Just Try It

Chapter 72- Manipulated and Stalked

Saturday, February 18th, 5:00PM

Seymour Dojo and Fitness Center

She told herself that she should have be relieved that Sondra didn't want to attack her anymore, especially since Sondra turned out to be so much tougher than she had thought. Instead, Susie just felt a feeling of dread as she took the phone. When she finally looked at the picture message, Susie had to swallow the choking lump in her throat to ask, "Nancy sent it to me? How could I get a message, and send it to so many people without even knowing it? There has to be a mistake."

Sondra rolled her eyes as she responded scathingly, "The message didn't send itself."

Danica exchanged looks with Hillary before asking gently, "Did you really have the phone on you the whole time that morning, or did you have someone 'visit' that morning, and you stepped away from your phone?"

Turning away from their knowing stares, Susie looked down blankly at the incriminating message. The evidence was in her own hand, but she wanted to deny it. Even though they obviously knew already, Susie confirmed in a small voice, "Nancy stopped by on her way to school to make sure that I wasn't too upset about the suspension. She asked for a cup of coffee, and I had to make a pot."

When the silence lengthened, Susie turned to Moe and said honestly, "I'm sorry. I didn't know. Really."

Moe nodded his acceptance like it wasn't a big deal, but Susie knew how hard facing the school was.

When her eyes drifted back to the messages on her phone on their own, Susie murmured to herself, "How could she do something like that?"

Not even realizing she had spoken out loud, Susie was surprised when Hillary answered, "Nancy doesn't care about other people. She just uses them until she is done with them and then she tosses them to the side. This time, she wanted revenge on Sondra and Moe for her brother, and you made a handy scapegoat. She might even have been punishing you for disagreeing with her."

Even with the evidence in her hand, Susie shook her head in denial of Nancy's harsh assessment of her friend. Sondra pointed out, "Nancy wasn't happy with you the last day or so. You questioned her in the locker room, and she was setting your targets at as much of an angle as the rest."

There was barely time to remember the slight disagreement before Hillary continued, "This leads us to my demand. You need to stop being Nancy's pawn. Do you really want to just do her dirty work? What do you think would happen if Moe had decided to go to the coaches or administrators about the cyber bullying? Everyone at school thinks you were the one who sent the picture out. Do you think Nancy cares what happens to you?"

Understanding filled Susie, even as she shook her head again. Moe was well liked by students and staff.  If he went to the coaches or administrators, there was a good chance that she would be off the team or even be expelled. Even now the best she could expect would be to end her senior year being shunned.  The vision of solitary walks down long halls of glaring people had her stomach twisting.

Even worse, Susie knew that after a couple of weeks she would be doing anything Nancy said just to have someone talk to her again. If she did that, she would soon be dating Malcolm again. This time she would never get away from him. With a shiver, she found herself admitting softly, "I don't want to be Nancy's pawn, but with everyone else hating me, Nancy and Malcolm will be the only ones to talk to me. I don't like all of their crowd, but they can make the rest of their friends accept me."

To her surprise, Danica shook her head and insisted, "You will always have the tennis team and your co-captain."

Hillary leaned in and insisted, "We'll tell the truth about the text message, and people will believe it if Moe is there too. Don't give Nancy another chance. She will always put herself and her cousin Malcolm first."