Trapped (Bullied Book 4) (Bullied Series) Vera Hollins (best large ereader txt) 📖

some victims will feel less reluctant to seek help if they have this option.”

She played with the edges of her textbook. “True. I was also thinking about what Haydee Bumblebee said on Monday.”

I rolled my eyes at her nickname for Hayden. “What’s up with you and those nicknames? You have one for everyone except for Steven.”

“Hey! I have many nicknames for Steven! I call him idiot, moron, pea-brain, imbecile, annoying poop—”

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

“Anyway, Haydee Bumblebee actually said something I could agree with. Hallelujah!” I chuckled, shaking my head at her. “The psychologists can also help bullies—that is, if those bullies are willing to open up to them and cleanse their minds of their evil ways.”

“You’re being overdramatic,” I told her, and she stuck her tongue out at me. “Maybe they would open up more often if all of society didn’t look at them as if they had a contagious disease.”

“Whaddaya mean?”

I glanced at our teacher, who went overboard with scribbling on the board. No one was going to write all of that down anyway.

“I guess it’s hard to come out and admit you’re a bully because that means immediate public shunning or worse.”

She looked at me like I was out of my mind. “And what do you think they deserve? A big round of applause for their heroic efforts in destroying other people’s lives?”

“I think they deserve a second chance. If they want to change, of course.”

She snorted loudly, attracting the attention of two girls in front of us. They glared over their shoulders at her. “What?” she mouthed at them with a raised eyebrow. “Our teacher is that way.” She pointed. “Eyes to the front.”

The girl in front of me whipped her head back around, red with shame, but the other girl gave Melissa a dirty look. “So rude,” she sneered.

“Says the girl who keeps staring at me. Didn’t your mommy teach you that staring is rude?” Mel said.

Realizing she couldn’t go up against Mel, the girl grimaced and looked back to the front.

“That’s a huuuge if,” Mel said as she turned to me, returning to our topic. “Look at my idiotic brother—a freakin’ bully! Do you know how many times I’ve told that nuthead to get his act together?”

A small frown formed on my face. One thing was certain: Steven was spiraling. Rapidly. He and Mel were arguing more often these days, and I could see it was wearing her down. She never showed it, her happy, energetic mode turned on at all times, but I saw the real her in the moments when she thought no one was watching. She worried about Steven, and for very good reason.

These days, he didn’t look well. Previously extremely muscular, his 6’5” body was rapidly becoming gaunt. His dark blue eyes were often unfocused, his jet-black hair was straggly, and his clothes were rumpled. He acted like he was angry at the whole world, skipping a lot of classes and hanging out with other junkies in the school’s back yard. I was worried about him too because if he continued walking down this dangerous path, it wasn’t going to end well.

“Is he still not sleeping at home?”

“Still not sleeping at home? He doesn’t even know where his home is these days! Ever since our mom bought us a house and we moved from our grandparents’ place to what I call a Cruella de Vil mansion, he’s MIA.”

I was unable to contain a chuckle at her description of her new house. She often repeated that her mom had gone overboard with the new property, seeing that the house had nine rooms, a huge indoor pool, and a botanical garden, which was more suitable for a president than a single mom with two teenagers.

“Some women cut or dye their hair after a breakup,” Mel had said a few days earlier. “My mom buys a ridiculously extravagant mansion that costs an arm and a leg.”

Both Mel and Steven were unhappy with their mom’s drastic decisions. In addition to that, Mel wasn’t coping well with the divorce of her parents.

“How about your dad?” I asked her subtly as I glanced at our teacher. She’d returned to her desk and could look our way at any moment.

“Too busy with his work to care. I got sick of only speaking to his assistant, so I left him two voicemails yesterday. He didn’t call me back.”

Mel’s dad was a lawyer like mine, but I couldn’t imagine my dad working to the point of not seeing our family. Even when he worked his fingers to the bone, we were his top priority. He was always there for me.

When class ended, Masen placed his hand on the small of the girl’s back and led her out of the classroom, keeping her close to him. Mel couldn’t resist throwing a jibe at him as we passed them in the hall.

“Barbie, wrap your willy. You don’t want that poor girl to get an STD.”

The girl gasped, her eyes darting between Masen and Mel, while Masen looked at Melissa with animosity that was almost palpable.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he said to the girl in his naturally raspy voice. He sounded laidback, but I could discern the anger hidden beneath the surface. “Satan is just jealous because she wanted to suck me off last night, but I told her I’m not desperate enough to get it on with Shrek’s doppelgänger.”

Mel placed her hands on her hips with a chuckle and looked sweetly at the girl. “Honey, he’s lying. He wanted it so badly, but he totally couldn’t keep it up.” She extended her pinky and bent it, mimicking a deflating dick, and pointed at it. “He’s that small, yes.”

I grasped her arm and pulled her away from them. “Okay, Mel. Leave them alone. You’ll be late for your next class at this rate.”

Laughing under her breath, she let me drag her until we got around the corner and out of their sight.

“Did you see his face?” She erupted into another fit of laughter