Next chapter, more at the park.
Heather and Josh came back with the treats and handed one to everybody but August and Nikki. Heather sits at her spot and takes the last spoonfuls of ice cream out of her paper bowl before going to throw it away in a trash bin.
"What a coincidence," a chilling voice says slowly. Heather turns around and sees Bryce. He steps forward slowly, almost stalking her.
Heather starts to chuckle to herself.
"..What?"
"You're nose is squished to one side," Heather points out, "I guess you can't get many girls with that, can you?" Bryce pins her to the tree behind her.
"You did that to me!" he yells, "and now all my friends are in the hospital because of you!"
"They attacked me," Heather says, "on your orders. Now let me go!"
"Not likely. You took something from me, how about I take something from you?"
"Hey, buster!" Bryce looks over his shoulder. Finn winces at the bright red nose and bandages over his face. There's also traces of black and blue around Bryce's eyes. "Leave the nice girl alone."
"Buzz off!" Bryce says.
Josh sighs, then looks at August. They stand up. "I'd listen to him. You see," they walk around the table, "that right there is our friend and you are assaulting her."
"I'll call the police," Jacey says, taking out her phone.
"Let her go," Josh says, his tone changing to seriousness.
"No," Bryce says, one of his hands moving from Heather's shoulder to her neck.
Heather puts her hand on his wrist, ready to push him away and press her shoe into his back. 'I can make him eat the dirt in that position,' she tells herself. Bryce lets go of her other shoulder and poises for a punch to her face.
Before Heather makes a move, Bryce yelps as he dragged away from her. Heather is forced to follow, until a hand comes down on Bryce's arm and breaks the grip on her neck. Two arms catch her. "Got you," Josh says above her. Heather looks up to see August pinning Bryce with his foot on his back and one arm taut in the air while the other is pinned under his stomach.
"..Thanks," Heather says, standing up, "but I had it under control."
"We saw that," August says, not turning to acknowledge her.
"I knew what I was doing," Heather restates.
"Uh huh," August says, just going with it. Josh walks over to him and helps him haul Bryce up.
"I gave him that nose job," Heather reveals. Josh looks at Bryce's face, then back at Heather.
"Like I said, strong girl," he comments.
"It looks sloppy," August critiques.
"Some friends you've met, Heather!" Bryce yells, but no one listens to him.
"He provoked me, so I acted," Heather tells August.
"So you let your feelings get the better of you," August mocks, "like I said, sloppy."
"Is that why you left your other school, Heather?" Nikki asks, "because you hit him?"
Heather looks at Bryce and lets all her malice towards him show, "He is the reason I hate going to school." Bryce only smiles and winks at her. "Are the police coming?"
Jacey hangs up, "They'll be here in a few minutes." Heather nods then sits down.
"..What? You're finally getting help from others? And from boys no less," Bryce taunts.
"Someone shut him up, please," Heather says, trying to ignore him.
"Now you don't want to do your own dirty work," Bryce mocks, "poor, poor, Dysley. Afraid you're going to break me?"
Heather stands up and runs over to him. "Either hold me back, or hold him still," she tells the others, her temper going nuclear.
"Don't give him the satisfaction," August says.
Heather's fist is already curled to strike, but then she lowers it, "You're right," she says to August, without taking her gaze from Bryce, "he's not worth the ache after."
Heather turns away right as Bryce says, "What if I told you Kate thought I was worth it-?" His nose caves in, and it sprouts new rivers of blood. He wails and Heather doesn't make eye contact with anyone. She squats next to her bag and packs anything she took out.
"I have to go. Dad will be waiting for me," Heather says quickly, "you can wait for the police, right?"
"Shouldn't you be here?" Jacey asks, looking at Heather's blood speckled hand.
Heather looks at it too, "Do you think I can handle it?" No one in the group moves, except Bryce who is still howling in pain. Heather then shoulders her backpack and takes a napkin. She wipes off any remaining blood and throws it away on her path to the sidewalk. After she turns the corner, she hears police cars pass her.
Steve was not happy with Heather, but he was glad she told him what happened. Her knuckles had a little bruising on them, so she kept her woven gloves on the next day for school. Heather avoided the group, even when she found out Nikki sits a few rows above her in choir.
But she knew it was unavoidable once lunch came around. They were the only people she ever sat with; the only people she knew. So at lunch, she watched the tables fill up as she passed through the line. She reached the end and found no table would be empty. She had to either sit with strangers on an off day, or sit with people that saw her dark side.
'Dark side it is,' Heather says. She walks over to the table and sits with two seats on either side of her. Unfortunately, Josh came after her in the line, so he sat to her left. No one said anything, but Heather got glances throughout lunch from every person, except August.
"..How's your hand?" Josh is the first to ask.
Heather doesn't react, but then she mutters, "Fine."
