Oops, I Meant Cassie

Chapter 7

I walked outside of the building and cried for a good ten or twenty minutes. How could they do this to me? I felt like I had been set up for disaster from the very beginning. No, it was me being stupid enough to fall for something like that. Mary-Lynn never wanted to be my friend. She just wanted to make me believe we were friends. Why would a popular girl want to have anything to do with me? Maybe she just told Josh to like me just so she could bully me. She probably just- "Cassie?" Someone said to me as I cried on the steps. I looked up to see who it was. I couldn't make out who they were because they looked so blurry through the tears. "Are you okay Cassie?" I wiped my face and still didn't know who they were. I think they could tell I didn't know because he said, "It's Dylan from math class." "What?" I replied. " I sit on the opposite side of the room. Always get made fun of for being the smart nerdy kid. Ring a bell?" I shook my head. He held out a hand and helped me up. "So why are you sitting out here? Aren't you afraid you're going to get in some sort of trouble?" He kind of laughed thinking the last part was some sort of joke. I wiped my face once again. "Well, you know how Mary-Lynn and her friends can be. I'm just having a hard day and some unfortunate events have happened to me." I started explaining my horrible day. "Come with me." He reached for my arm, but I jerked it away. "No, where are you going?" I wondered. He gave me an evil glare. I gave him the same darn look back. "Why are you girls so difficult?" He asked. I gasped and rolled my eyes. "For your information Dylan," I began to say, but he grabbed my arm again and took me back into the school.

We walked down the twists and sharp turns of the halls. Down steps and around corners. Finally we went down like three flights of stairs and reached a level where I could see a light coming from the end of the hall. "What?" I mumbled to myself. He walked me to the door at the end of the hall, still with a tight grip on my arm. The door opened and I saw multiple kids in the room. "Hey? Who's this, Dylan?" Someone asked. "This is Cassie James." "So, why'd you bring her here?" "I found her crying on the front step of the school, so I thought she would like it better here." "Dylan, that was the stupidest logic you've ever came up with." His friend insulted him. Dylan grinned and flipped his hair in embarrassment. I sat there with a dopey smile on my face. "So, do you talk?" The friend asked me. "Oh, what? Were you talking to me?" I said a little startled. The friend just laughed and looked away.
Everyone went back to their normal habits and I just stood there, confused. "Oh, maybe I should tell you what this place is. This is the Bully Resort." Dylan proudly said. "Bully Resort! Why on earth would I want to stay here? Look, do you know how much people are hurt over bullying? Well just in case you didn't know the answer is MILLIONS! And-" "Cassie! When I said Bully Resort I meant it like a safe haven for the victims of bullying." He explained with a chuckle. The look on my face must've been embarrassed because I couldn't feel that more. "Oh, well you should've just said so."

We stood in the room and hung out for about thirty minutes. I actually laughed! I met a few new people and it turns out that people use this place as an extra curricular class! No! The teachers can not find out about this anti-bully place or they will shut it down. They tell the teachers that they spend time cleaning the basement. "So, what's that slip for Cassie?" Dylan's friend pointed to the note in my hand. I forgot I was still holding the note Ms. Olsen gave me. "Well before I ran out of the school crying, some girls were playing some tricks on me. It hurt because they all got a big kick out of it and I ran into the girls bathroom. Someone tried to help and cover for me that I was helping the cheerleaders, but Ms. Olsen didn't buy it. She sent me with this note to the principles office then a girl said something so mean that I couldn't bare it here anymore. I ran out of the school crying and I guess now I'm here." I finished my story. The bell rang. "Oh, gosh!" I cried out. "It's fine." Dylan tried to relax me. "This can be your extra curricular now. They'll excuse you twice a week from a class to come do this. We'll get you signed up." The rest of the group nodded.

A little while later, I needed to use the bathroom for real this time. "I'll be back, okay? I have to use the restroom." I got up and realized that I had no idea where the restrooms were. I ran back up to the main level of the school. I was running when a teacher stopped me. "What do you think you're up to little girl?" She asked. "I-uh" I stuttered. "Hmm.. That's what I thought." She said with satisfaction and grabbed me by the arm. She walked me in silence. I looked around wondering where I was going to end up. A call home? Back to class? But no, it was worse. My question was answered when I saw that shiny sign on the wall that read principle's office.