Mistletoe Bully

by Amy Brown

  I continue filming her, and lean against the cave wall, listening to the sounds of the night. There are no crickets chirping because the weather is too cold, but an owl hoots up in the trees somewhere. Adalee’s breathing is swift, and I know she’s probably trying to think of how to get away. She already knows she can’t out run me, and she’s no match for me strength wise. It would be hysterical if she tried to seduce her way out of this. I wouldn’t put it past a conniving girl like her.

  Her nervous gaze flicks to me every few minutes, and then to the cave opening. The cave is shallow and fingers of moonlight slice the darkness, illuminating her delicate features. It’s hard to believe this girl cowering on the floor of the cave is the same girl I’ve been tutoring the past week. She really had me fooled. I thought she was funny, quick-witted, and kind. But if she could set me up the way she did with Mr. Glenn, she’s none of those things. I’m oddly disappointed she’s not who I thought she was.

  Her charm was all fake.

  I’m curious if she really was talking about me earlier to her mom. What had she meant about disgusting drawings in the bathroom? She’d implied I’d have found those drawings funny. Why? What had I ever done recently to make her think I meant her harm? I’d helped her with her math, and that was the only real interactions we’d had. I’d helped her with math, and driven her to the ER when she was stung. What had made her hate me so much that she would badmouth me to Mr. Glenn?

  I notice her shivering is getting worse. She’s shaking like a jackhammer and her teeth are chattering nonstop. I’m wearing a coat, but she only has on a hoodie. Why would she come out on a cold night like this without a coat? Two weeks until Christmas, the air smells of snow, and she’s wandering around in a thin little hoodie. The girl is daft.

  “I’m freezing.” Her teeth chatter as if punctuating her comment.

  I’m annoyed that my first impulse is to take off my coat and give it to her. I guess once a chump, always a chump. I’m supposed to be terrorizing her, not being chivalrous. I shrug as if I could care less that she’s cold.

  “Please let me go,” she whispers. “I won’t tell anyone about this.”

  As angry as I am with her, I do feel a nudge of guilt as she continues to quiver on the ground. What is it about Adalee that brings out a protective streak in me? Even as I stare at her with loathing, I feel compelled to warm her up. I’m definitely not kidnapper psycho material because I’m beginning to think I should just let her go. We’ve been in this cave for at least twenty minutes, and it’s fucking freezing. Even I’m longing for my warm bed at this point.

  The idea of this was to terrify her, and she’s definitely had a good scare. I decide I’ll set her free, and she can run along home like a scared rabbit. Tomorrow, I’ll release the video on YouTube from an anonymous account, Sabrina will spread it happily, and the school can have a good laugh at Adalee’s expense.

  I straighten and move toward her, and she clinches her jaw, watching me approach. A part of me wishes she would cower more, but another part of me respects that she holds my gaze. I crouch in front of her, and her breathing increases. I grab her wrists and she stiffens.

  “No, please,” she begs.

  Her eyes are wide and they glitter in the moonlight. Her familiar floral perfume reminds me of our time in the closet. How could that girl be the same girl in front of me now? She’d been so warm and soft, clutching me with her body and lips. My dick twitches with the memory of pushing my finger inside her. She’s completely at my mercy right now, and if I was the sick bastard she told Mr. Glenn I am, I could take anything I wanted from her. But I’m not like that, and I’d never really hurt one hair on her head.

  How can the stupid bitch not know that about me?

  I stand and I yank her to her feet. She loses her balance a bit and leans on me, and I have to squash the impulse to put my arms around her. Her soft hair brushes my chin, and I grit my teeth against the unwelcome feelings of arousal she always brings out in me.

  I hold her at arm’s length, and growl, “Go.”

  She hesitates, looking like she doesn’t trust me. “Are… are you going to chase me?”

  She thinks I’m playing some sick game with her. Well, I can’t blame her, she thinks I’m a bona fide psycho. I shake my head and push her toward the opening of the cave. She stands at the edge, watching me uneasily. I can see so clearly she’s afraid to move, but also afraid to stay.

  “Go,” I hiss.