"You know that wasn't self defense right?" August asks.
"Yes, I know."
"You're emotions got the better of you again," he adds.
"Yes, I noticed," Heather continues, "but it only ever happens with him. He's the.. The worst person you can ever meet."
There's silence again, before Finn asks, "Heather?"
He waits for her to look up at him because she isn't answering.
"..Who's.. Who's Kate?"
Heather's eyes glaze over and she looks back at her food, only to find she had finished all of it in the silence. "..She was the only friend I had at the first school Bryce and I were at together."
"You mean-?"
"The school where I punched him isn't the first school he's terrorized," Heather says darkly. But she keeps her voice down. "Kate was my.. My best friend. And he hurt her when she was already vulnerable. Along with a lot of other girls." Heather looks up at them, "He's a monster."
Heather clears her throat and pushes a small piece of a carrot around one divot of her tray.
"What happened after I left?"
"The police showed up, Bryce was given a substance test and it was found that he was intoxicated," Nikki relays, "he was also arrested for assault, but since you weren't there as the person he assaulted.."
"It's likely he won't be locked away for as long as you'd like," Josh says.
Heather nods numbly. The group goes quiet again. "..Thanks," she looks up at Josh and August, "for helping, really. I did have a handle on it-"
"Did not."
"-but I appreciate someone standing up for me. I haven't had that since.."
"Kate?" Finn asks. Heather nods.
"Since Kate."
"Heather?" She looks at Nikki. "Jacey and I are going to have a sleepover tonight, at her house. Want to come?"
Heather remembers the sleepovers she had with Kate. These girls want to be her friend, which makes Heather feel warm inside, but then she remembers something.
She isn't the little girl who would rush to get stuff ready and call Kate before Kate can call her. She can't stay up until her mother tells her to go to sleep, then wake up refreshed in the morning, without a care.
She's gone through too much to still be that girl.
"..No thanks," Heather says, "I told Alyse that I'd help her with her reading, and.." The true second reason is, 'I can't sleep without nightmares and I need Steve to be there to calm me down.' But they can never know who she is, "I don't think my dad will let me go on a sleepover. Sorry."
"Oh. Okay." Nikki is completely okay with it, but Heather also feels guilty for lying to her.
'How will friendships work like this if I can't tell them everything?' Heather wonders.
"Want to go to the basketball hoop?" Josh asks everybody. Heather joins in the chorus of yes'.
Heather barely hears the doorbell go off as she strums the guitar, practicing a new song. "Heather! A friend of yours is here," Steve calls.
"Coming!" Heather puts the instrument down, then goes to greet Alyse, who has her backpack and everything, "Hi Alyse."
"Hi Heather. I'm.. I'm not sure how you can help me," she admits.
"Well, this is to see, right?" They sit at the table and Heather thinks about the first question, "Alyse, what is something that you like to do?"
"..Is this to help me?"
"Yes. Here, I'll explain," Heather says, "when someone has dyslexia, it's because it is hard to tell the difference between some letters, right?"
"Right."
"So, you need a way to remember the differences," Heather adds, "and to do that, you need to know what takes your attention best. For me, I love music. Some people like art, or science. Some are builders and like to use their hands."
"..I like woodworking," Alyse says. Heather listens. "..Mrs. Edleisioer commends me on my wood projects all the time," Alyse adds.
"..I think I know what could work. But.. again, I'm no professional, so.."
"I want to try it," Alyse says.
Heather smiles, "Okay. Dad?" Steve looks up, "Alyse and I are going to the craft store."
"Need me to drive?"
"No. It's down the street, right?" Heather says, standing up.
Alyse follows her and they are at the store in no time. Heather came here once or twice because of a school project. She looks through the aisles, then exclaims when she finds what she's looking for. There are packets of wooden letters, both uppercase and lowercase. There are also individual ones for those that know what letters they need.
Heather picks up two letters, "Alyse, what letter is this?"
"That's a.. b," Alyse says.
"Good. Now, what is this?" Heather asks, showing her the other one.
"..A..nother b?" Alyse guesses. Heather first hands her the 'b,' letting her feel it's shape and then hands her the second letter. "No, not a b- a d!" She decides, "the bar code would be on the other side if it was a b!"
"Do you think these can help you?" Heather asks, "if you work with your hands, maybe by forming the words with 3D letters can help you practice reading."
Alyse looks excited as she peeks at the other letters. "Let's do it."
The group finally meets Bryce. And they see Heathers 'dark side' as Tony would say.
But they still want to be her friends!
I am like Heather, I am not a professional when it comes to dyslexia. So this may not be accurate.
Do you have a favorite quote so far in this story?
Here's mine from this chapter- "Hold me back or hold him down" -Heather
I did not think she'd ever say that. But since she has, it's more of an impulse thing. That is how she feels whenever she's around Bryce.
One more for today,
~CtW