Overexposed

by Adrianne James

  “No. I realized earlier that it wasn’t right for me to go off on you like I did in school today. I did go along with the project, I set rules that we all followed, and it was because of my stupid date who stood me up that we were trying to photograph. Get over it, you are stuck with me for life.”

  I looked up and saw her smiling at me. I felt my lips turn up, wiped the traitorous tears that had slipped out, and hugged her. Walking out of the room hand in hand was a lot easier than walking in had been.

  Our parents had all shoved us into our respective cars and driven home. Only the drive home wasn’t nearly as silent as the drive there.

  “You could have been killed, Vivienne! What on earth were you thinking trying to handle this alone? Your brother could have been killed!” Mom ranted.

  “Vi, from now on you talk to us first. Forget the principal, she is apparently good for nothing. I never liked her as a teacher and apparently she isn’t a very good principal either,” Dad said.

  “But at least she said—” I attempted to say that she was going to look into it, but was cut off by more ranting from my parents. Eventually they stopped talking to me, and began talking to each other, the decibels growing louder with every comment.

  “Can you believe that we are not allowed to contact Brock’s parents? The boy lives behind our house! How is she supposed to feel safe knowing that he isn’t locked up? If Jason had to stay, Brock should be in there too! And the rest of them!”

  “Vi, you stay away from everyone of those boys and everyone associated with them. We do not need any more incidents popping up. Everything in your room is just stuff. Stuff can be replaced over time. You cannot be replaced.” Dad said, looking at me through the rearview mirror.

  Pulling up to the house, I saw that Max was waiting in the driveway. The other neighbors had come outside to play “look-see” and all I wanted to do was sleep. I felt like I hadn’t slept in a month.

  Walking through the door, I went straight to the couch, pulled off my boots and coat, and laying down, and fell asleep almost instantly.

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING was nothing like my normal mornings. Mom and Dad were smothering me since the minute before my alarm went off. They kept checking in on me every few minutes. Dad patrolled the down stairs, looking out every window he passed. Ashley wasn’t allowed to walk to school, but apparently I had little to do with it, it was more about her safety. I didn’t give my parents a chance to do anything about me walking. I left while Dad was checking the back window and Mom was in the bathroom. I yelled a quick good-bye and ran out the door before either could stop me.

  Closing the door behind me, I looked over to Ashley’s house in time to see her climbing into her parents’ car. I called out her name and waved. She waved back and attempted to call something out, but her mother interrupted, telling her to get in the car. They drove off without offering to drive me as well. Guess they weren’t as understanding as Ashley was. Why couldn’t they understand it wasn’t my fault?

  The snow was a dirty gray beneath my feet and the sun shining overhead was actually making me warm beneath my coat. It was as if life was trying to point out all the ways that it could be a total mishmash of opposites. Snow on the ground, and sunny skies warm enough to cause me to sweat. Friendship intact, but parents wanting to keep us apart. What should have been the best photography project to grace Mr. Bennett’s classroom, and utter disaster resulted.

  The parking lot was mostly empty when I arrived so I walked out to where Macy’s truck had been parked. There was still a bit of paint and glass on the slush-covered pavement. Looking up to the cloudless sky, I took in a deep breath. I knew things were serious, I knew that we would have to deal with the boys for a little while longer. I just hoped that Mrs. Nash believed us now.

  As more cars and trucks arrived, I made my way into the building and to my locker. I had hoped I would see Macy before class started to talk with her, and hoped just because her parents said not to talk to me anymore she wasn’t planning on listening.

  When Macy came into view, she made eye contact briefly before looking away, quickening her steps to pass me by.

  “Macy!” I called out. She stopped, but didn’t turn around. Running up to her through the student body wasn’t easy, but if she was going to wait, I was going to catch up. “Hey, please tell me that we are okay. You know it isn’t my fault, right?”