  She hesitates, and then she bolts. I go to the opening of the cave and I watch her dark form stumble down the slope toward the path that led her here earlier this evening. She’s not saying anything or screaming for help. She’s simply fleeing for her life in panicked silence. I watch her until she’s out of sight, and then I make my way down the hill quickly. I don’t head straight in the direction of my home, just in case she’s watching for some reason. I stay hidden in the trees and move silently.

  When I finally reach my home, I’m relieved my dad isn’t there. I let myself inside and go to my room. I strip and crawl in bed, feeling conflicted about the evening. I don’t feel nearly as satisfied as I’d assumed I’d be. At first, it had been fun terrifying Adalee, but once I had her in the cave, it had lost its charm. I’d simply been concerned that she was freezing, and her fear had made me feel a bit sick. How could I still want to protect a horrible bitch like her? What was wrong with me? She’d bit me like a rattlesnake, and I didn’t seem to have the brains to hate her.

  Well, nothing will stop me from posting that video of her. She’s going to pay for what she did to me. Maybe I don’t have the nerve to let her freeze in a cave, but I sure as shit can post a video that will make her look like a fool. She deserves that. After trying to destroy my reputation, she deserves that and more.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Adalee

  I have no idea why that crazy guy let me go, but I run as if my life depends on it. My lungs burn and my muscles ache as I push myself to continue running all the way home. I’m terrified that at any second, he’ll come up behind me and drag me back to that horrible cave. I’d been so afraid he was going to kill me. I don’t know why he changed his mind and let me go, maybe it was my pleading, or maybe it was because I said I wouldn’t tell anyone.

  I take the back steps of my aunt and uncles home two at a time, and with shaking fingers unlock the back door. Once I’m inside, I lean against the wood door, breathing hard. I’m safe. I’m home. That crazy guy can’t hurt me anymore. Not that he had hurt me, in fact, he hadn’t really done anything to me other than make me sit on the frozen floor of that cave. What had been the point of that? Had he simply planned on doing horrible things to me and lost his nerve?

  I shiver and hurry to my room. I’m rattled and I turn on all the lights in my room and make sure my drapes are drawn. I should probably tell someone what happened, just so no one else gets attacked. I told the creep I wouldn’t say anything to anyone, but is that really the right thing to do? I’d feel horrible if someone else got kidnapped, and he actually raped them or murdered them. I decide I’ll talk to Aunt Julie tomorrow after school. Her and Uncle Joe are sound asleep right now, and I don’t want to wake them up. This is a conversation that should happen in person. Aunt Julie will know what to do about that psycho guy at the quarry.

  I’m still shaking as I wash up for bed. I crawl under the covers, pulling the blankets up to my chin. I left one light on just because I’m so flustered. I could’ve died tonight and no one would even have known what happened to me. Aunt Julie and Uncle Joe would’ve had no idea I snuck out of the house.

  I squeeze my eyes closed and say a few soft prayers of thanks. All the petty shit at school seems so unimportant now after almost dying at the hands of a madman. I need to reevaluate my school year. I need to focus more on my grades and stop worrying about whether or not Palmer gossips about me, or Sabrina calls me names. None of that matters. Hopefully if I leave them alone, they’ll leave me alone.

  Aunt Julie hired m
e a different tutor. I’ve had two sessions with Frederick already, and I can’t help but compare his teaching style to Palmer’s. Frederick moves quicker, and he seems impatient at times with how clueless I am about math. I would think a tutor should have infinite patience for the dummies he teaches. The fact that Palmer of all people had been more patient seems crazy. But I’d learned more math in that week with Palmer tutoring me, than I had most of my years in school.

  But Palmer hates me now. He’s blaming me for something I didn’t do, and I’m not about to grovel just so he’ll take me back and teach me math. He truly believes I called Mr. Glenn. That hurts my feelings because it shows he doesn’t know me at all. I can see during math class that Palmer is different now. He’s quiet, and I know it bothers him that Mr. Glenn thinks poorly of him.

