Bullied By My Alpha Stepbrother

Amelia Forbes

I had gotten to the bus on time. And now I was in second period trying not to fall asleep as Mr Redmey droned on and on about something.

An hour later the class was over. I nearly cried out loud in joy, grabbing my books. For some reason I felt very sleepy, but I’d been fighting to control myself. Was it the baby? Or was the class just really boring?

I placed a finger on my temple, willing my thoughts to go away. As I got up and trudged to the door, Mr Redmey called out, “Amelia?”

I turned around in surprise and walked to his table. I secretly prayed it wasn’t another debate he wanted me to participate in. I honestly had no energy for that.

“You have a meeting with Principal Harris in. . .” He looked at his watch. “Thirty minutes.”

I concealed my frown. What was this about now? My grades? They’d gotten better since then, so what was it.

Knowing he wouldn’t be able to answer me, I nodded and proceeded to the principal’s office. To pass time, I solved the homework assignments that were due tomorrow.

When it was time, I got up and knocked on the office door. I walked in as soon as he asked me to come in. I wanted to get over this as quickly as possible.

As soon as he saw me, he hurriedly dropped the files he was looking through.

“Oh, erm, Miss Forbes. Have a seat,” He gestured to the chair opposite his.

My eyes narrowed. He was acting very strange. Principal Harris was always strict and straight to the point. Why was he stuttering all of a sudden? Still observing, I settled down and made myself as comfortable as was possible.

He spent the first few minutes trying to get around his words and scratching the back of his neck. When it became unbearable I cut in.

“What’s this really about, sir? It’s been five minutes now,” I said as gently as I could without it coming off as rude.

He cleared his throat.

“Well, you know sometimes things happen. . . there have been talks going round, all over the school,” He scratched his head again. “So I, err, thought it was best to talk to you directly.”

Oh.

This was about the rumors? It had gotten to the principal too? My palms were sweaty now and I wiped them on the hem of my skirt. Did he believe the rumors? Was I going to be kicked out of school? My head pounded with questions and I began to feel dizzy.

Relax, Mel. Breathe. Think.

I took a deep breath. Okay he thinks they’re just rumors, which is why he wanted to see me. He’s not sure. Plus he’s literally blushing and can’t look me in the face.

I could use that.

Wiping my palms one last time, I placed them on the desk in front of me.

“Oh, the ones about me being pregnant?” I asked, hoping my voice was as steady as I needed it to be.

Principal Harris wiped his face with a handkerchief.

“I’ve been at this school for nearly six years. I was bullied for four. You never heard anything about that did you?”

He opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it.

“They beat me up, played pranks on me, spread rumors about me. The teachers saw, of course. But no one ever did anything about it. But it’s all good. You know what I find sad though? That you would believe those rumors spread about me, but you’ve never asked me how I felt. And that’s because you don’t give a shit about the mental health of your students.”

I paused.

“Excuse my language, sir.”

He looked on, clearly not knowing what to say.

“You even had to call me here, to query me. You see me just like everyone else here does; a waste of space.”

Principal Harris whipped up his head.

“No, no, of course not. The rumors have been spreading quite a lot. And I thought the only way to erm, straighten things out was to, erm, speak to you.”

He placed a hand on his forehead. “You’re right, Amelia. And I’m very embarrassed, and very sorry for the inconvenience,” He breathed out loudly.

He never called anyone by their first names. That was new. And he actually looked sorry.

My hands were shaking. Making him feel guilty had certainly worked. I felt bad for doing it but it was the only way I would be allowed to write my final exams and leave high school with clean records.

He let out a string of apologies and promised to do something about the rumors, assigned a personal counselor to me which I politely declined because that definitely wasn’t what I needed.

As I walked out the door and shut the door, I released the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

Amelia Forbes

“Fuuuckkk,” Ben groaned as he fell onto my bed. “Now I’m gone for sure.”

Dani gave a loud cackle, placing a palm over her mouth when I shot her a death glare. Turning to Ben, I said, “Now you’re just exaggerating, Ben.”

“Yeah Benny,” Dani chirped from across the room, innocently flipping through the pages of my calculus textbook.

I glared at her. I knew she was just teasing Ben. That was just how their friendship was and I was still trying hard to get used to it. Although sometimes it could be hilarious.

Well, I was thankful they were friends at least. The introduction was. . . well, quite awkward.

No.

