“Anyone touches Ashley Miller again, and I’ll kill
you,” he snarled. “I’ve got a doctor’s note that
says I’m crazy. The cops can’t touch me. Now
get lost!”
The bullies, terrified, dragged their leader away.
I stared, a bitter taste in my mouth. They were
all cowards. A thousand dollars could buy me
protection from their reign of terror. My
allowance had been thousands every month…
I’d been so scared, so timid, I hadn’t even
considered fighting back. They’d taken all my
money…
Inside, Jake, now my paid protector, moved my
desk next to his in the back row. Tiffany, sitting
in the middle, glared daggers at me.
I watched Jake, now asleep, and felt a sense of
security I’d never known. Five thousand dollars.
That was a lot of protection.
I failed my English test. The teacher’s
disappointment was clear.
After class, a shy girl approached me, barely
making eye contact. “Ashley,” she stammered,
“…I can tutor you in English. Can…can I…go to
the bathroom with you after this?”
<
I recognized her. Sarah Evans. Good at English
and literature, but also a target for Tiffany’s bullies.
I glanced at Jake, still asleep. What was one
more? I could afford it. I’d just consider it
paying for a tutor.
I didn’t realize I wouldn’t need Jake for much
longer.
On the way to the cafeteria, a group of crying adults surrounded me, apologizing and begging for forgiveness. Two even knelt before me.
“Ms. Miller, my daughter is so sorry. It’s my
fault. I didn’t raise her right. Please have mercy.
She’s a senior. She has her SATS next year. If
she goes to juvie, her life is over.”
“Please, Ms. Miller, give her another chance. I’ll
do anything…”
Г
A man in a suit arrived and explained
everything. The chauffeur who’d driven me to
school had filmed the bullies and told my dad.
Dad, despite Ethan’s situation, had immediately
sent people to deal with it. The suited man was
his assistant, and he’d brought a top lawyer to
press charges. The people begging me were the
bullies‘ parents.
I was taken to the principal’s office. The bullies
were there, bruised and battered by their
parents, sobbing on the floor. The assistant and
the lawyer took over. I didn’t have to do
anything. I ignored the pleading parents.
The assistant’s phone rang. He handed it to me.
It was Dad. He was sobbing uncontrollably. “Daddy…Daddy is so ashamed. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m a terrible father. I don’t deserve…”
He choked back tears, his voice hoarse. “I had
a dream. Ashlev. I dreamt vou rearetted comina
home. You tried so hard to fit in, and we just
pushed you away. You were so disappointed, so
desperate…you…” He couldn’t finish the
sentence.
“I woke up and wanted to make it up to you. To
love you, to spoil you. But I never imagined…my
daughter…my poor daughter who suffered for
seventeen years…being bullied, tormented…in
that…that hellhole…”
“You were getting thinner and thinner, and we
were too busy with…with work… What can I
do? How can I make it up to you? I can’t, I
know I can’t… I deserve to die…”
“Don’t forgive me, Ashley. Never forgive me.
Please…”
The CEO of a major corporation, reduced to a
sobbing mess.
I gripped the phone, speechless. This belated
<
affection felt…cheap. He could give me money.
He could pay for my education. He could give me houses and cars. I’d take it. But
forgiveness? That was another story.
The bullies disappeared from school. A while later, Dad’s assistant told me Dad was going after their parents, ruining them financially. Without their parents‘ support, they wouldn’t be able to recover.
None of them had ratted out Tiffany, despite whatever promises or money she’d offered.
After Dad pledged to fund new buildings for the school, the principal and teachers started
treating me with respect. Life was…different.
Better. But a part of me was still…numb.
Maybe, someday, I could forgive them. But not
today. Not yet.
<
Word spread through school like wildfire. Ashley
Miller? Loaded. Seriously rich. Kids from my
class, even the next one over, were suddenly
eager to be my friend, and Sarah Evans’s too.
They didn’t last long, though. A few days, tops,
then they’d vanish.
Sarah heard whispers. Someone was paying
them to stay away. Tiffany. Ever since I’d
become “popular,” Tiffany had gone into
overdrive, handing out cash, jewelry, designer
—
bags, Starbucks, candy you name it. Like
some deranged, philanthropic sugar mama.
Ethan had been out cold for three days after his
episode. When he woke up, he wasn’t…right.
The kid who’d skipped two grades and landed
in senior year was now insisting on repeating
sophomore year. And he’d chosen our regular
class, the one Tiffany and I were in.
Our homeroom teacher, Mr. Harrison, and all
the other teachers were practically levitating
With in.. And Tiffani Cha
aatina lila aha’al
<
84
with joy. And Tiffany? She was acting like she’d
won the lottery, practically broadcasting the
news with a megaphone. Before Ethan even
arrived, the whole class knew the genius was her brother.
Dad had laid down the law: We were to keep a
