Bullied

Four

Next day at school, from the moment I stepped in, there were whispers going on. My eyes searched for Fred who was standing exactly on the same spot he was forced to stand on yesterday. Except this time he was smiling. A crowd of people, his group mostly this time, cheered him on. I couldn't help but notice his group wasn't as loud as they used to be.

I walked to my desk, nodding at Fred on my way there. Fred put the cap back on his marker. Putting my bag on the desk, I looked at the board where he had written something. His handwriting was awful but I was still able to make out bits and pieces.

As I frowned to read the words, it dawned upon me why Fred's smile was so bright. Justin was rusticated. The bastard had gotten his comeuppance big time, but that wasn't all. I could finally relax but relaxing wasn't going to be enough for Fred. The butcher's boy was the title of the topic he had written. According to what I was able to make out of the writing, Justin was pulled out of school by his father. They will now be looking for a new school. And if he couldn't get admission in any schools, he will work with his father at his butcher shop.

Everyone knew how much he hated that job, he never shut up about the smell and how dirty it all looked. Justin was to the class, what a tight punch was to the ribs, and it was a great feeling to know, especially for Fred, that this time the ribs belonged to Justin himself. Fred was smiling ear to ear when he sat next to me. It was like yesterday didn't even happen.

"Boy is this going to be a wonderful year," he said and I nodded. "Any plans for the future?"

"Well, I haven't thought about it much. I guess I would..."

"I know what I'll be doing this whole time," he interrupted, clearly way too excited to hold in his own plans. So I let him talk over me. "I'm on a mission to repayment," he said in an eager tone.

"Repayment?" I frowned. "Oh, you mean like payback?"

"On Justin," he said.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked curiously.

"The most annoying things I can do," he opened his bag and brought out a notebook. "All this time, that asshole had been toying with us and now that he was going to be at the shop, I'm going to be his worst customer," It took me some time to understand what Fred meant. After his mother's death, Fred moved in with his uncle, who lived only a few blocks away from Justin's father's meat shop.

"Wow, you really have been doing your research lately," I said as I looked at a page entitled 'how to make Justin suffer'. It was an old notebook. The first half of it already had been used and as expected it revolved around Justin. The rivalry was worse than I had realized. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"This morning when I got the news, I started listing the things I could do to really rub as much salt in the wound as possible," the pages filled with plans and actions horrified me. They ranged from spoiling his lunch by spitting on it or rubbing buggers in it when he wasn't looking, to putting chewing gum under his seat, all the way to stealing his report cards and secretly giving them to his father. No wonder he always picked a fight with Fred, he must've had his suspicions. I wondered if Justin had his own notebook like this?

"You're giving me some really creepy revenge movie vibes," I said and forced out a fake laugh. Fred didn't notice the awkwardness. He was lost in his own thoughts.

"Sorry but I have to do this. That bastard crossed a limit that day when he mentioned my mom. I'm going to do the same and make him wish he hadn't ever known us," the same? Was he planning on bringing up his dead mother?

"Us? You're seriously not thinking that I'm helping right?" Fred flinched at the question.

"You're not? Why? I mean he's been using you as his punching bag for years, treating you as a slave. You sure you don't want to get even with him," I wanted to correct Fred that I was rarely a punching back for anyone. I am the new one here after all. A fact he himself pointed out yesterday but seemed to have forgotten about. But then I realized something. Fred wasn't just looking for payback, he was excited by the plan himself.

"No, I mean, I don't like him either but I want to just forget about it, you know? Move on. I've even convinced mom and dad to move me to a different school."

"Listen man, if you want to stay a pussy, it's your choice. I'm not going to force you but I'm not stopping either. I'm not going to stop until I see him cry every day. I'm going to be living just a few blocks across the street. I'm not going to miss this front seat experience."

"Good luck," I finally said, swallowing my own anger. Not only did Fred just mistook me for someone else, he also insulted me. Despite all that, I still gave him the benefit of the doubt. He had suffered enough and it had just been a day after all. The pain of his mother's loss, then to have himself beaten up by Justin, it's supposed to take a toll. He was very emotional and like dad said, you should not argue with your emotions, but with facts. I doubt Fred was open to listening to facts at the moment.

I flipped through his book of plans one last time. There was something written on the back of the cover, right next to the first page. Despite the terrible handwriting, one of them stood out. This one was old, throwing Justin's new shoes outside in the mud during his PT exercise. This was written over a year ago. How long has he had this book of mischief? I thought but didn't ask.

I was able to make out some of the words on the last page he was writing on, his new set of plans. "Complaining that the meat wasn't chopped off enough, how he should chop them in front of the customers and how he should wash his hands properly to do so," and stuff that seemed like little kindergarteners came up with it. "These are slightly less evolved ideas than I was expecting from you, I must say."

"Oh, these aren't finished yet. Plus give me a break; I just started writing these this morning, right here in class. I had to start from scratch. I have yet to add..." he said as he began writing again. "Fake customer complaints. Spread rumors about him so that he'll never get any girlfriends in his next school, or even an admission to begin with. And a few others I'll make up as I go."

"These look very childish," I said finally and Fred nodded. I felt as though I was missing something.

"Exactly, I'm going to make this as childish and irritating as possible," One of the things that ticked off Justin the most was the way people asked him questions. Whenever he thought someone asked him a dumb question, he'd lose his temper. The guy's personality was the farthest thing from humor. His grumpiness made Amy Schumer look like Chandler Bing. "I'm going to see how long he is going to hold back his anger. I'm going to push him to his limits, right in front of his dad."

I was getting uncomfortable with the subject so I tried to change it. Fred didn't allow me at first but I kept trying and managed to succeed. A minute or so before the teacher arrived, we were talking about movies again. I didn't enjoy the distraction the way I thought I would since all Fred talked about, even when it came to movies, were the revenge movies he got inspired from for the list, like Gone Girl. He loved Gone girl. Once the week was over, I moved to a different school. I wouldn't hear from Fred, or anyone from that school for a while after that.