Chapter 4
He couldn't believe he had hurt Jo. Jo, his long time girlfriend. Jo, who had stuck with him when Katie had died.
But he didn't regret it. She had lied.
Kendall sighed wearily, sitting down at his desk. He picked up one of the tapes, staring at them bitterly.
These tapes were taking over his life. They were making him angry at the world, at the people he used to be close with.
But that was only because those people deserved to suffer his wrath.
Right?
Kendall decided not to think to deeply about it. He was ready to hear about the next person. The next reason. Well, as ready as he ever could be.
He found that he was actually eager to find out who the next person was. Did that make him cruel?
Those first two were bad, I know. I'm sorry for giving you all the bad ones at the beginning. But let me tell you, some of these people in the future aren't going to be half as bad. But as I said before, the last few are probably worse.
Maybe.
Well, I've really got nothing else to say, so I'll just go right into this next one. This girl, and yes, I know they've all been girls so far, was the first to physically humiliate me. Stephanie and Jo, they verbally betrayed me. But this next girl physically did.
And I think that's worse.
Let's give three claps for number 3: Mercedes Griffin.
For some reason, Kendall wasn't surprised. Mercedes was Griffin's daughter, and Griffin was a devil. Somehow. But didn't that just make his daughter even worse?
Oh, Mercedes… your father, Arthur Griffin, is the head of RCM CBT Global Net Sanyoid, and wow that is a long name for a company. So basically, he's my brother's boss. My brother and his three best friends, who you seemed to all love so much.
When you asked me to go with you on a double date, I didn't think anything of it. I thought maybe you were just being nice for once.
I have such bad judgement.
I said yes, since I was bored out of my mind anyway. It wasn't like anyone would hang out with me anyways. They'd all seen the pictures, heard the secrets.
Your date was named Brian. He was hot, I'll give him that. But I've learned to never trust a book by its cover. In this case, never judge a boy by his looks.
The date went great. My date, Jeremy, was pretty nice. That misled me, since I didn't know his brother would be such a jerk.
Mercedes, back to you. You drove me and the two brothers home, dropped them off at their house. But only Jeremy got off. Brian, the older brother, stayed. And when we drove past the Palm Woods, I knew something was wrong.
At first, I thought you'd accidentally passed it. But after it was clear that you weren't taking a U-turn, I started to get worried. And a little scared, I'll admit.
And I was right to be scared.
Motel 5. That was where you parked. Your date grabbed me by the wrists and dragged me into a room. You followed behind him, smirking.
I will never forget that look on your face.
He threw me onto the bed, and you and him laughed like something was real funny. You kissed him on the lips.
Then you stood in front of me and whispered, "Take your clothes off."
What was I supposed to do? Refuse and get beat up? Get raped, maybe?
So, yeah, I took off my clothes.
But instead of doing anything sexual to me, you guys did something that could, in some degree, be worse.
You and Brian looked over every inch of my skin, every bit of my flesh, and… and you basically stripped me down just to make fun of my body.
Fat, disgusting, pathetic, whore… It went on for so long, I didn't know how much time had passed when you guys finally stopped and went to sleep.
I cried myself to sleep that night. I'd never felt so humiliated, so ashamed of myself. I'd never felt so dirty.
After all, you made me feel like the dirtiest girl on earth.
The next morning, you told my mom I had stayed over at your house at some slumber party or whatever. My mom didn't even think it was weird, that I was hanging out with a 17 year old when I was only 12.
And to think that before this whole ordeal, I thought you had actually become my friend. One of my closest friends, even.
I didn't think you were such a jerk after I spent a few days with you hanging out. That was before the whole stripping thing happened, though.
You and I talked about things girls talked about, giggled like girls should, and did so many normal things that I thought I'd been mean to think you were a jerk.
Now I think I was being nice, to only label you as a jerk.
You are so many other things that I will not say in fear of being arrested.
But I'll be dead soon, so who cares, right?
But I still won't say it.
After that night at the motel, I never saw Brian again, and you pulled me over that next day and dropped the bomb.
You never intended to be friends with me. You never intended to do anything with me that didn't involve humiliating me.
What a surprise, right?
These were your exact words: "I'd never be friends with a whore like you. I just wanted your cute brother and his friends."
And you got them. My brother Kendall, stubborn but kind Kendall, went on one date with you, but then dumped you.
James, flirty pretty James, went out with you for a few weeks. Not surprisingly, he also dumped you.
Then, when the two most good-with-girls guys were out of the question, you asked Logan. Smart, nerdy Logan. And he said yes, although I'm sure he regrets it.
I would too.
