Jacob shook his head and then turned toward the hallway. He waved his hand to someone, smiled, and walked away without even looking at Corby, without saying a word. She wasn’t hurt or upset by this. In fact, just the opposite was true. She felt better than ever.
“What did I tell you?”
Corby closed her eyes for a moment before turning to Sylvia and Jane. Today she saw another girl with them, Molly Payton. Her dad owned a computer company. She was the number one contender to fill Vera’s spot.
Jane clicked her tongue. As usual, she was chewing gum.
“It seems that some people don’t understand when you tell them nicely, so you have to explain it in some other way,” she said.
“When was the last time your hair was pulled out?” Sylvia asked.
Corby thought that her hair was never pulled out, but she said nothing.
“Girls, even three of us can’t get her down,” Molly said.
Jane laughed as if it was a good joke, but her laughter sounded fake. Corby also thought that Molly had never talked to her like this, but now she entered the Mackentile bullies league to earn herself a medal and a pass to a cool club. She was ready to humiliate someone for this. This infuriated Corby, but she wasn’t surprised by the feeling this time. It was appropriate. They stood there staring at her, thinking they were cool, and had no idea that Corby was the one who made Vera disappear. She was the one who was really cool.
Three girls regarded her. They examined her from head to toe, as if waiting for some response from her, for some reaction. As if Vera’s disappearance was not important enough for them to forget about the whipping girl. Corby threw the bag higher on her shoulder, adjusted the book in her hand to make it easier to carry, and walked through the hallway toward her class without saying anything.
“What are you doing?”
Corby turned to Sylvia when she grabbed her arm and shook her hand away then continued walking.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Mackentile?” Sylvia asked. “You’d better stop!”
They would probably have run after her, but the bell rang.
“We didn’t finish, Mackentile!” Jane said.
Corby was confident that the conversation would continue. She supposed it was going to be a very unpleasant conversation, but she couldn’t stand next to them any longer. Her desire to tell them what happened to Vera became so strong that she was afraid of giving it all up. She made the only real choice. Corby didn’t know how she intended to get out of the situation, but it was better than going to jail. She would go to jail if she talked, she was sure of it and she didn’t want to go there at all.
CHAPTER 12
The day was unusually warm and pleasant for walking, but Corby waited for her mother to go home. She sat on the grass, under a tree with foliage not yet blown, near the empty football field, and played Angry Birds on her phone. She wasn’t particularly fond of computer games, but they helped her pass the time whenever needed.
She saw the shadows appearing on the grass before she heard the voices. They stood silently beside her and Corby continued to play hard, but her success of destroying pigs went down. She pretended not to notice them, hoping they would go away. Why did she decide to come to this part of the school yard? Why didn’t she sit on a bench where the teachers could see her? Of course here she could see all the passing cars, but there they would call her anyway.
“Like she didn’t notice we are here.”
It was Jane. She spoke first and ran a toe of her fashionable shoe on the ground in front of Corby. The next moment somebody took her phone from her hands and she could only gasp.
“What do we have here?” Sylvia said.
“Interesting,” Molly said to Sylvia and stepped closer to her to see the phone. “Stupid games for little kids.”
“Let’s see her texts.”
Corby could remain silent as she always did, but this time she had to intervene. They couldn’t go to her messages. They didn’t have the right to do that!
“Give it to me,” she said, rising from the ground, but she didn’t have time to get up. Jane pushed her down and Corby hit her back against the tree trunk.
“Sit down and don’t move,” Jane ordered.
“Give me my phone!” Corby repeated. Unfortunately, she could hear tears in her voice.
“Give me my phone,” Molly mimicked her. Molly! It was against the rules. Corby had gotten used to the fact that Jane, Sylvia and Vera bullied her, but Molly always seemed like a nice girl. She wasn’t friends with Corby, but sometimes, in the cafeteria line, she would engage in conversation with her, about food or tests. When Corby went to the cafeteria.
