Sully Messed Up

by Stephanie Simpson McLellan

  “Then we better be fast,” said Blossom.

  While Sully only got about thirty percent of what Blossom wrote, it was thirty percent more than he’d understood before they started.

  “In a mirror image of the life Offred is forced to lead in artful imitation of someone else’s world view,” Blossom wrote in their concluding paragraph, “the Lady of Shallot weaves art in imitation of real life. This fabrication blocks both women from accessing their true selves. In the same way that Offred steps into obscurity when she exits the Commander’s house and steps into the back van, so the Lady of Shallot is effectively already dead when she leaves her tower and finds the boat beneath the willow. Grown half-sick of shadows as she is, the Lady faces Morton’s fork. Both women must ultimately make a choice between the walls they’re hiding behind, and real life, even if it kills them.”

  “Morty’s fork?” said Sully. “Did you make that up?”

  “It’s Morton’s fork, and it just means two bad choices,” said Blossom. “The Lady of Shalott is dead, no matter which decision she makes—dead in her soul if she doesn’t face the world, and literally dead if she does.”

  “Whatever you say,” said Sully.

  “Come on,” she said. “We’ll hand it in together to Wippet after fourth, as long as you agree to walk home with me and Morsixx.”

  After handing the paper to Wippet, Sully started toward the exit.

  “Not so fast, Bee Boy.” Blossom grabbed his arm. “We had a deal.”

  “Look, Blossom, I appreciate you bailing me out on this essay, but I’ve really thought about this, okay? We can hang out when all of this is over, and I’d actually like to do that. But in the interim, I need to disappear.”

  “No,” she said. “That’s not going to happen. You’re obviously not thinking clearly enough to know what’s good for you and I’m not going to stand by and let you hang yourself.”

  “Dude.” As Morsixx walked toward them, his eyes darted from one to the other. “What’s up?”

  “I don’t have time for this.” Sully scanned the hall around them.

  “Chill, Dude. We’ve got your back.”

  Eying the space between Blossom and Morsixx to plot his escape, Sully saw someone dart behind the bank of lockers in a suspicious move.

  Sully stiffened and took a step back, but as the head bobbed out again, he realized it was only Winston, whose tragic and accusing eyes made it clear he hadn’t forgotten Sully’s unkind words in the parking lot the week before.

  “I’m sorry, Winston,” said Sully. He broke from Morsixx and Blossom to head home.

  “Hey, Sally! I just heard! Congratulations!”

  Dodger grinned when he strode up to the group. He grabbed Sully’s hand and shook it.

  “Really!” he said, as he backed away. “Congratulations!”

  “What was that about?” said Blossom.

  Sully’s hand hung in the air in front him as he watched Dodger skip backward. Puzzled, he stared at his hand for a few seconds before he realized what had just happened.

  A dot of black ink, about the size of a dime, stared back at him from the middle of his palm.

  CHAPTER 40

  “Bella, I’m sorry.”

  Sully’s eyes fluttered open on the side of his face to see Winston kneeling over him.

  “I’m not really mad at you, Bella. It’s okay.”

  A circle of students, three bodies deep, peered down at Sully. The ones in the back popped up and down like jack-in-the-boxes to get a better view. The floor was hard beneath his cheek and something cold dripped from his nose into his ears.

  “Need a tampon, tk?” someone said.

  “Forget that,” said someone else. “Look at his hand!”

  Sully rolled onto his back and folded his hands together on his chest. It seemed safer to look at their feet.

  “Show’s over.” Morsixx’s black laced boots squared themselves inches from Sully’s eyes. “Give me your hand, Dude. Let’s go.”

  “You should all be ashamed.” The purple lace-ups could only belong to Blossom. “This could be any of you!”

  She grabbed Sully’s hand and scrubbed at the Black Spot with her skirt.

  “You heard him,” Blossom commanded. “Show’s over.”

  “What happened to your hand?” said Winston. “Are you hurt, Bella?”

