A/N: I will get the other beach chapter up later but I just really needed to do this. Most of you know that I vent through my posts and this is another one of those, though this time, it's not for me. It's to raise some sort of awareness. This actually happened to my cousin's teenage daughter and thankfully the outcome is the same. It just aches me that this really happens to some kids and it needs attention called to it.
Megan sighs quietly to herself as she shoves her books into her locker. She would be lying if she said that she was thrilled about coming to school today, but then again, she would be lying if she said she would be thrilled about going to school any day. She just doesn't like school simply because the people are stupid and more often than not, almost all of them have a knack for pissing her off. It's a trait that her Ma has told her she's picked up from her Mom, but she doesn't exactly see it.
In fact, ever since most of her school has gone crazy over the new social site 'Friend Me', Megan has found herself more annoyed with the student body as usual. She was never really one for social media sites to begin with. She had only made a Facebook and an Instagram because her friends had told her to do so. It's not as if she even uses them at all. The only thing she made by her own free will was her Twitter account, which she only uses to stalk-err, follow various celebrities.
Closing her locker, she turns around and prepares to head off towards her final class of the day. She pauses when something catches her ears, spiking her interest. She pauses and leans against the wall, pressing her ears closely to the edge as she eavesdrops on the two girls around the corner.
"Can you believe that whore? I mean, I guess everyone their secrets but who would have thought that she was a closet slut?" one of the girls whispers, though it is still audible.
"Oh I know." The other girl responds with a small gasp as she holds up her phone. "Everyone is talking about her on Friend Me. I can't believe anyone is even friends with her, let alone she has a suuuuuper hot girlfriend."
"Oh my gosh, I know. Megan is like extremely hot. I don't even know why she's going out with a loser like her when she can get someone so much better. I thought surely she'd go out with Carmen or someone with an actual status."
"Totally. Wonder what Megan's gonna do when she finds out her loser girlfriend has been whoring around."
"If she's smart, she'll dump the slut as soon as she sees her."
"Totally."
Megan frowns as the dismissal bell rings for them to start heading to their last period. She adjusts her backpack strap on her shoulder as she starts heading off towards her advanced economics class. As soon as she slips through the door, all eyes of the class turn to her, and she gulps silently before taking her usual seat next to Charlie and Sam who are looking at her with feared expressions.
As soon as the final bell rings, the teacher, who is thankfully a sub, hands out the group work assignment and then proceeds over to the teachers desk to not busy himself with the class for the rest of the day. Another bonus is that this gives the trio the opportunity to talk without getting in trouble.
"Are you gonna break up with Carly?" Sam asks out of the blue with seemingly widened eyes as she awaits for a response.
Megan frowns deeply at the question that causes her to drop her pen mid-write. "N-no! Why would I break up with her?!" she exclaims, probably a little too loud because a few of her classmates glance at her and begin whispering. She shakes her head at them before she leans into her friends and drops her voice. "Why would I break up with her?"
"Because word is going around that you are." Charlie replies, pulling out her phone before she slides it across the table with the new app for that stupid new social site on the screen. "This has been all over the internet since yesterday. There's so much shit on here, I can't even go back and find where it started.
Megan's heart sinks drastically as she scrolls through the various comments from very students calling her girlfriend derogatory names, spreading rumors, and anything else of the like. She actually begins to feel sick to her stomach and she has to push the phone back over to Charlie because she's seen more than enough.
"Why are they saying all of the things about her?" she whispers sadly as her mind shifts towards the wellbeing of her girlfriend. "Is she okay?"
"We don't know how any of this started." Sam begins with a shrug before her expression turns sour. "But something tells me that the bitch clan has some heavy involvement in this. There are so many rumors going around about Carly that I know none of them are true, but it still hurts me as her best friend because people are believing all that shit."
"Have you guys seen her today? Is she okay?"
"I haven't seen her since lunch, but I'm sure she knows about what's being said about her. I have to agree with Sam; I think that the royal bitch clan is behind this."
