bullying the bullies | aspir | ✓

09 | beat

09

b e a t

I take the shoe, and carefully cut out the portion of rubber that serves as the grip. Once that's been peeled off, I rub my hand on the smooth underside of the shoe.

Ha! No grip whatsoever. I carefully place it back onto the floor of the cheerleader's changing room, before looking around at half of Gamma. They're all making the cheerleader's shoes grip less. I just finished Mikaela's, and I look around at everyone else. Hazelle looks up at the exact same moment as I do. She's sitting with Bridget, on the floor, with an Exacto knife in her hands.

"What's wrong?" I ask, with a quirk of my eyebrows.

Her grip on the Exacto knife falters, and she takes a breath. "So... What happens when the cheerleader slip, today? Like, how badly will they get injured?"

"Very badly," I reply with a wink, and the other Beta members, look up at me with a smile, some of them even cheering me on.

She drops the Exacto knife. "That's not fair to them!" She suddenly exclaims. Bridget looks up from her pair of shoes, in surprise. Hazelle stands up, her black hair billowing behind her. "We shouldn't even be doing this! This is mad! Absolutely, fucking mad!"

I look up at her, with clear cut frustration on my face. "What is wrong with you, Hazelle? What do you mean, it's not fair to them? Haven't you thought that all this time, everything they've done to us, hasn't been fair? What have we ever done to deserve what they give us?"

She lets out a frustrated sigh. "Look, you dragged me into this. I'm leaving," she spits, before making her way to the door.

Bridget immediately stands up. "Hazelle, aren't you mad at them for everything they've done to me? You've seen it all happen, right in front of your eyes. Why are you supporting them?"

Her grip on the door handle loosens. She looks at Bridget sympathetically. "I - " she takes a deep breath. "I'm not supporting them, but..." She trails off.

I look at her angrily. These people are sometimes the ones that anger me more than the bullies do. They don't bully others, and they don't get bullied at the same time. And yet, they're witness to ever atrocity that occurs around them, and still they don't do anything to stop it.

I pick up her Exacto knife. "What kind of a friend are you, if you're just going to let Bridget get bullied?" I ask, with my teeth bared. I thrust the knife at her. "Do it."

XxX XxX XxX XxX

It's an hour and a half before the football game starts today, and I quickly hurry up to the cheerleaders platform. There, I meet Liam, and the rest of the Beta members. The platform looks sparkly clean, and it shines almost.

No one will even think that it's been oiled.

"It looks amazing!" I tell him, as I step onto the platform, only to quickly slide, my legs sprawling in opposite directions.

"Watch out!" He says, and extends a hand to catch me. He pulls me off the platform, and I tumble onto his chest. "You okay?"

I let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah. Maybe that was just a tad too amazing."

He grins widely. "Well it was all thanks to them," he points to the other half of Beta.

I gather every Beta member over, and we all huddle up, as I quickly run through the details of what we have to do next. Once we're done, we all file our way into the seats of the stadium. Liam's got his hand thrown around my shoulder, and as I lead the group of students, I suddenly have a sensation of power.