Never in my whole life did I think that I would be a victim to bullying, but yet I was. I was always either a bully or a bystander. I would watch as the same people were picked on by the same people day in and day out. It wasn't until people started bullying me that I began to understand the pain that I put other people through. It started when I was a freshmen in high school. All through middle school I was popular and how couldn't I be? I was a Hartman, one of the richest families in the country. My father was the CEO of a huge manufacturing company, and my mother was a lawyer.
Whatever their jobs were, either way they didn't have time to notice their only daughter grow up. I was pawned off to a different nanny as I grew older. I never knew them very long, because I'd lock myself in my room. When I was in the eighth grade, my parents allowed me to hang out with my friends, and I did just that. I did everything I could to never be home. My parents never seemed to care that I didn't come home until three in the morning with alcohol on my breath and cigarette smoke clinging to my clothes.
I'd stumble up the stairs and into my bed, and if I didn't go to school the next day due to having a hangover that was fine by them. It was the last day of eighth grade, and in three months, I'd be a freshmen in high school. Most of my friends were up there, some ready to graduate, and some that would've already experienced their freshmeat year. I woke up at a quarter till nine. I rolled my eyes as someone banged at my bedroom door. "Lindsay, get out of bed now!" It was the maid, Mrs. Kent. Her husband was our gardener too. Out of all the staff of the house, they were the only ones that managed to stay for so long.
I groaned as I stood up. "I'm up, Karen!" I yelled back as I headed for the bathroom. I fell to my knees, throwing up in the toilet. I stood up slowly and flushed. I turned on the sink and splashed the cold water into my face.
"Lindsay Anita Hartman, hurry up! You will not keep Charles waiting until noon like you did yesterday!" I dried off my face with a plush white towel and tossed it into the hamper. I walked back into my room and started to go through my closet. "Lindsay!" I grabbed my sequin halter top and a black mini skirt.
"I'm up, Karen!" I yelled back again as I started to undo my dirty jeans and grey tank top. I slipped on the sequin top and zipped up my skirt. I went back into the bathroom and took a brush through my tangled mane of brown hair. After I was done getting all of the knots out, I scrubbed my teeth with whitening tooth paste. I spat out the last of the foam and went into my room, searching for my black boots. I sighed heavily as I spotted them next to the door. I slipped them on and zipped them up till the zipper stopped just below my knee.
I stood up and flattened down my skirt. I unlocked the door to see Karen tapping her foot impatiently. "What?" I asked rudely as I pushed passed her. She followed me.
"What would your parents think if they saw you this morning?" She was always grilling me about my drinking and late nights. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my leather jacket off of the hook by the door. I turned back to face her, my serious face on.
"Where's my bag, Karen?" I pursed my lips out and she gawked at me, like she had just noticed what I was wearing.
"You are not going to school looking like that!" I just blinked at her.
"Yeah, I am, and you can't stop me. You forget my parents sign your paycheck, and unless you want to be unemployed, I suggest that you get over it, and quit trying to act like you're my mother. Now where's my bag?" She looked hurt and she turned. She bent over, retrieving my bag off of the floor. She held it out to me and walked away without another word. I rolled my eyes and went out to Charles who was waiting in the Range Rover for me. I hopped into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut behind me. "Hey, Charles." He gave me a kind smile.
"Hello, Miss Hartman, your parents wanted me to tell you that they won't be home tonight as planned...so it will be just you and the Kents for this evening," he told me kindly. I nodded my head and fastened myself in. It was normal for my parents to cancel on dinner plans with me for work. It wasn't that big of a shock. I was silent as he drove me to school. He dropped me off at the front entrance and I stared at the empty school grounds. I was late as always. I walked up the stairs and through the doors. I walked right passed the office and I heard someone come out.
"Miss Hartman, a word?" a voice asked. I stopped, rolled my eyes, and turned around to see Principal Avery standing there with a scowl set on his face. I stood there with my arms crossed.
"That was four words actually, Principal Avery," I told him sarcastically. He glared at me and tapped his foot.
"My office, Hartman, now." I walked down the hall, into the office, and went back to his office. He closed the door behind him and I slumped down in the armchair. I saw his pot belly before I saw the rest of him as he walked around to sit at his desk. He sat there silently, typing on his computer.
"Aren't you going to say anything? I mean, if you are just going to lecture me about my tardiness, don't waste your breath. I have places to be, and I'd like to get there before summer is over." I was always like that. Sarcastic to my teachers. He turned to look at me in his swivel chair and tapped his fingers on his oak desk.
"Miss Hartman, it isn't I who wishes to speak to you." I groaned.
"Look, Avery, I'm not going to sit here while you wait for Madam Psycho to get here. I have a class to be in." I stood up and headed for the door. A woman walked through the door. She was dressed in a black pantsuit and her auburn hair was pinned up. She looked stern and intimidating.
"Miss Hartman, meet Olivia Scotts, the juvenial courts liason for this school district. She's going to be talking to you today." She grinned at me creepily and gestured to the arm chair.
"Won't you have a seat, Miss Hartman?" she asked. Her voice matched her creepiness. I slowly stepped back and sat down in the arm chair again. I kept my hands in my lap and stared at the floor. Scotts cleared her throat as she leaned against Avery's desk. "Please look up when I speak to you, Miss Hartman." I looked up at her and she raised a brow at me. "How old are you, Miss Hartman?" I began to wring my hands, it was something that I did when I got nervous.
"Why is that any of your business?" She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Miss Hartman, I only wish to get to know more about you. Seeing as how I'm the one who is taking over your case." My heart began to race.
"Why are you taking over my case? Why do I even have a case in the first place?!"
She smirked, knowing that she had me right where she wanted me at, squirming in the seat. She cleared her throat, looking confident.
"Miss Hartman, I just want to ask you some questions. Just to see if there really is anything that needs to be done or can be done with you." I squinted at her, a thing I did when I was confused.
"What do you mean done with me?" She shrugged her shoulders, pretending not to know.
"Well, it's just that...you're a young girl, a bit on the rebellious side of things, and you just seem like you know more than most of us." I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back in the chair.
"Look, lady, I would like to answer your "questions" but I really don't have time right now. I have to be somewhere and this is a complete waste of my time." I stood up again and she stepped forward.
"Sit back down, Hartman." I froze at the tone of her voice and slowly lowered myself back into the seat. "We will be done here when I say so. Even if that means that I have to call your parents at work. I just want to talk to you, Lindsay, and if you don't cooperate, I'll have to put in my report that you need help and that could get you locked up somewhere. You don't want that, do you?" She was playing me and I was letting her.
"Okay," I said defeated.