By the end of the period, Megan is ready to bolt from her class so she can find Carly as quick as possible. When the final bell rings, she all but runs from the classroom, trying to think of where she can start first. Before she gets very far, a familiar snide voice calling out to her stops her in her tracks.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the school's resident heartbreaker." The voice sneers in a snobby manner, earning a few giggles along with it.
Megan rolls her eyes greatly and turns around before coming face to face with the reason for her daily irritation. As she locks gazes with her nemesis, her stomach can't help but clench in disgust. "What do you want Carmen…" she replies in a bored fashion, yawning for added effect.
Carmen David is a tall girl with long, flowing dark hair and eyes that sparkle with mischief and deceit. Megan has also personally dubbed her to be one of the fakest girls in the school because she simply feels like Carmen thinks that she owns everything and everyone. She also likes to walk around flaunting the fact that she's half Israeli and was taught to speak Hebrew as a young child. On anyone else, Megan would think it was cool, but since its Carmen, the gift is lost. It also doesn't help that the snotty girl is the cheer captain.
The remainder of Carmen's friends, or the bitch clan that they have been dubbed by Megan and her friends, include Lindsay Willows, who Megan can make a small exception or on occasion when she's not around Carmen, Lauren Mills, who she is sure the pure incarnation of an evil darkness, Morgan Sidle who is kind of Lindsey's sister but that's a complicated story and she's just as bad as Carmen, and lastly, Skye Beckett who seems to just wants to fit in somewhere in the social hierarchy that is high school.
"I was just wondering where the whore is? Or maybe you don't know, since you've been unable to keep tabs on her." Carmen snarks back before her lips tug into a smirk. "You know Megan, you really should reevaluate who you go out with. You sure do know how to pick them from the bottom." She continues on, earning a laugh from her group of friends.
"Seems to me like you're quite familiar with the bottom." Megan replies with a smirk and judging by the look on the other girl's face, she knows she's starting to push Carmen's buttons. "Tell me, how do you say 'worthless piece of shit' in Hebrew?"
Carmen snarls and grits her teeth tightly before regaining her composure. "Whatever. I don't have to waste my time on someone as lowly and worthless as you. I just wanted to tell you to keep a better eye on your whore monkey, you never know who she'll jump next."
As the clan of cheerleaders shove past her, Meagan rolls her eyes once more before heading off to search for her girlfriend. After almost an hour of searching and calling, she figures Carly must have gone home early and she decides to head home herself.
Casey sighs happily as she moves about the kitchen preparing what she has deemed to be the perfect sandwich. She delicately slices the pickles to perfection, before placing them on the slide of break already containing two slices of cheese, turkey, roast beef, tomatoes, lettuce, bacon and mustard. Her grin widens when she tops her sandwich off with the last slice of bread as the work of art nearly brings tears to her eyes.
Armed with her wonderful sandwich, a side of barbeque potato chips, and an ice cold beer, Casey's grin widens as she makes her way over to the sofa and plops down in front of the television where the latest baseball game is about to start. She really couldn't have asked for a better day off.
Just as she is about to bite into her glorious creation, the front door opens and slams shut all within three seconds, causing the majority of the contents of her sandwich to fall haphazardly onto the plate. "So much for that…" she groans, placing the remains of her meal onto the plate before she stands up from the couch only to be met with her seething teenage daughter a few moments later. "What's the matter with you that has you going around slamming doors?"
"People at school are dicks." Megan grumbles in response as she dumps her backpack onto the floor and plops down into one of the arm chairs.
"If your mother were here I would have to reprimand you for your language. But she's not here right now…" Casey trails off with a shrug before tilting her head. "Why are people at school dicks?"
"There's this new social media site or whatever and every person in school has one. Well, on a bunch of the groups from school and stuff, a bunch of the kids have been saying really mean things about Carly. Of course I don't believe any of them, but a lot of them are really mean and disgusting and I can't even bring myself to repeat anything they're saying about her; and I just said the word dick five seconds ago."
"Sounds like there's a bit of a bullying issue going on."
