A/N: This was partially inspired by a dream last night. I've had problems with bullies myself, so I can only imagine how much harder it would have been for Carly, especially since she was in Japan.
Normally, Carly would just throw on the first clothes she saw before an outing...partly out of laziness, partly to avoid the paparazzi, and partly because she didn't want to seem too vain. But for this trip, a bit of vanity was necessary. She decided to wear her most expensive designer skirt suit, and accessorize it with the diamond necklace that Jack had given her after their son was born.
She paused in the mirror to check that she was reasonably intimidating. Not bad. It helped that she'd managed to maintain a relatively trim body even after three children.
Once she'd driven to the working-class neighborhood and found the right house, however, she felt as vulnerable as she had in middle school. She sat in the parked car and took deep breaths. It had been Jack who had suggested this, actually, after she told him about her past experiences. She would have never gotten the idea on her own. They'd been back in Japan for three years, and Carly had worked up the courage for this only now.
After about five minutes, she had calmed down enough to get out of the car and walk to the door. She hardly even had time to knock before the door opened. The woman who had opened it stared at Carly in shock.
"You...!" she gasped. Good...it seemed her memory was as sharp as Carly's. No need for introductions.
"Remember that ten thousand yen you kept asking me for in school?" Carly asked in as casual a tone as she could manage, "Well, here it is."
She reached into her fat wallet and removed one of several ten-thousand yen notes. The other woman continued to mutely gape at Carly.
Carly continued, "I know that money must have been important to you, since you made me run naked around the school grounds three times when I didn't have it. Oh yes, there was also that time you tripped me and made me fall in the mud. And the time you stole my backpack. So you must have really needed it."
The woman finally realized she had no option other than to take Carly's money. Then she slammed the door without another word.
It wasn't until Carly was driving away that she began to smile, then finally to laugh. It had taken the better part of two decades, but she had finally gotten her payback! Actually, since she'd been the one doing the paying, she wasn't sure how accurate a term that was. "Revenge" might be more fitting.
At any rate, she couldn't wait to tell Jack all about this. She was quite sure he'd find it amusing.