And finally, you asked Carlos after Logan got back with Camille. Stupid, oblivious, awkward Carlos.
You were really desperate, weren't you?
I really don't mean to insult my brothers; I just mean to insult you, Mercedes.
My brothers were too good for you. And later on, you'll see that that makes you really, really, bad.
Mercedes, you deserved to be shot down by four cute guys in a row. You deserve all the pain and heartache you got.
I'm not even going to ask why you'd do such horrible things to me, because I already know.
You're a deceiving, lying, pathetic, dirty girl. Even dirtier than me, Katie Knight, who had got raped by her father and an apparent whore.
I hate you, Mercedes, and I'll scream it to the world if I have to.
Mercedes Griffin: the Dirty Witch.
Pause.
Pause.
Pause.
Kendall slammed his finger down on the button so many times, he was afraid he'd break the player.
He didn't break it; but he wished he had.
This was the first time he'd heard Katie sounding actually really bitter, really hateful, and not sorry for herself, which he had all the right to be. And it hurt.
Katie had always been too kind, too sweet, to hate someone. Actually hate them with all her heart. But now here she was, screaming to everything that she absolutely, positively, hated Mercedes Griffin.
And if Katie hated her, then Kendall did, too.
This was the first time Katie had mentioned his three friends. And the first time she'd described him.
Stubborn but kin… that was what Katie had called him.
He was glad that was all she thought of him.
Kendall was pissed off, but he didn't feeling like storming into Mercedes' apartment and hurting her, too.
He hadn't stooped as low as her, not yet.
He called her instead, and got the voicemail.
Hey, this is Mercedes Griffin, I'm sorry I couldn't come to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the beep.
Kendall was surprised to hear that it sounded like a voicemail a normal person would have. Nothing self-conceited about it.
But her voice sounded monotonous, like she was a rusty robot or something. And she sounded like she had just cried for two hours straight.
Kendall thought nothing of it, not then, not when he was so mad at her for humiliating his sister. So he waited for the beep.
Beep!
"Hey, Mercedes. I… I love my baby sister, did you know that? I love her so, so much." Kendall felt the tears in his eyes. He was surprised they hadn't come sooner.
"And what you did… I've never met someone so cruel, Mercedes. Your dad seems like an angel compared to what you did. And you know Griffin… he's not an angel." Kendall almost smiled at that. Griffin with wings and a halo?
"Look, I know you've probably heard the tapes, and God bless you if you actually felt bad and decided to have a heart for once in your life. Actually, God shouldn't bless you. Forget I said that." Kendall knew he was being a jerk.
But he didn't care. Mercedes deserved it.
"And Mercedes? Katie said you dated my friends for a while. Don't touch them again, you hear me? Never, ever, touch them again." Kendall remembered snapping at James to leave him alone, yelling at Logan to shut it with his logic, and shoving Carlos out the door and making him cry. Kendall had been pushing his friends away, but he realized his mistake.
His friends made up half of him. Without them, he was half gone.
And he couldn't help but feel protective of them, and he especially wanted to protect them from this… this witch.
"James is too good for you, Logan is too smart for you, and Carlos is too sweet for you. Leave them alone, okay? Or I will hurt you." When Kendall hung up, he almost felt like laughing.
He kind of sounded like a witch now, didn't he?
He had hurt his friends, too, and he wouldn't be surprised if they hated him and despised him by now.
Just like Katie had hated Mercedes.
It hurt so much talking about Katie in past tense, but Kendall tried to suck it up.
Shut up, James! Why don't you just go and blow some girls over? That's all you seem to care about! That's what he'd shouted at James when he'd tried to comfort him the best he could.
Stop trying to be smart, Logan! You're as stupid as can be, so just stop, alright? Kendall had said that after Logan had tried to reason Kendall out of his depression.
And when he'd made Carlos cry, he'd said, Go cry, you stupid baby! That's all you're good for anyways!
Kendall buried his face in his hands. He'd been so cruel… who was he to call Mercedes a witch?
He was no better, and he had to fix it.
And he was going to.
He had hurt his friends. His strong protector, who'd only tried to comfort Kendall the best he could, his smart buddy, who had only tried to be reasonable and a good friend, and his sweet little brother, who had only tried to be optimistic and caring. He knew he had to fix what he'd done.
After all, didn't Katie emphasize enough that actions had their consequences?
A/N- Fast update again! At least it's fast in my opinion… and if you know me, you know that I don't usually update fast. But all these reviews are AWESOME! I can't even stress that enough!
Once again, reviews are the things that give me the energy to stay up until 12 typing up another chapter! So keep them going (wink wink hint hint)! Please?
Love you all,
Anonymous Skrtle :)