  “It’s nothing, Winston,” said Blossom. “See? It’s all gone. Why don’t you help us?”

  Sully stumbled between the three of them as they pushed through the crowd and marched outside. As he looked at the gray blotch on his hand, still visible despite Blossom’s efforts, more black spots began to form before his eyes.

  “It’s not going to happen, Dude,” said Morsixx. “One of us will be with you at all times.”

  Sully looked from Morsixx to Blossom and shook his head.

  “Don’t you dare underestimate me,” she said, touching her cheek. “Just don’t.”

  “What’s not going to happen?” said Winston.

  “It’s like a game, Winston.” Blossom put her arm around Winston’s shoulders. “Someone’s trying to trick Sully, and we’re not going to let them.”

  “Who’s Sully?” said Winston.

  Sully groaned. “This can’t be happening.”

  “I told you. It’s not going to happen, Dude. We’re smarter than they are.”

  “There’s my mom,” said Winston. “Can we play the game again tomorrow?”

  “Of course we will,” said Blossom. “We’re counting on you, Winston.”

  “We’ve missed the bus,” said Morsixx, “but they’re not coming after you today.”

  “You don’t know that,” said Sully. “Just because you want to help me doesn’t mean you can.”

  “They won’t attack today,” Morsixx said again. “Half the fun for them is watching you sweat. They’ll want to prolong that a bit.”

  “Gee, thanks, Morsixx. That makes me feel so much better.”

  “No, he’s right,” said Blossom. “The end of what those two other boys suffered was horrible, but it’s the mental scars that don’t heal.”

  “I’m so glad you two are experts, but you’re not making anything better,” said Sully. “I’m going to have to tell my mom.”

  “Do that, Dude. She’s pretty fierce.”

  “With respect, do you really think involving your mom is going to make you less of a target?” said Blossom.

  Exactly Sully’s train of thought, but now he didn’t know what else to do.

  “In hand-to-hand combat against Tank, I’d put my money on his mom.” Morsixx smiled. “Seriously.”

  “I don’t know,” said Blossom. “Adults are just as messed up as we are. More, in fact. This is something we have to fight ourselves. That’s how it works.”

  “They can’t touch you on school property, Dude. I can take Tank.”

  “Three of them, three of us,” said Blossom.

  The trio circumvented the park, which almost doubled the walk home. Blossom and Morsixx rattled off a number of rules, all to the end of not leaving Sully exposed. Both insisted on seeing him to and from his door each day. If the last two years were any indication, the attack wouldn’t happen in daylight but, pretty soon, hours of darkness would outnumber hours of daylight by two to one.

  “How adorable,” said Blossom as they crossed over True Street. “Whose house is that?”

  “Adorable isn’t the word I’d use,” said Sully. “Can we just get going?”

  But Blossom had already approached the fence.

  “Just give me a sec,” said Blossom. “Wow, I love it!”

  “A strange old man named Mr. C. lives there,” said Sully. “As in really old, and really strange. He gets up in the dark and moves those figures around. It’s sad and creepy.”

  “Mr. Se
e . . . as in ‘I see you?’” said Morsixx.

  “There’s nothing sad about it,” said Blossom. “It’s actually fascinating. A visual story. Look . . . Sleeping Beauty hand-in-hand with Charlie Brown, Pumbaa, and Lancelot. Look at all the flowers he’s drawn on Sleeping Beauty’s dress.” She held up her arm and glanced at her own sketched flowers. “And Lancelot’s the Red Cross knight the Lady of Shalott died for, Bee Boy. How coincidental is that?”

  Sully saw Morsixx gazing at Blossom with a silly smile on his face.

  “More like ‘see’ as in Senile,” said Sully. “He thinks he’s a wizard or a fortune teller or something. Can we go? I feel kind of exposed out here.”

  Blossom ran her finger along the little hole in the middle of the Madonna figurine and the weird black pack glued to her back, and then looked up at the house.

