"How about we take them down, make sure they will never lay their hands on you anymore."
Noah jolted and distanced himself from . He stared at with confusion, as if he had just heard sothing so ridiculous.
I gave him a thin smile. I knew it must've been shocking for him to hear soone say stuff about 'taking them down so easily.
"W—What do you an, Em?" Noah asked
I shrugged lightly and sat on a chair. I crossed my legs and replied, "Isn't it quite obvious? You don't want to be a sandbag forever, right?"
Noah shook his head slowly.
"Now tell what you'll do in order for them to stop?"
Noah was stunned and stared at . He opened his lips but didn't seem to be able to get an answer, and in the end, he just sighed and lowered his head weakly.
"Exactly, do you think you can just ask them to treat you nicely, and they'll say yes? This is not a kindergarten when the teacher can tell you to be nice to each other, and you'll obey."
"Oh, don't even think about reporting it to the teacher in high school. You'll get bullied even worse than this, and the teachers won't give a shit about it."
"High school is like a jungle, where the old law of survival to the fittest applies in all layers from junior to senior year," I smiled thinly while explaining the simple rule of high school to Noah.
"If you are slightly different, or just overall look weak, they'll bully you to hell and back. So it's better to just take them down before they beco the source of your pain for your whole life."
Noah lowered his head, which I believe that he knew my words were valid. Of course, for regular students, so might think that high school wasn't that bad. Because they weren't the ones who suffered.
For those who suffered, high school was hell that'd haunt them for the rest of their lives.
"Do you want to survive or not?" I asked his real intention. I didn't want a wishy-washy person around because I rembered Cerise and her antics.
"I want to survive…." Noah replied.
"Good, how about we form an alliance?"
"Alliance?"
"It's nothing serious. I just want you to help . In exchange, I'll help you take care of those bullies."
"W—What kind of help? I don't think I can help you in anything…."
"Oh, we'll see later, but let's try to find a way to take these three traditional bullies down, okay?" I said.
Honestly, I didn't know what Noah was capable of. I didn't know about his life, but I believed anyone had their own worth. I definitely would use his help later on in so way.
Besides, taking down these three bullies, Thomas, Jorge, and Jackson, was sort of personal to . Because they also beat and cut my hair just to present it for Barbie Cornwell.
So it was like killing two birds with one stone. I got my revenge while getting an ally that might be useful in the future.
"Okay…" Noah said. "L—Listen, Emmy, I don't really know what we will do, but I hope it won't endanger you. Since this is my personal problem…."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm insisting," I chuckled. "Now, now, you said that you're childhood friend with Thomas and also live in the sa neighborhood with all of them, right?"
"Indeed, we live in the sa neighborhood. Thomas, Jorge, and Jackson have always been the neighborhood bullies since we were in elentary. But I was ignorant before, thinking since it wouldn't hurt , then it doesn't matter…."
"Well, now that you're aware since you got beaten up," I nodded. Then I continued inquiring about these boys. "Did they ever do sothing that breaks the law? Maybe sothing dangerous?"
"Well, from what I heard, they got into trouble with the police because they trespassed Old Ruth's small garden in her lawn and desecrated all the flowers that Old Ruth had been taking care of."
"They were reported and got to do community service by helping Old Ruth to replant the flowers, watched by the officers, of course."
Yeah, that didn't help at all. Because that was just a case of delinquents doing delinquent stuff. It wasn't worth the hassle for the polices.
What I needed was a case so severe, like what Kristen and Leah did. Especially Leah, what she did was absolutely crazy and dangerous, a perfect recipe for disaster.
"It's quite crazy they did that, though…." Noah added.
"Huh? Crazy? Isn't it just delinquent stuff they did? From your story, they seem to be the bullies and troublemakers since they were very young."
"Well, the case with Old Ruth isn't the first and the last. It's just the one that got caught by the police. They made so many troubles in the past that I lost count. And the funny thing is… they're doing it based on dares made by anonymous in their Facebook back then."
"Huh? What do you an?" That one got interested. Dares? What kind of dares?
"They're kind of… nuts. Back in middle school, they'd take dares from friends or soone anonymous that send them a private ssage in Facebook."
"They'd do it and posted it in their Facebook, but not anymore once we're in high school," Noah poured more and more information about those three bullies.
I continued listening. I had a feeling this could be my weapon against them.
"Nowadays, they just did everything for the thrill, including bullying …." Noah lowered his head again, lanting over his fate, it seed. "I keep asking them what's my fault, and they just didn't have a clear answer. They just said they hate gays and disgusted with …."
"What they said might be true—" I replied, and Noah looked at instantly with an astonished expression.
"Y—You think I'm a disgusting gay?"
"Hey, not that one!" I denied. "It's the one when they just bullied you randomly because you're gay. I don't think they have any clear intention in the first place."
"Really?" Noah didn't seem to take that kindly. "I think they did it because soone asked them…."
"What do you an?" I frowned.
"W—Well, I thought it's because soone paid them to do it… or maybe Barbie Cornwell asked them to beat up for whatever reason…." Noah tried to find his own reasons, which I found quite intriguing. "Since they only take orders from two things, either Barbie Cornwell's order because all three of them are in love with her, or with money."
Of course, I knew the first one. Because it was Barbie, who told them to beat up because I was an eyesore.
But I didn't know they also took orders based on paynt.
"They're willing to do anything as long as they get paid?"
"Yeah, but they act like so kind of expensive service. Even they charged a lot of money to do sothing…." Noah replied. "They even have this crazy service in an online brochure, let show you."
Noah took out his phone and then showed an online brochure that got the point across easily;
—
Three guys service, ready to do anything with enough paynt, call this number XXXX.
—
…
Three guys service? Ready to do anything? That… that sounded gayer than what I expected.
"How did you get this online brochure?" I asked.
"They shared it in the group WhatsApp, and it spread everywhere. People thought it was just a joke, so nobody really paid any attention to it except a few people."
"I saw it firsthand, Emmy. I saw them beating a junior because they got paid to do so. Thomas forced to see it because he thought my expression would be funny—which was true, I was horrified," Noah said.
"They… They are seriously going to do anything?"
"Well, it depends on them whether they'll take the request or not. But you have to get the money first to do it, and their fee starts from… a grand."
"A GRAND?!"
"Yeah, a thousand dollars, that's the initial fee… unless you're so rich kid, you wouldn't be able to afford their service."
…
Noah sighed, full of woe, "You see, Em. It's kind of impossible to stop them. Since nobody really took them seriously, even the teachers. They only see those three as troublemakers…."
"Yeah, that's true, Noah. But that doesn't an it's impossible to stop them," I rebuked his statent. As soone who also suffered bullying, I had enough vengeance to find any way possible to get my revenge.
"In fact, everything that you told just now is a good key. It's our key to take them down," I said.
"Huh? What do you an, Em?"
My lips perked up slightly as I already imagined what kind of plan I could do to take them down, and I believed I already got the rough idea.
"We are going to trap them, Noah."
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