Page 15 (1/2)

Or so he thought

Nick slowed as he neared his locker to get his hoiant letters with a black ic marker A muscle ticced in his jaw as his furywith the blowback caused by Dina and her redonkulous, petty jealousy Let it go, people Get a life

And let ain

"Don’t feel so bad, Nick," Brynna said as she caot me, too" She pointed to her locker, where soes "I already told Mr Head about it, and he promised they’d paint over thereat After everyone had seen it all What good was that?

Hey, kid, sorry they shot you in the head But here, let us stick a bandage on your finger so that you’ll feel better about thatfrontal lobe

Nick let out a low, deadly breath "I’ sick of this, Bryn It’s ridiculous They ize to us publicly, for God’s sake, and ad about it all"

"Doesn’t ed It kills me, too Take my cousin, Kim, for exa queen two years in a row The second year, the irls in her class calls uphow unfair it is that no one likes her cow of a daughter And horong it is for Kih everyone in class voted for Kiirl…"

Brynna shook her head "God love my aunt, she’s just like your mother, Nick--the kind-heartedest person ever born Not wanting any dras of a hoirl, my aunt convinced Kim to share her crown that second year And because Kireed to it Then, four years later when they’re both seniors, that hag, who can’t hold a candle to Ki everyone that Kim’s mother was the one who called up in hysterics and made her share her crown As if … And here’s the kicker The ho queen was announced publicly to the school when the votes were first counted It wasn’t until the very next day that they went back and added the cow as co-queen Everyone knew Kim had won it, free and clear, and still so four years later when she lied about it Ridiculous, right? One lie … and an eternity of pain I think it’s why those soulless creeps do it They don’t care what lies they tell or who they hurt"

Wanting blood froht to be a special place in Hades for them all"

"There is," Brynna said emphatically "They have to live their miserable lives trapped with themselves I can’t think of any worse punishment"

Nick scoffed "I can A estion "Violence begets violence"

"And sohed heavily "You don’t really believe that, do you?"

He looked at his vandalized locker as another wave of indignant anger consumed hi home"

She patted him on the shoulder to soothe him "Do you remember what you told me when I allowed the jerks in this school to almost drive me to suicide over Dina’s lies?"

Of course he did He’d been terrified that he’d lose her friendship over so as stupid as human cruelty "That you orth more than all of them combined"

"Yes, and you said that I should never let them steal my day That they weren’t worth it And you were correct They’re not"

Yeah, but right now, he couldn’t find that decent part of himself All he could feel was pure, stone-cold hatred It infected him to the bone level

Brynna opened her notebook and pulled out several sheets of paper She handed the a new initiative … the Anti-Bully Brigade That’s the poster andeverywhere they’ll let us They’re even going to print it in the school paper"

Nick sed cat-looking key with ABB for white letters over the red key were the words, It’s Easy to Make the Grade Join the Anti-Bully Brigade

He pulled the other pages to the top so that he could read them

Dear Tormentor,

Today, you made me cry You made me feel like the lowest piece of dirt that has ever walked this earth You stole a piece of my heart and soul, and ed to convince liest or dumbest person alive, you ca playback in my head that insults me even when you’re not around The same playback that tells et any better nobetter I a is all I’ll ever be Even when I try h toin the eyes of the world I don’t need you or anyone else to reaffir I already know about myself

My hurt didn’t show on the outside because I learned a long tio to make sure that you couldn’t take that pleasure, too, that you and the others who think you’re funny or witty or cute, or are too afraid of you to do anything , couldn’t see how much pain you’ve causedyou see hed at me over thenity, and hate that which had been a source of pride for me … until you ed what little self-worth I had ether