Very, very, awkward.

Imagine introducing your once ex best friend to your newest friend who’s almost like a best friend to you.

Now get this.

Your newest friend is mad at your ex best friend for “treating you like shit” and your ex best friend is mad that your newest friend used to roll with the group of people who bullied you.

Yeah. Pretty awkward.

I had to clear the air and correct these impressions. Then kinda let them just. . . be. I knew there were things you just couldn’t force. And friendship was one of them.

So you can imagine just how glad I felt when they started getting along in this good but strange way. I can’t complain can I?

“You guys are supposed to be supportive y’know,” Ben exhaled heavily, placing a pillow over his face.

“Really?” Dani asked, a confused expression on her face. “I didn’t see that in my. . .” She peered at a page in my textbook. . . “job description.”

I tried too late to disguise the laughter that escaped me as a cough.

It was Ben’s turn to shoot me glares.

I waved my hands in the air. “Okay, everybody relax, breathe. Ben, you’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Fine, maybe you didn’t perform as well as you expected on the calculus exams, but I’m sure it’s just the exam stress that’s doing it. I’m pretty sure you did great,” I smiled trying to reassure him.

“You think so?”

I nodded.

When he inhaled and exhaled deeply, I knew he was good so I faced Dani. “And as for you. Stop being a-”

“Bitch?” Ben offered.

“Ben?” I warned.

Dani shut her eyes and shook her head dramatically, “‘Tis fine. I shalt turn thy other cheek.”

Oh my goodness, I facepalmed. Apparently God didn’t see it fit to bless me with serious friends.

The frown on my face must have roused Dani because she immediately stood.

“Okay, Benny. Your first exam was horrible, we get it. Sometimes-”

“It wasn’t HORRIBLE. It was just-just. . . not good enough.”

“Ahh. . .?” Dani questioned. “So it wasn’t THAT bad then.”

“It-I was-no. No it wasn’t.”

“Exactly,” Dani winked and fell back into her previous position.

“What the. . . you tricked me!”

“For the love of God, you guys.” My head was spinning.

“Okay Ben, why don’t you maybe call Katie and y’know maybe spend quality time with her. It might make you feel better?” I offered, giving him a big smile and ignoring the snorting sound from Dani.

He only shrugged.Content is © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.

I cocked an eyebrow, walking to him and plopping down next to him on the bed. “What does that mean?”

“We broke up,” He muttered with a straight face.

My eyes widened. No. Freaking. Way.

“How? Why? When? Where?”

“Where?” Dani put in. “How’s that even important?”

“Good to know that’s all you got from the conversation,” Ben fired back.

I was starting to worry about the fights. I hoped they were truly teasing each other and not actual enemies.

As I was about to prod Ben further, Nana walked in.

Ben rushed up from the bed to give her a hug which she welcomed with a strange look in her eyes. She narrowed her eyes at me and I knew she was asking when Ben and I had made up. I gave her a sign to keep the story till later.

Satisfied, she turned to Dani who had straightened up and shut my calculus textbook.

I swallowed.

I don’t know why I was nervous. I desperately wanted Nana to approve of her. Dani had an aesthetic tomboy vibe to her which was usually not appreciated by elderly people. So I guess I was kind of worried Nana wouldn’t like her.

I’d given Dani previous information about Nana. So she knew she was hearing impaired and my only family. And due to the fact that people usually acted weird around my Nana I’d already asked Dani to be comfortable.

Who’s your friend, Nana signed, glancing at Dani and back to me.

As I began to sign a reply, Dani walked up to Nana, offered her hand for a handshake, and began to communicate with Nana in sign language.

Ben and I stared on, mouth agape. Well, I didn’t know about this.

“Of course, she understands sign language,” Ben grumbled to no one in particular, folding his hands and staring at them both.

I might have laughed if I wasn’t so focused on how swiftly Dani’s hands were moving.

Ben had tried to learn ASL lots of times but it just wouldn’t stick, he said. So he’d given up.

So we sat in my bed and watched Dani and Nana discuss about the different ways to make pot pie.

Huh.

I didn’t peg Dani as the type who’d like to cook. Nevertheless I watched them. And I could see that Nana really liked her.

And I was glad that I got to have one day to relax and hang out with my friends and not have to think about anything else.

Exams had started today and I still needed to fit studying and tutoring into my schedule without having a complete mental breakdown.

But not right now.

Not now.