“Give me my phone!” This time Corby managed to stand up and even held a hand in the direction of Sylvia before Jane pushed her away. “Give it to me!”
“Jacob!” Sylvia exclaimed and looked first at Corby and then at Jane. She was astonished. “She texted Jacob!”
“Give it to me!” Corby ran for the phone, but Jane pushed her away.
“Stop, you cow!” Jane yelled. “Give me the phone!”
Sylvia handed it to Jane not taking her eyes from Corby. The surprise in her eyes changed to anger.
“Jacob.” Jane nodded and chuckled.
Corby scolded herself at that moment for including Glasgow’s phone number in her address book and writing his name in front of it. She scolded herself, but all she wanted was to get her phone back, her property. She breathed heavily, she was hot, her fists clenched and unclenched, she felt uncontrollable tears streaming down her cheeks.
Jane ran her finger across the screen while reading the message.
“Give me that phone!” Corby shouted, wiping away tears. “It’s not yours.”
“What did he say?” Sylvia asked through her clenched teeth.
“Why did he apologize?” Jane asked, looking up at Corby.
“Give me the phone,” Corby repeated, lowering her head. She couldn’t believe she talked in such a rude tone, but she couldn’t control her emotions or express them in any different way.
“Why did he apologize?” Jane took Corby’s chin and looked into her eyes. Jane’s face had never been so close to Corby’s. Her eyes had never looked at her so intently. Jane had light blue eyes with large pupils, and they seemed black from afar. Corby thought they sucked her in, robbing her of the weak will which suddenly rose in her. She couldn’t even push away Jane’s hand. Vera was forgotten, her phone was forgotten, she only saw Jane’s eyes devouring her.
“I asked you a question,” she said.
Jane’s breath wasn’t fresh and it brought Corby back to her senses. Jane was just a human, a teenage girl with bad breath after lunch in the cafeteria, not an omnipotent demon. She also was a small girl. Corby just noticed that Jane looked up at her. She still didn’t dare to push away her hand, but she stepped aside so Jane couldn’t touch her anymore.
“I said, give me the phone.” Corby looked at Sylvia.
“What’s up with you? Are you really crazy, Mackentile?” Jane said in disbelief. Corby looked at her and saw anger mixed with something else. Uncertainty? Corby suddenly realized that Jane was not just small, but she was really small and if Corby wanted to, she could push her and Jane would fall to the ground. Just because Corby was bigger, not because she was stronger. Jane knew karate and didn’t look like she was weak.
“He apologized!” Sylvia suddenly screamed. “Why? I asked you!”
“Why do you think he likes you?” Corby suddenly asked. She had done and said a lot of things lately that came as a complete surprise to her.
“What? What did you say?” Sylvia’s eyes grew enormous, almost bulged out of their sockets.
Corby shook her head and took another step back.
“I want my phone back,” she said. “That’s all.”
“She said…” Molly started.
“I know what she said!” Sylvia screeched. She jumped with the cry, her curly hair spread over her shoulders, her black eyes bur
ned. “Did you go on a date with him? You fat cow, a box of fucking meat?”
Corby really wanted to lie, but there was so much anger coming from Sylvia that she was afraid. The girl could attack her.
“No.” Corby said.
“You’re lying, you bitch! Why would he text you?
“No messages before this one,” Jane said. “Did you delete them? Or did he call you? Let’s check her calls.”
“I’ll check!” Sylvia grabbed the phone from Jane and, at the same time, Corby rushed to her and seized the phone before Sylvia had time to look at the screen.
“Give it to me, bitch!” Sylvia cried.
Corby hid the phone behind her back and Sylvia ran at her. She was taller and stronger than Jane, but one push of Corby’s hand was enough to send Sylvia to the ground. Corby didn’t expect it and gasped. At the same moment, Jane jumped on Corby and hung on her neck. Molly grabbed her by her hair and pulled her down.