Megan sighs heavily before she brings her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on them. "A lot of rumors are going around school saying that I'm gonna break up with her." She whispers, quickly continuing on when she sees her mother's prompting expression. "I'm not gonna break up with her, but what if she believes the rumors and she hates me now?"
Casey frowns and shakes her head before folding her arms. "I don't think she'll hate you Megs. Carly is a really smart, really sweet girl. Surely she knows that it's all rumors."
"Yeah, but that doesn't stop any of them from hurting her."
"Who started all of this madness?"
Megan snorts at the question and makes a face of pure and utter disgust. "I don't know exactly because it's spread so far, but something tell me it started with Carmen David."
Casey's frown creases even more as her face shows an expression of realization. "Oh, no wonder." She mutters quietly. "I don't believe she was raised with respect for anyone other than her parents who I know personally. Her parents are very…strict to say the least."
"I just wish I could fix this mess with Carly." Megan sighs again as her mind wonders to the whereabouts of her girlfriend. "I'm really worried about her and she hasn't been answering any of my phone calls. I just want to know that she's alright."
"I'll tell you what, we'll talk about this more when your mother gets home and we can discuss it over dinner, alright?"
"Alright, thanks Ma."
Later
"Megan, isn't there something that you need to tell your mother?" Casey says breaking the silence as the family sits cozily around the dinner table. She can't help but briefly shiver at the look that Megan gives her in response and she can't help but notice how much it looks like Alex's death glare at the office. Fortunately she recovers and responds with a challenging look of her own.
Alex frowns at the silent exchange between her wife and her eldest daughter before she clears her throat to draw attention to herself. "Is there something that the two of you are hiding from me?"
"No." The teen responds quickly, as she continues to absentmindedly twirl her spaghetti around the fork.
"Megan…" Casey warns firmly. She sighs heavily and shakes her head when she sees she's not going to get anything out of Megan so she settles on turning towards her wife. "Carly is being cyberbullied by kids at school."
"Ma!"
"You knew that we were going to have to talk about this Megan. It's a problem that needs to be addressed!"
"What's a cyberbully?" Aubrey asks with wide innocent eyes. "Oh! Is it some kinda robot bully?"
Alex chuckles quietly before running her fingers through Aubrey's hair. "No sweetie. A cyberbully is a bully who picks on people over the internet. It can be just as bad as normal bullying if not worse. Any kind of bullying is harmful." She explains gently before turning back to Megan. "That's terrible that that's happening. Does her mother know?"
"Probably not…" Megan responds with a tiny shrug before slumping in her seat. "Carly doesn't really like to tell her mom things. She's a very private person."
"Do you know the source of this bullying? Where it started?"
"Not exactly, but something tells me Carmen David has a lot to do with it."
"Oh." Alex responds in realization before she daintily crosses her legs. She opens her mouth to respond, but the words die on her lips as there is a frantic knocking on the front door. She exchanges a brief questionable look with Casey before she stands up from her chair and makes her way out of the kitchen to go and answer the door. "Kim? What are you doing here?"
"Is Carly here?" Kim responds, her voice frantic and borderline hysteric; a look that Alex isn't used to seeing on her. "Is she?"
Alex blinks for a moment before her brain kicks her and she responds. "I-no? She hasn't been here. You mean she hasn't come home?"
Kim vigorously shakes her head before one of her shaky hands holds out what looks to be a slightly crumbled sheet of paper, possibly from her harsh grip. "N-no, she hasn't come home. She didn't come home from school and when I tried calling her, her phone went straight to voicemail. When I went to her bedroom to check if she had been there, I found this lying on her pillow."
With frown still firmly in place, Alex takes the note and begins to read it, her eyes widening in fear as soon as she makes it past the first line.
Dear Mom or maybe I can finally call you Kim since I probably won't see you again after this,
Mom I love you. So, so much. I just want you to know that none of this is your fault. What's happening to me, what's going to happen to me is my own fault. I don't mean to hurt you by doing this, but I just can't do this anymore Mom, I can't. I'm so tired of waking up every day just to hate myself for practically everything. I don't want to continue going on like this.