  I made an appointment with Mr. Glenn for tomorrow to discuss Palmer. He needs to know that Palmer didn’t do anything inappropriate with me. I have no proof the person who called him was put up to it by Sabrina, but I’m sure that’s what happened. Sabrina didn’t even care that making up a lie like that to Mr. Glenn could destroy Palmer. She’d simply wanted to stop him from tutoring me. Or at least, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to. There’s no one else who would bother calling Mr. Glenn and making up a story like that. Sabrina’s jealousy knows no boundaries.

  I still have no idea if Palmer actually did tell Sabrina all those horrible things about me being a slut. The more time goes by the more I suspect she made the whole thing up to upset me. I think that especially because of what happened with Mr. Glenn. It seems to me she waged an all-out campaign to split Palmer and me apart. I also find it awfully coincidental that she had car trouble the morning the mystery girl called Mr. Glenn. I suspect getting a ride from Palmer was her making sure she had an alibi for the time of the phone call. She probably knew I’d immediately accuse her.

  Every time I close my eyes I see that dark cave and that guy recording me with his phone. I shiver at the memory of his cold silence. I couldn’t believe it when he’d told me to go. I thought he was tricking me, and that he was just going to hunt me. But he really had let me go. He hadn’t come after me.

  I’m safe. I’m home.

  I exhale a long tired breath, and slowly relax each muscle in my body. First my toes, then the arches of my feet, my calves, my thighs. Sighing, I move slowly up my body, letting my muscles go slack. I begin to feel drowsy, and eventually sleep claims me.

  ****

  When he pulls up in front of the school, I say goodbye to Uncle Joe, and make my way toward the buildings. As I walk down the hallway toward class, I gradually notice kids are staring at me. Some are giggling, and some are pointing. I frown and continue walking toward class.

  I’m almost to first period when Emma comes striding toward me. She has a hard set to her jaw, and her eyes are steely. She gives some of the snickering kids an angry glare, and grabs me by the elbow.

  “Come with me.” She doesn’t wait for me to respond, she simply drags me after her.

  “I have class,” I say breathlessly.

  “There’s something you need to see.”

  I frown, but allow her to lead me to a quiet corner on the quad. We sit on the cement bench, and she pulls out her phone. “Where were you last night?” she asks.

  I haven’t told anyone yet about my terrifying experience at the quarry. I’m waiting to talk to Aunt Julie when she gets home from work tonight. “Why do you ask?” I stall.

  Her gaze is empathetic. “You know you can trust me with your secrets, right?”

  My cheeks warm. “I know that.” I say the right words, but I truly haven’t shared as much as I could with Emma. It’s not because I don’t trust her, it’s because I don’t share my emotions with anyone.

  She sighs and holds out her phone. A YouTube video starts and I’m shocked to see it’s me on the screen. My mouth falls open as I watch myself screaming and jumping around in the dark at the quarry. The video continues with me being chased, and dragged to the little cave. The video zooms in several times on my face, I looked terrified and I’m begging him not to hurt me.

  “How the hell did you get this?” My voice wobbles. My brain short-circuits at the idea that the guy who terrified me last night, has posted a video on YouTube. It makes absolutely no sense to my brain.

  “It’s circulating all over school. Sabrina messaged it to as many people as she could, and told them to share.” Emma’s face is flushed with anger.

  “I don’t understand.” Why would the guy who attacked me last night post a YouTube video? It makes absolutely no sense. None.

  “When did this happen to you? How could you not have told me?” Emma asks. She looks bewildered and a little bit hurt.

  I swallow hard. “It happened last night. I haven’t told anyone yet. I was going to talk to my aunt and ask her what we should do.”

  “So then, you know who this is who posted this?”

  I shake my head. “No. He wore a mask. How… how would Sabrina get this?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Why would my attacker post this?”

  She sighs. “I think it was all a hoax designed to make a fool of you.”

  “What?” I bug my eyes. “Who would do that?”

  “Who hates you?”

  I blink at her. “Sabrina?”

  She nods. “That’s where I’d lay my money.”

  I’m in shock. I know Sabrina doesn’t like me, but this is a whole other level of hate. “She wouldn’t be that sadistic, would she?”

  Emma laughs humorlessly. “She’d probably slice your brake line if she had the chance.”

