In Six Years' Time

Busted

I had never once thought I'd spend my (second) high school life in coffee shops with student body presidents going over plans to indoctrinate an anti-bullying policy in our school, but here I was.

Molly had loved the idea. In fact, she loved it so much she called the other members of the student body club to meet us and I was now smushed into a too-small table with seven other club members such as the secretary, vice president, and four 'cabinet' members. I was definitely out of my element, and they all knew it too.

We were all wary of each other. I had a long standing reputation for being trouble and they had a long standing reputation for... Well, getting rid of it. But after Molly swore up and down that I had changed, the other members were willing to give me a chance.

And honestly, I was grateful for it.

I had more fun in the Starbucks tonight than I ever remembered having before. We all had coffee and pastries and went over the plans my mom and I had discussed. People adding onto it, tweaking things until it had become a solid plan. We were probably at it for hours, and it really felt like time had just flown by.

We only stopped for the day because an employee came to let us know that the store would close in about fifteen minutes. It was already ten o'clock at night.

We all quickly gathered our things and I text my mom to come pick me up. The other club members dispersed on their own accord one by one, saying goodbyes and promising to meet for a meeting with the principals to see about getting permission for our anti-bullying program.

I know a lot of people would think it's lame. Hell, I would have thought it was lame if I was actually a teenager. But I had to do what I could in order to keep Jenson from doing what he did. I had an ulterior motive. The others just wanted to improve the school. Another reason why these kids were better than I'd ever be.

"Hey, Talia?" A voice called and I glanced back to see the vice president lingering behind me.

"Yeah?" I asked, giving him my attention. It was too easy to fall into my thoughts these days.

He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied me. Or well, studied my eye. "I'm sorry about your eye. Or well, kind of everything happening to you recently." I found it strange that he'd even bother. He had no obligation. "But it's nice to see you're starting to mature some. I won't lie, when Molly said you were the one who thought up this idea, I was skeptical."

I smirked. I could see why. I have no doubt in my mind the whole group thought Molly was off her rocker by suggesting that I was suddenly a good kid. "But," he continued, looking me over again. "I think this is a good idea. You'd make a great spokesperson for anti-bullying with what happened today."

It took me a second to understand what he said, but then the pieces fell together.

"Oh, no, listen." I started, trying to figure out the best way to word this. "What happened with Alexis wasn't bullying. It was just... a misunderstanding." It sounded lame. I knew it did, and he knew it did. I tried to cover it up. "I had said some hurtful things. I severed my friendship with them and pretty much told them the reason why is because they're never going to amount to anything." I saw him open his mouth, probably to agree, but I cut him off. "Regardless of if it's true, no one wants to hear that about themselves. So yeah. She punched me in the eye. But if that's what will make her feel better about it, I can handle a black eye."

"So what made you decide to do this then?" He asked. The student body vice president was pretty straightforward. He had questions and wanted answers. Had he been the same age as us, I don't think Molly would have been president.