I know I was a mistake for you. I know that you never even meant to have me, but as the saying goes, mistakes happen right? I can't imagine why you even bothered to keep me. Clearly I've been nothing more than a burden to you. A heavy weight on your shoulders that you've always had to worry about and take care of. Well, I won't be that burden to you any longer and I've now realized my worth in life. Or better yet, my worthlessness.
I didn't really plan out what it was I wanted to say when I sat down to write this, but I really do want you to know that I am so sorry for everything, but I just can't do it anymore. Tell Megan I'm sorry and that I love her. I really do love her. I know that may sound a little weird coming from a teenager, let alone your daughter, but I mean it. I really do.
I guess this is the time where I say goodbye. I didn't think that it would be this hard, but I just hope that…I hope that somewhere down the road you'll find away to forgive me. And if that's too much for you, then just don't think about me at all. Again, I'm sorry.
Goodbye,
Carly.
"Oh my god." Alex whispers as the note falls from her fingers before she looks back towards her friend who seems to be struggling against her tears. "Have you called the police? We have to find her."
"I-I've called Liv and Amanda. They said that Sam came home and told them kids were bullying her at school. She said…she said that Carly doesn't like to tell me things." Kim trails off before her head snaps up and her eyes widen. "Oh god, Alex, I'm a bad mother."
"Kim, you're not a bad mother…"
"Then why…why would she, oh god, what if she's already done it? I—I, oh god." "Hey, calm down. We'll call everyone and we'll start looking, okay? We'll find her."
Each passing second seems like a second too long, and Megan finds herself anxiously tapping her fingers against the door panel of her best friend's car. Tears cloud her vision as her heart continues to beat at a heavy ninety miles an hour.
"She's going to be okay Megs." Charlie utters quietly, though she isn't quite sure herself.
"Yeah, Carly wouldn't do something like that. She knows she has to stay around to keep you from being an idiot." Sam says from the backseat, hoping she can shine a little light on the moment with some humor.
Megan cracks a small smile before she shakes her head. "You guys don't know how true that is." She mumbles before sighing heavily. "I-I love her, you guys. I mean yeah, we say it all the time in passing, but it's something like this that make me realize just how much I really feel like I love her. I've felt like this for a while though. I wanted to talk to my parents about my feelings, but I feel like they would just brush it off and say that I'm too young and I just think I'm in love. I don't think they'd take me seriously. But I love her…I know I do."
"Oh we know." Carly says as they continue to drive around, looking various places for their friend. "I see the way that you look at her. You look at her the way that Ma looks at Mom and I know for a fact that they're in love. We'll bring her back."
The car ride is silent for a moment as Charlie turns her car to begin heading across a bridge. She is jarred out of her mental stupor when she hears a shout and a hand viciously slamming into her shoulder.
"Stop the car!" Megan exclaims, already undoing her seatbelt before she scrambles out of the car in pursuit of the figure sitting dangerously close to the edge of the bridge. "Carly!"
Carly blinks several times as she hears her name behind her but she doesn't turn around. She continues to stare intently down into the rocky waters below, knowing that with just one push she could end it all like she had planned. But why hasn't she done it yet? Perhaps it's because somewhere in the back of her mind she knows what it will do to her mother. What it will do to her friends, her girlfriend.
"Carly." Megan says quietly as she stands on the other side of the bridge barricade. "Carly, what are you…why are you doing this?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm tired of dealing with life. I can't do this anymore." The brunette exclaims, her voice raw and dry from crying. "I can't continue to wake up and go to school and go about my so called life, only to be reminded that I don't matter. I don't know how that rumor about me started but it's all over the internet now Megan and it's not going away. The entire school, that entire site, thinks that I'm a whore."
"Carly you…you aren't a whore."