  “Interesting,” she said, indicating Darth Vader and the others before joining Sully and Morsixx as they walked toward Perdu. “Well, there’s nothing random about it, that’s for sure. There’s a very clear good-versus-evil dynamic playing out there.”

  Sully glanced back at the Madonna figurine as they rounded the corner.

  “Talk about crazy old people.” Sully motioned two blocks up.

  The Purse Lady shuffled toward them, bent at the waist, scanning the sidewalk from side to side.

  “Trust me,” Sully said. “Don’t make eye contact.”

  “Poor thing,” said Blossom. “What is she looking for?”

  “I know who she is,” said Morsixx. “She’s not really old. I mean, not like fifty or anything. Her son was killed on this road. He was little.”

  “Killed? As in murdered?” said Blossom.

  “No, hit by a car,” said Morsixx. “My mom said he chased his ball into the street. She was with him, but it happened too fast.”

  “Your mom was with him?” said Sully.

  “No, Dude. Not my mom; his mom. Her,” he said pointing. “She hasn’t been right since.”

  “You’re telling me,” said Sully. “I think she carries a Walmart store in that purse of hers.”

  “Have a little compassion, Bee Boy.”

  “Will you stop calling me that?”

  “Will you stop acting like that?” said Blossom. “Honestly, it’s like you think you’re the only person in the world sometimes. Most times in fact. Did it ever occur to you that the rest of us have things we have to deal with, too?”

  “Not like what I’m going through,” Sully said.

  He glanced up the street at the Purse Lady, and then back at Morsixx and Blossom. The Purse Lady had lost a son. Blossom had lost her mother.

  “Sorry,” he said. “No, you’re right. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “Congratulations,” said Blossom. “Maybe you have some human bones in you after all.”

  “Dude.” Morsixx touched Sully’s shoulder and pointed down his street.

  Sully’s mom was out in the driveway, talking to a boy.

  It was Dodger.

  CHAPTER 41

  Sully hid with Morsixx and Blossom behind some trees and watched as Dodger helped Mom to the front door with some groceries. As he walked down the driveway and off in the other direction, Dodger turned and winked in Sully’s direction.

  “What are you doing?” Sully ran up to his mom as she put her key in the door.

  “Oh, hi, Sullivan,” she said. “Can you help me in with these?”

  “Mom, why were you talking to Dodger?”

  “You mean the boy who was just here? He said he was a friend of yours from school. He saw me struggling with the bags and offered his help.”

  “He’s not a friend of mine,” said Sully.

  “Well, he spoke highly of you,” said Mom. “Maybe you should get to know him better. Friends could help you settle in and feel better about high school.”

  “I already have friends.” Sully nodded toward Morsixx and Blossom, who still stood across the street.

  Mom’s brow furrowed. “Sully, you know it matters who your friends are. That boy looks like a biker with all his skulls and chains. And does that girl actually have tattoos on her face?”

  “Looks can be deceiving, Mom. Morsixx and Blossom are good friends.”

  “Morsixx? Blossom?” The crease in Mom’s brow deepened. “Are these the friends you skipped class with last week?”

  “Well . . . ” Sully faltered and flashed back to the first rail bridge incident, before the cafeteria video. “It wasn’t really like that.”

  Mom swallowed, clearly unconvinced. “I think we have more talking to do, Sullivan. Give me some time to think and we’ll sit down later, okay?”

  “Tank is smarter than I gave him credit for, sending Dodger in like that,” said Blossom. “You still think your mom’s going to save you?”

  “I pretty well know how that conversation’s going to go,” said Sully. “And I think I may have made it even worse.”

  “I kind of hate how clever he is,” said Blossom. “It’d be easier to outsmart him if he were stupid, but he’s definitely not. He’s actually pretty strategic. Do you know he would have been in Grade 9 himself when he strung up that first boy? Obviously, an attempt to deflect any—”

  “Geez, are you and Morsixx secretly in love with the guy? That’s exactly what Morsixx said to me the first day of school. Who cares how smart he is?”

  Blossom cocked her head at Morsixx and smiled. Morsixx blushed.

