School Reunion. Part Two.

I’d recently received a letter telling me about a reunion at my old school next week. I didn’t really want to go, never having got on with anyone while I was there. Well, that’s putting it politely. Everyone in my year bullied me. They teased, taunted and generally made my life Hell at school. Sometimes, it seemed like the teachers were laughing at me.
So when this letter came through the post, I ignored it and chucked it in the bin. My husband Chris knew I used to get bullied, but I’d never told him how bad it used to be. I told him some of the stuff the other girls used to do to me. Sneaking dog turds into my school bag, squirting me with water from head to toe, and flushing my head down the toilet. These were just three of many. I told Chris about how I’d watched “Carrie”, where she’d got doused in pigs blood at her prom. I was so scared something like that would happen to me that I never went to my prom.
“So why did you get bullied?” Chris asked, when I’d told him the sorts of jokes and pranks I was the butt of so many times.
“My mother,” I replied. “She was really neurotic, and she was always worried about me. She never let me go out and socialise with people. So by the time I started at Lennarb, I was socially behnd.”
“You poor thing,” Chris said. “Still, you seemed all right at college.”
“I’d moved out by then,” I explained. “I moved out as soon as I left school. My mother tried to stop me of course.”Chris smiled sympathetically. “Look. I know I’ve just said you shouldn’t go if you don’t want to. But I think you should. It would be like an up yours type thing to your former bullies. Look at your life now. You have a good looking husband, a beautiful daughter.”
I laughed.

That night, in bed, I lay awake for hours while Chris snored like a pig next to me. I couldn’t sleep for being worried about the school reunion. Shall I go or not? On the one hand, Chris was right about not having to go if I didn’t. On the other, he was also right about going, because it would be like saying up yours to Katie, Shirley, Amy Sue, Maria, and all the others that bullied me. Up yours, look what I’ve done with my life. I smiled at the thought. Walking back into school after ten years with Chris. And all the girls’ faces dropping because they can’t believe I’d bagged myself a handsome fellow. But now I was faced with the problem of whether or not I actually did want to go. If I didn’t go, it would be like my former bullies had won. But if I did go, I could stick my middle finger up to the whole lot of them.

***

“Honey, what’s wrong? You’ve been staring at the TV screen for the past twenty minutes without blinking.”
I blinked just then, and turned to Billy. “Sorry,” I said. “Just thinking.
Billy giggled. “Does it hurt?”
“Ha ha,” I replied. I sighed. “Remember I got that letter through for a school reunion next week?”
“Oh yeah. You going?”
“Yeah, I will be. And Maria, Shirley and Katie will be as well.”
“You was thinking about your time at that school was you?”
“Yeah. Kind of. Listen, Bill, have I ever told you about the Irvell Bitch?”
Billy blinked. “Who?”
“She was this girl we all went to school with. Char Irvell. She had this mother that would never let her go anywhere outside of school, and everyone in our year teased her because of it. Including me.”
Billy stared at me. “Never had you down as a nasty girl, Ames,” he said.
“Yeah well, I’m beginning to feel guilty about it now. I’ve put all that behind me. That poor girl. We all bullied her, and she never had any friends. Nobody to stick up for her.” I started to feel a lump in my throat. I told Billy about all the things we did to Char at school. “…And sometimes, I would look at Char’s face when she realised she was the butt of yet another joke, and her face would crumble, as if she was about to cry.” I could feel the tears begin to roll down my face.
“Oh hey!” Billy cried, pulling me close for a hug. “Look, you bullied this Char girl at school, but you’re sorry for it now. Are you planning on building bridges and apologising to her at the school reunion?”
I squeezed y eyes shut and sobbed. “Well, I want to, but I don’t think the others are.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I met up with Maria, Shirley and Katie earlier. They want to play yet another nasty prank on Char if she shows up. One that will totally embarrass her. You ever see “Carrie”?”
“The one where they pour pig’s blood on her at her prom, and then she kills everyone?” I nodded. “Yeah. Many times. I used to think it was a shame they picked on her, she was such a cute girl.”
I laughed through my tears. “Well, at our prom, we were going to play a similar type of prank. We were going to crown her Prom Queen, like they did to Carrie in the film, and then every single person in the room, except for the teachers of course, were going to start throwing rotten meat at her. But she never turned up.”
“Smart girl. That is pretty nasty.”
Fresh tears rolled down my face. “I’m actually glad she didn’t come along. I didn’t want no part in that joke. I mean, I was given a bucket, but I had no intention of using it.”
“Good girl.”
“Maria is still disappointed that Char didn’t show up, that if she does show up at the reunion, she’s going to try to embarrass her in front of everyone. Only she’s not using rotten meat this time. I’m not entirely to sure what she’s planning on doing. I think Shirley’s thought of something.”
“Are you going to be in on it?” Billy asked.
I shook my head. “It’s my fault really. I was the one who suggested it. But I regretted it as soon as I did. I wish I could do something abut it.”
“But there is something you can do, Ames.”
I looked at Billy. “What’s that then?”
“You could try to put a stop to this new prank.”