Extra Baggage Chapter 7: Lost Luggage, a bully fanfic

"Extra Baggage"

Story #7: "Lost Luggage"

By: Seinasu

Spring came late that year but it was warm-heartedly welcomed by the citizens of Bullworth. The snow melted away, revealing fresh green grass and the last trace of gray vanished from the skies.

Tabitha Bailey sat in the attic of the Girls Dorm, which became her new room after news of what she did to Jimmy Hopkins spread like wildfire throughout the entire school. Dr. Crabblesnitch gave her a rather light sentence, only because it had been her first, although major, offense against another student. She was given a month's suspension—meaning she still had to go to her assigned classes but she had to report to every teacher and to Mrs. Peabody afterwards. Otherwise, it would result in a further suspension.

On top of that, she also wasn't allowed to leave campus grounds and if she wasn't in class or the cafeteria for lunch, she had to stay in her room. When Mrs. Peabody heard of Tabitha's antics, she decided that isolating her from the other girls would be best.

"It won't allow your mind to wander," she said. "You will remain here for the rest of the semester. I'll consider letting you move back downstairs but only when I see fit! Besides, I don't want the other girls to get the same ideas as you."

Tabitha hadn't seen any sign of Gary since the incident. She often thought about him but obviously couldn't do anything further about it. She also hadn't seen any sign of Jimmy or Petey. She thought it was for the best, considering the humiliation she underwent just to prove her devotion to her one and only.

As she cleaned one of the millions of cobwebs in the attic, she heard a noise coming from the only source of light in the room. Placing her duster down on the bed (which was behind her), she turned around and watched as the tall window was pushed open and a shadowy figure stepped inside. She remained paralyzed in her spot as the figure walked closer and closer until the shadows melted away, revealing Jimmy Hopkins.

"J-Jimmy?" Tabitha greeted cautiously. She noticed he was sporting a red and black Mohawk.

Jimmy reached inside his pocket, pulled out a sealed envelope, and held it out to her.

"I was asked to give you this," Jimmy said as she took the envelope and placed it on the bed behind her. Turning back around, she watched as Jimmy was already heading back to the open window.

"Wait!" she cried as she rushed over to him. She stopped herself from colliding into his backside and she hung her head shamefully. "I'm... I'm so sorry about what happened. I-I've... I've wanted to apologize to you for the longest time but with my suspension and all... I-I-I just couldn't."

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah, I know. Everybody's heard."

"Omigod..." Tabitha hid her face in her hands but it clearly wouldn't help her hide from her embarrassment. She groaned, then lifted her head once more and hung her arms limply at her side. "Jimmy, I... I don't know what else to say but... I'm so sorry."

He shrugged indifferently. "I've had worse," he said as he brushed off a fallen piece of cobweb from his shoulder. "What Gary did to me and to the rest of the school was ten times worse. But look what happened to him, he came back."

She froze at the mention of Gary's name. The first couple of nights, she nearly went crazy just worrying about him. But she had enough sanity to know that she couldn't leave Bullworth. If the teachers called her parents to pick her up, they might've forgotten they even had a child attending the academy! They wouldn't pick her up and she wouldn't have any place to go. She was basically stuck at Bullworth so as long she kept her grades up and her nose clean.

As she looked back, ever since she started clinging to Gary, her grades had dropped steadily. She was so wrapped up with him that she didn't bother to do much studying and she couldn't pay attention in class because she only thought of him. But since her suspension, her grades gradually lifted back up though her participation grades were still at their lowest point. Never the less, she absorbed little bit more confidence after what she did to Jimmy. She wasn't too shy to dye her hair really badly, have her bangs cut, and wear Gary's clothing just to prove a point.

She lifted a hand and ran her fingertips along her short bob. She missed the bangs that allowed her eyes to hide from the rest of the world, so it felt strange seeing everything without mini curtains.

"You gonna stay a brunette?" Jimmy asked, indicating her dyed brown hair.

She pondered the question for a moment and finally replied, "Maybe... I guess it's one way I can be close to Gary without going overboard like I did."

She hesitated, but then asked Jimmy, "How's he doing?"

He appeared irritated at the question but he simply replied, "He's still alive."

"Is he... Is he with that girl? You know... t-the one I-I wanted to beat up...?"

"Oh, her? I don't know. I don't see her around too much but she's a great kisser."

"I see—huh?" She blinked rapidly at the response.

Jimmy merely smirked as he climbed up onto the window sill. He turned around and started to carefully climb down, but before he left, he said to Tabitha, "Read the letter. I'm not getting paid for this just to pretend to serenade you."