  “Of course, I do. But after my truck, Mrs. Nash told my parents that I was never in any trouble before you and I became friends. Then she told me not to tell the police about Brock and them because she was still investigating, and that it would make her look bad and if it turned out to be a false statement and it would go on my permanent record that I reported a crime that never happened. Apparently, that is seriously a bad thing.” I couldn’t believe what she was saying. Why would Mrs. Nash tell her to lie? Unless of course, Mrs. Nash was worried about keeping her job.

  Two of the hockey player’s girlfriends shoved by us.

  “Excuse me,” I said with a bit of an attitude.

  “What do you want, narc?” Great, they got their girlfriends to start in on us as well. This should make for a fun day.

  “Oh, I was just giving you the words you are supposed to say when you rudely push past someone. Excuse me. Now say it with me now. It’s not that hard. EX-CUSE ME.” I said the last part slowly, separating the syllables. The girls were not impressed. Macy however, found it hilarious, and busted out in laughter.

  With a huff they turned, swinging their hair over their shoulder in that typical Barbie girl fashion, and stormed off.

  “See, you still want to be my friend. I make you laugh.” I said with a smile looking at her. Her laughter stopped. She looked to the floor. I knew it felt too easy to fix things with Macy. Ashley was different. Ash and I had been side by side for years. Macy had only come into the fold for a week.

  “I can’t. My parents told Mrs. Nash to keep us apart. If she sees us talking, and tells my mom or dad? It will be really bad. Like grounded, take away all technology for two months bad. I’m sorry, Vi. I’ll still see you in class though.” She gave me a hug and walked away. Turning to head back to my locker, I saw a group of freshman boys running around laughing, and putting up flyers on every surface they could reach.

  I walked over to the lockers and pulled one down off the wall. My heart raced and my blood boiled as I stared at a picture that dad had taken of Ash and I when we were thirteen. We had fallen asleep on my bed, cuddling. Her head was lying on my chest, and my arms were wrapped around her. Her grandmother had died that night, and she had come over to cry it out without her mother seeing her. She said she wanted to be strong for her mom, but she just couldn’t do it. I held her while she cried and we fell asleep. It was a sweet picture for the two of us, looking at it reminded both of us how close we were and how strong our friendship was. The picture came from my laptop.

  The words surrounding the image were lies. Every one of them.

  Vi and Ashley=Lesbos

  Vi is a bitch

  Ashley is a freak show

  Vi and Ashley are Narcs

  Better cover up in the locker room ladies

  ICE OUT THE RATS WHO TRIED TO GET OUR STAR PLAYER ARRESTED!

  Okay, so I did try to get the star player arrested, but damn it he deserved it! I crumpled the paper in my hands, and looked up to see every student staring at me. They all had fallen silent, with the exception of an occasional giggle, or an “I knew it!” shouted from the group. I looked around at each one of them before calmly walking down the hall, and pulling each paper from the lockers that I could reach.

  When I got to the end of the row, and looked around at all the other rows of lockers and walls that were now covered with the picture, I found the nearest trash can and threw them in.

  I was still being watched so I turned around to face my audience with a smile. “Fuck off, and mind your own damn business!”

  That was when I heard the door at the end of the hall open a
nd close. It was the heavy door leading to the front lot. I turned to see Ashley with both of her parents. Standing there, staring at me, too. Then, they looked at the walls. Ashley screamed, and began ripping the flyers off in a much angrier way than I had, and her mother tried to stop her, while her father charged down the steps in my direction.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  “This, Sir, is Brock going through my computer, printing off a bunch of lies, and posting it around the school to torment us for telling the truth. He knows how gullible the teenage brain is, and how to play off their stupidity to make them bully us, too.” I said the last part louder than I needed to for him to hear, but I figured I was already on everyone’s shit list, I might as well give them all a real reason instead of one someone else made up.

  “I am taking Ashley home until this whole mess is dealt with. She needs time to herself to work on her project that was ruined. Don’t come by.”

