Unforgettable (Part 1)

2. Josephine

I am awoken by the ding ding sound of my iPad, which tells me that Clair is in trouble again. She has been sending me screenshots of offensive messages that two random dudes keep sending her, and I have no idea who the two bullies are. I roll on my side and open the cover to my iPad. The brightness of the screen lights up the whole room, so I quickly pull my iPad under my covers. I enter in the passcode and click on iMessage.

Yep, it's happened again.

This time, the bully is threatening Clair's life. I wonder if I should tell the Police or not, but I decide no. I look at the time on my iPad; it is one sixteen. I really can't keep letting her wake me up with these messages, so I decide to tell her parents when I get home from school tomorrow and more of our friends. Who knows, maybe other people may have something to say? I send the message to Joanne and Michael, whom I know are also close friends to Clair. I decide that I need to have a face-to-face conversation with Clair, so I creep out of my bedroom outside to the garage where Dad has his own Wi-Fi I accidently hacked in to. I call Clair on face time and get an immediate response. It looks like the bullying has also affected her sleep.

"Clair," I say sleepily.

"Hi Josephine," Clair says, sounding as if she's wide awake.

"Listen, you need to tell someone else about your bullying," I say. "And not just me. Like, messages like that are like so serious th-"

"Josephine, I know exactly what I'm doing!" Clair snaps. "I didn't come first in the grade for nothing!"

"No, you don't know what you're doing!" I exclaim. "How come a smart girl like you hasn't reported this guy yet, let alone tell the Police, your other friends or even your family! They can help you, you know! And if you can't even tell your family, than who can you tell?!"

Clair seems a little offended by what I just said.

"I'm sorry," I mutter.

"I'm so tired," Clair says in a sleepy voice she has obviously put on.

"No you're not," I say. "Listen to me."

"Listen to you?" she retorts.

"Have you done your assignment yet?" I ask, trying to change the subject to get Clair's mind off her current situation.

"Who could care about a stupid assessment task!"

"Wow! What's wrong with you?!"

The connection fails, which only means that Clair was ended the conversation. What is wrong with her? For her to not care about an assignment is like someone walking to the moon; it's impossible! I must tell Joanne and Michael. I send them messages over iMessage and stay in the garage for a while. Michael and Joanne have responded to my previous message. Then I see they have invited me to a chat room, so I accept.

Joanne

Not good with Clair. Needs 2 tell people

Michael

4 her 2 not tell me is bad. Might not trust me

Joanne

Same

Josephine

Says she doesn't care about assignment

Joanne

Woah!

Michael

Unheard of

Josephine

Need 2 tell her family

Joanne

I'll tell Emily U tell Jonathan

Michael

No!! Don't

Joanne

?

Michael

Got her sister killed

Joanne

That's a lie

Josephine

?

Joanne

Sister is Shelly

Josephine

O

Michael

Gotta go

Joanne

Same

Josephine

Bye.

With that done, I walked back to my bedroom to only find the lights turned on.

Oh, fantastic.

I walk straight into my bedroom and am faced by Mum.

"What do you think you're doing, spaz?!" Mum yells.

"Nothin'," I lie, hiding my iPad under my pajama shirt.

Unfortunately, Mum notices.

"What are you hiding under your shirt?!" Mum yells.

"Nothin'," I lie, again.

Mum lunges for the back of my shirt. I quickly move out of the way and my iPad slips out of my shirt. Luckily, it lands on my bed, however, Mum already has it.

"I'm confiscating this!" she bellows. "What is wrong with you?! You've been getting up late out of bed at around this time every day since the weekend!"

And ever since Clair has been cyber bullied.

With that being said, Mum storms out of my bedroom, slamming the door behind her. I wonder if I should tell Mum about Clair's situation, but I decide not to. Mum is already as angry as possible, and she probably won't believe me anyway. I turn off my light and slump on my bed. I toss and turn for two hours, stressing over what mess Clair is in. I hope she's going to be all right tomorrow.