  “God.” I shiver.

  “Sabrina probably planned the whole thing.”

  “But it felt so real.” I stare at her feeling muddled. “I was truly scared for my life.”

  A guy walks by snickering at me, and Emma yells, “Fuck off, asshole.”

  Anger begins to build inside of me. What I’d gone through last night hadn’t been even a little bit funny to me. “I thought I was going to die. You seriously think it was all just a joke?”

  “I think it was. I mean, you’re fine. He let you go, and now the video is being spread all over school. Seems a bit orchestrated if you ask me.”

  I shudder. “But my attacker was male. I’m sure it wasn’t Sabrina.”

  She frowns. “You’re sure it was a guy?”

  “Yes. He was strong, way stronger than a girl. His voice was deep.” I shiver.

  “Well, Sabrina and Palmer are close. Maybe Sabrina had him play the part of the psycho kidnapper.” Emma’s gaze is direct.

  “I think I’d of recognized Palmer.”

  “You were probably terrified. If it was Palmer, he’d have counted on that.”

  I gape at her. “Why would he do something like that to me?”

  “He blames you for that phone call to Mr. Glenn, right? Maybe this was payback.”

  “Payback for something I didn’t even do,” I mutter. I press the button on her phone to stop the video from playing again. It’s gut wrenching to watch myself on camera, begging for my life. It brings back horrible memories of last night. “You really think it was Palmer?”

  “I can’t think of any other guy who holds a grudge against you. Sabrina seems to have a connection to whoever did this, and he has an obvious connection to her.”

  “I can’t believe he’d be so cruel.”

  She squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry Adalee. I know you actually liked him.”

  My cheeks warm. “This is a nightmare.”

  “Maybe we could get a lawyer and find out whose YouTube account it is?” She scowls. “If it’s Palmer he deserves to be arrested for kidnapping.”

  “If that guy was Palmer, and I have him arrested, just think how many more people would see this video. Not to mention, with his dad’s money he’d get off anyways.” My knuckles are white as I clench my hands. “I think I’d rather just let it fade away.” The last thing I need are even m
ore people watching that damn video.

  “You should confront Palmer.” Her voice is hard. “He should know you know he did it.”

  “I’ll bet he wants me to know.” If Palmer had gone to this much trouble to humiliate me, odds were he wanted to rub it in my face. If it had been him last night, he’d only hidden his identity to make it scarier for me, not because he feared discovery.

  “He’s sick.”

  I wince. “He’s no doubt laughing his ass off right now.”

  “We should have Luke and Dirk beat him up,” grumbles Emma.

  “Then they’d just get in trouble.” I meet her angry gaze. “The person who started all of this is Sabrina. That bitch got me mad at Palmer, and Palmer mad at me. Sabrina manipulated both of us.”

  A group of kids walk by pointing and laughing. I harden my jaw and meet Emma’s sympathetic gaze. “I’m so screwed. The Internet is fucking forever.”

  She sighs. “Soon another drama will come along, and they’ll forget all about you.”

  “Hopefully Christmas will distract them.” I sigh and stand. “I need to get to class. The teachers don’t care that my social life is in ruins.”

  “Hey, I know what will perk you up.” Emma smiles, and puts her arm around me. “You can get out of math class today by helping me decorate the gym for the Christmas Dance tonight.”

  I widen my eyes. “That’s tonight?”

  She nods. “Don’t you dare try to bail on us. Luke and Dirk are already committed, and like I said; I don’t want to go to the dance with two guys alone.”

  “I won’t bail.” My one bright spot in the day will be getting out of math class. My stomach aches from stress. I can’t believe that things just keep getting worse as the semester goes on. At this rate, by Christmas, I’ll be the pariah of Harbor Academy. I guess this is what happens when you piss off the cool kids your first day of school.

  I’ve decided I’m going to ignore Palmer. I won’t give him the satisfaction of letting him know he hurt me. Maybe it won’t be as much fun for him if I don’t show weakness. I still find it hard to believe the boy who was so kind to me while tutoring me in math, is the same person who terrified me last night. Palmer Jackson is a confusing mess of a person.