"O-Okay... Thank you, Jimmy. And I'm sorry once again!"

Jimmy slipped away completely and Tabitha walked back over to her bed. Sitting down, she opened the envelope and read the letter within:

Dear Tabitha,

What's up? Sorry about what happened last time, but I couldn't let you hurt my friend. I only found out about the incident when I saw you sneaking out of Gary's room with his clothes. I tried to warn Jimmy about it but I couldn't find him, so I went to Dr. Crabblesnitch and told him what I saw. I don't mean to sound like a little weasel but I was worried, considering what happened last year. Nobody wants a repeat of that! Not that I'm saying you're a sociopath like Gary but still, I wanted to make sure. Anyway, I hope you're doing well. I just feel really bad because you and I are alike in many ways and I wanted to make sure I didn't see a version of myself get into deeper trouble. Guess I was too late.

I could be imagining things, but I think Gary misses you in his own, weird way. The other day, he was complaining that nobody was obnoxiously (he said this too!) praising him or hanging onto him. Afterwards he got bored and took off to who knows where. He doesn't dwell on it too much so it's hard to tell. Gary's quite a character and it's difficult to understand how or what he's feeling because he never really shows any emotion besides hostility and sarcasm. Guess we both know learned that the hard way, huh?

Jimmy's not mad at you anymore. I don't know if he said anything to you when he gave you this letter, but last year he had a lot of trouble from all of the cliques. So what you did, while it was still pretty grand, wasn't as bad as what he put up with from the others, especially Gary.

And I'm not mad at you. Like I said, I just feel bad about not being able to help you. As Head Boy, I should've been a little quicker to reach out to you. I hope I can learn more from this experience...

Hope to see you around school some time.

Sincerely,

Peter Kowalski

Tabitha closed the letter and placed it on top of the open envelope. She sat on her bed for the longest time, staring out at the window that Jimmy left through.

The therapist from the Happy Volts Asylum said she suffered from a "slight" case of Dependency Personality Disorder and being constantly exposed to Gary and his personality, it caused her to depend so much on him that she could no longer function properly without his presence. Instead of medication, he suggested she go through the suspension process to keep her mind focused on school and not on Gary. The teachers were fully aware of Gary's past and wanted to guarantee that nobody else would be capable of such disruption at Bullworth.

It was the cold turkey effect for her. She didn't have Gary in any of her classes and she wasn't able to see him around campus on her way to and from the dorms. When Mrs. Peabody discovered her bizarre collection of Gary memorabilia, she was forced to get rid of them. The attic would've provided a ton of space for her shrine of worship, but all she was left with was single picture that she managed to keep from going into the garbage.

The photo had been taken at the mini amusement park at the edge of Bullworth during Christmas vacation. It was of herself and Gary in front of the shooting gallery. She'd won Gary a giant teddy bear and she had a look of sheer delight on her face. Gary, who was holding the giant bear under one arm, wasn't smiling. In fact, he looked down right annoyed. But it was his medicated face and she called it that because he was very, rarely happy or even sated. She saw the many sides of him during their private times together (private, meaning she'd be in his room watching him do his homework) and it was the medication that was keeping him from being his true, sadistic self.

Oddly enough, she'd stopped thinking about Gary twenty-four-seven even though she thought it would be impossible. She thought about him on occasion but it wasn't mind consuming as it used to be. She was constantly harassed by her female peers and humiliated by bullies on a daily basis—she was slowly becoming like the rest of the students at Bullworth. She was no longer the student everybody forgot. Instead, she was simply one of them now. Her antics during the winter semester seemed to give her this aura around her that shouted, "I did something wild!"

She sniffed at a tickling sensation from her nose. She rubbed her nose with her knuckle and saw a tear fall on top of her skin. Suddenly, she found herself crying for the first time in a long time.

Closing her eyes, she once again buried her face into her hands but this time, she started to sob.

If only I had listened to Petey, she thought miserably. If only I had listened...!

She felt ashamed that Jimmy, Petey, and Gary even bothered with a nobody like her. Who was she trying to kid? She never fitted in. She was only accepted because she was Gary's little luggage piece. She wasn't even sure if and when she'd ever face any of those guys again.

But if she were to see Gary in the flesh, she wouldn't be surprised if she became the Leech once again.

After all, Gary was her drug and he's proven to be a hard habit to kick.

Dear god, why did he have to be so... so... brilliant?

For now, Tabitha Bailey would simply become another unique face among the crowd of Bullworth Academy.

THE END