Bullies
Sarah Cleaves
T
he text message said that Lucy Josephs was a failure. It said she was ugly, had no style and the world hated her. At least that was what it said to Lucy. That and a whole lot more that she was struggling to understand. The actual words read 'You'd better not come tonight it's going to be bad enough already!'
Lucy tapped the mobile screen and the message disappeared from view. She only wished it was as easy to tap her heart and erase the trace it had left there. She sat back and watched the evening rain drizzle down the car window. It truly was a miserable night.
'Was that another one of those messages?' her mum asked from the driving seat. Lucy nodded.
'Have you reported it yet?' asked Jill, Lucy's older sister who was sitting in the passenger seat.
'Yes,' she lied.
'You mustn't let it get to you, they're only jealous' said her mother sighing. 'I never should have given you that phone for Christmas. It was supposed to make you safer.'
'No it's fine, I love it,' said Lucy knowing that affording the mobile had been no small thing for her mother, and she was signed up for an eighteen month contract. It had been nothing but trouble though. She didn't know who it was who was sending her the messages, and she didn't know how they'd got her number, but they'd slowly taken over her life. She was getting several texts a day now, all abusive, all hurtful, and she was beginning to be afraid of what was around the next corner. The phone hadn't made her feel safe at all.
The car pulled up outside the school and Lucy and Jill stepped out. The building looked like a large shadow in the darkness and Lucy felt a shiver run down her spine.
'Come on,' said Jill. 'I don't want to be late for my own concert.' As a senior in her final year of high school Jill had become involved in helping to organise this year's school talent show, and she took her position very seriously. Lucy hurried behind her pulling her worn oversized coat around her to keep her warm as the raindrops fell all around them. They headed straight for the hall where the show was to take place.
'Oh no, people are already taking their seats,' said Jill. 'We'd better get backstage.' All Lucy really wanted to do was take a seat and wait for the lights to go out, but she'd promised her mother she'd be part of the show tonight.
'You have such a beautiful voice,' he mother had argued three months back when the concert had first been announced. 'It would be a real shame to waist your talent.'
Lucy had been considering it. She did love to sing, but it had been that very night that the first text message had come through. 'How does it feel to be tall and lanky like a giraffe?' it had asked and taken Lucy by surprise. She'd always known she wasn't the most popular girl in school, but then she'd always been quite proud of being a little different. But text by text her self confidence had deflated and in the end it had taken some doing to get her to agree to do the performance.
'Do it for me,' her mother had pleaded as she tucked a stray strand of Lucy's unruly mob of chocolate springs behind her ear. 'Like you used to when you were little. You used to love performing for us all back then.'
Lucy smiled a painful smile. 'Alright mum, I'll do it for you - because you've always been there for me.'
As Lucy followed Jill through the hall a loud bleep sounded from her coat pocket. Her heart thumping, she took it out and tapped the little envelope once more. Another message filled the screen.
'Why don't you go back to the circus FREAK!' it read.
Lucy bit her bottom lip to keep from crying, though she could feel the tears well up inside, squeezing at her throat. She glanced around the hall to try and catch a smirk from a familiar face, but she saw none. The texter remained anonymous.
'Let me see that,' said Jill as she snatched the phone from Lucy's hand. She read the message and her own lips tightened.
'I knew I shouldn't have worn these tights,' said Lucy looking at the multicoloured stripes that ran down her long legs.
'What's wrong with them?' asked Jill. 'They used to be mine!'
'I know,' Lucy sighed. 'Nearly all my clothes used to be yours.' Their mother had done her best by them, but since their father had left money had been tight. Lucy had always been at the mercy of her older sister's style, and it had never worked well for her. It didn't help that they had completely different looks. Jill's hair was much farer and a lot straighter than Lucy's and somehow her height seemed right for her, while Lucy often felt as though she were walking on stilts.
'Listen to me, this person is a coward, and you are better than that' said Jill as she shoved Lucy's phone into her own pocket. She hurried Lucy back stage. 'You're braver than them and tonight you're going to prove it to everyone. Here put this on,' she said unhooking a simple but elegant black dress from one of the rails. 'This at least wasn't mine. It's new. I thought it might help with the performance.'
'Wow' said Lucy, shocked and moved by her sister's generosity. 'You didn't have to do this.'
'Well I did anyway. Don't worry, it was a bargain and I had some spare pocket money. Now hurry, you'd better try it on, you're up first.'
'Thank you' said Lucy.
The phone bleeped again in Jill's pocket but she ignored it. 'You're welcome.' She gave Lucy a nudge towards the dressing area and hurried off to make sure everyone else was prepared for their moment on stage.
Lucy's heart was racing, but she had too much respect for her big sister to let her down. She quickly peeled the stripy rainbow tights from her legs, slid out of her other clothes and into the black dress. It was a perfect fit and when she managed to squeeze a moment at the busy dressing room mirror, between all the other performers getting ready she realised she didn't look half bad in it. She certainly didn't look like a circus freak anyway. Perhaps Jill did have some taste after all.
Gingerly she made her way towards the stage where Jill was beckoning to her. 'Come on, it's nearly time,' she was saying as she led Lucy out onto the middle of the stage where there was nothing but a microphone and her. She could feel the sense of anticipation emanating from the other side of the heavy curtain, and a small whimper escaped her lips.
As the curtains began to part she cast a worried look at Jill in the wings, who assured her with a positive thumbs up. I can't do this, thought Lucy. Everyone is watching. The seated crowds looked up at her and Lucy was ready to run when the first notes of the music sounded out and a sudden calm settled over her.
She closed her eyes and shut everything out: the audience, the nerves that threatened to take over, the text messages and the way they made her feel. It was just her and the music, and it was a love story that had been going on her whole life. She opened her mouth, and all the pain and confusion that had been building up inside just flowed out.
The words weren't important, it was the feeling behind them that she latched onto, and soon she was in the heart of the song and the rest of the world had slipped away.
When the song finished and the last note died away she opened her eyes. The whole audience was on their feet and the hall was filled with cheers and applause. For the first time in a long time Lucy allowed herself to enjoy a sense of achievement and belonging that she had forgotten all about.
Jill beamed at her with pride from the wings, and Lucy caught a glimpse of her mother cheering loudest of all in the crowd. She knew she owed them big time for reminding her what she was capable of and who she was. The next time her phone bleeped she would be tapping the message straight into oblivion where it belonged.
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