way worse.”
“Spare me.” Emily rolled her eyes.
“Do you wanna know why I did what I did to you? Your sister, use to make fun of me; throw stuff at me my freshmen year. She payed a guy to go out and date me, and then get me naked in the janitors room, my freshmen year. They video taped it and aired it to everyone.”
“So you go out and do the same thing to me? That justifies nothing. You just repeated the cycle when you could have stopped it.”
“Teacher's coming.” Marcy announced.
“I wanted to get back at your sister, anyway I could. You were just a casualty. Blame her, not me.”
“No, you're to blame.” Emily turned around in her desk as the teacher walked back into the room.
CJ walked down an empty hallway. No one remained inside the school, except for a few others.
“There you are.” Isaiah caught up to him. “Are we still fighting, or...”
“No were not.” CJ smiled. “You were right, I needed to find my own friends.” CJ stopped in front of a classroom.
“I should have hung out with you. I shouldn't have ditched you for Levi and Noel.”
“It's fine. I took your advice, and I'm doing something on my own.”
“What is it?”
“I decided to join the soccer team. I haven't played in a year but, I'm still good.”
“That's good. You wanna go to the mall, or get something to eat?” Isaiah asked. “I needa hang with my brother from another mother.”
“I wish I could but, I have a soccer meeting to get to.” CJ pointed into the room, where a hoard of guys sat in desk. “We can do something another time.”
“Yeah, that's fine.” Isaiah smiled.
“Well, I better get inside before it starts. See ya at home.” CJ walked into the room.
“Yeah, see ya.” Isaiah walked off.
“How did everything go today?” Haley walked into the room. The light from the moon peeked in from the curtains.
“Horrible. Did you use to bully a girl named Morgan?” Emily asked.
“Why do you need to know?”
“She was right. You're the reason why I've had a crappy week.”
“What are you talking about?” Haley asked.
“Morgan, the girl you and Tiffany use to torture in high school. She's been making my life a living hell since school started. And it's all your fault. If you weren't so evil to her in high school, she wouldn't be torturing me.”
“I'm sorry. I told you I was messed up in high school.”
“That means nothing now.”
“Are you okay? Is there anything I can do to fix it?”
“There's nothing you can do to fix it now. What happened, happened. I'm done with being humiliated and feeling sorry for myself when I did nothing wrong.”
Marcy sat in her living room, waiting for her dad to come home. The fight they had earlier was intense and they needed to talk about it. She heard the door open and a crashing sound, hitting the floor.
“Dad?” She rushed to the front door. She saw her dad on the floor, reeking of alcohol. “Did you drive home drunk?”
“I had too much to drink.” He slurred. Marcy helped him to his feet and walked him to the couch. “I know what I did was wrong, but the marriage was going bad. Gino was acting out. Your mother...your mother filed for a divorce without telling me and then said she was moving out within the year. I felt like I had nothing left and then Christine helped me."
"Mom's the one who wanted the divorce?"
"She said we were growing apart. And when she found out I was with Christine, she blamed the divorce on me. She couldn't bring herself to tell you guys." Liam started crying. "I'm sorry I'm such a horrible father."
“Dad, you're not a horrible father.” She began to cry.
"I...I didn't know how to break the news to you guys and your mom didn't want to either. You guys always looked up to her and believed everything she said. I was the one who could take the abuse."
"Dad--."
“You deserve a better home life. If you want, you can still go live with you mom.”
“No. No, I wanna stay here.”
“But, you said—,”
“Forget what I said. You need me now. I said some horrible things today, and I didn't mean any of them. You're a good dad. I couldn't ask for anyone better.” Tears fell from her face.
“You remind me so much of your mother.” He smiled. “At least I get to keep one of my ladies in my life.”
“Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere.” She hugged him. Things were changing for her, fast, but she was adjusting to them, one step at a time.
The next morning, Emily, Marcy, CJ and Isaiah stood out front of the school.
“You sure you ready to go in? Cause we can sit outside some more if you need.” Isaiah offered.
“No. I'm fine. I'm not running from my problems,” Emily replied. Isaiah took her by the hand.
“That's my girl.” Marcy smiled. “You're stronger than them.”
“Let's hope.” Emily took a deep breathe.
“We got your back if someone tries to mess with you.” CJ assured her. They started for the front of school, when Morgan and Caitlin stopped them.
“I didn't think you would show up today.” Morgan was impressed.
“I'm sorry my sister tortured you, but that doesn't give you the right to do the same to me. Her and I are nothing alike. I wish you could have seen that, but I guess you'll never know.” Emily walked passed her.
“Hey freshmen.” Morgan stopped her. “I'll see you around.”
“Yes you will.” Emily walked into the school. All eyes were on her, but she didn't care. She wasn't going to let the pictures get her down. She was stronger than that.