  He walked away, taking Ashley and her mom with him to Mrs. Nash’s office. I stood there alone. I was about to face everything all on my own. I hadn’t done anything without Ashley since the day she moved in. I guess it was time to learn what I could do by myself.

  ***

  My arms wrapped around my body, hugging my books to my chest tightly. The backpack bounced slightly with each step I took, and the stares and laughter followed me through every turn and every door. The three-minute walk between my locker and Mr. Bennett’s classroom could have been an eternity for all I could tell.

  The bell hadn’t rung, but I pushed the door open anyway. The desks were all empty and I let out a sigh of relief. The damn flyers had only been up for a few moments, and I was already grateful for a few minutes alone.

  The door closed quietly behind me as I walked to my seat. My bag sat on the floor, tangled in my legs. I folded my arms across the desk, and let my head flop down on them. I felt like crying. But I decided right then that I would not shed one more tear. The time to be sad was over. It was time to get pissed off, and find a way to fight back.

  I sat back up and stood. Pacing the classroom, I thought of ways to get even. I thought of ways to make them pay for what they were doing. Everything from breaking into their lockers and filling them with foul-smelling cheese, to calling every news station in every town in a ten-mile radius to fill them in on Willowspring’s drug ring.

  The door opened and I spun around to see who was going to ruin my solitude and vengeance planning. Mr. Bennett walked in with a stack of papers in his hand and an angry look of his own. He was muttering to himself about the idiocy of teenagers and the incompetence of supposed authority.

  When he looked up, he jumped. Apparently, he wasn’t expecting anyone to be early.

  “Vi, what on earth is going on? You said you would talk to me if anything else happened.” He sat on the edge of his desk, and dropped the papers into the trash. Looking down at the bin, I saw that he too, had collected as many of Brock’s design as he could.

  “We tried. We were going to come to you after school yesterday, the three of us. But then Macy’s truck was vandalized, Brock and Jason were fighting in the front yard and were arrested, then I went into my house and my room had been trashed and my laptop stolen. To top it all off, Macy won’t talk to me because her parents threatened her with punishment if she does, and Ashley’s parents have pulled her from school and basically told me this is all my fault and won’t let us talk to each other. And the kicker is, Brock and his friends are having a good old time, and nothing is being done to them! We told Mrs. Nash, we told the police, they keep Jason locked up but haven’t picked up Brock. Something is certainly wrong with this picture, Mr. Bennett!” By the end of my rant I had been yelling. I was walking in circles, and even shoved a desk out of my way. Yes, anger was where I was.

  Mr. Bennett sighed, and looked at me with this look of pity, like he wanted to help, but didn’t know how.

  “I wish I could tell you it would all be okay. The best I can say is trust Sheriff Vincent to do his job, and maybe take a few days off school like Ashley is doing.”

  “You mean run and hide. Like we did the first night, because that worked out so well for us. If we had stayed and just deleted the damn pictures we might have saved ourselves a lot of trouble.” I had started to shake from the adrenaline pumping through my veins, so I made myself sit back down. Even then, my leg was bouncing under the desk.

  “You are very right about that. However, if you had, your brother would still be selling drugs, kids of all ages would be buying and using drugs, and the three of you might still be being threatened just for knowing about it. You did the right thing. All three of you girls.”

  The bell rang before we could say anything else, so with a sad smile Mr. Bennett turned to the board and began writing out the plan for the day. With each student the filed into the room, the snickers and giggles grew louder. When Macy came in, she too had a stack of flyers that she threw in the trash. I mouthed a silent “thank you” to her and she just nodded.

  “Where’s the girlfriend, Vi? I thought you two were joined at the hip...or is it tit?” someone from the back of class called out. Mr. Bennett turned around abruptly and stared at the back of the room as if he was trying to set it on fire with some magical laser beam eye magic thing that Superman has.