  “Hello?” said Sully.

  Blossom pulled her eyes back to Sully and linked one arm through his. “Know thine enemy is all, Bee Boy.”

  “Three of them, three of us, Dude.” Morsixx patted Sully’s back, but he was looking at Blossom. “We can hold it together for thirteen days.”

  “I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, Sullivan,” said Mom at dinner. “I wanted to let you make your own way, but I think it’s time I intervened. That young man from your school—”

  “You mean Dodger? Mom, listen—”

  “I don’t recall his name,” said Mom. “And, no, you listen first, Sullivan. He told me he’s on the Homecoming planning committee, and that’s just the kind of thing you need to get involved in. It will expose you to a whole new circle of friends. I spoke to your homeroom teacher, Mr. Green, an hour ago, and he’ll expect you at the meeting at seven o’clock, before school tomorrow morning.”

  “Mom, you’re—”

  “Sullivan, please. Don’t fight me on this. I need you to give it a chance. This is for your own good. Homecoming is only a week and a half away, and I had to make special arrangements for you to join the committee at this late date. Mr. Green’s expecting you at the seven o’clock meeting tomorrow morning. Both Bill and I have early meetings, so you’re going to have to walk. So, eat up and get to bed early, because six o’clock comes early . . . especially this time of year when it’s still dark.”

  CHAPTER 42

  “You are going to owe us for this when it’s over, Dude.”

  “So, go back home to bed. Nobody’s twisting your arm.”

  “It’s cool, Dude. No worries.”

  “Easy for you to say.”

  “Well . . . I, for one, think it’s brilliant to be up this early,” said Blossom. “Look at how beautiful that sky is.”

  “And look at how dark those shadows are,” said Sully. “Tank and his gang manipulated my own mother into selling me out.”

  “In her own way, I think she really was trying to help you,” said Blossom. “And, anyway, Tank isn’t going to attack at this time of day.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Well, for one, there’s not enough time,” she said. “It’s already six-fifteen. By the time he snared you and strung you up—”

  “Stop talking like that,” said Sully.

  “I’m just stating facts,” Bloss
om said. “By the time he had it done, it would be broad daylight and he’d be caught red-handed. Besides, whether he’s actually on the committee or not, it sounds like Dodger is, and Tank won’t launch anything without him.”

  “There probably isn’t even a meeting,” said Sully. The thought had just occurred to him. “Who’s on this committee, anyway? Maybe this was just a trick to get me to school, in the dark, before anyone else was around.”

  The hysteria bloomed in his chest like ink through water. “That’s it. Think about it. This is probably going to happen this morning. On school grounds. Let’s turn around and go somewhere else.”

  “Calm down, Dude. You said your mom talked to Green, right? Anyway, we’re with you. We’ll wait right outside.”

  “No, we won’t,” said Blossom.

  Both Morsixx and Sully turned to look at her.

  “We’re joining the committee, too, Morsixx.”

  “We are?”

  “Yes,” she said. “We are. Aside from guarding Bee Boy—”

  “Are you just trying to annoy me with that stupid name?”

  “Sorry,” she said. “Sully. Aside from guarding Sully, I’ll bet the Homecoming committee could use a little independent thinking. What do you say?”

  “I have a feeling our decorating sense might go a bit against the norm,” said Morsixx.

  “Exactly,” said Blossom. “Besides, you know what they say: keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. This will give us an opportunity to keep an eye on Tank.”

  “Sally! Mortician. Buttercup.” Dodger ushered them in as they hovered by the doorway. “Oh, goodie. New blood.”

  Green sat in a corner, marking papers. Tank lay across several desks in the back, sleeping, while Ox stood guard. Three Grade 10 girls comprised the rest of the committee. Sully pulled his gaze away from Tank and noticed their upraised eyebrows, as they scanned Blossom from head to toe, barely covering their smirks with the tips of their perfectly polished nails.

  As he took his seat with his back to Tank, a sharp pain in the middle of Sully’s chest made it difficult to breathe.