Pregnant For My Bully

Jason Davenport

I was exhausted as I walked through the doors of the fourth convenience store I’d been to today. I was trying to find a job. I didn’t know what that entailed, nor had I ever had one before, but I was determined to make an effort. And getting a job was a first step.

I timidly walked to the counter, conscious of my damp clothes that had begun to give off a weird kind of smell.

The salesclerk ignored me until I cleared my throat loudly. He paused in his typing and glared at me, scrunching his face as the stench hit his nose. Holding a napkin briefly to his nose he snapped, “What can I do for you?”

My fists clenched at his snarky tone. How dare he disrespect me? People like him were my servants!

My anger slowly began to dissipate as I realized it was past tense. I was a nobody now.

Trying my best to ignore the attitude I said, “I’m looking for a job?”

Loud guffaws from the other salesclerks ran through the air and I felt the back of my neck begin to heat up.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t employ homeless people?” A clerk that annoyingly reminded me of Kimberly giggled loudly.

“When’s the last time you showered?” She continued, sighing and picking up a can of air freshener. Deliberately, she sprayed it in the area where I stood.

“Not enough but it has to do,” She humph’ed and returned to her position.

A round of laughter rented the air.

I felt my jaw tic. How dare these middle class people disrespect me?

“Do you even know who I am?” I roared, anger coursing through my veins.

I ignored the “yeah, a homeless person” I heard from someone.

“I’m a Davenport. Jason Davenport. I could ruin your life, you pieces of nothing!”

I was pissed. Never had I been disrespected so much.

The Kimberly replica put a pen to her temple in mock thought. “How do they say that again? Oh, right. From grace to grass?”

Her co-workers giggled, obviously enjoying this.

“I know y’all,” A new character put in. “Cocky pieces of shit. Thinking you own the world,” He laughed. “Well if you’re so influential, what are you doing here looking like some hobo. He throw you out?”

The smirk on his face was the last straw. I turned swiftly on my feet in shame and embarrassment and walked out, trying to block the familiar snarky laughter.

The same kind of laughter my friends and I gave when we bullied people, laughed at their status, their posture, their faces, their hair.

That was me in that store. It was all me.

And all at once I felt even more disgusted with myself than I ever had.

Amelia Forbes

I sat in my room, cramming potato chips in my mouth. For some reason I’d started craving salty potato chips more often. Dani was sprawled lazily on the other side of the bed, a book in her hand. Adrian wasn’t here today and Ben was on his phone, probably scrolling through Instagram or something.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Speaking of social media, I hadn’t been on there for months. And surprisingly, I was unaffected. Maybe social media was toxic for me at this stage. It felt good.

I wasn’t seeing any nasty comments about me, or wailing at my appalling constant number of followers. I wasn’t worried about how I wasn’t as pretty as those Instagram models or why no one was following me. I felt comfortable and more like myself.

“Holy shit!” Benson squealed, sitting upright on the bed.

“What is it now?” Dani groaned. She hated being interrupted while she was in her ‘zone.’

“You guys need to see this!” He raced to the bed and squeezed himself between Dani and I.

Displaying his phone in front of us, he urged us to watch a video. I squinted a few times and steadied his hand so I could watch without getting dizzy.

My eyes widened as I recognized the two figures in the video. Kimberly and…

“Mr Perez??!!” I screamed, a hand flying to my mouth in shock.

“Holy fuck!” Dani laughed wickedly, snatching the phone from my hand to watch more closely. “Fuck! They’re fucking? They’re actually fucking?!”

“Oh my God,” I managed to croak.

“What a slut!” Dani spat, scrolling down to read the comments.

“Shit, 902 shares?” Her eyes widened.

“Yep.” Benson sighed, shaking his head. “The video has gone viral. Literally.”

“I’m so disappointed in Mr Perez,” I frowned. “He’s a teacher for crying out loud. Jeez!”

Benson scrolled through his phone, reading more comments and after a while he put it off and sighed.

“Looks like Kimberly has singlehandedly ruined her own future. The video went viral, all her college applications were rejected, and her dad got fired because it made his company look bad.”

“Well, shit. I feel sorry for her dad, having to bear the brunt of her stupidity. But for all she’s done, I don’t feel sorry for her.” Dani finished, grabbing her book and resuming her position on the bed.

I sighed, not knowing what to say. Kimberly was one of the worst things that happened to me in high school. I don’t think I’d ever forgive her for those things. But I still kinda felt sorry for her.

Oh well, I sighed a second time, relaxing into my bed.

Maybe this was the universe giving her a taste of her own medicine.