“I’ll kill you, bitch!” Sylvia shouted and hit Corby on her head. Everything darkened in front of Corby’s eyes. The phone fell from her hands. She felt nothing but pain and her own tears. She was knocked to the ground and dry twigs crashed into her back. Corby fought back as best she could and didn’t know how it would have ended up if not for a scream.
“Hey, what’s going on there?”
Corby recognized the voice of their PE teacher coming from far away. As if he was on the other side of the field. She was released at the same moment and left on the ground, panting and spitting out dust. Looking up, she saw the three girls standing in front of her, so the teacher couldn’t see her.
“It’s nothing!” Jane yelled. “Get up,” she hissed, turning to Corby for a moment.
Corby rose, leaning on her hands and gasping for air, not because Jane ordered it, but because she didn’t want questions. She didn’t want any questions while Vera was refrigerated in her shop.
Corby hastily shook dirt off her clothes and straightened her hair. By the time the teacher approached, she had pulled herself together and breathed evenly.
“What’s going on here?” Mr. Wilson asked.
“Nothing,” Jane repeated. Corby couldn’t see her face, but she was sure the girl was smiling.
“Just fooling around,” Sylvia said.
“Excellent weather,” Molly added.
Mr. Wilson looked behind the girls and regarded Corby.
“Are you okay, Mackentile?”
Corby nodded. She was afraid that if she spoke, she would burst into tears.
“Are you sure?” The teacher looked at Jane and her girlfriends.
“Yes,” Corby managed to utter without tears.
“Okay.”
Mr. Wilson examined each of the girls then spun around and went to school, turning a couple of times on his way.
The phone rang and Corby recognized the melody from her phone.
“Don’t touch it,” Sylvia said through her teeth.
“Wait,” Jane said. “Answer it.”
Corby picked up the phone and looked at the display. Of course it was her mother. Late, as always, but earlier than the trio’s parents. Of course, maybe they had arrived and were just waiting for their children in the parking lot.
“Answer,” Jane demanded.
“Hello.” Corby put the phone to her ear.
“I’m here, darling, come out.”
“Okay. Coming.”
She switched off the phone and then Sylvia snatched it from her hand, threw it on the ground, and there was a foot, turning Corby’s technical device into nonsense.
“What the fuck?” Jane said.
“Just try and tell your mother.” Sylvia took a step toward Corby. “I’ll kill you.”
Jane smiled and winked at Corby. “You heard her.”
“If I hear that you keep talking to Glasgow,” Sylvia added. “You are dead. Dead meat.”
The girls turned around at the same time and went in the direction of the school.
Corby picked up her phone from the ground, dusted off the cracked surface, and tried to turn it on. It worked. Her mom bought her a hard case, apparently for such occasions. She went to her messages, found the ones that came from Jacob, and pressed delete. When the phone asked if she really wanted to finish the action, Corby thought a few seconds, and then pressed the button to cancel. She hid the phone in her bag, slung the bag over her shoulder, and went to the gate. Her back ached, her leg hurt and because of that, Corby limped a little, but she had strange emotions. They insulted her, called her names, rolled her in dirt, and threatened to kill her, but a feeling akin to pride grew in her chest. Not resentment, despair, or depression, but pride and encouragement. Like a bird she spread her wings in her soul. Corby smiled while getting into the car.
“Hi, dear. How was your school today? What did you do? Did you have any tests?” Mom’s usual set of questions.
“Everything’s fine,” the daughter said. “No tests.”
“Good. I’m going to tell you what happened to me today! My mascara smeared during the broadcast and no one noticed! The makeup artist was in the restroom and others thought it should be that way.”
Corby turned to the window, still smiling. Her mother had a big problem. She was an adult, and she thought the whole world revolved around her and her daughter couldn’t have anything serious. She didn’t notice Corby’s good mood, or her dirty clothes and hands. It was better that way.
