All Chapters of I Said Yes to My Bully: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

On the day Chelsea signed the lease, she took me out to dinner. It was a steakhouse, even pricier than the last place. She ordered half the menu and opened a bottle of wine."Kara, this one's for you!" She raised her glass, her face already flushed. "If it weren't for you, I never would've found such a great spot."I clinked my glass against hers but did not drink. She did not seem to mind. She downed hers in one go, then grabbed my hand, and her eyes actually welled up."I wasn't always that nice to you back then, but you didn't hold a grudge, and you still helped me this much. You're stuck with me as a friend now!"She "wasn't always that nice" to me. That was what she called it.Drenching me with cold water was "not that nice." Locking me in a bathroom stall was "not that nice." Tearing up my homework in front of the whole class and calling me a loser for three straight years was "not that nice."I took a sip of my wine. It was cold and a little bitter."If you ever need anyt

I looked Chelsea in the eye and said it slowly, one word at a time."The second week of freshman year, you hid my gym clothes in the boys' bathroom. I spent an entire class period looking for them and, in the end, the PE teacher had to go in and get them for me. You stood there watching, and you laughed the loudest."She stopped crying and glared straight at me."That winter in sophomore year, you told me to cover your cleanup duty. I said I had tutoring, so you made me stand in front of the whole class for an entire period. The next day, someone had written 'loser' across my desk in marker. It was your friends who did it."Her lips moved, but no sound came out."That December, you cornered me in the bathroom and dumped a whole bucket of cold water over my head. It was below freezing, and I sat shivering in soaking wet clothes for three periods."That afternoon, I was sent home with a high fever. My mom went to the school to talk to your dad afterward, and he paid her 200 dollars

As I listened to her, I suddenly laughed."Chelsea, you think I've been holding a grudge for ten years?""Haven't you?""Then let me ask you something.""Go ahead.""In those ten years, was there a single day you ever thought about what you did to me?"The line went silent."Did you ever once wonder whether the girl you drenched with cold water got sick afterward? Whether she had nightmares? Whether she was too scared to go to school?"She still said nothing."You didn't," I said. "Not for a single day. To you, it was all small stuff. Once it was over, it was over. You forgot about it, so you figured the whole world would forget about it too.""That's not—""It is."I cut her off. My voice was not loud, but it was steady."If you really thought you'd done something wrong, the first thing you'd have said when you came to me was 'I'm sorry,' not 'Can you help me?' That's who you are, Chelsea. That's who you were ten years ago, and that's who you still are now."I heard snif

On the last day of November, it rained. It was not heavy, just a light, steady drizzle that tapped against the windows as if tickling the glass.That day, someone I never expected walked into my shop. It was Chelsea's mother.I did not recognize her when she pushed open the door. I had only seen her once before, at a parent-teacher conference in high school. Back then, she had been decked out in gold jewelry, sitting off to the side and chatting with the other parents so loudly that the whole floor could hear her.The woman in front of me now was thinner and older, and most of her hair had gone gray. She wore a faded windbreaker that had been washed too many times, and she was carrying a plastic bag."Kara?" She stood in the doorway, her voice a little timid.I looked at her and did not move."Mrs. Ruddock," I said.She let out a sigh of relief, came inside and stopped in front of the register. She set the plastic bag down on the counter."These are homemade pickles. You used t