"But everyone thinks I'm one! And they're starting to treat me like I am! My entire economics class moved to the other side of the room just so they wouldn't have to sit near me. I could hear them whispering and laughing the entire period. Scott Brennan even followed me into the bathroom and pulled up my shirt, telling me to show him how good I am. I don't even like guys Megan and he tried to get me to sleep with him! A lot of the girls have told me I'm disgusting and they don't even have any shame about whether or not they say it to my face. I can't do it anymore Megan, I can't! It hurts! It hurts so much. I don't even know why you're even bothering with me right now. I don't know why you even bothered at all. I-I'm not as pretty as the rest of you and I-I'm geeky and nerdy and no one wants to be around me. You could do so much better but instead your wasting your time."
Megan sighs heavily and drags her shaky fingers through her hair. "Carly, don't say that. I'm with you because I want to be with you. To me you're the prettiest girl at school and I like the fact that you're geeky and nerdy. It makes you extremely cute and it's one of my most favorite qualities about you. I like listening to you ramble on about nineteenth century revolutions because while I may not know what you're talking about, I get to hear your voice. I don't want any other girl at school. I want you. Please just come down."
Carly shakes her head as she glances down at the water below once more. "I can't Megan, I have to do this." She whispers quietly, her grip loosening on the edge when…
"Caroline!"
The dark haired teen blinks rapidly at the use of her full name before she turns her head only to find her mom fearfully staring back at her. She has never seen the older woman so upset before and it breaks her heart further to see that it is her fault. "Mom…" she whispers, her voice getting caught in the wind.
Kim swallows thickly and though thee is a tremor in her voice, she attempts to speak with the utmost amount of confidence. "Carly, I-I know that I might not have been the best mother and I might have kept you locked up for too long, but I just want you to know that I love you okay? Mommy loves you so much because you're my baby girl."
"But I was a mistake…"
"If I could turn back time I would go and do it again because you are the most important thing in my life. Not my job, not our house, not my car, you Caroline. You are the most important and it kills me inside to know that I wasn't there enough to drive you from this. That I wasn't there enough to where you could feel comfortable coming to me with anything. You weren't a mistake. You were the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on and now she has grown into a phenomenal young woman. I promise you that I will do everything within my power to repair the strains of our relationship, but I just need you to come down from there. This won't solve the problem. You have friends here who love you, family, who love you and we don't want to see you in pain anymore. Please Carly, come down."
The silence is heavy and tense. Carly glances over the edge of the bridge once more before she swallows thickly. She closes her eyes and turns her head towards the sky before she slowly swings her leg back over the ledge of the bridge. As soon as her feet come into contact with the ground, she is enveloped into a tight hug where she immediately breaks down.
"I'm sorry." Carly whispers as she buries her face into her mother's shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry." She continues to sob as her mom whispers soothing reassurance into her ear.
Suddenly feeling the need to be held, Charlie turns into her ma's arms, tightly wrapping her arms around Abbie's waist. Her tense should relax when she feels not one, but two pairs of arms envelope her into a tight embrace. She looks up into the reassuring blue eyes of her mom before she allows herself to revel in her parents' protection.
Sam swallows thickly before her tears finally fall from her eyes and her body begins to tremble at realizing she almost lost one of her best friends. She relaxes however when she feels Amanda pull her into a hug with Olivia following soon after. She releases a shaky breath before resting her head on Amanda's shoulder and allows herself to cry for her friend.
Casey wraps her arms around her wife's waist, pulling her close as the emotional tension seems to have gotten to all of them. She raises her hand and gently wipes away Alex's stay tears with her thumb before pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just…" Alex begins before taking a much needed deep breath. "It just scares me a lot because that could have easily been Megan on that bridge."
"But it wasn't and both she and Carly are alright."
"It just hit really hard today…"
"I know. It hit all of us hard. But in time, we'll be okay."
Cyberbullying and bullying in general is not okay no matter what age you are and I think that some people struggle to realize just the affects it cause on people. I hope I have shed at least a tiny bit of light on that.
Also, to take away from a little bit of the depression I did add in a mini scavenger hunt. I listed a few other teenagers in this story that belong to a few of my guilty pleasure ships. Identifying them from there last names, I'll be supremely surprised if you can give me the one character they belong to. Guess it depends on how much TV trivia you now. I'll be thoroughly surprised if you can identify all of them.
Leave your thoughts.