“Yes.”
“I still don’t get why you turned them down.”
“You know why,” I said. “I didn’t want to ditch you guys and keep secrets from you.”
“Laney, that’s super sweet, and I love you for it, but if they can get the Princes—and the rest of the school—to leave you alone, I’d jump right on their offer. Just for your own safety.”
I leaned back in my seat, brows knitting. “I don’t know. They gave me a bit of a weird vibe. I think I’d only be willing to join them if I literally felt like I had no other choice.”
Trina nodded slowly. “Fair enough. But if the bullying keeps getting worse, and we can’t find any way to stop it, I give you full permission to ditch us and join them.”
“Ditto,” Adam said.
“Thanks.” I smiled and took a sip of my coffee.
Trina let out a long, heavy sigh.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Honestly… I kinda blame myself for what happened to you on Friday,” she said, shaking her head. “And the Friday before that, too.”
“Why?”
“Because of my shitty advice in the first week,” she said, throwing her hands up. “I gave you that clichéd bullshit: Just ignore the bullies and they’ll eventually leave you alone. It’s obviously a load of crap. Hasn’t worked at all.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “You were just trying to make me feel better.”
“Well, I was wrong, and I think it’s time to do the opposite now,” she said, eyes narrowing.
“You mean we should stop trying to ignore them?” Adam asked.
Trina nodded emphatically. “Yup. We should fight back.”
“I already tried. I showed Ms. Flores those screenshots and got a few kids suspended, remember?” I said.
She snorted. “I don’t mean it like that. I mean really fight back.”
“Won’t that just make it worse?”
“How? You tried ignoring it, and look what happened last week. Hunter broke into your room and terrorized you in your own bed,” she said. “It doesn’t get much worse than that, does it?”
I sighed. “I guess not.”
“Honestly, after the last few weeks, I’ve started thinking that the only real way to stop bullies is to hit them back. Hard.”
“I hate to say it, but you might be right,” Adam said. “Back in middle school, I knew this guy who used to get bullied by these older kids all the time. He tried to ignore it, but it kept happening. Then one day he finally snapped and took a swing at the worst one. Knocked four of his teeth out. After that, they all left him alone.”
I twisted my lips. “I can’t just walk up and hit the Princes. Or anyone else, for that matter.”
“I know. When I said to hit them back, I meant it metaphorically,” Trina said.
My brows furrowed. “So what do you think I should do?”
“I don’t know yet. But we’ll think of something that’ll hit ‘em where it hurts.”
“Can I just get a Taser and aim it at their balls whenever they come near me?” I said, eyes crinkling around the corners.
“I wish. But no. We need something more… cunning. Something that isn’t visible to anyone else, so you can’t get in any trouble and lose your scholarship,” she said. She leaned back in her seat, a sly smile playing on her lips. “Hmm… we could secretly date all of the Princes and make them fall for us. And then when they finally declare their love for us, we just laugh in their faces. Destroy them emotionally.”