Nine

The video was gone.

It hadn't taken the police long to have the video removed and the accounts deleted from the apps. I had been told by the police that Becca was the one that had first posted the video. She was the one that started all of this. And Jamie continued it on with her. Both of them have been suspended from school because of what they did to me.

Looking down at my phone now, it seemed as though nothing had ever happened. A click of a finger and everything was gone, as if the words had never even been typed out in the first place.

I walked through the archway of the living room and stopped at the foot of the staircase. My dad sat on the third step from the bottom, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to ease the muscles.

Sitting down beside him, I leaned forward, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," my dad smiled softly. "Just a long day."

"You're doing good though," dad said and I frowned in confusion. "With how you're dealing with everything."

"Sometimes it feels kind of surreal to think that some of my friends would do that to me," I admitted. "But at the same time, I don't know if it's conceited to say I'm proud of myself. For a moment, I was going to keep hiding and wait for it all to be over. But I didn't, and I'll always be proud of myself for that."

"It's not conceited at all," dad said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "You were brave. Very brave. And bravery pays off in the end."

I smiled a little and we stayed in comfortable silence for a few moments. I leaned over, putting my head on his shoulder.

"Are we going to be okay?" I asked suddenly and I wasn't sure if I was talking about the bills or everything that had happened..

"Yeah," my dad sighed, dropping his head down on top of mine. "We're gonna be just fine."

***

Heading towards my locker at the beginning of the day, I immediately recognized Riley and Maddie standing there, talking amongst themselves. When I was in their sight, they immediately stopped talking and turned to look at me. I frowned for a moment at the expectant looks on their faces before I realized.

"You know," I stated.

"What Becca did was crazy!" Riley gushed.

"And Jamie too," Maddie nodded. "It's scary to think she could do something like that."

"Jamie was never very...accepting," Riley said.

"Why would Becca do it, though?" Maddie asked.

I shrugged. "We used to be friends. Used to," I sighed. "I guess that might have been the problem. We just stopped being friends when we got to high school. Maybe for some reason she was still angry over it."

"Angry or not," Riley said, "it still didn't give her the right to do what she did."

Maddie nodded in agreement and I smiled. "Thanks," I said. "I can always count on you guys."

A throat clearing behind me made the three of us jump slightly and turn to see Christie, our friend, front and center, with a few other of our friends behind her.

"Hey, Winona," she said cheerfully and I bit my lip.

"Hi," I replied.

Christie gave us a dazzling smile and rolled the sleeve of her shirt between her fingers now and then.

"So, how are you?" she asked. "We all heard about what Becca and Jamie did. It was a horrible thing to do."

"It was," I agreed.

"But it's over now," Christie said. "So, things can finally go back to normal for you."

Normal.

Normal meant things being the same as they were before. That meant that I would stand there with Christie as if nothing had happened before. The video might be gone and the accounts might have been deleted, but Christie and the others had doubted me. They hadn't believed me.

They'd turned on me.

"No, actually," I said.

Christie looked confused and let out a little laugh. "What?"

"Things can't go back to how they were before," I said. "Not for me at least."

"Why not?" Christie frowned.

"Because you doubted me," I told her. "When I needed you all the most, you let me down. You did nothing to help or comfort me. You just watched it all unfold. And that makes you just as bad as Becca or Jamie."

"Winona..." Christie trailed off, at a loss for words.

"Sorry," I said, closing my locker door and holding my books against my chest. "I don't need friends like you."

I walked past the people I had once called my friends. Maddie and Riley walked behind me, being the wall of support I needed. A part of me was terrified that I had just walked away from half my friends. But another part – the better part – was happy. Although there was uncertainty in what I was doing, there also a sense of freedom.

I could say no.

I could stand up for myself.

Fear didn't have to dictate me.

I was still paranoid that the messages would suddenly start up again, or that people would still be whispering behind my backs. But that was okay. After the last week, I could get through anything, no matter how hard it seemed to be. No matter how impossible it was.

After parting ways with Maddie and Riley, I wandered down the rest of the hallway and stopped at the end, leaning my shoulder against the large windows. My phone went off once and I rummaged around in my bag before finally finding it.

It was from Becca.

I tensed up.

Then I relaxed.

Taking in a few deep breaths, I unlocked my phone and stared down at the message she sent after I asked her why she did it.

Because you left me for everyone else.

I read over the words a few times, taking all seven in. My finger hovered over the reply button but slowly, I moved it over to the delete button. One press of a finger and she would be deleted from my contacts, as if she was never there. But I knew better than anyone, that no matter what gets deleted, it was still there and it would always be there. Whether it stayed in my head or remained in my thoughts; what happened would always be ingrained into me.

But it didn't have to ruin me.

I pressed down and watched as our messages faded and her contact disappeared from my phone, falling into the dark haze the video and her anonymous messages had been thrown into.

I let out a long sigh and put my phone away, down in the bottom of my bag. I shifted my books up higher so I had a better grip and was about to move towards the stairwell, when someone came through the doors instead.

After recognizing who it was, I stood up straighter. Drew walked forward until she was in front of me and leaned against the window. Her blonde hair was pulled back into that tight pony-tail which looked painful above anything else.

"I know you told me to call you," Drew said.

"And wait a few days," I said.

"Counting today, it's been three," Drew pointed out. "A few is three."

I smiled a little. "Right. Sorry."

"I was going to text but it seemed pretty pointless if I could just talk to you face to face."

"Good logic."

"I can be smart sometimes," Drew grinned and I smiled wider. "So, did whatever was happening manage to fix itself?"

"No," I said. "I fixed it."

Drew nodded. "Well that sounds promising for me. Now I have to ask the million-dollar question-"

"Do you want to hang out sometime?" I cut her off.

Drew blinked in surprise. "That was supposed to be my line."

"Are you going to answer it?"

Drew laughed softly. "Yes, I would like to hang out with you. Why the change of heart?"

A smile fell across my face – relaxed and comfortable – and I shrugged.

"I'm not afraid anymore."

_________________

And that's it guys! Thank you so much for reading. And thank you to TELUS WISE for giving me the opportunity to create and share this story for their #teluswise initiative that aims to educate and help people deal with cyberbullying. It's a fantastic resource and I'm very proud to be able to say I've been a part of it.
Hope you enjoyed <3

- Tahlie x