The Saving Bailey Trilogy 1: The Bullet List

Chapter 9

                                                                                Chapter 9

        Both fourth and fifth period pass uneventfully. A weight has been lifted off my chest from me allowing myself to cry openly. Maybe Clad’s right. Maybe I can do it. This new flower springing up in my garden of hope inspires me to stop outside the counselor’s door. I can do this, I think.

        “Come in, honey,” the counselor Mrs. Bracker says after I knock once.

        I lay my heart out on the table. My mouth is running and words are flowing from it like the steady flow of a river. The more I talk the easier it is to continue.

        “I’m going to talk to your gym teacher Mrs. Stewart. She should be held accountable for the actions of the girls, if what you say is true, that most of these incidents occurred in the girls’ locker room,” Mrs. Bracker says. She leans against her desk and scratches some words onto a sticky note, her bulging body threatening to break out of the sausage casing that is her dress.

        “Yes, all the time. They won’t leave me alone. And I can’t take them on by myself or I would have by now.” I play with a tear in the seat. “This could back-fire terribly if they find out I told you, but I had to do something.”

        She nods, and I think I hear her dress cry out in desperation from the slight movement.

      “I’m a counselor and it is my job to protect you; everything you say in here is confidential,” she assures me.

        “I hope so,” I say as I stand up.

        “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. Have a nice day,” she says with a less-than-genuine smile.

        I feel uneasy about her, it doesn’t seem like her heart is really in it.

        I’ve managed to slip past lunch and two periods; now all I have to sit through is U.S. History and Drama. The rest of the day should go smoothly. I join a group of four desks, with Trenton and Holden.

        Trenton muffles a snigger when Alana sits next to me and I almost want to kick her out of the group. Holden is cool, one of the popular kids, he can sit wherever he wants. From the way he is chatting with Trenton, I assume they are good friends.

        “What happened with Miemah?” I ask Trenton as a conversation starter.

        “What do you mean? She dumped me, you heard her yourself,” he says, his voice acidic.

        “Oh, I just thought—” I say.

        “Well, you thought wrong,” Trenton interrupts.

        “Sorry,” I say.

        His expression softens. “It’s okay. I’m not over her yet. We dated for years. Then you come along, and she just assumes we are up to something.”

        “She never trusted you. Why would you want to be in a relationship like that?” I ask, testing my boundaries with him.

        “You think so logically,” he says with a smile.

        I’m not logical when I am screaming my head off because the lights have been turned out, or when I’m writing a Bullet List and putting your ex-girlfriend’s name on it.

        “Miemah torments Bailey, isn’t that right?” Alana suddenly chimes in.

        Is it too late to ask her to leave?