bullying the bullies | aspir | ✓

14 | snub

14

s n u b

The world tilts off its axis for the second time.

Unable to hold this new piece of information, I lightly sway backwards on my feet. "Hey!" He says, and catches me by the crook of my elbow.

"But it can't be..." I murmur as he look up at him. "Jeremy, you're lying."

He looks at me with a soft smile. It's been years since I was on the receiving end of one of his smiles. It does something to my insides, but I'm not exactly sure, what.

"I'm not lying, Lyra."

"But you've never been bullied." I say in the same monotonous voice. The fatigue that's over taken me, doesn't give me the strength to say it in any other way.

"That's only the part of me that you can see, Lyra. All throughout my life, I've been bullied, and what's worse is that I'm not made out to be a victim. Instead I'm still the bully."

I stare up at him, waiting for a plausible explanation.

"Right. So, bullying doesn't necessarily have to start from with our school students. You know that right?" He asks.

I mutely shake my head.

"My dad, was my first bully, Lyra," he exclaims at last, kicking a clump of mud with his shoe. "When I wanted to join the school band, he told me that I had to join the football team. And that he'd rather have a son who can kick a good goal, rather than a son who can play the trumpet." He looks up, avoiding my gaze. "And it's not only my dad..." He takes a deep breath, and turns to where a clump of jocks are standing. "My so-called friends as well."

"What do you mean?"

"At first, before I could learn how to play football, I was bullied by all the seniors. And that's when I learnt that in high school, you either burn or get burnt. I had to make it to the top of the ranks to avoid getting bullied. And once that happened, nothing stopped. If only, things got worse." He runs a hand through his hair. "You remember Pete Goodson?"

I nod. He used to be Jeremy's friend, back when I was in love with Jeremy. Chubby kid, and a little daft in the head.

"Well, I was made fun of for being his friend. And so I stopped talking to him. But that wasn't the end of it. Every time we passed by him in the corridors, people would make fun of him. And soon they expected me to make fun of him as well. To show them that now I was a part of them." And suddenly he looks at me. "And that's the same story with - "

"Me."

"You." He nods painfully. "Lyra, in your case, and in Liam's case, you were all bullied, and that was that. But me? I was bullied into bullying others. Get it?"

I can finally see the large picture. Bullying goes on within the people of the popular ranks as well. No one has an escape.

"Yeah." I bite my lip, still unsure of what to say. "But wait. How do you even know that it's my blog!? Did Liam tell you?"

He lets out a soft chuckle. "Remember that day you asked me out to prom? Guess what was on your laptop?"

"...my blog?" I say after a pause.

He nods.

"And you never told anyone about it?"

He shakes his head.

I can't wrap my head around that. He could have easily used that information against me. I look up at him, to see the soft smile on his face. Maybe he's telling the truth about being bullied as well.