CHAPTER 13
Corby had a snack and finished her homework after arriving home, so she didn’t have to think about it in the evening. School, homework, and nasty classmates had to be forgotten until the next day. Nasty alive classmates. Corby couldn’t wait to go to the shop early, but she worried that her mother would start suspecting something. In all the years of her work in the shop, she hadn’t argued whether or not to go there, but she had never wanted to be there before the last customer left. Today, she still arrived fifteen minutes early, which wasn’t uncommon and, as soon as the shop was empty, she threw a jacket on, wrapped a scarf around her neck, and went to the refrigerator.
Vera’s face was the same, calm and beautiful, covered with a thin layer of frost. Her hair and long eyelashes were frosty as well. She looked like a snow princess and more beautiful than when she was alive. Corby ran a finger down her cheek then brushed away hair that covered part of her face, straightened her jacket and her fashionable scarf. Doing this, she thought of Jane, Sylvia and Molly. If they knew, if they only knew. Of course, they would call the police, but they would know what happened to Vera. They would be afraid of her and not the opposite. Could they become afraid of her? It couldn’t be.
“I can’t tell them. What do you think, Vera? Sylvia acted like a real bitch. She’s always a bitch, but this time was different. Because of Jacob! He doesn’t even like her. She saw his number in my phone and went ballistic.”
Corby giggled, pressed her gloved hands to her cheeks.
“He probably has never written anything to her, so she went crazy. Why did he apologize? You should have seen how she screamed! Her face turned red, her eyes bulged. She looked so ugly. Jacob doesn’t like her, I’m telling you. Otherwise they would be dating already. Am I right? Even though I heard he’s dating his neighbor. I don’t know.”
Corby straightened the collar of Vera’s jacket with one effortless gesture.
“Maybe he likes me? What do you think? As you said, because of ... big boobs. But I don’t want boys to like me only for that. It’s just wrong. I want him to understand that I’m ... I am ...”
Corby thought of who she was, tossed Vera’s hair, removed frost from her face. What was she like? She didn’t know. Was she kind, intelligent, generous? She had never thought of how other people would characterize her.
“I guess I’m kind. What do you think? I’m indecisive and not really bold for sure. Generous? I don’t know. I haven’t been in a situation where I had to be generous. I’m still a child. Smart? I think I am. I’m sure I’m smart. I get good gr
ades at school and look how I worked out what to do with you. Nobody even guessed. I’m kind and smart. Not many people who are good and smart at the same time, right? I think I’ll be generous when I grow up. I will give money to charities. I also worry about other people; I never want to hurt anybody’s feelings. I’m a good person, right? I am. He just needs to learn about me and maybe ...
Corby sighed.
“Maybe he’ll fall in love with me, what do you think? That would be cool. Sylvia would lose it. Or kill me. Oh, I don’t think I told you. She broke my phone. Almost broke. She wanted to do it, but it still works. She’s such a bitch. She said that if she sees me and Jacob talking, she will kill me. She will kill me. Ha! If she knew. She only threatens me, but I already killed you. Unintentionally, yes, but still. If I want to ...”
Corby considered the idea.
“If I want.”
She abruptly stood up and slammed the lid of the box closed.
“Enough. I have things to do. I’m so cold now talking to you here. My dad is going to call soon. They wait for me to have dinner. Like I want to eat that gross pizza and disgusting salad.”
She left the fridge and went into the hall of the shop to check napkins on tables, clean whatever Gaby missed, add drinks to the fridge—the usual.
Cleaning up, she couldn’t stop thinking. Who was she, who were they, could she change anything that was happening in her life now? She caught the boy’s attention and there was a girl between them. A girl who thought she was the center of the universe, but in reality was nothing special. If she was the only obstacle on her path, maybe Corby should give him another chance? Every day Corby dreamed about school being over. She had listened to her mother’s stories about missing and loving school and couldn’t understand what was wrong with her, and why she didn’t feel the same. Why had school become a house of terror for her? She went there only to be tortured, waiting for new suffering every day. It was wrong. Did she have to wait for her last day of school to change the way people treated her? She wasn’t the only fat girl in school, so why was she bullied more than anyone else? Why?
Mean girl_A dark, disturbing psychological thriller Page 8
