Chapter 2

Kylie knew she was going to confront Janelle today. She was mentally preparing throughout the night to finally gain the courage to stand up for herself. However, she was distracted by her upcoming date. They had agreed to meet on Saturday night, and while she was excited, she was also very nervous. Given it was Friday, she only had one day to prepare.

She’s had dates before and even messed around with some boys, though they never actually had sex. She secretly wished that would happen soon, hopefully with Jeremy. She gained some details from Skyler that could help when that moment came, and she wanted to be prepared. It was no secret that Skyler had lost her virginity the year before, and from what Kylie was told, if you are with the right person. Sex is amazing.

It was just after lunch that the conversation got started. Skyler and Kylie were heading towards Janelle when they nodded and pulled out the evidence folder.

“Hey, Janelle, I need to talk with you,” Kylie stated.

“What do you want ... PIG!!” Janelle responded. She purposefully made her comment as loud as she could, causing other students to begin laughing. Kylie expected this, so she decided to hit right back.

“Wait. So you don’t want to talk about how you sent hundreds of messages to Bob, and he told you to fuck off?” Kylie responded. “Or wait. How about the fact that you wanted to cheat on your boyfriend with him?” Janelle’s face turned bright red. This scene caused the students who were laughing to become dead silent. “Or I don’t know. What about the fact you got so drunk at your last party you decided to send nudes to the whole football team? Did your boyfriend know about that?”

The damage was done. Janelle’s face told everyone around her that what Kylie said was true. It was only a matter of time before Janelle’s boyfriend found out, and even less before the news was across the school. While this was not Kylie’s original plan, it just happened to be how it occurred.

“So let’s be clear here,” Kylie stated. “You will never talk about me again. You will leave my friends and me alone, or I will give the world all the other secrets I have about you. You understand me, Janelle?”

Janelle was shocked. She had never seen Kylie this angry. What bothered her the most was that she had never been spoken to in this manner before. Her only reaction was to nod and run off. Kylie assumed it was to cry, just like she had done for the past two years. She had no regrets.

“That goes for the rest of you as well,” Kylie declared to Janelle’s popular friend group. She had nothing on them, but given the display of what just happened, she doubted they could see through her bluff.

The news did spread like wildfire through Westport High. Jeremy was sitting down for his AP English class when his best friend Bob tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, man. Did you hear about what happened at lunch with Janelle?” Bob asked. Bob has been best friends with Jeremy since middle school and was the baseball team’s first baseman. They had grown up together, and he was the only other person to know about Jeremy’s family business.

“No. What happened?” Jeremy responded. However, he had a good idea about what went down.

“That girl she had been bullying all year called her out about a bunch of shit,” Bob responded excitedly. He had always hated seeing people bullied but did not mind when the favor was returned. Given that he was the recipient of the texts earlier in the year, he already hated her. “I heard she ended up leaving school early after her boyfriend dumped her. Good for him!”

Jeremy could only nod.

When the school bell rang to signal the end of the day, Jeremy wanted to talk with Kylie and Skyler about what had happened earlier and to make sure he was still on for the date tomorrow night. He waited by the exit until he saw them walking.

“Hey Skyler, Kylie, can you guys talk for a sec?” Jeremy asked.

“Sure!” Skyler responded. She pulled Kylie over with her to where Jeremy was standing.

“You call her out?” Jeremy questioned.

“You could say that. I only used some of the info but enough to make a point,” Kylie responded.

Jeremey was slightly relieved to hear that there had been a lot more that could have been exposed with the information in the file.

“I hope she learned her lesson. Are we still on for tomorrow?”

“You bet!” Kylie said happily.

“Cool! See you then!” Jeremey said before walking towards his car. He was just as happy and excited about the date as Kylie was.

“I will call you tomorrow to let you know how it went,” Kylie said as they ended the walk to Skyler’s house. They lived about two blocks from each other, so they usually walked home together. While Kylie would stay for dinner on Friday nights, tonight, she needed to fill her mom in about her date.

“Have fun!” Skyler responded. She then closed the door, and Kylie began walking the final block towards her house. She was unsure about how she was going to talk to her mom about Jeremy. They had talked about dating before but never since the bullying began. She hoped she would not be too overprotective.