Oops, I Meant Cassie

Chapter 16

The same alarm went off of my favorite band. It usually made me feel upset to realize it was the morning and that I was going to have to face "the girls", but this morning it made me queezy. Today was the day that we had to revolt and I was more scared than anything.

"Cassie! Don't forget to bring dog treats!" My mother seemed so happy about our revolution, but I was sick to my stomach. I didn't want to do this, but I knew I couldn't back out. I knew my mother wouldn't let me. I put the dog treat in my pocket and decided to skip breakfest. "Bye, Cassie! I believe in you!" She waved a loving goodbye. This time I knew I should say that I love her. "Love you!" I called out and she returned the phrase. It gave me a sense of knowing. I felt less scared about the whole revolt.

I walked onto the bus and Mary-Lynn gave me a snort of disgust. I looked back at her and asked if she had a problem with me. She seemed surprised that I spoke back and didn't take her harsh words today. My mother said nothing about me talking back, but I wanted to do this. "You can hurt me and call me a dog for no reason all you want, Mary-Lynn, but just so you know there's a little thing called karma and I have a feeling she'll be visiting you soon." I said and walked to the back of the bus. Saying that got me a seat on the bus! A girl named Macy let me sit with her and she even likes 5 Seconds of Summer too! We listened to music on the way to school and I found out she was new here too! Must've been why I hadn't seen her until now, but she reminded me of Hannah.

~

"Are you ready?" Dylan asked me as I found him standing in front of my locker. "Yep! I mean, I'm kind of scared but-" "Cassie, this is the right thing to do! We need to do this. We got this. We have each other." He put his hand on my shoulder and it should've comfort me, but it felt a little strange coming from Dylan. It would've felt comforting from Hannah or even Dustin, but it felt strange coming from Dylan.

My classes passed by, but I wasn't paying attention in much of them. I had the anxious feeling spreading all throughout my body. The feeling rose when the eighth grade lunch bell rang. It resonated through my whole body. I shook like a dog. I stepped into the lunch room with a whole new perspective of fear inside me. I wondered if it showed.
Our plan was to all sit scattered around the lunch room, so that all of the kids would get to see and hear the message we needed to share amongst our peers.

I was given the signal wink that everything was going well from Dylan on the other side of the cafeteria. I winked back letting him know that everything was okay, even though I felt differently about the whole revolt on the inside. Why did I go with it? Because I had too. Because I knew it was the right thing to do. Those thoughts provoked the anger within me. I gave Dylan the second wink, signafying that I was ready to start the revolt. "Cassie, it's to early!" He mouthed back to me. "I don't care! We need to start now!" He nodded, knowing that he should listen to me.

Dylan gave the signal wink to the rest of the Bully Resort members, and although they weren't ready, they went with it. "ATTENTION CARLSTON JH!" Dustin yelled, standing up on the table. "WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE EIGHTH GRADE!" The teachers looked to each other with disapprovement and I prayed that they wouldn't try and stop us. Tori was the next to stand at her lunch table. "WE ARE TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND BY THE UPPER CLASS OF THE EIGHTH GRADE!" She yelled. My stomach did fifty turns before I heard Dustin speak again, well it was more of a yell. "THE BULLYING NEEDS TO STOP TODAY AND WERE GOING TO END IT! THAT'S RIGHT, THE VICTIMS OF EIGHTH GRADE ARE GOING TO END IT!" I was beginning black out when Dylan motioned to me that it was my turn to get up and say my lines. I gulped, but knew it was the right thing to do. "HELLO CARLSTON JH! I'M THE NEW GIRL, CASSIE JAMES, AND I WAS A VICTIM OF BULLYING THIS YEAR! SOME GIRLS CALLED ME A DOG AND MADE FUN OF MY NAME. YOU ALL PROBABLY THINK IT'S FUNNY, DON'T YOU? WELL IT HURT! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY DAYS I WENT HOME AND CRIED? AND I SUPPOSE THAT'S ALL PRETTY FUNNY TOO? TO GO HOME AND CRY? WELL GUESS WHAT, IF THERE'S ONE THING I LEARNED ABOUT BEING A DOG, IT'S THAT DOGS BARK! AND THIS DOG HAS A LOT TO BARK ABOUT!" I saw a teacher begin to come towards the table that I was standing on, so I tried to hurry up my speech. "IF YOU WANT TO CALL ME LASSIE, THAN GO AHEAD! I'VE BEEN NAMED "OOPS, I MEANT CASSIE" AT THIS SCHOOL AND NOBODY HAD THE GUTS TO DO ANYTHING, EXCEPT MY FRIENDS! HERE'S WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY! THE DOGS HAVE RISEN! AND WE DON'T NEED YOUR TREATS!"

Just then, I pulled a dog treat out of my pocket and threw it down on the table. To my surprise, it landed where I needed it to. In my heart I knew this was meant to be. "DOWN WITH THE BARK! UP WITH THE BITE!" I said and crushed my treat with my shoe. I heard a few gasps from my peers and a few cheers. "I BITE TOO!" Dylan said as he stood on his table top. He then crushed his treat too. "I BITE!" Came from Dustin's table top. I caught sight of his treat being crushed as well. "I BITE!" I heard Riley say as she climbed on her table top. Her treat was crushed too. Then Greg's, then Tori's. A lot of people had open mouth's, but a few decided to cheer. Even a few yelled, "I bite!" along with us. We all smiled as I felt my arm being tugged away by none other than, Ms. Olsen. I felt a little fear, but that was barely a feeling due to all of the confidence I had now built inside of me.

She tugged me all the way to Mr. Brands's office and to my surprise, all of my revolutionary friends were already sitting in chairs outside of the office too. "We did it." I saw Riley smile. I nodded and replied, "We did it."