  “No one will ever disrespect another student in my classroom again, do you understand me? No one will ever sexually harass a student in my classroom without severe repercussions. It is against school rules, state rules, and any moral code for any religion you can think of. Plus, I just plain don’t like it, and it is my classroom.” The whole class fell silent, with the exception of some saying ‘yes, Sir.’ “Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to get on with our class.”

  I gave him a smile then pulled out my notebook and pen, ready for the first normal part of my day.

  ***

  The rest of the day progressed much like the beginning. A lot of laughter, stares, and flyer ripping. Being on my own was turning out to be more emotionally draining and more difficult than I had thought.

  I ate lunch alone. I walked the halls alone. I ripped posters alone. I felt as if the laughter of the other kids just echoed around me, growing louder with each walk down the hall. Brock or Nate always seemed to be within eyesight, just smirking at me.

  When the final bell rang, I was more than happy to leave school. I snagged a few more flyers off the walls before heading for the door. Since I didn’t have to wait for Jason, I was one of the first people out of the building.

  “Running home to check on your girlfriend, Vi?” someone called out from behind me. I had no idea who it was, but I knew if I turned around to look, I might just end up punching someone in the face. My “turn the other cheek” mentality was about to run out and my “shut them the hell up” mentality was real close to kicking in.

  I didn’t go straight home. Instead, I headed towards the square, with every intention of cutting across the grass and running up the stairs of the police station. I was going to give the Sheriff the flyers. That should be proof that Brock had my laptop. I still wanted to know why Jason was still being held and Brock had yet to be arrested.

  The only problem with crossing the square alone and heading to the police station all by myself was that I didn’t notice the group of boys following me or the other group blocking my path to the stone steps that could be my salvation.

  WHEN I NOTICED the boys ahead of me, it was too late. I stopped in my tracks and turned to try and head back home. There were varsity jackets all around me, and a few others who just looked at them with adoration. Every one of them had been standing around that trunk full of drugs the night of the dance.

  “You already have my laptop, so you already have the pictures. You have got to leave me and my friends alone, already,” I said with as much conviction as I could muster. My hands were on my hips, and I stared angrily at Brock.

  “Too late. You had to open your mouth and tell Mrs. Nash what you
saw. It’s a good thing that everyone in this town, Mrs. Nash and the stupid Sheriff, all love us. We are the only thing keeping this town from utter disgrace. This is a hockey town now, not a mining town. No one will listen to the ramblings of the daughter of the man who just got fired. I told Mrs. Nash that you were just trying to create a bunch of hype over nothing, to draw attention to yourself so you could feel special when everything else in your life is shit right now. She thinks the posters were all you, too.”

  “You are such a fucking asshole. Hockey town now? It has always been a hockey town and you know what? This year’s varsity team may still be winning, but your numbers are only half of what other seasons were. You are not as talented as you like to tell everyone. I bet you haven’t even had one offer from any colleges for sports scholarships. Your grades suck and your playing is only above average by a hair. Move out of my way. I need to go see my brother.” I tried to push past them. Tried is the operative word.

  I was shoved back into the center of the circle that had formed around me. I turned towards another set of boys, and tried to get through with out any luck. Did the Sheriff or Deputy not know what was happening right outside the station?

  I was pushed back into the center, and I stumbled landing on my butt. Standing up, I brushed myself off, and stared at Brock.

  “What the hell do you want then? You already said they don’t believe me, you have my laptop, you destroyed Macy’s truck and my room and Ashley’s project. You stole every penny that I had saved. What could you possibly want now?”

  “I think I’m interested in a nice game of cat and mouse. You and your friends did so well at it the night of the dance. I thought I should get another try. I will give you a ten-second head start…starting…now.” I stood there and just stared at him until he said, “You are wasting time. I promise you don’t want to be caught. Six seconds.”

  I didn’t waste anymore time. The circle parted and I ran as fast as I could. I heard them all laughing, but I wasn’t going to take the time to see if they had just been messing with my head or if they were really after me.